PORT ANGELES — Wasn’t that a party!
As many as 4,000 members of Northwest Native tribes and Canadian First Nations turned the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation into a six-day mix of family reunion, arts fair, temperance rally, camp-out, and endless drumming, singing and dancing.
All 62 canoes from 35 tribes and nations arrived safely, including two that were blown onto Dungeness Spit and many that fought rough water and high wind crossing from Canada last Monday.
The 2005 Tribal Canoe Journey — the Paddle to Elwha — came off without a serious glitch.
The biggest problem came Saturday afternoon when the owner of the circus-size main events tent had to start taking it down, sending the closing protocol and potlatch into the Tribal Center gym.
Even that didn’t prevent more than 500 people from packing the room for festivities that didn’t end until 4 a.m. Sunday.
The crowd gave a standing ovation to the cooks who had included three professional chefs serving gourmet dinners — Bruce Gjertssen of Meadows Inn (open pit-roasted beef and elk), Neil Conklin of Bella Italia restaurant (pasta primavera) and Seattle casino chef Tony Valadez (Indian tacos).
“The meals were a bigger success than the planners could have hoped for,” said John Miller, Lower Klallam Tribal executive director.
Volunteer cooks showed up as early as 4 a.m. daily to begin making breakfast for up to 3,500 people.
Miller, Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles, canoe journey coordinators and guests all agreed that the 500-some volunteers from Port Angeles — most of them non-Natives — were key to the celebration’s success.
“I don’t think we could have done this without them,” Miller said, singling out Kathy and Tom Benzler of Seven Rivers Ministries and Mary Lawrence of Port Angeles. The three took over coordinating volunteers early in the festivities.
