At February’s meeting of the Kingston Citizens’ Advisory Council (KCAC), co-chair Greg Platz welcomed everyone to KCAC’s new meeting place at the North Kitsap Fire & Rescue station and announced that the Kingston Open House was set for Wednesday, March 18, at the Kingston Middle School. In other business he announced that new KCAC member Tom Waggoner would be officially named by the county in February.
Tribal Canoe Journeys
Tine Jackson, who has been working for the Suquamish Tribe for 25 years, is currently working on Tribal Canoe Journeys. The theme of the Paddle to Suquamish is “Our Religion is the Tradition of Our Ancestors” and marks the 20th anniversary of the historical 1989 Paddle to Seattle, which was the first traditional intertribal canoe journey in more than 100 years from the shores of Seattle or Suquamish.
This year’s Journey is going to be held Aug. 3 – 8 in Suquamish.
Jackson said the event celebrating tribal cultures has grown over the years from 28 canoes and about 2,500 people to an expected 100 canoes this year. The tribe expects about 12,000 people to be in Suquamish for the first day of the celebration. “Those numbers take my breath away,” she said.
“Canoe Journeys are really amazing,” she said, noting they have changed the face of Indian culture in British Columbia and in Washington. Tribal people from as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand are interested in participating, she added.
“We went through so many years when we did not practice our traditional ways of life, and now we are bringing them back more and more, keeping them alive for future generations.”
Jackson said many non-Indians like to help with Canoe Journeys events so they can see and learn more about the traditional Indian ways.
She said it takes a lot of hands to set up and organize the event. For example, breakfast and dinner are served every day to the participants, tribal members, onlookers, and community members.
Suquamish will serve an estimated 70,000 meals (breakfast and dinner) during the week. Everyone will be camping in the area and bring all their supplies in and cart all supplies out, thereby leaving as small a footprint as possible.
Once all the participating tribes get into Suquamish on Aug. 3, each tribe will have a chance during the week to do a presentation, song, dance, etc. A Potlatch will be held at the end during which every participant in the event will be given a gift of thanks, as is tradition.
When KCAC members asked how they could help, Jackson said volunteer forms will be circulated and any help would be appreciated. Assistance in all forms, from parking attendants to food servers to clean-up crews, will be needed.
The Suquamish Tribe, Jackson said, is committed to making the event as environmentally respectful and sensitive as possible. Arrangements have been made to compost all food scraps. Compostable eating utensils and plates will be used. Plastic water bottles will not be used. Instead, the Tribe will distribute stainless steel water bottles and provide places to fill them. Reusable cloth grocery bags with the Suquamish logo will be given to Canoe Journeys attendees to help store and carry items.
The general public is welcome for entire celebration, Jackson said. There will be information and traditional crafts vendors in Suquamish for the week.
Local residents should note the road in and out of Suquamish will be closed to traffic the first day of the event, she said. Other logistics are still being worked out. Information on the event will be updated regularly at www.TribalJourneys2009.com.
County Report
Sidewalk improvements continue in Suquamish, according to Pete Sullivan, associate planner for the county. The Miller Bay Road bike path group also met and things are on track. The county has received two dozen pre-applications for site-specific work, many for industrial uses and some in West Kingston. Formal applications are due in March, and he will be able to discuss any Kingston project applications at that time.
Several KCAC members expressed their desire for the county to continue issuing quarterly reports about land use and other issues affecting Kingston. “The loss of those quarterly reports would be significant to us in KCAC and in the wider community,” council member Betsy Cooper said. Sullivan understands the importance of the reports, but also noted that lack of funding has forced the county to cut staff and resources which makes compiling such records difficult. Platz suggested that an e-mail containing news pertinent to the Kingston area could replace a formally packaged report for KCAC members. Sullivan and Platz both said they would make the council’s concerns known to Commissioner Steve Bauer.
Subcommittees
Ferries — Walt Elliott reported a capacity crowd at the recent ferry meeting in the Community Center to discuss the revised state plan for the ferries. Major items affecting Kingston include:
1. Eliminating night service to Kingston beginning in 2011. The summer schedule would be excepted.
2. Instituting a fuel surcharge when diesel fuel costs are greater than the $2.15 per gallon projected by WSF.
3. Starting a reservation system for Kingston in 2010 – 11 with the provision that if the reservation system doesn’t manage demand, then a peak-hour fare would be assessed.
4. WSF’s plan made no mention of the town’s proposal to mitigate downtown traffic.
