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Where to Celebrate Native American Heritage Month Across the Pacific Northwest
Explore Indigenous art, food, and cultural events throughout November, with opportunities to support Native artists and businesses.
As we head into the thick of the holiday season, there’s another meaningful observance to keep in mind: Native American Heritage Month. While Indigenous history and culture deserve recognition year-round, November brings opportunities to engage with Native artists, businesses, and cultural traditions. Here are some ways to take part.
Explore art galleries and exhibits
Stop by Tidelands, a hybrid gallery, boutique, and performance center, in downtown Seattle. Since opening in 2024, Tidelands has become a hub for contemporary and futuristic Native American art and storytelling in Seattle, blending mediums and supporting Native artists. “We opened Tidelands because we wanted to change how the public understands contemporary Native America—not as something from the past, but as something alive, right here in downtown Seattle,” says Matika Wilbur, a member of the Swinomish and Tulalip communities and co-founder of Tidelands.
Tidelands is currently hosting the All My Relations exhibit, based on the podcast of the same name hosted by Matika Wilbur, through the end of November. Also happening are Chelsey Luger’s book launch for Native Home on November 7 and the Urban Native Era Pop-Up on November 14. Beginning November 17, Tidelands will also offer weekly Lushootseed language classes for beginners over a 10-week period.
For more Northwest Native art, Stonington Gallery houses paintings, sculptures, carvings, jewelry, textiles, and masks from Indigenous artists from across Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia. Through November 28, Luminosity offers a glimpse into Northwest Native glass art, featuring works by Tlingit and Lummi artists, among others.
Experience Indigenous culture and cuisine
From food to dance, take the time to learn more about the cultures of the Pacific Northwest’s tribal nations. On November 6, Snoqualmie Tribal Member Bethany Fackrell is holding a frybread story workshop at the Redmond Library. Learn how to make frybread while exploring the food’s history and cultural significance.
The following day on November 7, Revolutionary Grains is hosting “Engrained is our Story” at Town Hall Seattle, an effort to heal the industrial agricultural system through ancestral agricultural knowledge and practices. The event draws on collective knowledge from Lummi Nation, Swinomish Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, among other organizations, and features agricultural song, dance, and storytelling, along with Indigenous seeds and foods.
There are relatively few restaurants specializing in Indigenous cuisine in Washington, but Off the Rez has both a cafe at the Burke Museum and a food truck that moves around town. Inspired by its founder’s Blackfeet heritage, Off the Rez’s menu is infused with flavors from Indigenous foods, including variations of frybread, chili, and cedar blackberry tea.
Outside the city, take a trip to the Lelooska Foundation and Cultural Center in Ariel, which was built in 1972 as a space to house art collected by Chief Lelooska. Visit the museum, which is home to Kwakwaka’wakw and other Indigenous cultural and historical artifacts, and check out its woodcarving and design classes. Lelooska is also putting on Living History Performances on November 7 and 28, sharing songs, dances, stories, and masks by firelight in a Kwakwaka’wakw ceremonial house.
Invest in Native art and home products
Whether you’re looking for new home decor or are on the hunt for gifts for the holiday season, there are plenty of Native American shops and pop-up markets around town where you can support Indigenous artists.
Owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, Eighth Generation in downtown sells products from Native artists across the PNW and the United States. From fine art prints and jewelry to notebooks and towels, the shop is filled with accessories, art, and homewares, but the wool blankets woven in bold traditional patterns are undoubtedly Eighth Generation’s signature item.
Yubec opened its doors in Fremont in 2024 as a sister shop to the Sacred Circle Gift Shop at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center. The boutique and gift shop sells Native-created products, including jewelry, pottery, and candles, and regularly hosts artist pop-ups.
A couple of dates worth marking on the calendar are November 7 for Pike Place Market’s Celebrating Native American Artistry, which showcases Native-owned businesses and artistry, and November 21 and 22 for the United Indians Native Art Market at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.
Spend a weekend exploring Indigenous Portland
If you’ve been itching for a Portland getaway, November offers plenty of opportunities to explore the city’s Indigenous food and art. On the traditional lands of the Chinookan Peoples, Portland is home to a noteworthy and growing Indigenous food and cultural scene.
Start your day at Bison Coffee House, a Native-owned coffee shop opened in 2014 by Loretta Guzman, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Bison serves coffee from Native and local roasters, alongside a small selection of housemade baked goods, including the signature green chile pepper jack bacon biscuits.
Continue to Quintana Galleries, a Native-owned and operated gallery, home to art, baskets, and jewelry from across the country. In addition to wood carvings and masks from the Pacific Northwest, Quintana is home to vintage and contemporary baskets and art from Native American nations in the Southwest, Arctic, and Central and South America.
Top off your day with dinner centered on Native food. Javelina is an obvious choice. Opened first as a pop-up in 2023 by husband and wife Nick and Alexa Numkena-Anderson, then as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2025, Javelina carries Indigenous traditions through its menu. Native ingredients are centered in dishes like huckleberry pancakes, bison ribeye, elk tacos, and tepary bean dip.
“Alexa identifies as a ‘modern Indigenous person’,” says Nick Numkena-Anderson. “While she actively seeks to reclaim Indigenous foodways and honor her ancestors through her culinary creations, she also holds a profound connection to fry bread. Fry bread symbolizes adaptability, resilience, and power. Although she acknowledges the dark history associated with fry bread for some individuals, her upbringing on the Yakama reservation has only left her with fond memories of her grandmother, sisters, and family there.”
Numkena-Anderson points to Javelina’s maple leaf Hopi someviki (similar to a tamale) as an example. “She asked herself, ‘As a Hopi person in Portland, how would I make this dish?’ She then used maple leaves to wrap the Hopi blue corn instead of a corn husk, incorporated morel mushrooms, and added smoked agave syrup to create her unique version.”
For Thanksgiving, Javelina will host a special, non-colonial meal called “Honoring Ancestors—A Table of Gratitude,” with tickets priced at $100 per person.
Bellpine at the Ritz-Carlton, now headed by Executive Chef Jack Strong, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, is also featuring a special menu for November, including two dishes centering duck and squash blossom and a zero-proof cocktail.
“Food has always been a way to connect people to place,” says Strong. “My Native heritage inspires me to cook with a deep respect for the land, the seasons, and the ingredients that naturally thrive around us. Every plate is an opportunity to share the story of Oregon and the broader Northwest through flavor.”
Strong and Numkena-Anderson are also partnering for a seven-course collaboration on November 21 at Bellpine, bringing their perspectives together for a special dinner.
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