By Bill Reynolds
La Conner Community News
Constant drumbeats, continuous canoe racing, fast-paced outdoor basketball, a royalty pageant, and a potpourri of Native foods and arts and crafts were among many highlights marking the annual Swinomish Days summer festival and cultural celebration here last weekend.
A schedule of events offering something for everyone drew large crowds from around the Salish Sea region to Swinomish Reservation for the local extravaganza.
A wide range of weather, from searing heat during Saturday’s three-on-three hoops tourney to cool, breezy conditions when the final 11-man canoe race was staged on Swinomish Channel Sunday afternoon, greeted those taking part.
Sno-Cone sales gave way to coffee orders at vendor stands as nearly 100 stick game teams matched wits and tested their luck well into Sunday night amid rhythmic drumming beneath a big tent raised at John K. Bob Ballpark.
“It was pretty much all seasons,” canoe race announcer Michael Vendiola, who called dozens of contests on the channel from late Friday afternoon through Sunday, said of the weather canoe clubs faced.
There were races in several divisions, from singles and doubles up to the larger 11s, crewed by men and women, boys and girls.
The canoes shared the water with yachts, sailboats, and even a small steamboat throughout the weekend, covering a route that looped around two buoys about 500 meters apart for the smaller canoes, with an extended course used for the 11-man entries.
At one point on Championship Sunday a yacht headed south suddenly found itself approached by northbound racing canoes. That prompted a quip from Vendiola.
“A pleasure craft going the other way looks like it got nervous,” he chuckled into the microphone. “It must be wondering why a bunch of war canoes was coming at it.”
Swinomish Senator Brian Porter noted that canoe racing was revived here in the 1990s, allowing tribal members — especially the youth — to reclaim traditional ties to the water. Porter, who served as race coordinator, said the racing season typically runs from May to September.
The sport continues to grow.
“Canoe racing is a big part of our Coast Salish culture,” Vendiola said.
Physical fitness needed for the canoe racing was also on display at the Swinomish outdoor basketball courts. The heat was such midway through the single-day three-on-three tournament that misting fans were employed to help cool players.
La Conner High alum Budda Luna was among those who appreciated the gesture. He was on a team that played successive 20-minute games, one of which went into triple overtime.
The competition was pretty hot, too.
One adult division team featured La Conner High products C.J. Edwards and sisters Anna and Sarah Cook along with 6-6 post Bennett Howe, of Burlington-Edison, who played at Skagit Valley College last season and is the son of Braves head coach John Howe.
The Cooks, like Bennett Howe, have also played at the collegiate level — Anna at Highline College, Quest University and The Evergreen State College, and Sarah at SVC and 2026 Canadian Collegiate Basketball Association Women’s Champion Vancouver Island University.
A fan favorite was the team that featured Swinomish teens Jerome Toby Jr. and Dyson Edwards, who led the Lummi Blackhawks to State 1B boys titles in 2025 and 2026 and played on the Montana-based Warrior Movement team that won the Native American Basketball Invitational Boys’ crown in Phoenix this summer.
Jerome Toby Sr., the championship Lummi High head coach, was the tournament announcer and kept the full slate of games on schedule despite the afternoon heat.
Meanwhile, at the Swinomish Boys & Girl Club, the 2026-27 Swinomish Youth Royalty was announced with Ruby Billy, a La Conner High Varsity in Volunteerism letter winner named Miss Swinomish before a standing room only audience.
The royal court of princesses and warriors will represent Swinomish at ceremonies and community events over the next 12 months. During that time they will display leadership skills and an ability to address the public in both Lushootseed and English.
Swinomish Days opened Thursday night with a vibrant Coastal Jam, a social gathering featuring Pacific Northwest indigenous singing and dancing.
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
