Every summer in the Pacific Northwest, tribal canoe families paddle for miles in cedar canoes, to a traditional potlach. Hosting duties rotate and many families spend more than a week on the water, coming from as far as Alaska and beyond.
These canoe journeys have taken place nearly every summer since 1989, when it started with the Paddle to Seattle.
This year, the Nisqually tribe is hosting the Nisqually Medicine Creek Potlach, near Olympia. The theme of this year’s journey is “healing through our waters by honoring our ancestors.”
KNKX Environment Reporter Bellamy Pailthorp was invited to ride along during a practice with the Nisqually Canoe Family, in which 19-year-old Aliyah Choke was training to become a skipper, under the guidance of former tribal council member Hweqwidi Hanford McCloud.
Choke is a descendent of Billy Frank Jr., the famous Nisqually defender of tribal treaty fishing rights.
Click "Listen" above, to hear this audio postcard.
The cedar canoes landed on Nisqually territories on July 31. The traditional potlach continues through Aug. 5.
