Dancers are coming from all over the western United States. And some of the spectators are from other parts of the world.
“I’ve never seen such a thing,” said Vildan Islam of Anacortes, and a native of Turkey, of the 16th annual Festival of the River at River Meadows County Park east of Arlington on Sunday.
Islam lived in New York for 17 years until moving to the Northwest recently. “For me it’s very interesting,” she said while watching the American Indian dancers at the festival’s powwow.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
The Stillaguamish Tribe’s event, which started as a way to promote education about the condition of the Stillaguamish River, has grown into a diverse, two-day event with live music, traditional dancing and drumming, a logging show and competition, storytellers, puppeteers, a birds-of-prey display, food and arts and crafts.
Final numbers weren’t available Sunday, but attendance at the alcohol-free festival has reached an all-time high, organizers said.
“This is bigger than we’ve ever had,” said tribal member Mikki Swimmer, a powwow organizer.
Another boost to the festival the past two years could be the absence of the Love Israel family’s Garlic Festival, which was held nearby. The festival, last held two years ago, folded after bankruptcy forced the family to give up its land.
“I think in the end it probably does have an effect,” said Eddie Goodridge Jr., the tribe’s executive director, adding that some attending the festival in the past went to both events in the same day.
At the Festival of the River, the live music packs ‘em in and is probably the event’s biggest draw, Goodridge said. But the powwow is catching up.
“The attendance at the powwow’s gone way up, it’s a huge draw,” Goodridge said.
Some festival visitors said Sunday they enjoyed the variety at the event. But most said they were there to see the dancers, who dress in full regalia.
“We’re totally in awe,” said Miki Durand of Mukilteo. She and her husband attended the festival for the first time after a friend told her about it.
“I like to see the Indian dancing and pretty costumes,” said Louise Vienneau of Mount Vernon, also at the event for the first time. She brought a group of exchange students from Japan to the festival, she said.
About 200 American Indian dancers came in different types of regalia, all of it colorful. Some is a modernized style for “fancy dancing,” as it’s called, while other dress was from different traditions of the Plains, Southwest and Northwest coastal tribes, Swimmer said.
Some of the young Stillaguamish dancers are learning the tribe’s own traditional dances, which had nearly been lost, she said.
“You get a chance to see some of the traditional native culture blended together with the modern way,” said Gene Wiggins of Everett, who with his wife, Jessie, has attended the festival for several years.
“The sense of community here, the closeness, I enjoy and appreciate (it),” he said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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