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New “Sequim Prairie Pavilion"
“s-ch-qwee-ing spuh-thl-hunn”
Graces Pioneer Memorial Park


For years a hand-carved tribal canoe sat protected in Pioneer Memorial Park. It was donated in 1966 by Cy Frick to be exhibited in the park. After much research, Priscilla Hudson the SPGC historian, uncovered the carver’s name, William E. Penn. The canoe was returned to his niece, Viola Penn Riebe in a Gifting of the Canoe event in the park in April, 2017. It was restored by the Quileute Tribe and is now located at the University of Washington Campus, Olympic National Resources Center in Forks, WA.

In 2017, as the canoe was traveling home out of the park, W. Ron Allen the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Chairman and Dale Faustich, the Jamestown S'Klallam carver, offered a pavilion as a replacement. Dale, now retired, but for years their chief carver, designed the pavilion. Current tribal carvers who worked on the project were Timothy O'Connell and Dusty Humphries as well as volunteer, Andy Pitts.  

Load bearing columns feature mythical human figures whereas carved seawolf heads extend from each end of the roof ridge. The Sequim Prairie Garden Club and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council named the new structure, “Sequim Prairie Pavilion” “s-ch-qwee-ing spuh-thl-hunn”. A carved bench is planned for the back of the pavilion.