Celebrate the Columbia with spirited entertainment

Celebrate the “Spirit of the River” with an evening of music, poetry, dance, spoken word, and fine art on October 3 at the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center in Astoria.

The evening begins at 7 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres, music and a silent auction of works by regional artists at the Josie Peper building, next door to the PAC on Franklin St. The performance starts at 8 p.m. at the PAC at 16th and Franklin. This third annual event benefits Columbia Riverkeeper.

Author Robin Cody is this year’s featured guest. Cody canoed from the headwaters of the Columbia to its mouth at the Pacific Ocean and in 1995 was winner of the Oregon Book Award for Voyage of a Summer Sun, an account of his Columbia River paddle. In 2005, his fictional book set in Oregon, Ricochet River was selected as one of top 100 literary works produced in Oregon in the last 200 years. Cody has won national awards for his essays and articles and lives in Portland. Both of his books will be available for purchase and autograph at the event.

The event will feature performers from both sides of the Columbia Estuary and two of the featured acts this year are from Washington. Dave Mongeau and Dian Norman are folk singers from Longview, performing two songs, one of which is an original composition entitled, “Leave Our River Alone.”

Other contributors are poet David Campiche, Kim Angelis, gypsy violin; Ray and Denise Raihala with Teresa Raihala-Sethe, folk; Walt Trumbull, dance; and Kamila Swerdloff, classical piano.

The featured photographer for this year’s Spirit event is Judy Vander Maten. Her work is featured on the program and posters for the evening and her river photographs appearing on a 12’x 12’ screen, will be the changing backdrop for the performers. Vander Maten lives in Cathlamet and is an adjunct instructor in photography in the Art Department at Lower Columbia College in Longview, where she has taught since 1995. Vander Maten explains her passion for both the river and photography, “The Columbia River flows through continuous changes under different light, weather, and tidal impact, it cycles through the seasons; and photographs of this provide a visual memory to what has been experienced. At what point does the landscape become so altered though, that photographs are the only memories we have of the natural cycles?"

This year’s silent art auction, beginning at 7 p.m. has expanded to include sculpture and pottery in addition to painting, photography, jewelry, quilt work, books and more.

Tickets for “Spirit of the River” are $20 and available at Lucy’s Books, 348 12th Street in Astoria, the Paperclip, 203 Holiday Dr. in Seaside, online at http://www.columbiariverkeeper.org and at the Clatsop Community College Josie Peper building the night of the performance.