Potlatch Opens Voting To Rename Tournament

Four new names are in the running.

The organizers of Potlatch, the Seattle summer tournament staple, opened voting today to select a new name for the event. The results will be announced in January.

The tournament is being renamed due to concerns about the appropriation of the term potlatch, a Native American gift-giving feast. Here’s DiscNW, the tournament’s organizing committee, on the change:

The tournament was named by our founder and first Executive Director of DiscNW, Joey Gray. Joey is a member of the Native American community but no longer works with the organization nor is she involved in the tournament. Joey contacted us a couple of years ago, requesting that we change the name given how much the tournament has changed over the years and the lack of representation of native people at the tournament. These changes include an increase in the use of alcohol for recreation and for gifts, and the importance placed on dressing up in costume. A potlatch is a sacred ceremony in the Native American community and our representation of the ceremony is cultural appropriation. As an organization and representative of our sport, DiscNW feels that to continue using the name Potlatch is not in accordance with spirit of the game. We seek to be respectful to the communities around us and to those whom we interact with and in order to do this we feel it is very important that we move away from the name Potlatch. We hope to find a name that is fun and represents the gift giving and the sharing of games that makes the tournament special.

There are four new names in the running: Pie in the Sky, Quilt Patch, Summer Camp, and Sunbreak. Here is some background on each of the names:

Pie in the Sky — “An homage to the indescribable experience of this tournament as well as the history of the word Frisbee as we know it. The Frisbie pie company was credited with the first use of the word as kids found their pie tins could be thrown when inverted.”

Quilt Patch — “Quilts in everyday use represent ‘Family Heritage.’ The ultimate community is a family, and this quilt will represent our tournament and heritage. Each team of the tournament is a quilt patch, that together make a Quilt. In association with Quilt Patch, the tournament trophy will be a quilt. The tournament winner and the Spirit winner will each get to add one patch to the quilt blanket. This way we can capture the heritage of Quilt Patch year after year, displayed for all to see every 4th of July weekend.”

Summer Camp — “An ode to the exciting experience of one’s youth: going away from the real world for a moment of exploration, new experiences, and enjoying friendships – old and new.”

Sunbreak — “A word specific to the Pacific Northwest region referring to a ray of sunshine breaking through an overcast sky. It’s a great metaphor for the way that this tournament is a delightful break from our regular lives as well as quite literally a chance for us to take advantage of the wonderful but rare PNW sun. Suggestion courtesy of Kaitlyn H., community member.”

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Voting (vote here) ends December 22nd.