THE COQUILLE INDIAN TRIBE’S ANNUAL SALMON CELEBRATION (NORTH BEND, OREGON) Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Bench outside the Ko-Kwel Casino, North Bend, Oregon.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in September 2025. Note that the 2026 celebration is September 12-13.

In 2025, the last summer event I attended was the 20th Annual Mill-Luck Salmon Celebration in mid-September. The website promised a free festival showcasing and honoring the Native American Culture of the Coquille (pronounced Ko-Kwel) Tribe, with a traditional salmon bake, drumming, chanting, dancers, flute players, canoe races, cultural booths and displays, hands-on family activities, native arts & crafts vendors, at the casino resort owned by the tribe in North Bend, Oregon.

While walking from the parking lot on one side of the casino to the parking lot on the other side, where the event was set up, I took the photo at the top of this post, of the bench with a carved salmon.

The tribe’s deep cultural and spiritual connection to salmon is rooted in its vital importance to the food supply and survival of the community for thousands of years. The annual return of spawning salmon was worth celebrating by gathering to cook and eat together.

In the name, “Mill-Luck Salmon Celebration,” “Mill” echoes the former name of the resort: the Mill Casino, Hotel and RV Park, which was built on a former sawmill site. “Luck” is what you need to catch fish.

Ko-Kwel is how to pronounce Coquille, the tribe name.

Signs on the hotel building and banners flapping in the wind spelled the tribe name the way it is pronounced, Ko-Kwel. This was in the new name of the business as of 2025, the Ko-Kwel Casino Resort. As I walked beyond the hotel building, booming drumbeats and powerful chants filled the chilly morning air.

Leading the opening prayer.

The festival weekend began with the Opening Prayer, followed by Canoe Races on the waters of Coos Bay, which surround the town of North Bend on three sides as the Coos River winds its way along its estuary to the Pacific Ocean.

The race schedule and Coos Bay.

The canoe race schedule was listed on a banner hanging where spectators would line up along the shore of the bay. I especially wanted to watch the first race, because it was the only one for traditional dugout canoes made from a cedar trunk chunk. Only one such canoe and crew had signed up, so a second, larger, more modern canoe and crew was allowed to enter the contest... to make it more interesting.

The first race begins.

The announcer asked the crews to get on the starting line. That’s when a voice rose from the smaller, dugout canoe. “We have a leak!” One rower pumped like mad, making water shoot out over the side of the craft, but not fast enough to drain it. Abundant, unsolicited advice from the audience included waiting for the water to make the wood swell and seal the leak (which might take as little time as a week) and not worrying about the precious canoe sinking because it would float no matter what, being made of wood.

As soon as the race started, the small canoe began lagging farther and farther behind the big one, eventually taking twice as long to complete the loop. Not one spectator walked away. Everyone stayed to cheer on the little old canoe across the finish line.

Afterwards, I caught some of the Native American dance, drum, and flute stage performances. Meanwhile, elders of the Coquille Tribe sold fry bread, fry bread tacos, and fry bread pizzas under their own tents to raise money for Elders programs. Flint knapping, weaving, and beading demonstrations allowed participation.

The weavers used strips of the inner bark of cedar trees to make hats. In the above photo of the canoe race, two rowers in the smaller canoe were each wearing a different woven hat model.

Staff members prepared salmon to be baked in the fire pit, as seen in this video. 

Salmon cooking.

The salmon pit.

According to the sign on the Salmon Bake Fire Pit, “The Coquille Indians most preferred method of cooking salmon was in a pit using fire, coals, and traditional seasonings, […] seal grease, myrtle leaves, and fruits like huckleberries. The salmon would be sealed in seaweed and mud and placed in a hot fire pit, sometimes cooking the fish overnight or for only a few hours. Today, the Coquille use more convenient seasonings like butter, bay leaves, onion, lemon, salt and pepper.”

Salmon meal tent.

The line for the Salmon Bake Meal started growing well before the start time of 11 a.m., but service was fast because stacks of take-out boxes were ready, one step ahead of sales.

Salmon meal.

Each box contained the following:

- Traditional Pit-Cooked Salmon

- Wild Rice with Cranberries and Grilled Hazelnuts

- Traditional Fry Bread with Huckleberry Jam and Huckleberry Butter

The only choice required of each patron was between a soft drink can, coffee, or water.

After this satisfying lunch, I strolled among a dozen Native craft vendor tables that filled a large tent.

Abalone shell earrings.

Although I thought I didn’t need more favorite earrings, I had to have the above pair, made from abalone shell. I would have loved to chat with the artisan who made them, but he was too busy selling other abalone shell earrings, each pair unique in shape, size, and mother-of-pearl iridescence.

The 21stAnnual Salmon Celebration is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13, 2026.