As a recent transplant to the Port Townsend area, I found myself in an unexpected and humbling situation during the annual Rhody Festival. My wife and I had the privilege of hosting Jeannie Ramos, Frannie Smith, and Lydia Shale, three elders from the Quinault Nation at our home for the weekend, an experience that would lead to a profound and eye-opening experience during the festival's parade.

Little did I know that our act of hospitality would result in Jeannie’s invitation to join the Quinault elders as an honored guest on their canoe float in the parade. The offer caught me off guard, and I grappled with a mix of emotions. On one hand, I felt deeply uncomfortable, as if I were an impostor intruding on an Indigenous space that was not mine to occupy. Who was I to accept such an honor? I feared that my presence would be seen as an appropriation of their culture and traditions.

However, the Quinault elders insisted that I join them, making it clear that they wanted me to be their honored guest and that it would be wrong to refuse them. Their warmth and sincerity made it impossible for me to decline, and so I found myself accepting their generous invitation, despite my sense of trepidation.

Shortly after noon I made my way to the staging area where the Quinault canoe float awaited. The beautiful 25-foot strip cedar canoe sat atop a trailer, adorned with traditional designs. Jeannie and the community elders, some of their relatives and children were already there. I climbed aboard, taking my place among them as the 43rd entry in the parade lineup. As we waited, Jeannie told me how last year she crossed something off her bucket list: she had always wanted to arrive on a canoe and be the one asking permission to land, and she was finally able to do it with the 2023 Canoe Journey when it stopped in Port Townsend. She was the one aboard the canoe asking permission, and then leading her people to land in Port Townsend on their way to Muckleshoot, the host of that year’s annual event.

The parade preparation had an electric atmosphere as the various local groups and floats assembled, each preparing to showcase their unique contributions to the Port Townsend community. I had never experienced a parade from this perspective before, always having been a spectator on the sidelines.

When the parade finally started to move, I was immersed in a world I had never experienced before. I was perched