Button, Fisher Poets Gathering
date: label: Date made
content: 2005
name: label: American Folklife Center designated the Fisher Poets Gathering as a Local Legacies Project
content: Library of Congress
notes: label: Description
content: Each February since 1998, poets, musicians, and tellers of tall tales descend upon Astoria, Oregon, for the Fisher Poets Gathering, a weekend filled with stories, songs, camaraderie, and reverence for the fishing way of life. Inspired by the National Cowboy Poetry Festival in Elko, Nevada, a group of poets and teachers, all tied in some way to the commercial fishing industry, founded the event. The gathering has grown every year, attracting fisher poets from California to Cape Cod, and Alaska to Florida. It has also been designated as a Local Legacies Project by the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center. This button is from the 2005 Fisher Poets Gathering, held at the Wet Dog Café on the Astoria waterfront.
label: Description
content: People have created stories, songs, and poems about their working lives for millennia, and American folklore is awash in tales of people working the water. Fishermen’s narratives often reveal a profound sensory awareness, reflecting their close relationship with the natural world. Likewise, the inherent dangers of fishing typically inspire stories and poems featuring strong spiritual elements. Although the aesthetic and spiritual sophistication of fishermen’s narratives often come as a surprise to outsiders, they are celebrated during performances at the Fisher Poets Gathering.
label: Description
content: Astoria, established near the mouth of the Columbia River, was the hub of commercial salmon fishing in the 19th and early 20th centuries. With thousands of resident fishermen and scores of canneries lining the river, the town’s identity was wrapped up in the salmon industry. As salmon populations in the river declined, many in the industry relocated, at least seasonally, to Alaska. The Fisher Poets Gathering honors the history of Pacific Coast fishing, as well as the men and women who still live the fishing life. With odes to herring scales, dirges about those lost at sea, and tales of fishers remarkably attuned to nature, the tradition of fisher poets continues to thrive in Astoria.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Oregon, Astoria
label: hub of commercial salmon fishing
content: United States: Columbia River
label: salmon industry relocated
content: United States: Alaska
label: location of Fisher Poets Gathering
content: United States: Oregon, Astoria
topic: label: related event
content: Contemporary United States
label: related event
content: Fisher Poets Gathering
label: related event
content: National Cowboy Poetry Festival
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Natural Resources
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content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Columbia River Maritime Museum
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0149.03
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0149.03
label: accession number
content: 2005.0149
objectType: label: Object Name
content: button
label: Object Name
content: button - 8th Fisher Poets Gathering Astoria 2005
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/4 in; x 5.715 cm