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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 25, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
GUEST COLUMN
A park for the community
ew York Times bestselling author
Karl Marlantes spoke at the dedi-
cation of Astoria Nordic Heritage
Park on June 17 and identified Astoria as a
river town rather than a coastal town.
Astoria’s identity is uniquely and
strongly defined by its history. In the early
20th century, 35% of Astoria’s citizens
self-identified as Scan-
dinavian. Most were of
Finnish heritage, followed
by Norwegians, Swedes,
Danes and a few Iceland-
ers. Their values and influ-
ences helped determine
the character of our com-
JANET
munity that continues to
BOWLER
this day.
The nonprofit Astoria
Scandinavian Heritage Association spent
seven years fundraising and developing
plans for Astoria’s newest city park located
between 15th and 16th streets on Marine
Drive at the east end of downtown. The
$1.5 million park was built during a pan-
demic with funding from over 460 private
donors, corporate and foundation gifts and
the support of the Oregon Cultural Trust
and Oregon Heritage Commission.
The heritage association gifted the park
to the city and its citizens but will continue
to maintain park features with support from
the Rotary Club.
Astoria Nordic Heritage Park has a sto-
ryline that begins at the Riverwalk. The
grand entrance ramp symbolizes the immi-
grants departing their native lands and say-
ing their last goodbyes. Many saw their
homeland or family left behind for the last
time. The icons on the ramp railing are
important items that immigrants brought
with them or remembered from their
homeland.
The arrival plaza meets a need
expressed in the city’s parks master plan
for more public gathering spaces. The con-
crete steamer trunks on the plaza represent
the immigrants’ meager belongings as they
arrived in a new country. The Nordic flags
and midsummer pole reflect the pride in
traditions the immigrants preserved from
their homelands.
N
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The Astoria Nordic Heritage Park opened to the public on June 17.
The gateway arch portrays the immi-
grants’ intent to work hard and become
productive citizens in the new land. Ten
interpretive panels developed with intense
community input tell this story with many
personal examples from Astoria families.
Boulders and six distinctive troll figures
hidden in the park encourage children of all
ages to play and spend time in the park.
The heritage association realizes that
immigration issues are ongoing and still
relevant today. Poverty, famine, war and
politics are still reasons to leave one’s
homeland and seek refuge elsewhere. The
makeup of the park encourages visitors
to reflect on these issues as they stroll the
meditative path leading west and regard the
scenic views of the Columbia River and
the busy waterfront.
The community is invited to visit the
park frequently to take special photos
under the arch and to visit at night when
the park is lit up. Come when it rains and
listen to water running down the stairs in
the storm drains designed to sound like a
waterfall.
This past weekend, thousands of vis-
itors attended the hugely successful 55th
annual Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer
Festival. They dined on Norwegian lefse,
Finnish rice pudding and prune tarts, Dan-
ish meatballs with red cabbage and Swed-
ish gingersnaps.
The arena at the county fairgrounds was
full and visitors sang and danced to the
international hit tunes of the Swedish band
ABBA performed by ARRIVAL, Can-
ada’s tribute to ABBA. Dancers danced
in authentic Nordic folk wear and accor-
dion bands and a Swedish nyckelharpa
band entertained. Lines were long, but vis-
itors were mostly cheerful and patient and
enjoyed socializing again after a long pan-
demic lockdown.
The festival is a reunion of sorts enjoyed
by all ages. About half of the visitors were
first-timers at the festival and many will
make it a tradition to return in future years.
Astoria is known for this authentic three-
day midsummer celebration that happens
one weekend a year. With the creation of
Astoria Nordic Heritage Park, the signifi-
cance of the Nordic influence on the local
region can be celebrated year-round.
The heritage association thanks all who
have supported this community effort to
build the park – the large and small donors;
the designers, from local artist Roger
McKay, who outlined the original idea, to
the West Studio of Seattle, that drew up the
final plans; the specialty vendors who cre-
ated the arch, granite features, railings, con-
crete trunks and trolls, and interpretive and
decorative panels; and Rickenbach Con-
struction Inc. and all its subcontractors who
demonstrated pride and commitment to
quality workmanship.
