Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024 set to stopover in Saltwater State Park, how to show support

DES MOINES – The traditional lands of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe on the present-day beaches of Saltwater State Park will welcome traditional canoe families on July 29. The landing is a stopover on the Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey.

The stopover will be hosted by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. As many as 60 canoes, each carrying up to 43 people, will ask the host Tribe permission to come ashore and share in ceremonial songs and dances.

Day of the landing

Canoe landings will occur throughout the day on Monday on the beach at Saltwater State Park by the concession building. Landings are a large-scale community event and require many volunteers to help canoe families, shuttle Tribal Elders and carry people and gear from the landing site to camp site.

Parking in front of the beach will be reserved for Tribal Elders and visitors with a disability placard. The upper parking lot by the park entrance will be a holding area for shuttles.

Visitors to the park on Monday should expect and plan for increased traffic congestion, limited parking and crowds. In support and partnership with the Tribes, Parks staff is responsible for the park logistics and will have staff and signage available to help direct traffic. If you have questions or are not sure where to go, ask uniformed Parks staff.

How to share the park during Canoe Journey

Canoe Journey is a sacred ceremony and State Parks asks the public to support by respectfully observing while visiting Saltwater State Park on July 29. There will be a designated public viewing area for those interested in watching and learning more about Canoe Journey.

During the canoe landing, please follow these guidelines to respectfully share the space:

• Pay attention to what is happening and step back to allow space for this to be about the Indigenous people.
• Listen and observe. Do not interrupt preparations or ceremony to ask questions. Please visit the information booth instead.
• Be quiet and respectful. Don’t talk during a prayer, when an Elder is talking or when a canoe family is requesting permission to come ashore.
• Avoid swearing, speaking loudly, or speaking in degrading ways.
• Do not touch the canoes unless you are invited to do so by Tribal volunteers, those in the canoe or those holding canoe already.

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission is honored to lift the voices of the Indigenous People who will gather for the Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey. Though State Parks is the current steward of some of these lands, these are the Traditional lands of the Muckleshoot People since time immemorial. As an indigenous ally, State Parks is privileged to use its platform to share these stories in partnership with the Tribes.