With a scenic byway that’s as large in scale as the Cascade Loop, naturally the landscape, views and activities vary wildly from region to region. Each area delivers its own distinct vibe, character, rich history and of course, diverse locals. The combination of these elements yield a vacation experience like none other, and significantly, the people who live and work here are the living embodiment of what makes our destination so special.
Recently we realized that despite our best efforts, our visual communications really didn’t reflect the diversity of the folks living, working and growing up near and around the Cascade Loop. We put a call out on our personal social media account to see if there were folks that we knew around the byway that wouldn’t mind being featured on our website and social media to help introduce our traveling guests to a fuller representation of the kind of folks that they may well encounter during their stay. The first of these folks is Jake.
Part of that sharing of knowledge involves joining the Grass Dance Circle. Jake joined the dance circle when he was 2 years old at the annual Nooksack pow-wow surrounded by his parents, his maternal grandparents, multiple aunts, uncles, cousins, and special family friends. Jake has since danced at the Omak Stampede. His grandparents and uncle have traveled extensively around the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, California, and as far as Connecticut for the Schemitzun pow-wow in the U.S. and Misawa, Japan.
It is believed that the Grass Dance originated in the plains region of the United States--when tribal warriors came back from battle, the men left behind danced over the grass to flatten it for ceremony. At that time, the men tied and attached the long grass around their waist.
Jake’s mom Shelly worked with family members to create the regalia for his Grass Dancing. It can often take years to complete a new dancer’s regalia. Along the way, other families and dancers may gift you with additional pieces.
“As a newborn, my parents’ close friend gave him his first pair of moccasins. Jake is lucky because his “Meemo” (grandma) is a talented seamstress, and his “Dude” (this is what he has called his uncle since he could talk) is a skilled beader. I was the “helper” on his first sets of regalia. This was the first time I made it on my own, but not without a hefty amount of in-person guidance, text messages and phone calls with my mom. His dancing stick is a loaner from his Papa, who was gifted with it by my brother. The piece on his head is called a roach and is also on loan from Papa. It is comprised of white tail deer hair and porcupine guard hairs. Although barely visible, his ankles are wrapped in mountain goat fur. Since mountain goats are steady on their feet, some grass dancers wear the fur around their ankles to keep them steady on the dance floor. Other grass dancers wear large bells around their ankles to keep their beat with the thundering sound of the drum. His beadwork and moccasins were gifted to him by our family’s close friends, the Marson’s, from Leavenworth. The eagle feathers on the dancing stick and roach also belong to Papa and Meemo. The Colville tribe gave them to a friend of my parents, Lenny Friedlander, in 1966 or ’67 when he returned from Vietnam. When the friend learned that my Dad’s brother, Garry, passed as a result of agent orange cancer, he gave two of his eagle feathers to my Dad and two more to my Mom.”
We feel honored to get to spend time with this incredible family—big thanks Jake, Shelly and Kevin! See more photos of Jake in the gallery below.
