
By Shayna Brown
Muckleshoot — On Dec. 20, Muckleshoot Tribe’s Annual Christmas Party brought families together for a festive day filled with excitement, tradition, and holiday spirit. The event blended cultural pride with modern fun, creating a jolly good time for all ages.
This year’s celebration featured an impressive lineup of attractions. The community was able to enjoy thrilling outdoor rides and cutting‑edge VR experiences that transported them into imaginative fun worlds. The climbing wall had youth racing to the top. The video game truck was a constant hub of energy, giving cousins, friends and siblings a chance to play together throughout the event. Indoors, winter craft stations offered a cozy space for families to create custom beanies, scarfs, and keepsakes that captured the spirit of the season.
Photo booths were scattered throughout the venue, along with professional caricatures, and even a robotic sketch artist, giving families and friends the chance to capture fun festive pictures and drawings to take home. These captured moments added a personal touch to the celebration and helped preserve the joy of the day.
As always, the Christmas Party highlighted the Tribe’s commitment to unity, cultural pride, and community connection. Elders, youth, and families shared a sense of belonging, laughter, and holiday cheer, making the event one of the most meaningful gatherings of the year.

Rachel Heaton shares her experience leading six other native mountaineers up Tahoma, or Mount Rainier, to increase Native visibility and raise awareness of the ancient relationship between Tahoma and the Indigenous peoples who honor her.

Read the transcription of Muckleshoot Vice-Chairman Donny Stevenson’s keynote address to a large, nearly all-Native gathering celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day after marching from Westlake Park to Seattle City Hall.

The Seattle Mariners have announced a long-term, multi-faceted partnership with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and its Tribal enterprise, the Muckleshoot Casino Resort.

120 canoes and well over 10,000 people came to our territory for Paddle to Muckleshoot 2023. Enjoy a selection of the many thousands of pictures shared by professional photographers as well as Tribal member attendees.
The Muckleshoot Messenger is a Tribal publication created by the Muckleshoot Office of Media Services. Tribal community members and Tribal employees are welcome to submit items to the newspaper such as news, calendar items, photos, poems, and artwork.