Guest Opinion: Come to Pioneer Picnic, Learn What Life Was LIke & Make New Friends!

By Tom Welch

We hope that everyone will plan on coming to the traditional San Juan County Pioneer’s Picnic at the Orcas Island Historical Museum next Saturday, August 7^th, from 12 to 3 p.m. Longtime residents (20+ years) of the San Juan Islands will greet old friends and neighbors as we gather to celebrate our shared history, while newer residents will have a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the descendents of our pioneer settlers. Come and hear those old stories that made us laugh or cry, discover what happened to those longlost pals, learn what life was like in these islands in earlier days, and make some new friends!

Trophies will be awarded for the Eldest Man and Eldest Woman present, and for the longest continuous resident of the county present. A videographer will be on hand to record your story for our museum archives, and we’d love to see those old photographs you keep thinking about bringing out!

The history of the San Juan County Pioneer’s Picnic is in itself a fascinating story, particularly as related by Charles McKay, originator of the tradition. From a newspaper article in the Friday Harbor Journal of June 28, 1917, we have McKay’s own account at a time when he was the oldest pioneer in the county:

“This is the third time San Juan County Pioneers have met to celebrate this great event, and in order to explain why we meet on this 20^th day of June, I will have to give a little history of the event. A man named D.W. Oakes and I came from a gold hunt on the Frazier River, B.C., and on returning to Victoria we got acquainted with some deer hunters and they told us about San Juan Island, what a fine place it was, so we concluded to see it before we returned to California. We landed on this island on June 20^th, 1859, some 58 years ago. We found the Hudsons Bay Company in charge of the island, with about 2,000 sheep and horses here. They claimed what is now all of San Juan county belonged to the British government, but we found it belonged to the United States. In order to settle this claim of the English government we erected a fine flag pole at what is now the home of Joseph La Chapelle, and I raised the Stars and Stripes on that pole in defiance of the British claim.

They threatened to drive us off the island, and persuaded the Indians to kill us, as there were at that time over 1,000 Indians on the island: but they could not scare us, and in ten days we had over 1,000 soldiers and 15 cannon to protect our flag. It will require too much time to give the details, but the event caused great excitement, so that our government directed our Commander-In-Chief, General Scott, to see us and try to settle the difficulty, and in the course of one month our country was well settled.

Now we are here to celebrate that event, and I trust you will all enjoy yourselves, for it is through this event that hundreds of comfortable homes are now enjoyed by the citizens of San Juan county, one of the best and most prosperous counties in the State of Washington, and each of you are enjoying this prosperity that is your heritage gained at the risk of the lives of the early pioneers. We were, in those early days, as one brother and sister, and I hope that same feeling still exists. Let us love each other and obey God’s love, and enjoy ourselves and be happy.”

This is a remarkable account of the origins of a treasured local tradition, which is now promoted by the historical museums of Lopez, San Juan, and Orcas Island, and which rotates among the islands in turn.  McKay was a central figure in the origins of the Pig War, and was responsible for first alerting U.S. authorities to the developing crisis with Great Britain.

Bring a box lunch, we’ll provide refreshments and dessert, and we’ll all enjoy music on the Stage at the Village Green from Carl Berger and Marc Cohen, popular local musicians.  Be sure to plan on visiting the museum to see the exciting Smithsonian Exhibit ‘Journey Stories’ while you’re at the Picnic. Immediately after the Picnic one of the special ‘Journey Stories’ events starts at the Orcas Senior Center, where the storytellers from Eth Noh Tec will entrance the audience with their unique tales from 3 to 5 p.m.