Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Cascadia Day
Cascadia Day is May 18th. Some people call David McCloskey the “grandfather of Cascadia” based on his early founding of the concept of Cascadian bioregionalism. In 2012, Eugene Oregon was the site of the Cascadia Unconference, organized by Elona Underwood with Cascadia Education Project, Mel and Devin and Casey with Cascadia Matters, and Brandon Letsinger with the Cascadia Department of Bioregion. It was these folks who determined that we needed our own day to talk about Cascadia. The day was chosen to align with the anniversary of the 1980 Loowit (Mt. St. Helens) volcanic eruption, in Southwest Washington.
PHOTO: DAVID SWANSON, USGS. Snow packed Mt. St. Helen’s summit, with white, billowing smoke; a bright blue sky, and tall fir trees in foreground.
Raise your Doug flag, wear your Cascadia patch, and connect with others across the bioregion who are building something meaningful together.
Share about Cascadia
Print and share this fun little zine!
Print on 8.5 x 11 regular paper, and fold. Available in black and white and color. Use this Wiki-How to fold it correctly. Design by Drew Llano.
Cascadia Day is an open invitation:
Host a potluck, organize a neighborhood cleanup, plan a tree planting, or gather friends for a film screening or block party.
Whether it’s a backyard barbecue, a pub night, or a creative wheat-pasting session, every act of participation helps weave a stronger regional fabric.
Show your pride for Cascadia—not just as a place, but as a shared commitment to community, resilience, and positive change.
Be an ambassador for change.
How to celebrate Cascadia Day
10. Get creative. Write and share about how you understand the connection between the metaphoric similarities between the Loowit eruption and what’s happening now, through a nature-based lens or otherwise.
9. Learn something new about the watershed that you’re living within. What are the threats, who is working to regenerate the ecology, who are the communities that this affects? How are Tribal folks speaking about the issues?
8. Replenish your go-bag. Cycle through old food items, swap batteries, and replace your cold weather items with sunblock and summer-supplies. Do you have a wildfire smoke mask, inhaler, eye drops?
7. Practice your talking points about bioregioning this place. Talk to a kid about land, soil, growing food, or watersheds. Talk to an adult about how they feel about caring for the place that we love and find valuable, where are their concerns?
6. Think like a bioregionalist. Ask an elder about their memory of the 1980 eruption. Bioregioning is a cross-generational movement. Becoming resilient is to learn from one another and especially learning from Indigenous voices. Caring for people is a badge of a bioregionalist.
5. Change your social media profile pic with a Doug Flag.
4. Do something that is uncomfortable. Practice responding to uncertainty. Find beauty, gratitude, and celebrate humility. Curiosity and resourcefulness is the badge of a Cascadian.
3. Plan a bioregion-based foods potluck. Try to invite folks in-person, or drop off a flyer or hand-written note with your network of friends and senior community members.
2. Use food coloring to create Doug Flag-colored cupcakes, beer, or rice. Because, why not?
And the number one way to celebrate Cascadia Culture Week is…
1. Make a pact to celebrate Cascadia Day bigger, in a larger group, next year!
Seattle and Portland events
Folks are mobilizing!
In essence, the week is an opportunity to educate and celebrate our beautiful bioregion. We hope each of you join us in celebrating Cascadia Culture Week, the time before and after Cascadia Day each year in which we celebrate the incredible diversity and culture that make this region so wonderful. Use the digital graphics, and forward to any person, business, group or community; create a display. Share with friends, local museums, businesses, educators, libraries, politicians, journalists, bookstores or anyone else you think could benefit. Please feel free to adapt and alter these!
Orca—Beaver—Salmon. Cascadia Culture Week 2026
Cascadia is not defined by political borders, but by watersheds, ecosystems, and interconnected communities. To celebrate Cascadia Day is to recognize that we are part of this living system, and that our responsibility is to steward it with intention.
