Canoe racing, basketball, games: Swinomish Days offers it all

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch anymore.

Unless, of course, you’re willing to race canoes on Swinomish Channel all day in the August heat, often doing so while pulling against the current.

Canoe club members and elders braving the summer weather to watch the weekend races were treated Saturday to a free salmon luncheon prepared as part of the festive annual four-day Swinomish Days cultural celebration.

“We did about 400 pounds of salmon,” Marty Cladoosby, part of the fish cooks crew led by Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Senator Eric Day, said afterward.

Admission to Swinomish...