The North Tide Canoe Kwaan during their 2014 trip to Juneau for Celebration. (Photo by Dawson Evendon)

Native groups from all over the West Coast are gathering in Juneau next week for the 2018 Celebration. Over four days, attendees will perform music and dances, share art, host film screenings and workshops, and even walk the catwalk during a fashion show.  

For some, the journey may be just as exciting as the destination. A group from Haines will paddle roughly one hundred miles to the gathering in traditional wooden dugout canoes. 

At the top of the parade ground at Fort Seward, two hand-made red and black canoes sit outside of Master Carver Wayne Price’s home. The Seahorse is 30 feet long, made from strips of spruce laminated together.

Then there is the Jibba, a 28-foot cedar dugout. Price built it and took it to the water the very first time he paddled to Juneau for Celebration six years ago. He said everything that could’ve gone wrong that year, did.

“But we made it,” Price laughed. “We’re still here, we’re doing fine, and we’re going to go for it again.”

This isn’t just some leisurely hobby for Price.

“There’s nothing easy about a dugout. It takes a lot of know-how, and it’s not necessarily something that can be pulled off the first time. So it’s a real hard learning curve,” Price said.

He has been around canoe carving his whole life, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that he decided to put these vessels back in the water for trips up and down the Lynn Canal with the North Tide Canoe Kwaan.

Brothers Ted and James Hart have been working with Price on canoes for years and made the first trip by dugout to celebration 6 years ago. Ted said that he got involved with the first journey after taking a paddle making class with Price.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I dreamed about seeing our people traveling with dugout canoes once again,” Ted said.

James said that his brother encouraged him to get involved with the North Tides. Since he joined the trips have become extremely meaningful.

“Being a part of it allowed me to really grow and grasp something that had true feeling. Not a lot of things have that feeling. But this one I really was able to grasp and know it was a part of me,” James said.

Haines residents won’t be the only ones making the journey to Celebration in a dugout this year. Another group will be leaving from Hoona in a 40-foot dugout that Price and the Harts helped build. Price’s wife Cherri is very excited to see the Da Ku, a group from Haines Junction, join the trip as well.

 “They’re bringing a Tlingit river canoe that’s also seaworthy,” Cherri said. “Their canoe is very beautiful. Wayne carved it and painted it black and red, and they designed it with white symbols along the gunnels. It looks like a button blanket.” 

She said the Da Ku are a bit nervous since this will be their first time paddling outside of the interior in the ocean. Luckily the North Tides have plenty of experience.

In preparation for the journey, Ted says the group has been spending some time in the ocean to gain strength and clear their heads. They also carried out cold water training with the coastguard.

“We flipped the canoe out in the water and went through safety procedures to get the water out and get everybody back in the canoe safely,” Ted said.

The aim is to arrive in Juneau on June fifth, the day before Celebration begins. Paddlers will launch on Saturday at 4 a.m. on the high tide from the Haines boat harbor. They will paddle 24 miles and camp on the South side of Sullivan Island. The second day they will travel 28 miles to Mab island. Price said that will be a long stretch on open water.

 “If we have the wind we can sail, if we don’t we paddle.” 

The third day they will head for Auk. This will give them an extra day to camp in the islands around Juneau in case of rough water. On the fifth of June, they will arrive at 7 p.m. at Auk recreation campground, the original site of the Auk Kwaan village. At a ceremony, they will ask the Auk Kwaan people for permission to come to shore before landing and joining the celebration.

Other canoes will arrive from elsewhere in Southeast, however, the paddlers leaving from Haines and Hoonah will be the only ones to reach Juneau in traditional wooden dugouts.

Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. the canoes will be placed in the Haines small boat harbor, and a ceremony will be carried out to bless the crafts.