Special Events for this year's Gathering
(rev. 2/6/26)
Umpteenth Annual On-Site Poetry Contest Regs for 2026 will be posted here as soon as they're available.
Important Information for Columbia River Maritime Museum:
If you are interested at any events at CRMM, please scroll to the bottom of this page for important parking/construction and admission updates.
(rev. 2/6/26)
Umpteenth Annual On-Site Poetry Contest Regs for 2026 will be posted here as soon as they're available.
Important Information for Columbia River Maritime Museum:
If you are interested at any events at CRMM, please scroll to the bottom of this page for important parking/construction and admission updates.
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Friday, February 27
9:30 am – 6 pm FisherPoets Gearshack 1180 Marine Dr Indoor courtyard between 1162 - 1180 Admission buttons and fisherpoets’ chapbooks, CDs and art. Silent Auction at the Gearshack Bids open: Friday at noon Bids close: Saturday at 4pm 12 noon – 3:30 pm Creatures of the Deep: Gyotaku Printmaking with Duncan Berry Barbey Maritime Center 2042 Marine Dr, east end of parking lot / east of construction Create beautiful archival prints of the Oregon Coasts most iconic species in the Japanese gyotaku style. *$125/person (Click here for tickets.) 1 - 2:15 pm Songwriting: Focus on the Music with Jon Lee Hotel Elliott, downstairs meeting room 357 12th St We will focus on the magic of integrating music and lyrics, with an emphasis on on how to create simple chord progressions that provide a musical framework for lyrics. 2 – 4 pm Open-Mic WineKraft Wine Bar 77 11th St (end of 10th St, west end of Pier 11) Host Rebecca Kraft invites you to drop in with friends and have a short go. Sign up on site. All are welcome. 2:30 – 3:45 pm Going with the Fish, Flows, and Floodplains with Graham Klagg & Kelli Daffron Ford and Kern Classroom Columbia River Maritime Museum 1792 Marine Dr, main entrance Join in the conversation for our local watersheds with the North Coast Watershed Association to learn more about our work for good fish, forest and folks. Learn how we can recreate high quality salmon and trout habitat through watershed restoration and enhancement projects. Discuss the results of our field data on stream temperature, flow, fish and other key habitat opportunities we are looking to pursue with landowners and the community from Gnat to Necarney Creek. Dive deep below log jams and beaver dams to learn how we are working with fly fishers and foresters to improve our ecological community. 2:30 – 3:45 pm Page to the Stage with Hornyak, McDaniels, Aadsen, Rhodes Elks Lodge Dining Room 453 11th St Grow more effective and confident on the stage. Learn good practices and methods for creating strong performances that reflect your own unique voice and style. 2:30 - 3:45 pm Start with What’s on Hand: Exploring Objects as Talismans and History with Lara Messersmith-Glavin Astoria Library Flag Room 450 10th St A creative nonfiction workshop with award-winning author Lara Messersmith-Glavin. Uncover the personal, material, and sensual histories of the objects around you as a starting place for essays or journaling. Participants will generate some writing, and we’ll discuss both lyric and braided essay forms. Feel free to bring some beloved objects (e.g. small stones, jewelry, trinkets, shells, postcards, pens) or work from memory. This session is a great fit for folks who are drawn to poetry, personal essays, natural history, or memoir. 10 pm FisherPoets Dance Party KALA 1017 Marine Dr 10 pm FisherPoets Poetry Slam Columbian Theater 1102 Marine Dr FisherPoets go cork to cork. The audience chooses the highliner. |
Saturday, February 28
