Canoe families will paddle across Elliott Bay from West Seattle to Pier 62 this Saturday, asking permission to come ashore as part of Salmon Homecoming, an annual celebration of Indigenous culture and salmon conservation now in its 34th year on the Seattle waterfront. The daylong event runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and spans both Pier 62 and the newly reopened Pier 58, bringing a native vendor market, coastal songs and dances, and a traditional canoe welcoming to the downtown shoreline.
More than 14 canoe families are expected to make the journey across the bay and land at Pier 62, according to KIRO 7 News. Jordan Remington, Friends of Waterfront Park's Indigenous programs curator and a Salmon Homecoming Alliance board member, said the festival celebrates the return of salmon to local rivers while showcasing local native cultures and supporting native artists, per the same report.
A Tradition Rooted in Treaty Rights and Ecology
The event's themes of conservation and culture aren't just ceremonial framing. Salmon Homecoming symbolizes the end of summer and the return of the salmon, and it helps people connect with the region's Indigenous communities and natural environment, the station's report notes. That connection carries legal weight: Puget Sound Chinook salmon have been listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act since March 1999 and remain listed today, according to NOAA Fisheries.
The Seattle waterfront itself sits on Dzidzilalich, the Lushootseed name for the historic Seattle waterfront estuary and beach, according to the City of Seattle. The city added that Lushootseed name to street signage along Alaskan Way and Elliott Way in April 2023. Tribal co-management of regional salmon fisheries traces back to the 1974 Boldt Decision, which affirmed treaty tribes' rights to 50% of the harvestable salmon catch and marked its 50th anniversary in February 2024, according to the UW School of Law.
From Aquarium Exhibit to Tribe-Led Nonprofit
Salmon Homecoming began in 1992 as an educational program hosted by the Seattle Aquarium before regional tribes and the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission partnered to launch the first formal annual festival in 1993, according to MOHAI. The Salmon Homecoming Alliance was later established as an independent nonprofit in 2001, growing to accommodate crowds that reached as many as 50,000 visitors annually by the late 1990s, per MOHAI's account.
Cultural programming at the celebration reflects ancestral First Salmon Ceremony protocols, in which the first caught salmon of the season is ritualistically prepared and its bones are returned to the water facing upstream to help ensure future returns, according to the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Coast Salish and inland tribes have maintained these gratitude ceremonies for generations, per the same source.
A Rebuilt Waterfront Sets the Stage
This year's festival unfolds on a transformed stretch of shoreline. Pier 58, one of the event's primary gathering sites, reopened to the public in July 2025 after a complete multi-year reconstruction that followed the former structure's 2020 collapse, according to Seattle Parks and Recreation. The rebuilt pier added 50,000 square feet of public park space, including a 25-foot jellyfish climbing structure.
The city replaced approximately 7,112 lineal feet of the Elliott Bay Seawall with a light-penetrating sidewalk surface and textured seawall features, according to Washington state officials. Nearby, the Suquamish Tribe, Muckleshoot Tribe, and Port of Seattle have jointly operated a salmon net pen acclimation project in Elliott Bay for more than 25 years, an effort credited with increasing the adult fish return rate by approximately 60%, according to the Port of Seattle.
The waterfront's institutional partnerships have also deepened. The Seattle Aquarium's Ocean Pavilion is another part of the waterfront's development. And Elliott Bay Connections is another waterfront project, according to the Downtown Seattle Association.
Planning a Visit
Salmon Homecoming marks the final summer-season programming event supported by Friends of Waterfront Park, per KIRO 7 News's reporting. The organization encourages attendees to RSVP in advance, using the responses to better estimate attendance for the free, all-ages celebration at Pier 62 and Pier 58 this Saturday.
