6 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Visual arts, literature,
theater, music & more
POEMS ON THE RANGE
Harvest Moon Artisan Market
funds student adventure to
Nevada poetry gathering
By WILLIAM HAM
FOR COAST WEEKEND
E
very three years or so for the last 20,
Mark Mizell, an English teacher at
Seaside High School, gathers up a
couple dozen of his charges for a unique
expedition.
“We take a beautiful yellow school bus
over to Portland, hop on a train, take it to
Sacramento, walk around town a bit, then
take another train through the Sierras and the
Great Basin Desert up to our destination,”
he said.
That destination: Elko, Nevada, which
has hosted the annual National Cowboy
Poetry Gathering every January since 1985.
Described by organizers as “six days of
poetry, music, dancing, workshops, exhib-
its, conversations, food and fellowship,”
the Gathering began as an opportunity for
Western ranchers and cowboys to share
poems about their lives on the range. (Think
FisherPoets, only dustier.)
With 25 students and several chaperones
in tow, this will not be an inexpensive jaunt.
To offset costs, Mizell and his kids have or-
ganized the first-ever Harvest Moon Artisan
Market, which will take place in the gymna-
sium of the Broadway Middle School (1120
Broadway St.) 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 28, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct.
29.
Between 25 and 30 vendors — local
artists, chefs, and musicians among them —
are scheduled to participate. Mizell and his
wife, Becky, have worked alongside many
of them while manning their own stalls at
the Astoria Sunday Market and the Saturday
Market in Ilwaco over the last 20 summers.
Students pull shifts
“I’ve known Mark and Becky for quite a
few years now,” said vendor Leslie McCray,
whose own business, Sweater Heads, does
what the name implies: She fashions stylish
headwear from a variety of castoff pullovers.
“We’ve worked together at a number of
different markets in the area, selling our art.
PHOTO BY ERICK BENGEL
Mark Mizell, an English teacher at Seaside High School, at a beatnik poetry reading in 2015
SWEATERHEADS.NET
Leslie McCray, owner of Sweater Heads,
will be a vendor at the Harvest Moon
Artisan Market.
and during their trip, as well as at the Gath-
ering.
“I think the trip winds up being more
meaningful for them the more they’re
involved in the preliminary stages of it,”
Mizell said.
A long tradition
He’s done fundraising for these trips in other
ways over the years, and this year he decided
to give this a try, since this is what we do.”
Each vendor pays a $70 admission fee,
every penny of which will help defray the
students’ travel expenses.
Mizell has ensured his students are part
of the process. “Everybody gets to take a
shift,” he said.
In the run-up to the market, Mizell’s kids
can be found handing out fliers from Astoria
to Cannon Beach, making signs, helping
vendors and practicing a “mini-traveling
show” called the “Let ’er Buck Chili Feed
Revue,” which they hope to perform before
All of this hard work and preparation,
with the promise of a celebration at the end,
is in keeping with the spirit of the National
Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
“Cowboys and cowgirls getting together
like this is not a new thing,” Mizell said.
“During the spring, summer and fall, ranch-
ers tend to be quite busy, of course, so when
there’s a lull in the winter, that’s their time
to celebrate their life and their work, through
storytelling, music and everything else. It’s
part of a long tradition, and I’m proud to be
able to share it.”
The Gathering’s remit has grown expo-
nentially, expanding to include writers and
performers of all stripes from throughout the
American West and beyond. Performances
from the likes of Ian Tyson (of 1960s folk
duo Ian & Sylvia), Michael Martin Murphey
(of “Wildfire” fame) and Grammy-winner
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott are not uncommon.
At the most recent Gathering attended
by Mizell and his students, the keynote
speaker was Temple Grandin, a world-re-
nowned animal science professor and
autism activist.
In addition, the 34th Gathering, which
runs Jan. 28 through Feb. 3, will focus on a
less-heralded aspect of cowboy culture. This
year’s theme: “Basques & Buckaroos.”
“There’s a big Basque influence through-
out the Great Basin region, from Utah and
Idaho right through to eastern Oregon,”
Mizell said. “In fact, you can go to Steens
Mountain and still find carvings the original
Basque sheep herders left in the aspen groves
up there. It’ll be great to have that tradition
represented at this year’s event.” CW