16 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
The FisherPoets
Gathering thanks its
2017 supporters
Clatsop Community College for 20 years
of abiding, visionary staff support and for
equipment,
KMUN Coast Community Radio for book-
keeping, for being our non-profi t home, for
promotion, and for broadcasting live Friday
and Saturday nights,
The Daily Astorian for donating, since
2013, the publishing, printing and distribution
of our programs,
The City of Astoria for its $3000 grant
from the Arts and Cultural Fund to Promote
Tourism
Warrenton High School students for their
$1000 CommuniCare grant through the Har-
old and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation,
Readership supporters for their $250
grants including
Oregon Sea Grant,
Jamie Jones and Katie Wood,
Coff ee Girl,
Salmon For All,
Englund Marine, and
Fishhawk Fisheries,
The Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Com-
merce for national and regional press releases,
The Oregon Folklife Network for its part-
nership and documentation support,
Mimi Rose for donating space for the 2017
FisherPoets Gearshack,
The Astoria Riverwalk Inn and the Can-
nery Pier Hotel for donating rooms to the
FPG,
Columbia Coff ee Roaster for providing
hot joe at the Gearshack and Farewell Mic,
Our venues the Wet Dog Café, the Voodoo
Room, the Columbian Theater, Fort George
Brewery and Public House, the Astoria
Event Center, KALA, the Liberty Theater,
Pier 39, the Columbia River Maritime Muse-
um and WineKraft for inviting us all in,
Friends and businesses who donated to
our silent auction,
Volunteers who grease the FPG gears and,
as always,
Our fi sherpoet friends who come, some-
times from very far away and always mostly
on their own dime, to gather this weekend in
Astoria with us.
PATRICK DIXON/PDIXONPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
The crowd at the Astoria Event Center is eager for more fi sherpoetry at the FisherPoets Gathering.
Navigating the 2017 FisherPoets Gathering
T
This weekend every fi sher-
poetry fan will face the same
pickle that every skipper faces
during the season when a radio
partner announces that fi shing’s
pretty good somewhere he or
she isn’t.
But every fi sherpoetry fan
can relax. There are no wrong
choices at the FisherPoets
Gathering.
Whether you hunker down
like a setnetter or race around
like a nervous herring seine
skipper, you’ll fi nd reason to
enjoy any of the FisherPoets
Gathering evening venues.
There’s a great evening waiting
for fans and poets at each of
them.
The Wet Dog Café, alter-
nately raucous and rapt, has
been the spiritual home of the
FisherPoets Gathering since
the beginning in 1998. The Wet
Dog seats 250 fans and offers
its own beers and local, wild
seafood and shellfi sh. Minors
are welcome until 10 p.m.
The Voodoo Room – inti-
mate, quirky and often crowded
– seats fewer than it sometimes
holds and offers pizza and
drinks to fi sherpoet fans over
21. Everyone loves to read at
the Voodoo.
The Columbian Theater,
cozy yet spacious, the site of so
many quintessentially Astorian
events, offers beer, wine and
simple eats and seats 250 in
nostalgic comfort. Minors are
welcome.
The Astoria Event Center,
from which KMUN broadcasts
live both nights, boasts the most
seats, raised theater seating in
the back and a big stage. Minors
are welcome always.
KALA, host of the annual
FisherPoets Dance, this year
on Friday night, seats about 70
in an intimate but lively setting
and offers a full bar for fans this
weekend. Minors are allowed.
At Fort George Brewery’s
Lovell Showroom fans can en-
joy wine or Fort George’s own
brew with their fi sherpoetry in
a performance-focused venue.
Minors are welcome, here, too.
If you haven’t gotten your
button elsewhere, pick it up
at he FisherPoets Gathering
Gearshack, 1184 Commercial
St. Show your support for the
FisherPoets Gathering and buy
an enameled highliner pin or
celebrate our 20th annual in a
Ray Troll T-shirt. Wear these
with pride.
We get underway sooner
than you think. You might start
with a self-guided visit to the
Hanthorn Cannery Museum at
Pier 39. Mug yourself up at 10
a.m. at Coffee Girl ,and enjoy
the river as it rolls beneath you.
Back at the Gearshack,
have a bid at something quirky
or tasty or useful among this
year’s Silent Auction items.
Browse fi sherpoets’ books and
CDs.
Before you take a seat for
Friday evening’s fi sherpoet-
ry drop in at the Columbian
Theater where, at 2:15 p.m., a
couple of short fi sherpoet fi lms
take you fi shing. If you miss
Friday’s show you can try again
Saturday afternoon.
From here on, you’ll have
to make some choices. At
the Columbian Theater you
could inform yourself about
the proposed Pebble Mine and
the threat it poses to Bristol
Bay’s watersheds. Or you could
see how open mic is going at
WineKraft. Have a read your-
self. You’ll miss a chance to
visit with artist George Wilson
at Imogen’s welcome reception,
but that’s how fi shing is. You
can’t catch them all.
Between venues, stop at 11th
Street and Marine Drive for a
while to enjoy Corey Arnold’s
arresting projections on the
wall. You might fi nd yourself
lingering there longer than
you’d planned.
Evening readings begin
most places at 5 p.m. You can
chase your favorite fi sherpoets
all over town if you want to or
sit tight and hear some pleasant
surprises. Every venue is a good
one every hour.
When evening readings
have wrapped up, head over
to KALA for the annual dance
party. If you stay late, though,
you might have trouble getting
up in time for Saturday morn-
ing’s openers.
The Gearshack is opening at
10 a.m. Saturday, a little earlier
than before. But you can come
back later because you’ve got
three workshops to choose from
at 10 a.m. and three more at
11:30 a.m. At the Barbey Mari-
time Center or at Pier 39 inform
yourself further on the health of
our Columbia and Snake rivers
and of the ocean itself. Decide
how to respond intelligently. Or
simply learn how to tie a couple
of really useful knots. Or tackle
your own stories at the creative
writing workshop, or write a
song or sing all sorts of them
at the song writing and singing
workshops.
Mid-afternoon, visit the
Event Center to enjoy a pleas-
ant earful at the annual Story
Circle where it doesn’t take
much coaxing to draw a good
tale from veteran fi shermen and
women.
Then at the Columbian The-
ater join a festive rally to pro-
tect the Columbia, or, at KALA,
celebrate Nancy Cook’s exhibit
with her, or, at WineKraft,
gather your courage, bring a
few friends and read something
of your own.
And if, after the Saturday
night readings, you’re ready
to have a go at a bigger stage,
bring it to the umpteenth annual
on-site poetry contest. Don’t be
shy. It’s a gathering, not a slam.
Or enjoy Ray Troll and the
Ratfi sh Wranglers in eccentric
multi-media concert at the
Columbian. Or head over to
WineKraft and join the singers
gathering there. Or maybe the
Voodoo will let us linger for an
open mic there.
Stickin’ and stayin’? We’ll
see you Sunday morning at
the Event Center. There’ll be
coffee. Arrive a little early and
practice three-part harmony
with us before a short, friendly
gospel sing, followed by a lot
of short, friendly fi sherpoems
as we say so long until next
year.
You won’t catch it all, but
you’ll have a great weekend
with us at the FisherPoets Gath-
ering. Thanks for coming.
– Jon Broderick
Cannon Beach, OR