By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer

Indigenous Tribal culture wore a 1,000 faces at the second annual Gathering of Oregon’s First Nations in Salem on Saturday, Jan. 30.
And many of those faces were from the Grand Ronde Tribe.
For Grand Ronde Tribal member Joel Selwyn, with camera in hand, some of those faces came from photographic images he took for his senior project at Willamina High School.
Selwyn first explored his interest in photography during two internships with Smoke Signals, he said.
For Grand Ronde Tribal Elder and former Chairwoman Kathryn Harrison, 85, the second annual gathering represented a time to stand and be counted.
“I might be the only Molalla in Grand Entry,” she said, “so I dressed down.”
Harrison recently had cataract surgery and the eye still bothered her, but she added just before the first Grand Entry at 1 p.m., “I would have been here if I had to wear dark glasses.”
“See anything you like?” asked Tribal member Trey George, 15, at a Grand Ronde demonstration booth on the floor of the Salem Pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. Before noon, they had sold seven T-shirts among the many for sale, he said.
Lower Chinook Tribal Council member and frequent Grand Ronde cultural contributor Greg Robinson staffed the booth to talk about his work.
He designed T-shirts and carved bowls on display at the booth. (Incidentally, the bowls were the same as those filled with local berries when the team from the television program “Extreme Cuisine” filmed in Grand Ronde.)
Trey and his younger brother, Tribal member Tynan, 11, both of Gresham, came at their father’s request, “to talk about what we do,” said Trey. 
Trey pulled with the Grand Ronde Canoe Family on the Willamette River last summer. His was one of two canoes on display in front of the booth; the other was a canoe made by members of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, based in Coos Bay.
Tribal Elder Don Day demonstrated flint knapping. Tribal Elder Dolores Parmenter and Tribal member Greg Archuleta also talked about Grand Ronde cultural activities with visitors to the booth.
Myles Green, a nonNative from Dexter, expressed an interest in the baskets and hats woven by Grand Ronde Tribal members. Trey George’s father, Tribal member Jon George, provided Green with a wealth of information about basketry and weaving materials.
Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy and Tribal Council member Wink Soderberg were among those from the Tribe who wore cedar hats.

Nick Sixkiller, an enrolled member of Oklahoma Cherokee and Siletz Education specialist, served as the event’s master of ceremonies. Carlos Calica (Warm Springs) served as arena director.
“We are here in celebration,” Sixkiller told the crowd. He introduced 18 drums in attendance that represented all nine federally recognized Oregon Tribes.
Siletz Tribal Elder Chief Bill Depoe led the grand entries at 1 and 6 p.m. followed by a Veterans Honor Guard including Earl Edmonds, Ed Ben and Allen Fish of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians; Jack Lenox, Les Mecum and Jerry Wasson of the Coquille Indian Tribe; Chief Warren Brainard with the Eagle staff, Henry Brainard and Patrick Brainard of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw; Robert Van Norman and Delbert Rainville of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians; and Vernon Kennedy of the Burns Paiute Tribe.
Representing the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde were Tribal Elder Gene LaBonte, chair of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Norris Merrill and Wayne Chulik (Tlingit), who regularly represents the Grand Ronde Tribe in local Honor Guard activities.
Veterans were followed by Royalty and representatives of each western Tribe’s Tribal Council, followed by the rest of Oregon’s federally recognized Tribes by alphabetical order.
Siletz and Grand Ronde Royalty performed “The Lord’s Prayer.”
In the invocation, Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison recalled the “language and echoes of our forefathers from this place” and gave blessings “to those who left a trail so clear for all of us to follow.”
Cow Creek Chairwoman Sue Shaffer, also chair of the committee that organized both the first event in 2009 and this second annual event, reminded the group that “we were here before Oregon. … It’s little understood, I’m sorry to say, because it is not taught in our schools. It is our obligation to teach this.”
Shaffer noted the importance of Oregon Senate Bill 770, passed in 2001, that requires Oregon state department heads to meet annually with Tribal governments.
 “Sue Shaffer was always pointing out to the organizing committee that we can never stop taking our message to the public,” said Grand Ronde Public Affairs Director Siobhan Taylor.
Part of that message, Taylor added, is that “Native people were here before Oregon, that they continue to be here as Tribal governments, and that they have a definite economic and political clout in their communities. Native power is a force to be reckoned with, and it’s a good thing for Oregon.”
The Gathering of Oregon’s First Nations organizing committee consisted of representatives of each of the five federally recognized western Oregon Tribes.
In a ring around the outside of the powwow’s dance area, 75 merchants sold leather craft, T-shirts, bumper stickers, dream catchers, baskets, jewelry, stone knives, drums, rattles, flutes, videos of Indian history and compact discs of Indian performers.
Merchants set up in a ring at the outside of the main floor this year, leaving plenty of room to dance. The vendors were packed, like sardines, with customers.
 “The comments from people I talked to,” Kennedy said, “were to the effect that this is the greatest way to start the new year, and are you going to do it again. I agree with them.
“It really shows the unity of the western Oregon Tribes,” she added, “to plan and produce a quality event enjoyed by all the Tribes and many Oregonians.”
Expo event representative Wayne Petersen, who coordinated parking and maintenance personnel for the event, counted 770 cars, and from experience with past trade shows, estimated two-and-a-half to three people per car.
“I’d estimate attendance at 2,500,” Petersen said.
In the evening, Sixkiller called for a contest to select the best drum, and put out a request for prizes from vendors.
There came back “an absolutely generous outpouring,” Taylor said.
“By the end of the night, we had a box this big,” she said, showing with her hands as wide apart as possible, “because every vendor was piling stuff into it for best drum. We gave out five blanketfuls of prizes: pillows, hats, bracelets, necklaces. The kids from drum groups were so enthralled to be taking blankets home.”
West Coast Boys, a group of young men and women from the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and Grand Ronde, won the contest.
Taylor negotiated free use of the Salem Pavilion last year, valued at $4,000 per use, including electricity and maintenance. In return, the State Fair kept $3 parking fees and received a commitment from the Tribes to again set up Tribal information booths and culture demonstrations at this summer’s State Fair.
“The beautiful thing about this event,” said Taylor, “is that the five western Tribes, even though we have different viewpoints on political and economic issues, we are a very cohesive unit.
“We are a coalition and that coalition has really grown strong as a result of this annual gathering.”

Photos by Michelle Alaimo