Penn Cove Water festival will kick off its 25th year of the event’s resurrection this Saturday in downtown Coupeville.

Canoe races this year promise to be the best ever with 345 pullers, organizers said.

The races are a direct link to the beginnings of the water festival in the 1930s. At those races, there were only three 11-man canoes but later up to 22 tribes participated. The races were stopped with the onset of World War II, but revived in 1992.

Races will begin just after noon Saturday in Penn Cove and will run throughout the afternoon. They can be viewed from the Coupeville Wharf and other viewing areas are on Front Street, Ninth Street and at the Coupeville Boat Launch.

The festival will begin with a special pre-festival performance by Dana Lyons, an internationally known, Bellingham based environmental troubadour. She will perform 10 a.m. at the Coupeville Library.

The opening ceremony will follow at 11 a.m. at the main stage on Front Street.

Lou LaBombard will be tell stories from 11:15-11:45 a.m. and 3:30-4 p.m. at the Island County Historical Museum. He will also tell stories around the bonfire 8 p.m. Friday at the Pacific Rim Institute. LaBombard will regale the public with Native American oral traditions.

“I tell Native American stories from all over the Americas about how we got here, because each tribe had their own perception of reality, due in part to their adaptations to their unique environments, and distinctive social challenges,” LaBombard said. “For example, the Hopi and the Pueblos tell their stories differently from the Cheyenne and the Sioux. I illustrate both the contrasts as well as the similarities. Many people believe that all Native American tribes are the same, but they’re not.

“People often ask me to say something in Native American tongue, not realizing that there are at least a thousand different languages.  For example, I speak Lakota which is Sioux, which is different from the Iroquois, which is different from the Navaho. Most of the languages were lost when Native Americans were forced into boarding schools designed to strip them of their Native American ways in favor of European. Vi Hilbert, who was known as ‘grandma’ to us, was the savior and reviver of Northwest Native American language, which is now mainly the dialect of the coastal Salish.”

As racers paddle through Penn Cove, performances will be held by flute player Peter Ali at 11:30 a.m., storyteller Lois Landgrebe at 12:15 p.m., JP Falcon Grady at 1 p.m., storytelling and music by Rona Yellow Robe at 1:45 p.m., violinist Swil Kanim at 2:30 p.m. and the ever-popular Tshimshian Haayuuk Dancers at 4 p.m.

Visitors can meet performers, shop at arts and crafts booths set up along Front Street, view educational exhibits on Alexander Street and at the wharf or dine on some Native American staples.

Youth activities this year will be located in booths on Alexander Street and at the boat launch.