Penn Cove Water Festival

Coupeville’s annual Penn Cove Water Festival could have an expanded focus on the Island’s Native cultural past thanks to the group of volunteers who have taken over leadership of the event.
“We’re trying to go back to as Native and natural as we can,” said Vicky Reyes, a new board member for the festival.
Reyes noted that the event’s theme for this year is “Legacy of Whidbey Island,” reflecting Native tribes’ longtime connection to the Island.
Each May, the festival offers a wide variety of activities that carry on traditions of using the Island’s marine waterways for food and recreation. The event includes tribal canoe races, arts and crafts, storytelling, music, dancing, exhibits, Native American fry bread and salmon, and children’s activities.
Since 1993, the event has been organized by the Penn Cove Water Festival Association, a small group of dedicated volunteers who worked throughout the year to create a day of celebrating Whidbey Island’s water, cultural heritage and history.
But after putting in a lot of hard work for so many years, longtime festival board members were ready to “retire” and hand the reins over to new volunteers. An open meeting was held last fall to recruit new volunteers to fill the association’s leadership positions.
Lisa Haas, who moved to Coupeville two years ago and has experience staging tribal festivals in northern California, has stepped into the festival president’s role. Also new to the board are Teresa Ellis and Kyle Waterman. Reyes agreed to take on the secretary job, Tom Ellis will be treasurer, and longtime festival volunteer Molly Hughes will organize the annual dinner for tribal participants and volunteers.
Longtime board members Lou Labombard and Benye Weber will stay on to help provide some organizational continuity.
Haas said she is looking for ways to get the community involved. She’s hoping to explore new ideas while still maintaining traditions of festivals past.
“For the 2012 festival, we’re definitely going to keep the traditions of making bread to give as gifts to tribal visitors, and the community dinner to thank participants and volunteers,” she said. “I’d also like to see if there’s enough interest to have an opening parade, and have even more music, dancing and tribal art.”
Tom Ellis said he’d like to see more opportunities for children to learn about Native traditions.
“We want to have some kids’ activities tuned to the Native American culture,” he said.
Another idea Haas wants to explore is resurrecting the Penn Cove boat tours narrated by Native storyteller Lou Labombard. Getting people out on the water so they have an even better view of the canoe races will add to the festival’s learning opportunities, Haas said.
Waterman said the group is looking at holding a salmon feed, possibly at Coupeville Town Park. The group also would like to bring the focus of the event back downtown Coupeville, he said. With Native racers and their families gathered at the boat launch at Capt. Coupe Park and all the vendors and entertainment on Front Street, the festival is a bit disjointed.
“I really would like to see us look at how we can get people back out on the wharf,” he said.
The first Coupeville Festival with Native American Canoe Races took place in 1930, organized by a local businessman to draw tourists. That first year, just three 11-man canoes took part in the races, but eventually as many as 22 tribes took part in an event that drew big crowds to the Coupeville waterfront. Local residents baked loaves of bread as gifts for the Indian families who camped nearby.
The event was called off during World War II, and Native canoe races were absent from Penn Cove until organizers started the new water festival in 1991.
The festival centers around the fast-paced canoe races starting at noon with songs, drums, and a blessing at the Captain Coupe Park boat launch on Ninth Street. Categories depend on the type of canoes, but typically include events for single male and female racers, 6-man and 11-man canoes and the junior “buckskin” races, said past president Susan Berta, who will continue to organize the canoe races in 2012.
“The Penn Cove Water Festival is so different from other celebrations,” Berta said. “It’s really a wonderful opportunity to learn about the Island’s native history and culture. Native American culture has a lot of respect for our natural world and it does us all good to understand that.”
Many locals echo Berta’s sentiments, but practically speaking, it takes a lot of hard-working volunteers – and a lot of money – to stage the festival each year.
The group needs about $30,000 each year to stage the event. It typically receives some grant support from local tribes and Island County lodging tax revenues, but in 2010 the event struggled to bring in enough money to keep going. With the annual Tribal Canoe Journey ending at the Swinomish reservation near La Conner last year, local tribes had less money available. This year, the water festival is hoping to receive renewed tribal support, Haas said.
“We’ll have to have some fundraisers, and we welcome community donations and new volunteers,” said Haas.
Each year since 1993, Coupeville artist Roger Purdue has designed a logo based in the North Coast native art tradition of his Tsimshian heritage. His design is used on T-shirts, art prints and posters that are sold to raise money.
Organizers note that the 2012 event will be held on Saturday, May 19 rather than May 12, as had previously been announced.
For information about the festival, to volunteer or to donate, visit the Penn Cove Water Festival page on Facebook or go to penncovewaterfestival.com.