Brandon Ware steers Petersburg Indian Association's 40-foot canoe to shore at Sandy Beach Park where a crowd waited to welcome and bless the newly made vessel which will depart next month for the ten day paddle to Celebration.
The Keet Yaakw is the first Alaska Native-designed canoe to be launched out of Petersburg, at least since Petersburg was incorporated as a town in 1910. Petersburg Indian Association Tribal Council Vice President ShaaL'aanee Brandon Ware described the feeling of bringing the new canoe towards shore at Sandy Beach, where it was unveiled to the public. "Coming into the bay, I knew we were seeing the same thing our people have seen since time immemorial... when it was a seasonal fish camp for thousands of years."
The ceremony had been timed to coincide with high tide at Sandy Beach, not the most...
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