Swinomish Days powwow is homecoming for Nevada grass dancer

Ken Paul made his mark as a distance runner while growing up at Swinomish and attending La Conner Schools, often jogging across Rainbow Bridge from his home to town and back.

More than four decades later he hasn’t lost a step.

In fact, Paul has added a few – as a much in demand Native American grass dancer.

Donning colorful regalia he made himself, the 1976 La Conner High grad, now 62, kept time with the singing and fast-paced drumming that highlighted powwow sessions at the annual Swinomish Days celebration last weekend.

He and wife Jeanine, a nurse, also lent their support to younger family members and other youth seeking to master dance moves said to have evolved generations ago among northern Great Plains tribes.

Paul has studied the art and history of grass dancing, and several years ago contributed items to a traveling museum exhibit in Nevada, now his home state, that focused on the powwow tradition.

There are several explanations given for the origin and function of grass dancing. One cites the tradition of dancers carrying hoops of sweet grass. Another links it to the need for dancers to stamp down tall prairie grass prior to setting up camp. Still another alludes to the role dancers have played in flattening grass to prepare arenas for other activities.

In any event, powwow dancing is always a major draw at Swinomish Days, a three-day event designed to preserve Native American culture.

The Pauls traveled here from Fallon, Nevada, where Ken, the older brother of Swinomish Tribal Community Senator Kevin Paul, pastors a Pentecostal church and serves as spiritual leader for Numu Tukwasu, a Native American veterans group based in the Pyramid Lake area.

Paul, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, has become an active civic leader in the Fallon area, where last year he participated in a special ribbon-cutting ceremony that dedicated a new 10,000 square-foot Veterans Administration outpatient clinic.

Paul formally blessed the building, sharing with those gathered the mission of his veterans group in aiding those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other issues.

“We’re a group of healing,” he says. “In our hearts, we come together for unity of people.”

Because of his busy schedule, which has also included coaching basketball, Paul has only been able to return to Swinomish infrequently.

“This,” he told the Weekly News on Saturday, “is my first time back in about five years.”

It was certainly a homecoming to remember – an occasion that called for plenty of singing and dancing.