The plans for this weekend's massive youth gathering at Tow Hill are "coming along beautifully," according to organizer Harmony Williams. Participants will be arriving at 5:30 pm at Skidegate Landing Thursday and will be greeted by a welcoming ceremony. Everyone is invited to come down to the terminal and help sing the Haida welcoming song to the hundreds of First Nations youth who will be coming from 14 other northern communities in the Nisgaa, Haida, and Tsimshian territory for the three-day gathering. The Sgwansang K'uuk Inter-Nation gathering is the first ever of its kind, and is the result of a suicide prevention forum held in Prince Rupert this spring.
Plans include traditional food and medicine gathering hikes, volleyball and soccer on the beach, and singing and dancing.
Ms Williams said all the food has been coordinated, with volunteers in the community doing the cooking and delivering it to the beach each day. She said the community has been amazing in helping get this project off the ground.
"It's all coming along so nicely," she said. Atwell's Foods has been crucial for special ordering, supplying, and storing all the extra food, she said. "We've had a lot of really nice donations from the community".
The opening feast, will be held in the Old Massett community hall, despite the bats, which are a problem only at night. It'll have about 500 guests, she said. The tally for the campers is slightly less, because the feast will be open to anyone. Ms Williams is still looking for adult volunteers to camp out on the beach and act as chaperones.