The Cultus Lake Princess Contest Through Stó:lō Women's Voices

Juliana Schneider Medeiros

The festival The Cultus Lake Indian Festival,1 organized by the Stó:lō people of the Fraser Valley, hosted for many years an annual princess contest. The festival started in 1958, the year of the British Columbia Centennial, when founders Richard Malloway, from Yakweakwioose (Yeqeyeqwí:ws) First Nation, Edna and Albert Douglas, from Cheam (Xwchiyò:m) First Nation, Burns and Wilma Mussell, from Skwah (Sqwá) First Nation, and Sam Jimmie, from Squiala (Sx_woyehá:la) First Nation, won a grant that made it possible to get started.2 The festival’s main attraction were the war canoe races, which attracted people from all over British Columbia and also from Washington State.3 In the beginning, the festival was very popular and attended by big crowds of non-Indigenous people, but with time the event became more focused on an Indigenous…

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British Columbia History (Digital) - 1 Issue, 58.1 Spring 2025

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