Astoria Nordic Heritage Park is for
locals as well as visitors. Read the 292
donor plaque inscriptions to realize the
strong community support that created it.
Visit frequently and spend time in the park.
Come on summer weekends when park
committee members might be on location
to chat and answer questions.
Reflect on your own heritage and share
it with your family members. Astoria Nor-
dic Heritage Park was built by the commu-
nity for the community. We are proud to
share.
Janet Bowler is the vice president of the
Astoria Scandinavian Heritage Associa-
tion and the vice chair of the Astoria Nordic
Heritage Park Committee.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Pay tribute
arrived in Seaside for the Miss Oregon
pageant, as I have done for more than
a decade, eager for breakfast at Patty’s
Wicker Cafe. Imagine my surprise to find
it under renovation, and no longer serving
dry wit and coffee at 6 a.m.!
I just wanted to take a moment and pay
tribute to a member of your community
who was as original as the Oregon Coast
itself, and who worked through her life to
bring happiness and homemade food to the
community.
She told me her real name once upon a
time, but it was never an issue to just call
her by the name of the cafe she made a
bright light in the gray dawn.
Thank you, Patty! You will be missed.
CLINT KASTER
Portland
I
Obfuscating
illnets have been outlawed in most
other states, and many other coun-
tries. The debate over gillnetting is not
about recreational angling versus com-
mercial fishing. Nor is it about rural ver-
sus urban communities. It is simply about
the tool — a gillnet, which is incapable of
effectively targeting hatchery fish, while
minimizing damage to endangered salmon
and steelhead.
Perhaps nothing exemplifies how poor
of a harvest tool a gillnet is than what
happened in April on the lower Colum-
bia River. Operating in off-channel areas,
using self-proclaimed “honed ways to tar-
get hatchery and net-pen salmon,” fisheries
managers rescinded several fishing peri-
ods because the gillnets caught too many
endangered, wild salmon!
Gillnetting continues in the main stem
lower Columbia River because gillnet-
ters and their lobby have been successful
in obfuscating the issues. As an example,
they conflate gillnetting with commercial
fishing, when actually the gillnet fishery is
a minuscule subset of the seafood indus-
try’s economic contributions to our coastal
communities.
Fortunately, salmon management is
heading in the right direction. Over the
past several years, most gillnet harvest
has been limited to off-channel areas.
Additionally, the Washington Legislature
recently approved $14.4 million to buy out
the nontribal gillnet fleet. This new direc-
tion is good for our coastal communities,
and for everyone in the Pacific Northwest.
G
LETTERS WELCOME
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Most importantly, it is good for our pre-
cious salmon and steelhead.
NELLO PICINICH
Executive director, Coastal Conserva-
tion Association
Vancouver, Washington
A new beginning
W
ith a full page of letters to the edi-
tor, The Astorian of May 19 put a
to other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and should refer to
the headline and date the letter was
published. Discourse should be civil.
Send via email to editor@dailyasto-
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97103.
strong emphasis on community. I view
this as a positive post-pandemic effort to
rally our citizens in efforts to come back
to normal.
Then I survey the status of the orga-
nization I know best: Exploring New
Concepts of Retirement Education
(ENCORE). We aim to resume the vigor-
ous and broad program offerings that our
organization is known for.
Yes, the numbers of our membership
have declined. However, our area’s senior
education organization is standing strong.
Although COVID-19 in the last two years
has required a severe reduction in per-
son-to-person classes, we have continued,
steady enrollment in our remote offerings.
A strong attraction among aspects pro-
vided by our organization is social inter-
action. Several dozen couples who have
come to the North Coast recently have
been deprived of the contacts normally
facilitated by ENCORE because we had
to curtail group festivities and social
events.
But our leadership is standing tall. We
are alive and well. We are looking for-
ward to a vigorous resumption of nor-
malcy, even if it is a “new normal.”
We applaud the educational efforts
made by Insight for Elders of Oysterville,
Washington, that will inform the public
through diverse lectures.
ENCORE aims to restart the vigorous
and broad programs that our organization
is known for.
ERHARD GROSS
Astoria