Indigenous People’s Day
Monday, Oct. 14, 2024 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day and we invite our Kenmore Community to celebrate Indigenous peoples and honor their histories, culture, legacies, and futures. There is a deep history of violence, attempted erasure, and claims to land as Europeans continued to make their way to the Americas. While it is important to acknowledge this, we must also recognize the lives and cultures of Indigenous people pre-colonization and their resistance, survival, and struggle for justice ever since.
As residents of Kenmore, we also want to acknowledge Indigenous people more locally, who have been and still are here, and recognize that Kenmore Elementary has been built on Coast Salish lands. The Coast Salish peoples live in and beyond the Puget Sound, and we continue to honor them for their persistence, strength, and legacies.
Local Indigenous Art:
Ty Juvinel, a member of the Tulalip Tribes, is a Coast Salish carver, artist, cultural preservationist, activist and storyteller. He has been a guest at our 2022 and 2023 Family Culture Nights. His indigenous story pole can be seen in Kenmore at the Hangar at Town Square (photos below). The story pole is a traditional Native American way of telling stories and this pole shows an important legend of the Tulalip people, that of the killer whales.
In April 2021, the Kenmore City Council approved a name change from Squire’s Landing Park to ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis (Tl’ awh-ah-dees) Park, the name of the Lushootseed village previously located in or near present-day downtown Kenmore. ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis translates to “a place where something is grown or sprouts” and honors the Coast Salish People who originally inhabited the area and the many Indigenous Peoples who still reside here. The name was recommended by the Kenmore Heritage Society, Ray Fryberg (Tulalip Tribes), and Iissaaksiichaa Ross Braine (Kenmore Resident /Apsaalooke Nation). The new name is displayed prominently at every entrance to the park in the Lushootseed language, two cultural interpretive signs and ten plant markers within the park are also written in Lushootseed. Two large works of art by Ty Juvinel, Salmon Scarcity and Alone We Thrive, are on display within the park.
Local Celebrations:
Oct. 14 from 11am to 1pm at the Cascadia College Campus: Our Kinship with Salmon: Indigenous Traditions and Sustainability. Discover Salmon’s revered place in the cultural traditions of Indigenous communities in the Salish Sea. This free event will feature speakers, community groups, and activities.
Click here for more information regarding the City of Kenmore’s commitment to the Land Acknowledgment.
Click here for more information and resources from the Northshore School District.
Story Pole at the Hangar by Ty Juvinel:
Hoop Dance at the Dedication of the Story Pole performed by Michael Goedel:
Ty Juvinel “Salmon Scarcity”
