
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.

On Saturday, September 6th, Waterfront Park celebrated its historic grand opening. What was once the noisy Alaskan Way Viaduct is now a 20-acre civic waterfront — built for joy, connection, and community.

Tribal Councilwoman Virginia Cross was honored with the second ever D.R. Hanford Leadership Award at Green River College in August — this award honors visionary leaders whose impact ripples through their communities.

Tobi Iverson Halliday, a Tsimshian and Turtle Mountain Chippewa writer based in the Pacific Northwest, is gaining national and international recognition for her debut feature screenplay, Wild Woman of the Woods.

Muckleshoot's collaboration with Cannonball Arts helps bring attention to the Tribe and its ongoing support for Northwest cultural activities just a short distance from the Seattle Center.
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.