The business, located on the wharf, will serve as the hub for the new Coupeville Creative District.

Beaver Tales Coffee on the Coupeville Wharf will serve as the hub for the newly approved Coupeville Creative District, a decision announced earlier this month.

Michelle Cladusbid and her husband Tony Cladusbid, a member of the Swinomish Tribal Community, own Beaver Tales Coffee. The couple have dreamed of creating an inclusive cultural center for more than five years.

They opened Beaver Tales on Coupeville's wharf in March 2024 and have sponsored weekly community events since September.

An upcoming event, for instance, is the Jan. 29 "Canoe Culture: The Way of the Canoe," from 6 to 8 p.m. The Cladusbids will share stories, photos and videos recalling their previous journeys skippering Native American canoes. Michelle was adopted in 2010 as an honorary Tlingit member of the Shark Clan in Hoonah, Alaska, and has since participated in canoe journeys. The Jan. 29 event will also cover "Learn about the 10 Rules of the Canoe," the significance of canoes in native culture past and present" and highlights of Tony Cladusbid's work in building two traditional cedar canoes.

"Tony and I have been financing the programs offered since September at the coffee shop," Michelle Cladusbid wrote in an email. "The cultural center will now be able to apply for grants funding further expansion and programming through the creative district."

Before Beaver Tales was designated as a cultural hub, the couple put everything they had into making their vision a reality and are grateful for the community support that has kept the business afloat.

"We have poured our hearts and souls into Beaver Tales Coffee," Michelle Cladusbid wrote. "Funding our operations with personal investments. We have had some very generous donors help us out at just the right moments when things seemed really hard, and even impossible. We have folks who regularly donate to our operations and encourage us to keep going. We are so thankful and grateful for every level of support and contribution. No matter how hard it has been, or the challenges we have faced, we just keep pushing forward. The friendships that have been forged, the partnerships created. This is what a community looks like. We all lift each other up."

Thanks to its new creative district designation, Beaver Tales is now home to the swədəbš Cultural Center. The word swədəbš has a couple of pronunciations: "Schwedobs" or "Schwedops" which means People of the Salmon in the Coast Salish Lushootseed language, Michelle Cladusbid explained.

"More than anything it is important that folks understand that the swədəbš Cultural Center, while originally the vision of Beaver Tales Coffee, is now a collaborative project and Creative Hub," Michelle Claudusbid wrote. "Tony and I, while working to acknowledge Indigenous presence -- 'We Are Still Here,' is a phrase we often use when people ask us '...Are there still Indians?' Yes, yes, there are. We are working to bring forth history and culture showing that our indigenous peoples are not just surviving but thriving. We have always supported artists and businesses -- native and non-native."

With the intention of strengthening the community's cultural fabric, the Coupeville Creative District was certified by the Washington Arts Commission, or ArtsWA, last November. Other creative districts certified since the program's 2017 inception include Langley, Edmonds, Port Townsend and Olympia, among others.

"Nestled in the heart of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve on Whidbey Island and home to the historic Coupeville Wharf, Coupeville has deep Indigenous roots going back 9,000 years," an ArtsWA post states.

According to HistoryLink.org, Coupeville was once home to the Lower Skagit River people, who include Tony Cladusbid's ancestors. The Lower Skagit tribes built "three permanent villages at this location, the largest being bah-TSAHD-ah-lee (snake place), now present-day Coupeville," the website states.

Lisa Bernhardt, co-chair of the Coupeville Creative District Steering Committee and executive director of the Pacific Northwest Art School, said Beaver Tales' vision of an inclusive cultural center was a key part of the application for the Coupeville Creative District.

"Every creative district is required to have a community project and Beaver Tales is our community project," Bernhardt said. "Yes, we do need to shine a light on our Indigenous history. The biggest thing Michelle and I are unified on is for the public to understand that it's a cultural hub for all creatives. The creative economy of Washington State represents 8% of our state's GDP -- there's economic incentive."

She added that the Pacific Northwest Art School administers the creative district as a 501c3 nonprofit.

In addition to its collaboration with Beaver Tales, Bernhardt said the the creative district includes the Pacific Northwest Art School, which, for nearly 40 years, has attracted faculty and students nationwide.

"It also includes our partners in the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce, the Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association, the Town of Coupeville, the Island County Historical Museum and the Coupeville Festival Association," Bernhardt added. "It represents the culinary artists, the gallery artists, the museum, and all our festivals from Mussel Fest, Water Fest, to the Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival."

Meanwhile, in honoring the tradition of his Lower Skagit ancestors, Tony Cladusbid is building a pair of traditional canoes made of cedar logs. Collaborating with the Pacific Northwest Art School and the Island County Historical Society and Museum, Tony uses the strip plank method of traditional canoe building, based on the design of the Snakelum canoe, housed in the museum's basement. It was owned by one of the last Lower Skagit members to live in Coupeville, Chief Charlie Snakelum.

Tony tells the story of spending time with the old canoe, more than 200 years old, and his calling to build new canoes, in a Feb.18, 2023 podcast, "The Making of My Cousin," on Tales of the Magic Skagit.

The goal is to have at least one of the canoes completed for launching at Coupeville's Penn Cove Water Festival on May 10.

Additionally, the swədəbš Cultural Center will host an evening social on Friday, April 11 for the community, announcing the creative district's creation of the hub. The following day, Saturday, April 12, the public is invited to a day of celebration.

For more information, visit the Beaver Tales webpage at beavertalescoffee.com.