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Portland, Oregon
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Since he was a young boy, Nez Perce tribal elder Elmer Crow Jr.
has been perfecting the art of ancient weaponry and teaching traditional
fishing techniques. On October 11 and 12, Crow will be joined by
Geraldine Jim, Terry Courtney Jr., and other tribal elders from
throughout the Pacific Northwest as they share their knowledge of
traditional tribal culture at Wy- Kan-Ush-Pum Village, a marquee
attraction at the 2008 Oxbow Salmon Festival.
Visitors to the Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum Village won’t be mere spectators
to tribal culture; they’ll live it. They’ll listen to
traditional storytellers, sit in a drum circle, tie a few knots
on an Indian fish net, and mingle with riders atop majestic Appaloosa
horses. A host of tepees fill the village landscape and with a Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum
Village passport in hand, festivalgoers can experience a number
of traditional tribal activities. Children can decorate sashes with
tribal petroglyphs and families can interact with tribal members
who are beading, weaving, net-tying or cooking salmon over an open
fire. Elders share stories teaching that everyone in the Pacific
Northwest, whether they know it or not, is Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum, or “Salmon
People.”
“We want to share with the public why the salmon were and
still are a central part of the tribal culture of this region,”
said Nez Perce tribal member and Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum Village coordinator
Jeremy FiveCrows. “The festival is a great opportunity for
anyone to learn about salmon and the continuous efforts to restore
salmon in the Columbia Basin. We hope that people will make their
own connection with this amazing creature and make it a part of
their own culture, too.”
The festival runs from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 11 and 12, at
Oxbow Regional Park, 8 miles east of Gresham, Ore., with an $8 admission
per vehicle.
Special Media Opportunity: Media is welcome to observe
the teepee and village construction on Friday afternoon.
Metro’s Salmon Festival celebrates the fall Chinook that
spawn each year in the Sandy River along Oxbow Regional Park. About
10,000 young and young-at-heart visitors will descend on the event
to enjoy guided river walks, music, craft activities and CRITFC’s
Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum Village. For more information about the festival
and directions to Oxbow Park visit www.metro-region.org/salmonfestival
or www.critfc.org/text/oxbow.html.
Special Media Opportunity: Tribal staff will be available
to the media for radio, and stand up interviews all week. For more
information please contact Jeremy FiveCrows.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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