The Canoe Festival took place Friday through Sunday, November 11-13th, 2011. Friday’s events included water activities: bamboo raft races, kayak races, totang races, youth swimming, traditional canoe fishing competition and much more. At the opening ceremony there were speeches from Yap’s leaders, a traditional voyaging chant, a bamboo dance from Weloy, and the entrance of the canoes. On the second day there was music from Red Zone, a magic show, JOCV Japanese Dance, and a Men’s Standing Dance from Weloy. Despite the rainy weather, crowds were large and came to cheer on their teams. On Sunday, there were rope making demonstrations, live music, wrestling, and the awards for the races. The festival concluded with music by the Island Brothers. This year was the Canoe Festival’s first time to have a learning center where traditional skills could be learned. Organizers demonstrated kite fishing, sail weaving and cooking local food. Thank you to the Canoe Festival Committee and Yap Traditional Navigation Society for planning and organizing the event.

You should have been here this time too! We had tons of fun...