Juneau welcomes canoes ashore Tuesday ahead of 2026 Celebration's opening

Community members invited to watch canoe landings downtown, Auke Rec ahead of Grand Entrance on Wednesday

A canoe departs Kake on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has two canoes on the water this year, skippered by Ralph Wolfe and Rhonda Butler. They started their journey in Petersburg. (Photo courtesy of Tlingit and Haida)

By Jasz Garrett

Juneau Independent

Celebration, one of the largest cultural events in Alaska, will return to Juneau next week from June 3 to 6.

The lead dance group will be Lepquinm Gumilgit Gagoadim Tsimshian Dancers (Our Own Dance in Our Hearts), a multigenerational group from Anchorage formed in 2005. The theme of the gathering organized by Sealaska Heritage Institute is "Enduring Strength."

"This Celebration, we can rejoice in the timeless strength of our people as evidenced over the thousands of years we’ve faced adversity with resilience and fortitude," said SHI President Rosita Ḵaaháni Worl in a prepared statement.

The Celebration 2026 art was designed by Tlingit artist Bill Pfeifer Jr. (Wéidaaká Yóodóohaa), who won with his piece "Endurance and Strength: The Power of the Clan House," inspired by the 2026 theme.

Image featuring Celebration 2026 art, "Endurance and Strength: The Power of the Clan House," by Tlingit artist Wéidaaká Yóodóohaa/Bill Pfeifer, Jr. (Image courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)

The lead dance group is responsible for leading the Grand Entrance and Grand Exit songs, during which every participating group dances across the stage at Centennial Hall to mark the beginning and end of Celebration. More than 1,800 dancers from 34 dance groups — including two new groups from Hawaii and New Zealand — will participate this year.

Grand Entrance will begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall along Willoughby Avenue, ending at Centennial Hall by 7:30 p.m.

The dance-and-culture festival began in 1982 as a way for Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people to gather and celebrate their cultural survival, according to a SHI press release.

What started as hundreds of people gathering in Juneau for the event "sparked a renaissance of Native culture that prompted people largely unfamiliar with their heritage to learn their ancestral songs and dances and to make regalia for future Celebrations."

Now thousands of people are drawn to Juneau for the cultural event, "the largest gathering of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people in the world." Everyone is welcome to attend.

"We have survived environmental and climate changes, the loss of our lands, public policies that nearly wiped out our cultures and epidemics that diminished our populations," Worl said. "We have been tested, and almost erased. Yet we are still here."

Along with traditional song and dance, Celebration has grown to include associated events: a Juried Art Show and Competition, a Juried Youth Art Exhibit, a Toddler Regalia Review, an Indigenous Fashion Show, a Native Artist Market, and food contests.

The 2026 Celebration will also feature several new events, including:

• A blanket toss by Traditional Games participants

• Earring-making classes

• A print lab open house

• A Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy book launch

• Lectures by cultural leaders and artists Te Ara Kuaka, David Boxley and Delores Churchill

• A “House of Rock” concert

• Additional SHI programming, including an open house in the Indigenous Science Building and a Baby Raven Reads pop-up event

• A regalia photo booth

• A screening of "Tlingit Macbeth"

• A project documenting clan crests

From next Wednesday to Saturday, daily admission tickets and four-day passes will be available at Centennial Hall and Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. Four-day passes will be sold at the Sealaska Heritage Store downtown on Monday and Tuesday. Volunteers can apply here. Celebration will also be livestreamed on SHI's YouTube channel and a statewide broadcast on KTOO.

While Celebration officially opens on Wednesday at Centennial Hall, canoe journey landings will unofficially kickstart the event at Auke Recreation Area and downtown on Tuesday.

A canoe arrives in Kake on Monday, May 25, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Tlingit and Haida)

Canoe landings

At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, the Áak’w Kwáan will welcome canoes ashore at Auke Rec. Parking is limited for elders, volunteers, nearby residents and those with handicap permits. Parking will also be available at the University of Alaska Southeast with shuttle transportation available between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. It's advised to bring a camp chair, food and water.

Community members are invited to watch the downtown landing and Tʼaaḵu Ḵwáan cultural ceremony at 2 p.m. at the Huna Totem Corp. lot next to the U.S. Coast Guard station at 345 Egan Drive.

• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.