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Lower Elwha to host canoe journey landing July 31; tribal hosts seek volunteers and donations
Summary
Representatives updated the Board of Health about a large, free canoe-journey event landing at the Lower Elwha Reservation July 31; organizers asked for volunteers, gifts and health volunteers to support thousands of participants.
Tia (tribal culture representative) briefed the board on local preparations for a large canoe-journey landing at the Lower Elwha Reservation planned for July 31 and early August. Organizers expect dozens of canoe families and thousands of visitors and asked for volunteer help, donations and some medical volunteers to staff mobile medical units.
The briefing outlined logistics: a cleared field on reservation land will host protocol (a covered tent and bleacher area where tribes take the floor to sing and dance), volunteer-run kitchens offering free meals for several days, portable water and sanitation, medical services (mobile medical van and first-aid pop-ups), shuttle service from off-site parking, and vendor areas. A website was available for volunteer sign-ups and canoe-family registration.
Why it matters: the canoe-journey is a cultural, intertribal event that brings tribes from the Pacific Northwest and beyond to stop at ancestral waters. Organizers estimated as many as 70 canoes and roughly 2,300 accompanying visitors at the Elwha stop, and suggested total peninsula attendance could reach 10,000 across the multi-day event. The county’s public-health staff were invited to contribute volunteers and public-health nursing support.
Details and next steps - Volunteer roles include kitchen staff, gift-making assistance, medical volunteers and general event support; volunteers can register on the event site’s volunteer sheet. - Organizers plan free meals (breakfast/dinner) for several days and a final giveaway on the event’s fifth day, during which gifts made by community members will be distributed. Gift-making drop-in sessions are being run by local cultural and heritage organizations. - Public-health staff were invited to sign up to staff mobile medical units and first-aid stations; the organizers said environmental-health staff will provide nonregulatory education to food vendors.
Ending: Organizers said the event is free and open to the public and encouraged county staff and community members to volunteer or donate; specifics and a map of camping areas will be posted on the event website as planning continues.
