PRESORTED
STANDARD MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
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PERMIT NO. 700
Allison Empey will be
first Tribal member
pediatrician working in
Grand Ronde — pg. 8
JUNE 15, 2018
Casino float wins
Roseboro award
By Danielle Frost
Smoke Signals staff writer
P
ORTLAND — Rain and driz-
zle didn’t stop crowds of peo-
ple, like true Oregonians,
from flocking to the uncovered
Chalet seating area to watch the
Spirit Mountain Casino Grand
Floral Parade on Saturday, June 9.
The parade is the highlight of the
multi-week Rose Festival in Port-
land, a 111-year tradition that kicks
off Memorial Day weekend with the
opening of the CityFair carnival.
The Grand Floral Parade is the
second largest floral parade in
America, with a variety of different
cultures, dancers, marching bands
and floats of all shapes and sizes.
Even at 7:45 a.m. Saturday, seat-
ing was filling fast with attendees
who paid $25 to $30 extra to have
the opportunity to sit in a prime
viewing area and nosh on scram-
bled eggs, pastries, fruit, bacon
and coffee.
As the crowd waited eagerly for
the floats to exit Veterans Memorial
Coliseum, the weather alternated
between sunny, drizzly and cloudy,
although those in attendance were
spared predicted thunderstorms.
Spirit Mountain Casino celebrat-
ed its 22nd year of being a Rose
Festival partner and fifth year as
a presenting sponsor. Its float, “Na-
ture’s Playground,” was designed
by Portland-based SCI 3.2, which
has built every casino float entry
since 1996.
Volunteers and community mem-
bers put the finishing touches on
the float earlier in the week, which
featured a mother cougar guard-
ing her young as they frolic in a
Northwest landscape to illustrate
Perseverance pays off
Chachalu Phase II
re-opening showcases
16 items from the
Summers Collection
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
T
hey have come
home. Sixteen Trib-
al artifacts from
the Summers Collection,
housed for the last 118
years in a warehouse out-
side of London by the Brit-
ish Museum, returned to
the Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde and were
showcased during the
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Phase II re-opening of
Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison looks at items from the Summers Collection that
Chachalu Museum & Cul-
tural Center on Friday, are part of the new exhibit in Chachalu Museum & Cultural Center’s Grand
Exhibit Hall during an open house held on Friday, June 1. The items, which
June 1.
Enthusiasm to see the include a horn bowl, dance rattle and parfleche, are on loan from the British
historic cultural items Museum in London.
was high. An Elders and
guest-only admission scheduled for 3 p.m. started a
few minutes early as approximately 30 Tribal mem-
bers arrived promptly to view the remodeled muse-
See COLLECTION
continuted on page 10
A few of the baskets on
loan from the Oregon
Historical Society’s
Kershaw Collection that
are on display in the “Rise
of the Collectors” exhibit
at Chachalu Museum &
Cultural Center. The exhibit
is part of the re-opening of
Phase II of the museum and
will be at the museum
until May 17, 2019.
See PARADE
continued on page 16
Annual event celebrates first foods
By Danielle Frost
Brain Krehbiel and his
daughter, Kailiyah,
right, cook fry bread
for the First Foods
Celebration held at
achaf-hammi, the
Tribal plankhouse, on
Saturday, June 2. In the
background, Tribal Elder
and Culture Committee
member Faye Smith
prepares the dough.
Smoke Signals staff writer
A
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
young boy unashamedly
uttered the words likely
on the minds of most
while waiting for the annual
First Foods Celebration to be-
gin.
“Can we eat now?”
The celebration of Tribal
staples from pre-contact to
post-Reservation continues to
grow, with approximately 150
attendees sampling an array of
items gathered and prepared by
Culture Committee members
and others.
Held on Saturday, June 2, un-
der sunny skies at achaf-hammi,
the Tribal plankhouse, dishes
included deer, elk, lamprey,
salmon, bear, rabbit, fruits,
roots, yampa, nuts, Indian teas
and frybread. The salmon was
caught during ceremonial fish-
See FIRST FOODS
continued on page 13