A celebration of culture will take over downtown Coupeville Saturday as Native American tribes from across the region gather for the Penn Cove Water Festival.
The event features tribal canoe races all day between the boat launch and wharf as well as tribal presentations, dances, food and more.
Coupeville held a water festival as early as the 1930s, which featured canoe races. At those early races, there were only three 11-man canoes, but up to 22 tribes participated. The races stopped with the start of World War II but were revived in 1992.
This year, 250-300 tribal pullers and about a dozen canoe clubs are expected to participate, said event organizers.
Visitors can view the races from the wharf and at various view points along Front Street. During the day Front Street will be filled with vendors, tribal performances and presentations.
There will be musical entertainment throughout the day, including two new entertainers.
Cindy Minkler will be performing at 2 p.m. on the Main Stage.
Minkler graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a B.A. in music education and piano performance. Since then, she’s been an educator, graduation speaker, freelance pianist, piano teacher and performer. In the 1990s, Minkler was seen on the hit dramedy television show “Northern Exposure.” In 2003 she was invited to perform at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, where she featured her original composition, “Battle of Wounded Knee.” Minkler performed and won an award at the second annual West Coast American Indian Music Awards Show and is currently performing around the Pacific Northwest.
Also new, Solana Rose Booth is a Native American cultural educator and storyteller of the Nooksack and Tsymsyan Nations. Booth conducts cultural sensitivity training for business and institutions and is also a documentary filmmaker. She is president and founder of the Indigenous Voices Association.
See her at 3:30 p.m. on the Main Stage.
Youth activities will be offered throughout the day, including coloring, beading, stamping and stenciling. New this year will be activities aimed at attracting older children, said Cheryl Waide, one of the event organizers.
At 1 p.m. there will be a scavenger hunt and 2-4 p.m. there will be native games, including tug o’ war, hoop games, bone games, dice games and sharing coast Salish traditions.
Children’s activities will be located at Main Street and Coveland Street.
The Native Spirit Art Show, which celebrates late artist Roger Purdue, will be held at the Coupeville Recreation Hall.
Each year, designs by Purdue, a celebrated Northwest artist of Tsimshian heritage who was a master carver and print maker, are featured at the Penn Cove Water festival. Partnering with the water festival, images from Purdue’s art appears in festival publicity, on posters, T-shirts and fine art prints.
Purdue created the Salmon Wheel and designed the Whale Wheel on the Coupeville Wharf. Limited edition prints will be available at the Native Spirit Art Show.
Also during the festival, the Island County Historical Museum will be open, offering tours of its newest exhibit, “Native People — Native Places.”
At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Lou Labombard will be at the museum delighting all with stories from the “Storytelling Corner.”
Food Vendors are available on Alexander Street, Front Street and at the boat launch.
The now-famous salmon tacos and native flat bread, cinnamon flat bread, will be available on Alexander Street as well as hot dogs provided by the Central Whidbey Lions Club. Local vendors will be available on Front Street, and Coupe’s Last Stand will be serving up pulled-pork sandwiches, hot dogs, Polish dogs and other treats at the boat launch.
The water festival is also partnering with Pacific Rim Institute to shuttle groups to the campus south of Coupeville for tours of the prairie.
For the full list of events, see the Water Festival special section on pages 9-12.
