PORT ANGELES — Eighty canoes supported by 8,000 Native Americans will land along the waterfront Aug. 1, kicking off a six-day event that may or may not pause to let participants sleep.
The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe will host the 2005 Canoe Journey, drawing handcrafted vessels from as far away as the Aleutian Islands, tribal officials told a Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting Monday.
They received a warm reception from the chamber members, which months ago had been reluctant to accept the tribe’s decision to close the Hood Canal Bridge graving yard.
Russ Veenema, the chamber’s executive director, suggested that flags with the tribal seal be posted alongside American flags in the downtown area during the Aug. 1-6 canoe event.
The former graving yard site overlies Tse-whit-zen, the ancestral Klallam village where artifacts have been dated back 2,700 years.
The village will be the focus of this year’s Canoe Journey, Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles told an audience of about 150 at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant.
Cultural past and present
Tse-whit-zen, she said, will give young people who make the journey a touchstone for their cultural past and present.
The event, she emphasized, will be free of drugs and alcohol.
“It’s also a healing process,” she said. “It’s all about the youth.”
Russell Hepfer, one of three Canoe Journey coordinators, said athletic contests and storytelling will be among the activities that will continue at the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation west of Port Angeles.
“We’re trying to keep all the events traditional,” he said.
