LAPUSH — Traditional singing and dancing go on most of the day today (Monday) during protocol ceremonies at the Ak-A-Lat Center as the Quileute tribe hosts pullers on the “Paddle to Quinault” Canoe Journey and visitors.
The public is invited.
Canoes headed for the Quinault Nation were welcomed at James Island Point in LaPush on Sunday by Quileute tribal elders, members of the past and present Quileute Tribal Council and the Quileute Days royalty.
Dinner followed at the A-Ka-Lat center outside the circle.
After breakfast today, the Quileute and other tribes will perform songs and dances at the A-Ka-Lat center.
A traditional feast will be served from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. tonight.
Some 20 to 40 vendors will sell art, crafts, clothing and food at the Community Center across from the River’s Edge restaurant and beside the Tribal Administration Office.
Vendors will be open from 8 a.m. to midnight Monday, Brooks said.
To help alleviate traffic congestion, visitors are encouraged to take the free Forks shuttle to and from LaPush.
It will leave from the Forks Transit Center at 551 S. Forks Ave., somewhat hourly throughout both days, and make other stops in Forks before traveling to LaPush.
The shuttle schedule is available at the Forks Chamber of Commerce, 1411 S. Forks Ave, and at Riverview RV Park & Storage at 33 Mora Road, as well as in LaPush, tribal members said.
The Quileute tribe has prepared for up to 5,000 visitors — canoeists, their families, friends and their land and sea support crews, plus the general public and members of nearby tribes.
LaPush is the next-to-last stopover before the canoes, which have traveled from all over the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, arrive Wednesday and Thursday in Quinault lands for a weeklong celebration.
Fifty-five canoes arrived in Neah Bay on Friday. Those canoes and Makah pullers left for LaPush early Sunday, said Meredith Parker, Makah general manager.
On Tuesday, the Quileute will feed pullers an early departure breakfast before they head south for a welcome by elders and other members of the Hoh tribe at the mouth of the Hoh River between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
The pullers will be shuttled to a dinner at the Hoh gymnasium on Lower Hoh Road, said Hoh Tribal Chairwoman Maria Lopez.
Wednesday and Thursday, canoes will be greeted by the Quinault, who live in an area that straddles southwest Jefferson County and northwest Grays Harbor County on the Olympic Peninsula’s west-central coast.
Quinault tribal elders and members will first meet the canoes near the mouth of the Queets River on Wednesday and then greet them again Thursday before hosting a week of camping, potlatches and celebration at Point Grenville, just north of Taholah.
Spiritual journey
Begun in 1989, the Canoe Journey is a yearly spiritual trek during which the tribes of the Pacific Northwest and B.C. come together to canoe together, share traditional songs and dance, and celebrate. (The canoeists are never called “paddlers,” always “pullers.”)
Each year one tribe organizes the journey, planning the route and coordinating with the other tribes.
The groups camp along the way and meet together at the end for a potlatch, a celebration of life that involves feasting, gifting and praying.
The Canoe Journey makes a drug- and alcohol-free space for elders and young people alike to re-learn and strengthen their tribal traditions.
