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Press Release
June 4, 2002
CELEBRATION TO KICK OFF THURSDAY
Sealaska Heritage Institute anticipates up to 5,000 people from Alaska and the Lower 48 will attend Celebration 2002, scheduled June 6-8.
The biennial festival will feature 42 dance groups and more than 1,600 dancers, a Native Artists Market, a parade through downtown, a black seaweed contest, stick games, story telling, poetry, canoe races and the first Sealaska Juried Art Show.
The Grand Entry is scheduled 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Participants will line up at the Driftwood Hotel and march to Centennial Hall for the Welcome Ceremony at 9:30. The parade is scheduled 8 a.m. Saturday from the Mt. Roberts Tram to Centennial Hall. Dancers will perform all three days at Centennial Hall, ANB Hall and Marine Park.
The theme this year is "Haa At.óow, Our Treasures." Haa At.óow refers to our most prized clan possessions, which are central to the social and religious life of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.
Celebration 2002 marks the 20th anniversary of the event, which was conceived in 1980 at the first Sealaska Elders conference. At that meeting, Elders asked Sealaska to help preserve and perpetuate the culture of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. In response, Sealaska founded the Sealaska Heritage Institute, and in 1982, the institute organized the first Celebration.That first festival drew 12 dance groups and 150 people. Today, Celebration is one of the largest Native cultural gatherings in the state.
Three-day passes will go on sale Wednesday at Centennial Hall. Three-day passes are $12 for students and Elders and $25 for adults. One-day tickets, available Thursday, are $5 for students and Elders and $10 for adults.
News Article:
"Celebration: Making the Connections"