Canoe Journey Guidebook - Squaxin Island Tribe

Welcome!
Please join me in welcoming the canoes for the Paddle to Squaxin Island 2012, when they land at the Port of Olympia
on July 29th. Each year a different Tribe hosts this incredible journey. This year it is the honor of the Squaxin Island
Tribe to host the indigenous peoples participating in this year’s Annual Intertribal Canoe Journey.
We expect canoes from as far away as Florida, Peru, Japan, northern California and New Zealand. The British Columbia
First Nations Canoes left June 28th in order to make it to our landing by July 29th. We hold our people high, as we
paddle our canoes from our different homelands to the hosting Tribe each year.
We want to share our cultural resurgence with you!
This Community Guide is designed to let you know a little bit about our culture, heritage and history as well as about
the Tribal Canoe Journey.
The canoe landing is open to the public. There will be shuttles from all over Olympia to the landing site, and the
Inter-City Transit Dash will have connections to these shuttles. A map is included in this magazine to show you where
you can park your car.
The public is also welcome beginning on July 30th, when the week long cultural festivities move to our Tribal
community in Kamilche, Washington, between Olympia and Shelton. Each Canoe Family will share their culture
through songs, dances and traditional ways. The order of the groups taking the floor for Potlatch Protocol will be
determined on the distance traveled. The Canoe Families that have traveled the furthest will start the celebrations. We
will continue our ceremonies and celebration through August 5th, ending with our Squaxin Island Canoe Family.
I hope you enjoy this guidebook and that you can participate in our truly wonderful resurgence of our traditional
culture.
Thank you,
David Lopeman
Tribal Council Chairman
5 • paddle to squaxin 2012