Celebration

David A. Boxley, wearing a Ravenstail-trimmed robe, and his son David R. Boxley sing and drum in Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Saturday afternoon as Metlakatla’s Git Hoan dancers perform a canoe paddling dance featuring a large carved headdress created by Git Hoan’s senior Boxley. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

Photos: Git Hoan brings stories to life in dance and art during Celebration

Metlakatla dancers among 36 Indigenous groups sharing their heritage during four-day event.

 

Celebration 2024 participants dance across and around the main stage at Centennial Hall during the Grand Exit ceremony Saturday evening. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Celebration 2024 ends four days of traditional and new events with a Grand Exit

Participants combine thunderous tribute to heritage with spirit of an intimate family gathering.

 

Alaska Native dancers gather for a final time on the stage at Centennial Hall for the Grand Exit of this year’s four-day Celebration. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Celebration goes out like it came in

1,200 Alaska Natives perform encore of entrance dance for Grand Exit, talk of revived future hopes

 

A group of women drummers nears the end of the Celebration parade route at the turnoff to Centennial Hall on Saturday. The four-day Alaska Native gathering is marking its final day with events at the hall including an afternoon of dances, a screening a film commemorating Celebration’s 40-year anniversary and the Grand Exit. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Celebration parade a priceless souvenir for visitors

Procession a chance for Alaska Natives to share stories and snapshots with folks from afar.

A group of women drummers nears the end of the Celebration parade route at the turnoff to Centennial Hall on Saturday. The four-day Alaska Native gathering is marking its final day with events at the hall including an afternoon of dances, a screening a film commemorating Celebration’s 40-year anniversary and the Grand Exit. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Performers and their families wave to the crowd at the end of the Toddler Regalia Review at Centennial Hall on Friday, June 10, 2022, part of Celebration 2022. Performers were aged 2-5, and wore regalia made for them by friends and family. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Kids take the stage for toddler regalia review

Cutest show in town.

Performers and their families wave to the crowd at the end of the Toddler Regalia Review at Centennial Hall on Friday, June 10, 2022, part of Celebration 2022. Performers were aged 2-5, and wore regalia made for them by friends and family. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Ricardo Worl, left, congratulates 2022 Celebration traditional food contest winners Mike Allard (seaweed), Sharon Olsen (seal oil) and Donna James (dried fish) at Centennial Hall on Thursday shortly after a secret judging at the Walter Soboleff Building(Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Traditions set the table for Celebration food contest winners

Winners say subsistence traditions feed bodies and souls during pandemic.

Ricardo Worl, left, congratulates 2022 Celebration traditional food contest winners Mike Allard (seaweed), Sharon Olsen (seal oil) and Donna James (dried fish) at Centennial Hall on Thursday shortly after a secret judging at the Walter Soboleff Building(Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Nathan Blake, 15, does a two-foot high kick during a demonstration of traditional Arctic games at the Sealaska Arts Campus on Thursday, June 8, 2022, part of the Celebration 2022 festivities. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Local students show traditional games skills

Pan-Arctic games.

Nathan Blake, 15, does a two-foot high kick during a demonstration of traditional Arctic games at the Sealaska Arts Campus on Thursday, June 8, 2022, part of the Celebration 2022 festivities. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
The copper sculpture “Mussel” by Káakaxaawulga Jennifer Younger is the Best of Show winner in the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s 11th biennial Juried Art Show and Competition featured at this year’s Celebration. Entries in the competition will be exhibited at the Nathan Jackson Gallery at the Walter Soboleff Building through Dec. 3. (Courtesy Photo / Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Opposite attraction: Winner of art competition at Celebration is an Eagle carver who is ‘drawn to Raven when I am creating’

She knows the value of strong mussels.

The copper sculpture “Mussel” by Káakaxaawulga Jennifer Younger is the Best of Show winner in the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s 11th biennial Juried Art Show and Competition featured at this year’s Celebration. Entries in the competition will be exhibited at the Nathan Jackson Gallery at the Walter Soboleff Building through Dec. 3. (Courtesy Photo / Sealaska Heritage Institute)
Hundreds of regalia-clad dancers lined Willoughby Avenue behind Centennial Hall on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, in preparation for Celebration 2022's grand procession through the hall. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Hundreds gather for Celebration grand procession

Day one.

Hundreds of regalia-clad dancers lined Willoughby Avenue behind Centennial Hall on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, in preparation for Celebration 2022's grand procession through the hall. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Fran Houston, cultural Leader of the A'akw Kwáan, dances during Celebration in downtown Juneau. Wednesday, the biennial celebration of Alaska Native peoples and cultures brought song, dance and the opening of a new arts campus to the capital city. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Celebration opens with Sealaska campus debut

Dances, ceremonies, Alaska’s first 360-degree totem and a new discovery about old times mark event

Fran Houston, cultural Leader of the A'akw Kwáan, dances during Celebration in downtown Juneau. Wednesday, the biennial celebration of Alaska Native peoples and cultures brought song, dance and the opening of a new arts campus to the capital city. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Kristall Bullock, 16, right, a Ketchikan resident whose Native-themed vest is part of the Sealaska Heritage Juried Youth Art Exhibit, examines works by her peers during the debt of the exhibit Friday at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council. She said she saw works at the exhibit during Celebration in 2018, when she was with one of the dance groups, and “I was thinking I want to have a piece.” Viewing other works at the exhibit with Bullock are her sister, Anna Lindgren, and 8-month-old niece, Evelyn. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Healthy outlook for return of Celebration

Landmark Alaska Native event returns to Juneau starting Wednesday, with strict COVID-19 rules.

Kristall Bullock, 16, right, a Ketchikan resident whose Native-themed vest is part of the Sealaska Heritage Juried Youth Art Exhibit, examines works by her peers during the debt of the exhibit Friday at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council. She said she saw works at the exhibit during Celebration in 2018, when she was with one of the dance groups, and “I was thinking I want to have a piece.” Viewing other works at the exhibit with Bullock are her sister, Anna Lindgren, and 8-month-old niece, Evelyn. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)