Bill Hewitt, a local restaurant owner, founded Tillicum Village in 1962, the year of the Seattle World's Fair. The Hewitt family operated it until selling it to Argosy Cruises, the operator of the Tillicum Excursion, in 2009. For 18 years, the show was "Dance on the Wind", focusing on dances of British Columbia tribes and provided by Thompson's, a locally based theatrical production company. There were 100,000 visitors in 1978. The facilities and show were updated in 2011.