9:30 am – 6 pm FisherPoets Gearshack 1180 Marine Dr Indoor courtyard between 1162 - 1180 Admission buttons and fisherpoets’ chapbooks, CDs and art. Silent Auction continues at the Gearshack Bids close: Saturday at 4pm Pick up items by 6 pm (You will receive a call or text for items won.) 9 am – 10:30 am Speed Mug-Up and BS Session South Bay Wild Fish House, 262 9th St Coffee up, make new friends and share some quick stories as you make the rounds. 10 – 11:15 am AI & Creative Writing with Byron Devos Ford and Kern Classroom Columbia River Maritime Museum 1792 Marine Dr, main entrance What do large language models have to offer writers? What AI tools are available and how do they work? Is there still a role for the fisherpoet writing by hand in this world? Come learn about the exciting new technology reshaping the written word. 10 – 11:15 am Shifting Seascapes: Stress and Resilience in Changing Oceans with Angee Doerr Hotel Elliott, downstairs meeting room 357 12th St Our oceans are changing in a multitude of ways; fish stocks are shifting, ocean acidification and hypoxia are prevalent, sea surface temperatures are warming, and storm systems are becoming more powerful and more challenging to predict. These changes can result in frustration, anxiety, stress, and grief – as well as a drive for problem solving, collaboration, and dedication to maintaining this industry and identity. Adapted from work supporting farmers and ranchers, this session explores the relationships, identities, and sense of self associated with commercial fishing. Participants will leave with new tools for naming and navigating climate-related emotions, along with ideas for cultivating resilience. 10 – 11:15 am Superhero Salmon Family Fun with AWE Astoria Astoria Library Flag Room 450 10th St Join AWE Astoria for a playful exploration of salmon life through interactive art and poetry. 10 – 11:15 am The Price is Wrong with North American Marine Alliance Elks Lodge Dining Room 453 11th St Using "The Price is Wrong," a fun table game, we will explore the topic of catch shares, a fisheries management approach that privatizes the rights to fish. Game players will be assigned a role and get to test out different scenarios to try and change their circumstances. Through the game, participants will learn about the harms of catch share policies, ocean privatization, and corporate consolidation. They will also get the chance to dream up new solutions. NAMA is a fishermen-led network that's building a broad movement for a healthy ocean commons and just, thriving fishing communities. 10 – 11:15 am Knot Tying with FisherPoets & Sailors from the Astoria Yacht Club Pier 39 100 39 St Make yourself useful with line. Once you know a bowline you’ll wonder how you lived without it. 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm Updates from Wild Salmon Center: Bristol Bay and Oregon’s North Coast Ford and Kern Classroom Columbia River Maritime Museum 1792 Marine Dr, main entrance Bristol Bay, Alaska is home to the most abundant sockeye salmon run on earth, with an average of over 50 million sockeye returning to spawn each year. The habitat that supports these fish has been threatened by the prospect of large-scale, metallic sulfide mining for two decades and counting. Come listen to the latest updates in the fight for permanent protections in Bristol Bay. Presenter: Luke Brockman, Alaska Community Outreach Coordinator, Wild Salmon Center. Oregon's North Coast is one of the best places to protect wild salmon in the Lower 48. Its half million acres of state forests are home to salmon strongholds like the Nehalem, Wilson and Trask rivers. Learn about the Wild Salmon Center's efforts to restore these forests, rivers and wild salmon runs. Presenter: Michael Lang, Oregon Senior Policy Manager, Wild Salmon Center. 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm Writing Work Poetry with Patrick Dixon Hotel Elliott, downstairs meeting room 357 12th St We'll list jobs we've held - whether we were paid or not - from childhood to present day, then consider which one calls to us to say more. During a guided relaxation exercise, participants will walk through a series of observations based upon the five senses as well as emotions conjured from those memories, then write those down as draft material for composing a poem or poems. We’ll also discuss the difference between the truth of an experience and the truth of the poem. Please bring paper and pen or a laptop to write with. Given time, those who would like to share their work will be invited to do so. Led by FisherPoet Patrick Dixon, author of Waiting to Deliver - an Alaskan commercial fishing memoir (FisherPoets Press, 2022) and Mending Holes fishing poetry collection (MoonPath Press, 2025). 