NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, July 26.
Paddle to Quinault pullers traveling the Strait of Juan de Fuca on their way to a gathering from Aug. 1-6 on Quinault lands on the Pacific coast are expected to reach Neah Bay today.
Thousands of tribal members from across the Pacific Northwest and Canada are taking part in the annual journey on their way to the Quinault Nation on the Olympic Peninsula’s central-western coast.
During the journey, pullers stop along the way to be greeted by members of tribes who provide food, shelter and a potlatch celebration.
The Makah will offer a traditional welcome as the native canoes come ashore today on a stretch of beach along Bayview Avenue east of Buchanan Street.
The tribe will host pullers with dinner and traditional singing and dancing — all open to the public — at the Makah community gym near the Makah Marina.
On Saturday, canoes will be greeted at Cape Alava — between Ozette and Cannonball islands along the Pacific coast — by 20 to 30 tribal members who will hike to the cape from Lake Ozette starting at about 8 a.m. that day.
It’s the last stop before the canoes enter the open ocean, noted Meredith Parker, Makah general manager.
The pullers will leave the next day to spend two days in LaPush.
Two days in LaPush
They will be welcomed Sunday by Quileute tribal members at James Island Point and given a meal later that day, said Quileute Nation member Miss Ann Penn-Charles.
Breakfast and dinner is planned Monday at the A-Ka-Lat Community Center in LaPush, with an early departure breakfast planned the next morning, said Quileute event coordinator Russell Brooks.
Penn-Charles said a second day in LaPush was added to offer an extra day of rest for the pullers and allow support boats to be refueled before heading south to the Quinault reservation
Elders and members of the Hoh tribe will meet the fleet of canoes near the mouth of the Hoh River on Tuesday starting between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Hoh Tribal Chairwoman Maria Lopez said.
Pullers and their families will be shuttled to a dinner at the Hoh gymnasium on Lower Hoh Road, Lopez said.
Quinault potlatch
The final leg of the Canoe Journey takes the pullers into the waters off the Quinault Reservation, which straddles southwest Jefferson County and northwest Grays County on the Olympic Peninsula’s central-western coast.
Quinault tribal organizers expect about 100 canoes to arrive for the open-to-the public celebration from Aug. 1-6 in Taholah, with 15,000 total canoe pullers, family, friends and others expected to visit the tribal community.
Quinault tribal elders and members will first meet the canoes near the mouth of the Queets River on Wednesday, then greet them again Thursday before hosting them for a week of camping, potlatches and celebration at Point Grenville, just north of Taholah.
