Young people take the lead in Canoe Journey 2024

 

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

Children splashed in the waters of Puget Sound under a warm sun while onshore, adults waited and watched, straining their eyes for the first glimpse of the canoes — finally spotting, in the far distance, brief glitters as paddles lifted from the water.

At first barely visible, the canoes gradually achieved form as the paddlers found a final burst of strength to bring them to the landing site.

In some canoes, the sound of paddlers singing drifted across the water to the waiting crowd. It was Landing Day of the Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024, and despite rain earlier in the week, the weather was perfect.

With the focus this year on youth, children and teenagers took the lead, calling out to the waiting Elders of the Puyallup Tribe that they were tired and hungry, and wanted permission to come ashore. Each spoke a little about their Tribe and their journey, some spoke about the wish to share their songs and stories.

Puyallup Tribal Council Chairman Bill Sterud welcomed each canoe, calling out “Come ashore, come ashore!” in both Lushootseed and English. As his voice grew weary, Tribal Council Vice Chairwoman Sylvia Miller and other council members began giving speeches of welcome, but Sterud’s glad cry of “Come ashore, come ashore!” continued to the last canoes.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee attended the Landing Day ceremony, thanking the assembled Tribes for “this huge honor” of being allowed to join in a special day.

 “I represent eight million people, and that means Washington state raises 16 million arms to you today,” Inslee said, “and the reason is you inspire the Tribal community, but you also inspire the entire state of Washington, because you are helping our sacred youth connect their past with their present, with their future.”

Inslee also spoke about the importance of giving young people a sense of a future they can work toward.

“Puget Sound is threatened right now,” he said, noting the affects of climate change and other issues.  “We are pulling together for the future of these pullers today,” he said.

For some of the young people participating, the journey along ancestral waterways was pure joy; for others, it held a spiritual aspect.

Seventeen-year-old Marie Quenelle, who serves the Tribe as Junior Miss Grand Ronde, said she had been feeling a bit off before the journey, but it had left her feeling rejuvenated.

“It was a very spiritual reset for me,” Quenelle said. “I just would like to say that Canoe Journey has been a really good experience for me and probably a lot of other people, and I feel like I need to go on it every single year.”

Ben Moore, 15, said it was “my first time paddling on Canoe Journey,” and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“I had a lot of fun. I got tired sometimes, but I pushed through it,” he said.

Moore said he had gone to some of the practice paddling sessions before and enjoyed them so much that he was excited to participate in the journey.

Esten Kimsey, 14, agreed. “It’s really fun,” he said. “It’s nice to be out in the canoe with your friends, paddling on the water.”

Moore traveled with his 10-year-old brother, Reed Kyllonen, and mother, Tribal member Keri Kimsey. Watching her sons and the other youth take leadership roles, Kimsey said, made the experience especially meaningful.

Her eldest son was able to get on the canoe and paddle.

“I think (he) really got to experience the fullness of what journey is,” she said. “Last year, we arrived when everyone had landed already. This year, he was able to experience the entire thing; the journey, landing, protocol and camping.”  

Singing and dancing during protocol was a first for the boys, Kimsey said.

Lyliana Rideout, 16, leads dancers on the floor during the Grand Ronde Canoe Family’s protocol of the Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024 in Tacoma, Wash., on Friday, Aug. 2. (Photo by Michelle Alaimo)

“They just embraced it a lot more, I think because the focus was on youth, and they felt a lot more comfortable doing when other youth were doing it, too,” she said.

Kimsey added that she loved seeing the young people take the lead in asking permission to come ashore.

“It was beautiful to watch, and I’m just proud of each and every one of the youth who stepped up to do that, because it can be a little scary,” she said. “All of our kids were just glowing and having so much fun and stepping into leadership roles and taking it seriously. It was just really cool to see our kids light up and shine the way they did during journey.”

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Canoe Family sent four canoes to join with the 78 other canoe families registered for the annual journey, representing some 50 Tribes from across the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia and Alaska.

Kimsey said the journey was powerful for entire families. In her case, she said, she and her sons also traveled with “my brother, my sister, my dad, my nieces and nephews, so it brings families together too, and helps families heal as well and create memories. It’s just a really healthy experience.”

Weaving a traditional canoe hat from cedar bark as she waited on the shore for the Grand Ronde canoes to reach the landing site, Youth Empowerment and Prevention Grant Coordinator Angey Rideout said the department had brought 10 youth to participate in the event, but many others had come with their families, or, for those old enough to drive themselves, on their own.

“We really tried to make sure the youth were the focus this year,” Rideout said, and encouraged them to “take healthy risks, like asking to come ashore.”

Several children and teens spoke, sometimes taking turns to speak from the same canoe. The crowd whooped when the youngest, 5-year-old Copper Chargualaf, shyly spoke into the microphone, telling Puyallup Tribal leaders, “We are tired and we want to come ashore.”

“Amazing,” Miller called, before enthusiastically welcoming the group to disembark.

The 2025 Canoe Journey will be hosted on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.