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm How We Catch Salmon: An Introduction to Commercial Power Trolling with Kat Murphy Astoria Library Flag Room 450 10th St Curious how the salmon on your plate are caught? We will dive into the basics of how the deck gear functions, the different types of fishing gear used, as well as how the heck it all comes together to catch salmon on a commercial power trolling vessel! Followed by a Q&A. For those avid to learn more, samples of fishing gear, deck gear, and tools will be available to get your hands on during and after the presentation. 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm Sea Chantey Sing Along with Mary Garvey, Dano Quinn and Friends Pier 39 Courtyard near OleBob's 100 39th St Sing shanties and ballads with Dano Quinn and Mary Garvey and friends. 12:30 - 1:45 pm When the Listener Completes the Poem with Peter Munro Elks Lodge Dining Room 453 11th St When is a poem completed? When it is written? When it is read? When it is spoken? When it is heard? Come join an open discussion hosted by Peter Munro. Munro will attempt to keep order while lovers of poems ask each other questions or sound off. Teach a few things to Munro. Learn a few things from your peers. Let us help each other to say and hear poems better. Munro will provide a scant handful of short poems by master poets that we can say to each other as part of our discussion. 2 – 3:15 pm Working Boats on the Columbia River with Tom Crestodina Ford and Kern Classroom Columbia River Maritime Museum 1792 Marine Dr, main entrance A preview of the new book: Safety, Salvage, and Rescue from commercial fisherman-author-illustrator Tom Crestodina. 2 – 3:15 pm FishHer Columbia Pacific Community Alliance General Meeting Hotel Elliott, downstairs meeting room 357 12th St Join FishHer, Columbia Pacific CommUNITY Alliance. Serving our region's local ports; their mission is to empower women to strengthen local commercial fisheries, families, and waters through outreach, service, emergency response, and blue economy initiatives. Meeting will showcase accomplishments in their first two years as a 501c3 nonprofit entity and what's ahead. 2 – 3:15 pm Self as Place - A Poetry Workshop with Logan Garner Astoria Library Flag Room 450 10th St Self as Place is a generative poetry workshop exploring “poetry of place” through interior landscapes—memory, work, and familial culture—rather than physical geography. Drawing inspiration from Raymond Carver’s spare, clear-eyed style and traditions of blue-collar and labor poetry, we’ll consider how experiences shaped by family, society, and the economy create their own powerful sense of place. Through close readings and guided prompts, participants will map these inner spaces and leave with drafts textured by lived experience. 2 – 3:15 pm Iron Dust and Plankton: Could they tackle climate change and heal the sea? With Brad Warren Elks Lodge Dining Room 453 11th St Efforts to fix climate change by fertilizing plankton are accelerating. Fueled by iron dust, these tiny, fast-growing phytoplankton can trap carbon, grow biomass, and deliver either big solutions or big trouble (depending on who’s talking). A Woods Hole-led research consortium asks: “Is this wise?”, and aims to deliver the science needed to govern it, starting with a field study in the Northeast Pacific. At their request, Global Ocean Health is convening fisheries leaders to recommend guardrails and guiding principles for this research—aiming to begin building a future resource management framework for this new ocean industry. Join Global Ocean Health’s annual workshop at FPG and help sort it out: How should this ocean use be managed? 2 – 3:15 pm Poetry for Non-Poets Workshop with Katy Menne Barbey Maritime Center – Tile Side 2042 Marine Dr, east end of parking lot / east of construction Wanting to explore poetry and gain confidence? Attend this workshop to try your hand at blackout poetry, acrostic poems, Sea Shantey mad libs, and more! All age and abilities welcome. Workshop offered by Columbia River Maritime Museum Education Department. 