The century mark is quickly creeping up on the Suquamish Tribe, which will use this weekend to spread goodwill and promote cultural understanding with its 94th celebration of Chief Seattle Days. The event, which follows a year of neighbors squabbling over Old Man House Park, should be given special focus.
Why? Because it’ll be the first time in the long history of Chief Seattle Days that the Suquamish Tribe will actually be able to call the park its own. The former “mother village” was home to Sealth and, long before his time, the Suquamish as D’Suq’Wub — “place of clear salt water.” This connection was pretty much what led the state to return the small piece of land to its rightful owners.
As Chief Seattle Days continues to thrive and chip away at cultural stereotypes each year, we hope the public park’s rich heritage will grow to become an integral part of the celebration — if not a central locale.
The annual gathering is, after all, about strengthening ties to the past. But it is much more.
Chief Seattle Days is also very much about the future of the Suquamish people. It’s about looking forward another 94 years and ensuring that the culture that carried this celebration for more than nine decades continues and never loses sight of the man who brought it all into being in the first place.
