Named for the gift-giving festival of the Pacific Northwest Coast tribes, the Seattle Potlatch events were held from 1911-1914 and 1934-1941. The “golden” reference celebrates the 1897 arrival in Seattle of the first gold-bearing ship, the Portland , from the Klondike River mines. The festival was an attempt to keep up the promotional momentum that followed the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. The events included naval displays, aviation meets and auto races as well as parades, concerts and exhibits, all designed to show how forward-thinking Seattle was.
Golden Potlatch