With Native drumming on stage and dancing down on the floor, the Chinook Nation and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, as well as a member from both the Shoalwater Bay Tribe and Coquille Tribe, provide the crowd inside the Liberty Theater with a rare public performance Saturday night.

ASTORIA The Pacific County-based Chinook Indian Tribe played a starring role in last weekends opening round of Astoria Bicentennial celebrations. This is only fitting, as the tribe had already been here for many generations before European-Americans first arrived.

Speaking on Saturday to a crowd of dignitaries including Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and both of Oregons U.S. senators, Tribal Chairman Ray Gardner of Menlo was congratulatory but put the bicentennial into context.

I will say happy 200th birthday to Astoria. Youre just a newborn, Gardner said. For all of the comments Ive heard about the discovery of the Columbia River by Robert Gray, I dont think so.

His remarks were met with applause and laughter.

Our people have been here since the beginning. We are the first people here. We have watched as the captains came and went. When they talk about Captain Gray, one must remember thats the first documented Euro-American. There were Chinese here many years before him.

For Lewis and Clark, they didnt discover anything either.

It was the Chinook people, Gardner said, who clothed and fed Lewis and Clark during the winter of 1805 to keep them alive. 

When Grays ship came in, he added, Chinook canoes led him across the bar.

One of the things that has remained constant was the people of the Chinook Nation.

Gardner took the opportunity to remind Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, sitting behind him on stage, of the federal recognition the Chinook Nation has been trying to get for many years.

His remarks were acknowledged.

Earlier that day the Chinook tribe took to canoes and paddled out to the tallships Lady?Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain in a reenactment of trade between the Native Americans and European explorers. 

 

Chinook were here first

The first Astorians did not arrive by ship, but paddled in canoes and have been here the whole time. 

That was the message shared through song and dance of the Chinook Indian Nation Friday night at the Liberty Theater.

Most of us have ancestry right here, said tribal member Tony Johnson of Astoria. My wifes family signed the treaty for the Clatsop Tribe. My family signed to treaty for just up river on the north shore. All of us have connections to this place and Astoria has always been important to us. But we feel that, of course, you cant celebrate the bicentennial of this town without the indigenous voice.

Being able to express and share that here and remind everyone that were still alive, were still here. We have something of value to share and thats all very important to us.

 

Allied tribes join in performance

More than 400 people attended the once-in-a-lifetime performance by the Chinook Tribe. One-hundred year old canoes were on display, while songs and dances were performed for the crowd. The traditions are usually reserved for within the tribe and their canoe family, which includes the confederated tribes of Grand Ronde,  Lower Elwha, Muckleshoot, Lummi, Cowichan, Makah and Suquamish.

This year the tribe will travel to the Swinomish Reservation to share.

The songs were mostly drum-based; some were prayer songs and some for celebration.

One in particular was about new beginnings, something one member called fitting for the event, and the new relationship with Astoria.

Men, women and boys were on the stage, singing and drumming. Nineteen young women danced in front of the stage. Participants included everyone from the tribes elders to newborns.

Kyoni Mercier, 13 of Grand Ronde, has been dancing with the canoe family since she was 7 years old.

The performance was important to her. Its a long drive, but it was worth it, she said. This means a lot to me.

All of the children came straight from school, more than two hours away, to be at the performance.

After intermission, they returned home.

When the intermission was over, Jerry Chapman, a minister in Cowlitz County, performed with his band Skawahlook or Wind Never Stops. The concert with guitar, bass, and Chapman on his handmade drums was filled with worship songs for the creator, whether that be God, Yeshua or Grandfather, a word tribe members often use to refer to the creator.

We travel the nation, we travel overseas and we share this type of music, Indian Nation-style music, to churches, we go to conferences, we go to pow-wows, everywhere. We want to share what we do with communities like Chinook Nation, he said.

Years ago, the church came in and presented what they would call their version of the gospel. But we know very well a lot of the history of what happened between the churches and the first aboriginal people.

He performed several songs and announced his support in the Chinook tribes campaign with the federal government for recognition.