Making Blankets for Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024

Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024

It’s the time of year when hand-carved canoes slice through the salty waters off of the coast of the Pacific Northwest to safely carry the families inside to the sandy shores. The canoe is guided by the skipper who will guide from the stern as the pullers propel them forward. The annual journey is a celebrated practice that uplifts traditional ways and connects Native people to their ancestral way of life.

This year’s canoe journey—Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024—is being hosted by the Puyallup Tribe. While not the original hosts, the Puyallup Tribe stepped up to ensure the event would continue and have been diligently working towards its success for the past six months. Connie McCloud, Heritage Division Manager with the Puyallup Tribe, has been leading the way for this year’s canoe journey and was a driving force behind the theme: this year’s theme centers around youth journey and teaching the younger generation traditional practice by sharing the knowledge only elders can pass on.

Read more about Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024 on the Puyallup Tribe of Indians' webpage here

The week-long celebration starts on July 30, with the soft landing at Owen Beach where canoes will gather themselves before continuing on to the final landing. Canoes will approach the final landing in order of who traveled the farthest, and they will ask permission before coming ashore. Once arriving, protocol will kick off—a ceremony that recognizes the arriving tribes with traditional introductions, song, and dances. There are no plans to live stream this year’s protocol and those attending are expected to be present and pay respect to the hosts and over 75 registered canoe families.

Custom Gold Label Blankets for Canoe Journey

Canoe journey hosts give special gifts to the canoe families; this year’s gifts include custom Gold Label blankets and shawls made by our Eighth Generation team. This is the largest custom Gold Label project the Eighth Generation Team has taken on yet, which includes 100 custom shawls and 50 custom blankets. The Eighth Generation team worked with the Puyallup Tribe and the artist, Christopher Duenas (Puyallup), to create these special gifts.

One of the Gold Label blankets we made for Puyallup

Our Gold Label textiles are knitted from 100% Merino wool on state-of-the-art machines here at our Seattle studio. In order to be knittable we have to ensure the artwork fits within specific parameters; our expert textile production team worked directly with the artist to adapt the original six-color art to the necessary three colors in order to weave the blankets and shawls. Three color art is the most we can accommodate for these items, and gave the textiles the perfect weight and shape for the gifts, while maintaining the integrity of artist Christopher Duenas’ original work.

For this project, we were given chance to introduce multiple unique color combinations that we had not yet explored in Eighth Generation’s products. While some of the blankets for Canoe Journey feature more common color combinations like black, red, and white, others play with unique palettes that included combinations like turquoise and egg shell, bubble gum and wine, and blue corn and burgundy.

Stacks of finished Gold Label wool blankets for Puyallup

As a company founded by a Native artist and owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, it means so much to us to be able to participate in this important cultural event. We can’t wait to see these custom blankets and shawls handed out to the different canoe families! Thank you to the Puyallup Tribe for working with us on this special project, and thank you to artist Christopher Duenas for sharing your beautiful design. Read more about Power Paddle to Puyallup Youth Canoe Journey 2024 on the Puyallup Tribe of Indians’ page here, and read more about the custom projects Eighth Generation can work on for your tribe or organization here.