PORT ANGELES — Tribal canoes will come ashore by the dozens at Hollywood Beach in Port Angeles today.
Pullers and support staff for about 60 canoes will be in Port Angeles for a two-day stopover hosted by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe en route to the 2010 Tribal Canoe Journey’s final destination in Neah Bay.
Close to 50 Western Washington tribes and Canadian First Nations are represented in the annual voyage around the Salish Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Frances Charles, Lower Elwha tribal chairwoman, said the canoes are expected to land in Port Angeles between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
“It’s dependent on the weather,” Charles added.
The welcoming ceremony originally planned at Jamestown Beach on Thursday was canceled because of bad morning weather.
Participants who camped at Port Townsend on Wednesday night trucked their canoes to the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe instead of paddling them.
The pullers had awakened to “very bad weather, big swells and fog” on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Jamestown S’Klallam tribal secretary Anika Kessler said.
Weather permitting, pullers on about 40 canoes will leave Jamestown Beach at about 7 a.m. today, Charles said.
That would put the fastest canoes in Port Angeles by about 11 a.m., Charles said.
Two dozen other canoes from west Vancouver Island and the Victoria area were scheduled to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca today and join the inland tribes for the protocol landing in Port Angeles.
Crews in each canoe will ask the Lower Elwha for permission to land at Hollywood Beach. The pullers will be shuttled to the tribal center west of Port Angeles for dinner and protocol.
Public invited
The public is invited to attend the protocol — in which canoe families present dances, songs and storytelling — at the tribal center this evening and most of the day Saturday, Charles said.
After two days of celebration, the pullers will leave Port Angeles early Sunday, spend the night at Pillar Point and arrive at their final destination in Neah Bay on Monday.
Tribes from Washington’s outer coast were expected to land at LaPush today and Saturday, said Crystal Denney, Makah Tribal Journeys coordinator.
Neah Bay on Monday
Denney said the first canoes will arrive in Neah Bay on Monday at about 11 a.m.
The final landings will take place between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., Denney said.
All told, the Makah tribe expects as many as 10,000 guests for the week-long celebration. Events will be open to the public throughout the entire week.
Visitors to Neah Bay on Monday can expect to be detoured off the main road — Bayview Avenue — onto Backtrack Road and Woodland Avenue.
“The main road will be closed for the entire day,” said Denney, adding that the rest of the week, the road will be open as usual.
The tribe is closing Bayview Avenue to accommodate the crowds of onlookers and the pullers who will be carrying their canoes from the beach to the Tribal Journey tent at the Neah Bay High School football field.
Parking lots will be scattered throughout Neah Bay. Shuttles will be available.
An event map of Neah Bay and more information is available at www.makah.com.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
