Permanent Signage to be placed at Valley of Our Spirits Story Pole

Permanent interpretive signage will be installed at the Valley of Our Spirits Story Pole at Riverwalk Park in Mount Vernon, with a celebration taking place on Monday, June 10 at 5:00pm.

Erected in 2018, the “Valley of Our Spirits” story pole is a visual centerpiece in Mount Vernon’s thriving downtown public hub, Riverwalk Park. "What the story pole is meant to do is bring people together for healing. We are all going to be in this community together, the Natives and the New People, and we only have one Valley to take care of,” said clakadəb Jay Bowen, story pole designer and Upper Skagit Elder.

This event will celebrate the installation of permanent signage for this stunning story pole, designed by clakadəb Jay Bowen and crafted by artists Milo White and Lin McJunkin, The sign interprets the culturally-bridging art, shares the Lushootseed language, and recognizes the powerful, ongoing presence of local tribes. Text is in both Lushootseed and English, and includes a QR code that links to the City of Mount Vernon’s website page, which contains additional narrative, photos, and multimedia links.

The Project was led by a 2024 Leadership Skagit Team, the HIP Harbingers, consisting of seven individuals; Jamie Betz, Sandra Davila, Jennifer Dumas, Kathryn Languille, Frances Negranza, Haley Sebens, Charis Weathers and their advisor Michele Metcalf.

“I would like to extend appreciation to Leadership Skagit for their work to recognize the Skagit people past, present and future. I hope this informational sign is just the beginning to help the community learn more about and relate better to Upper Skagit tribal people.” said skʷalx̌ax̌alic̓əʔ Kay Knott, Upper Skagit Elder.

With extensive consulting and collaboration with Upper Skagit Elders, the concept of the sign was drafted and subsequently approved by the Mount Vernon City Council and the Mount Vernon Arts Commission. The team began manufacturing with Meyer Sign and worked with Mount Vernon Parks and Enrichment Services for installation and update information on the website.

The HIP Harbingers partnered with the Mount Vernon Downtown Association who provided the logistical support needed for the project to come to life, with the intent to develop additional signage highlighting Indigenous cultures throughout downtown in the future.

“[The Leadership Skagit] project to catalyze the centering of native voices with the sign for Valley of Our Spirits is a perfect fit for our organization and coincides with our own commitment to work harder to incorporate the history of our place before white settlement. We are excited for the final reveal and hopeful that this project heralds just the beginning of celebrating our community’s history more inclusively,” said Ellen Gamson, Director of the Mount Vernon Downtown Association.

Leadership Skagit, a program of the Economic Development Alliance of Skagit County (EDASC) in collaboration with Skagit Valley College, is an intensive leadership development program designed to inspire people to become leaders and prepare them for community leadership roles. The aim of the program is to bring people together to work for a more just, equitable, and sustainable future for Skagit County. The program has graduated over 500 alumni, including elected officials, business owners at all levels, executives and more.