Journey for the juniors

Yachts shared Swinomish Channel on Friday with ornately crafted tribal canoes resembling the region's earliest form of water transportation.

It was young people who made what's old new again.

Over 20 canoes pulled by crews from throughout the Salish Sea landed at Swinomish as part of the 2024 Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey.

Upon their arrival, the canoe families requested and were granted permission by Miss Swinomish Kialah Seymour and Junior Miss Swinomish Ruby Billy to come ashore to rest, shower, break bread and share stories, songs and traditional dances.

"We're tired, hungry and want spaghetti," one canoeist pleaded good-naturedly.

Despite their fatigue, many crews arrived singing and chanting as they paddled.

Because the mid-day tide was ebbing fast, quickly emptying the canoe landing canal at Swedebs Park, the visitors and host Swinomish canoes headed to Moorage Way. They were pulled upland by volunteers, including Whidbey Island Naval Air Station personnel, for an overnight stay.

John K. Bob Ball Park was dotted with tents through Friday night. Arts and crafts vendors set up as well.

The canoe crews pushed off early Saturday, some before daybreak, for a landing at Tulalip.

They are scheduled to reach Puyallup today (July 31) with more than 5,000 people expected to be on site from Aug. 1-5.

After settling in at Swinomish Friday afternoon, canoe families and their supporters were treated to an evening feast of about 1,000 pounds of salmon and halibut, plus mashed potatoes, baked beans, potato salad and fresh berries. A large and festive coastal jam celebration followed at the Swinomish Longhouse.

Swinomish cooks led by Cathi Bassford returned to the gym at 3 a.m. Saturday to prepare breakfast for the departing paddlers.

Eugene "Huge" Edwards of the Swinomish Canoe Family kept the crowd gathered by the Cedar Hats entertained and informed with humor and public service messages.

As canoes arrived, he exhorted onlookers to greet them with a "half-wave" using only one arm.

"We're going to go to Vegas for physical therapy so that then we can do the whole wave," Edwards joked.

He invited spectators to take mud baths in the rapidly drying landing canal. He later thanked those who came to Swinomish to help pull canoes out of the water.

"This is what happens when a Swinomish girl brings her boyfriend here," Edwards said. "We put 'em to work and then throw 'em in the mud."

Edwards used his microphone to share serious notes as well. A couple times he admonished boaters for violating no-wake restrictions, a potential hazard to the paddlers. He shared the history of one of the canoes, explaining that Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member Ray Williams had gifted it to Northwest Indian College.

Among those welcoming and encouraging the canoers was Swinomish Senator J.J. Wilbur, a La Conner School Board member and Skagit County Fire District 13 Commissioner who has crewed for more than a decade.

"I've been with (Brian) Cladoosby for 12 or 13 years," Wilbur said.

When Swinomish hosted the 2011 Canoe Journey, then-Gov. Christine Gregoire was a puller in Cladoosby's canoe when he was tribal senate chair.

The 2024 Canoe Journey was supposed to feature adult crews but charted a different course when the Ahousaht First Nation Band in British Columbia, which was initially slated to host the event, withdrew due to logistical challenges. The Puyallup Tribe stepped in to organize a youth paddle.

"I got a phone call from tribal council that said, 'So, what are we going to do?'" Connie McCloud of Puyallup explained to the tribe's media staff. "And I said, 'Well, we're thinking about doing a youth journey.' And they said, 'Let's do it. Let's host.'"

McCloud said the youth canoe journey concept is intended as a teaching tool.

"You have the adults, you have the elders, working with the youth to train them to be in leadership positions," she said. "It doesn't eliminate anybody. It puts the focus on training our youth.

"If your canoe is largely adults and elders and you have two youths, how lucky are they?" she said. "They have this handful of people who can give them instruction, give them teachings and show them a direction, put them up there doing the welcoming greetings, doing their protocol, being that voice for their canoe. You're going to teach them; you're going to train them."

The modern intertribal canoe journey dates to the 1989 Washington State Centennial when Quinault educator Emmett Oliver organized the Paddle to Seattle to ensure indigenous people were represented in the celebration.

The enduring theme of the 2011 Swinomish Canoe Journey, one continuously embraced at Swinomish and coined by late tribal elder Chester Cayou Sr., was "Loving, Caring, and Sharing." It was in preparation for the 2011 Canoe Journey that Swinomish developed Swedebs Park and constructed the distinctive Cedar Hat pavilions.

Hosting the Canoe Journey is a major feat as host nations feed participants, provide shuttles and venues for camping, dining and protocol, and provide gifts to guests. It is a significant family-friendly cultural event that turns back the clock to when canoes were as important to regional travel as cars and trucks are today.