Port Madison tide draws in canoes

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, July 26, 2006

SUQUAMISH — With the soft rush of the tide and the firm splash of paddles, thousands of pullers and their families will land in Suquamish to the sounds of drums and welcomes this weekend as the 2006 Tribal Journeys canoe trip arrives in the North Kitsap community.

Each year, tribes from around the greater Northwest visit one another via their ancestral waterways, using canoes that each group has made. This year, Suquamish will be the second to last destination, before Seattle, with canoes pulling ashore Saturday. The festivities, however, will flow all weekend, starting Friday night.

Local tribal members view the weekend as a great practice run for the area before the 2009 journeys, when Suquamish will be the final stop.

“It’s a great opportunity to work out logistics,” said Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman.

This year should provide a glimpse of the ‘09 event, with an anticipated 3,000 pullers and their families from about 30 to 40 tribes, filling Suquamish during the celebratory weekend.

Forsman said there have been several sites set aside for visitors to camp in, including tribal land, the downtown baseball field and the fields at Suquamish Elementary School. Many Suquamish residents will also open their homes to welcome the masses.

“The biggest challenge is to feed everyone quickly,” Forsman said, adding that the weekend schedule will be tight, and it will be a balancing act between getting everyone through the tribal programs and maintaining the importance and values of each.

To help visitors get their fill, the Suquamish Olalla Neighbors is co-hosting a potluck at 6 p.m. Sunday in downtown Suquamish with the Suquamish Youth Council, the Suquamish Cultural Cooperative, Suquamish Seafoods and Kiana Lodge.

This will be the third year SON has helped feed the canoe pullers, their families and the community.

“The first year, we fed 300 people, the second year we fed 600,” said SON Secretary Mary Ann Dow. “This year we’re feeding 3,000.”

She added that this year, SON is organizing more people than ever to help out with the food.

“I’d anticipate that Suquamish is going to be fairly crowded,” Dow said with a laugh.

To stay organized, potluck volunteers will be at the Suquamish United Community Congregational Church preparing food and waiting for the public to drop off its contributions.

This year’s theme is barbecue, and the tribe will be providing a variety of meat for cooking, Dow said.

Even so, she added that SON needs assistance with side dishes and desserts, and requests any food available, large or small amounts, if it hopes to feed everyone.

Also helping with this endeavor is Bella Luna Pizzeria, headed by Bob and Kari Rowden. The couple has been busy for weeks, preparing for the weekend by stocking up on food and employees.

“We’re blocking off the area in front,” Bob Rowden said, adding that between its new location and serving breakfast, Bella Luna will be even busier than last year. He predicts that Saturday and Sunday morning there will be an all-you-can eat breakfast, with a barbecue for the canoe pullers Saturday. Last year, Bella Luna served about 600 to 700 customers from its former location. This year, with the ability to seat 71 as opposed to 12, Rowden foresees a busy weekend, to say the least.

“Most of (the employees) aren’t really getting how many people show up,” he said, noting that they soon would.

“It’s exciting that so many people in the community are stepping up to help,” said Sarah van Gelder, co-founder of Suquamish Olalla Neighbors. “We need more help because the scale is so much larger this year.”

Van Gelder added that the relationship between the Suquamish Tribe and SON grows each time they work together, and that’s important for everyone. It shows the two can work together for a greater good, a theme that is an undercurrent in the whole canoe journey process.

The journey is not just a physical one, but also a spiritual one as Marilyn Wandrey has been the captain and skipper of The Raven since 1993 can attest.

“It’s a different challenge every time,” she said. “The tides, currents, weather conditions are all different. We have to be aware of that. It’s also very moving, very spiritual, awakening things inside you.”

Wandrey added that for the younger generation, it’s an important journey to take, because they learn lessons about themselves and their tribe through their travels.

“The most important part is visiting and meeting relatives,” she said, adding that tribes intermarry, and members from one tribe may have family members in another. “It’s just an awesome thing to find out. It made our family much, much larger.”

Pulling into a village and being welcomed is an amazing experience, Wandrey said, but pulling into your own tribe is a feeling all its own.

“Pulling into your own village is very powerful,” she said. “Singing your own song, it’s uplifting.”