14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
NaViGaTiNg tHe 2019 FiShErPoEtS GaThErInG
I
t’s another big return to the 2019 Fisher-
Poets Gathering. No scratchy fishing or
lumpy weather here. And you won’t miss
’em because a great evening awaits fisher-
poets and fans at every venue each night.
Here’s a brief heads-up on what to
expect:
The Astoria Brewing Company (for-
merly the Wet Dog Café), alternately rau-
cous 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 shellfish. Minors are welcome
until 10 p.m.
The Voodoo Room — intimate, quirky
and often crowded — seats fewer than
it sometimes holds and offers pizza and
drinks to fisherpoet fans 21 and older.
Everyone loves to read at the Voodoo. New
England’s Larry Kaplan plays in concert
here, late Friday evening.
The Columbian Theater, cozy yet spa-
cious, the site of so many quintessentially
Astorian events, offers beer, wine and sim-
ple eats and seats 250 in nostalgic comfort.
Minors are welcome. Stick around late Fri-
day for the second annual Poetry at the Line
Slam and late Saturday night for Ray Troll
and the incomparable Ratfish Wranglers.
KALA, host of the annual FisherPo-
ets Dance Friday night, seats about 70 in
an intimate but lively setting and offers a
full bar for fans this weekend. Minors are
allowed. The Brownsmead Flats will play a
little longer here Saturday night.
At Fort George Brewery’s Lovell Show-
room fans can enjoy wine or Fort George’s
own brew with their fisherpoetry in a per-
formance-focused venue. Minors are wel-
come here, too.
,
COLIN MURPHEY
A participant in the annual FisherPoets Gathering performs at the Liberty Theatre in 2018.
The magnificent Liberty Theatre seats
plenty in Venetian splendor. Beer and wine
purchased in the lobby are allowed inside.
KMUN will broadcast live Friday and Sat-
urday nights. Stick around Saturday night
for our friendly umpteenth annual poetry
contest. Emcees will announce the rules
Friday. Everyone wearing this year’s button
is welcome to have a go.
This year the Labor Temple Cafe, a for-
mer union hall diner and bar, pitches in both
evenings. In the back, past the refurbished
bar, are seats and bar tables for 80 or so
fans over 21. Beerman Creek plays on here,
late Friday evening.
This year a dozen thought-provoking,
creative FisherPoets Gathering workshops
and special events are scattered among
The 2019 FisherPoets Gathering Thanks Its Supporters
2019 towards providing quality
sound at all venues,
27 years a Kodiak seine skipper,
setnetter and Dungie fisherman,
The Daily Astorian for donat-
ing, since 2013, the publishing,
printing and distribution of our
programs,
Judi and Milt Stewart for their
faithful support and $1,000
donation in honor of Judi’s
brother Jack Connaway, West
Coast fisherman and skipper of
the Adios,
Jamie Jones and Katie Wood
for $500 in support of the
Gathering,
The City of Astoria for its $3000
grant from the Arts and Cultural
Fund to Promote Tourism,
Oregon Sea Grant for its $1000
grant towards operational
expenses,
Readership supporters for
their $250 donations for distant
fisherpoets (Englund Marine,
Fishhawk Fisheries, Sen. Betsy
Johnson, Merry Time Bar &
Grill, Pier 39, Salmon For All)
The Clatsop County Cultural
Coalition for its $1,250 grant in
Michelle Abramson for $500
in memory of Alan Abramson,
KMUN Coast Community
Radio for bookkeeping, for
Clatsop Community College
for 22 years of abiding, visionary
staff support and for equip-
ment,
some of Astoria’s most treasured venues.
The Special Events Schedule offers more
information.
It’s a pleasant walk, in good weather,
east to Pier 39, out the dock to the former
Bumble Bee Seafoods plant, now the Han-
thorn Cannery Museum. Find workshops in
the northwest corner. If you’ve driven, you
can park inside the cannery or, to enjoy the
boardwalk, back on 39th Street.
The Columbia River Maritime Muse-
um’s Barbey Maritime Center, the restored
spacious and airy former train depot, sits at
the east end of the museum’s parking lot.
Enjoy lots of sunlight even on a cloudy day
in there.
Clatsop Community College, a FPG
supporter from the beginning 22 years
ago, invites us Friday afternoon to the top
of 16th Street, where sparkling still-new
Patriot Hall commands a sweeping view of
the Lower Columbia. Take a stroll around
the elevated indoor track before you go
downstairs to workshops in Room 206.
Jamie Boyd invites you to share her Stu-
dio 11 space for Duncan Berry’s fish-print
making workshop. Sign up in advance,
though, at the Gearshack. The workshop
has a $25 materials fee.
Wander downtown into Imogen and
Astoria Visual Arts galleries and South Bay
Wild Seafood Market to enjoy visual art
and photography by several of this year’s
fisherpoets.
WineKraft overlooks the water on the
pier at the foot of 10th Street. It’s hard to
imagine a more inviting place to enjoy open
mic in the afternoon or a more cozy one
to sing ballads together late after Saturday
evening’s scheduled readings.
Finally, the FisherPoets Gathering Gear-
shack, our pop-bookstore at 1312 Commer-
cial St., and the closest thing we have to a
central office, offers you a chance to take a
piece of the FPG home. Pick up your favor-
ite fisherpoets’ chapbooks, CDs and art. Bid
on some of the remarkable contributions the
community has made to our silent auction.
Bids close at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Gear-
shack won’t be open Sunday.
Our fisherpoets.org website has more
information for you about workshops, and
has the schedule as current as we know how
to make it. Beyond that, do what fishermen
do. Ask around. Take some chances. Play
some hunches. Answer some questions.
Check the chart. Watch the weather. Keep
your net wet. Catch all you can. Have fun.
— Jon Broderick, Cannon Beach, Ore.
being our non-profit home, for
promotion and for broadcasting
live Friday and Saturday nights,
The Astoria Riverwalk Inn
for donating rooms to the
Gathering,
Diane Speakman for designing
our 2019 FPG logo and Jamie
Boyd for our poster’s graphic
design,
Liz Harris for providing space
for the 2019 FisherPoets Gear-
shack,
Our evening reading venues:
Astoria Brewing Co., the
Voodoo Room, the Columbian
Theater, Fort George Brewery
+ Public House, KALA, the Lib-
erty Theatre and Labor Temple
Bar and
The Oregon Folklife Network
for its partnership and docu-
mentation support,
Our special event venues: the
Barbey Maritime Center,
Pier 39 Hanthorn Cannery
.
Museum, Clatsop Community
College’s Patriot Hall, Studio
11 and WineKraft for inviting
us all in,
Friends and businesses who
donated to our silent auction,
Volunteers who grease the
Gathering’s gears and, as always,
Our fisherpoet friends who
come sometimes from very
far away and always mostly on
their own dime to gather this
weekend in Astoria with us.