2 – 3:15 pm Maritime Mat Weaving Demo with Greg Nietzel & Jill Smith Barbey Maritime Center – Woodshop 2042 Marine Dr, east end of parking lot / east of construction Join Greg Neitzel and Jill Smith from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to learn about new crabbing regulations and ways to recycle and reuse discarded line. This workshop will include a demonstration of how mats can be weaved from the line - plus, mark your calendar for when you can try your own hand at weaving through Columbia River Maritime Museum’s Weaving Club. 2 – 3:15 pm The Fisherman, a film by Craig Mahaffy and Dan Kaufman. Animation by Duck Jar Studios. Columbian Theater 1102 Marine Dr A unique short film, illustrating the life of Astoria FisherPoet, David Densmore. Animation and documentary footage are used to bring to life the extreme conditions of growing up in the Aleutian Islands as well as his intensely personal relationship to the sea. There will be a short period for questions and answers after the screening as well as a reception in the lobby. (Running Time: 23 minutes) 2 – 4 pm Open-Mic WineKraft Wine Bar 77 11th St (end of 10th St, west end of Pier 11) Host Rebecca Kraft invites you to drop in with friends and have a short go. Sign up on site. All are welcome. 3:30 – 4:45 pm Story Circle with Jon Broderick Columbian Theater 1102 Marine Dr Hear commercial fishing veterans tell authentic stories, true mostly, about adventure and tedium working on the water. Jon Broderick draws out a handful of reluctant story tellers for a moderated conversation. 5 – 6 pm Campbell’s Last Set with Jon Broderick Columbian Theater 1102 Marine Dr Honoring the ghosts of fisherpoets no longer with us, those yet living celebrate the works of others whom the Gathering misses and wants to remember. 10 pm – Late Umpteenth Annual On-Site Poetry Contest Liberty Theatre 1203 Commercial St The 2026 rules will be announced by MCs at evening venues during the Gathering. Everybody wearing a FPG button is eligible to compete. Got one? Have a go. 10 pm – Late Singing Circle WineKraft Wine Bar 77 11th St Didn’t get enough at Pier 39 this morning? Still feel like singing with friends? Drop in. |
Sunday, March 1
9 – 9:45 am Gospel Sing Along with Erica Clark – Thompson Columbian Theater 1102 Marine Dr Just for fun, preceded by a little harmony practice. 10 am – 12 noon Farewell Mic with Jon Broderick Columbian Theater 1102 Marine Dr A very brief farewell read from lots of lingering scheduled fisherpoets. All Weekend, February 21-23 Visual Arts and Other Exhibits See art exhibits around town, listed here. All Day Hanthorn Cannery Museum Pier 39 100 39 St Self-guided tour of the oldest existing fish processing plant on the Columbia River. |
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Important Information for Columbia River Maritime Museum:
Parking at CRMM
All participants to FisherPoets Gathering workshops hosted at Columbia River Maritime Museum must park at the east end of the Barbey Maritime Center (2042 Marine Dr). To access this lot, enter the parking lot on 20th Street and immediately turn right to drive between the Barbey Maritime Center (red brick building) and Warnock Model Boat Pond. Oversized vehicles can park at the far end of the stripes, standard vehicles can park in any of the striped spots. Additional signage has been added across campus to help navigate around the construction. The Riverwalk is open during construction.
Workshops at CRMM
Participants coming to FisherPoets Gathering workshops hosted at Columbia River Maritime Museum understand that their FPG button does not gain them access into the museum galleries or aboard Lightship Columbia. Admission to the museum can be purchased at the front desk.
AND Our THANKS again for the support of the Columbia River Maritime Museum!
Parking at CRMM
All participants to FisherPoets Gathering workshops hosted at Columbia River Maritime Museum must park at the east end of the Barbey Maritime Center (2042 Marine Dr). To access this lot, enter the parking lot on 20th Street and immediately turn right to drive between the Barbey Maritime Center (red brick building) and Warnock Model Boat Pond. Oversized vehicles can park at the far end of the stripes, standard vehicles can park in any of the striped spots. Additional signage has been added across campus to help navigate around the construction. The Riverwalk is open during construction.
Workshops at CRMM
Participants coming to FisherPoets Gathering workshops hosted at Columbia River Maritime Museum understand that their FPG button does not gain them access into the museum galleries or aboard Lightship Columbia. Admission to the museum can be purchased at the front desk.
AND Our THANKS again for the support of the Columbia River Maritime Museum!
