Presented May 25, 2021

We are very pleased to announce that Children of the Setting Sun Productions has been selected as the Ferndale School District’s 2021 Business of the Year.

Each spring, the District honors one business that has made outstanding contributions to Ferndale schools. We are deeply grateful to many local businesses for their support. However, the contributions of Children of the Setting Sun Productions, Executive Director Darrell Hillaire, and Filmmaker/Composer Mark Nichols stand above the rest. The positive impact they have had on our children, our staff, our families, and our community has been exceptional.

Children of the Setting Sun Productions is a multi-media, film, and theater arts production company specializing in Coast Salish storytelling.  The name dates back to the 1930s when Mr. Hillaire’s great-grandfather formed a song and dance troupe with the same name. He explains, “My great-grandfather decided that people needed to get educated in this area, so he formed a dance group called Children of the Setting Sun and, we’ve been carrying it on.” Mr. Hillaire went on to say that his motivation came in part from the realization there were no production companies focusing on Native American stories.

The first story Mr. Hillaire wrote, called “What About Those Promises,” was the saga of the Lummi people’s land claims with the United States government. The historical story was eventually brought to life in a play, which many had the opportunity to see when it was performed throughout Whatcom County.

A mutual quest to educate first brought the Ferndale School District together with Children of the Setting Sun Productions in December of 2019, when the District was looking for a way to prepare for its first-ever observance of Treaty Day on January 22, 2020. Over Winter Break that year, several of District administrators met with Darrel Hillaire, Jay Julius, and Mark Nichols to create a 22-minute video that teachers could use as the centerpiece of their lessons about the significance of  Treaty Day.

The Treaty Day film, which debuted in January 2020 and was updated for 2021, has been incredibly impactful. Not only does it represents a major step forward in achieving a more meaningful implementation of the Since Time Immemorial curriculum for our students, but it has also helped to educate staff, families, and community.

Based on the District’s positive Treaty Day experiences with Children of the Setting Sun Productions, they sought out Mr. Hillaire when the Educational Programs and Operations Levy failed in February 2020. With their mission to create understanding and change perceptions across cultural differences, Children of the Setting Sun seemed like the perfect group to help tell the story of the levy in a compelling way. Thankfully, they agreed to work on the levy information campaign, and the series of video vignettes they produced were gamechangers. The passage of the levy the second time around in November 2020 simply would not have happened without them.

We could go on for much longer singing the praises of Children of the Setting Sun Productions. We could talk about the series they began producing during the pandemic called One From the Heart -- to bring conversations on different topics to the Lummi Nation while the stay-at-home order was in effect. We could talk about the commitment of Mr. Hillaire’s production company to elevate and amplify youth voices, the way they have made space for young people on their Board, and their continual search for more meaningful avenues for involving younger generations in their work. We could go on for much longer.

Let it suffice to say there are so many reasons for celebrating Mr. Hillaire and Children of the Setting Sun Productions.  We want to express our deepest gratitude to him and his team. This community is blessed to have them in it. “Thank you” seems too small a phrase to convey how grateful the District is to have them as partners. So we will borrow from their culture and add Hy'shqe. Our hands are raised to Children of the Setting Sun Productions.