Our popular event series will kick off with a presentation on the cultural and ecological significance of Matsutake Mushrooms. The event will include a short film featuring Homer Yasui on his final Matsutake hunt.
Sense of Place is excited to announce the lineup for the 15th Annual Sense of Place Series. This season will feature a wide range of topics ranging from the cultural legacy of matsutake mushrooms to the history of mountain biking in Post Canyon. All events will be offered in-person at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, Oregon, and via livestream.
“Fifteen years ago, Sense of Place set out to offer a home for the curious and the community-minded. It was intentionally not about your background or your beliefs, it was about celebrating the people and the stories of The Gorge– because this place is the one thing we all have in common. This fifteen-year milestone tells me that Sense of Place continues to offer something we all need – a way to connect with each other, a place to be curious, a chance to have fun. This season promises all of that…and a few surprises as well!” said Fox.
Season 15 will launch with Community, Culture, Food: Matsutake Mushrooms! on October 16th, with Amy Petersen, a third-generation Japanese American forager. Amy has been foraging Matsutake mushrooms since childhood and continues this tradition, which has been a part of her family’s heritage for nearly a century. The event will include a short film featuring Homer Yasui and his final Matsutake hunt. Followed by a Q&A session.
The Sense of Place Season 15 line-up will also take audiences on a journey through the landscape of the Columbia River Gorge to meet wild salmon, explore renewed interest in Oregon White Oaks, listen to community perspectives on the return of wolves, dig into ever-present geologic hazards, and ride through the history of county forest land and world-class mountain bike trails.
Season 15 ticket information is available online at senseofplacegorge.org and via a monthly newsletter. Advance purchase of tickets is encouraged as presentations often sell out. Season tickets are available to Sponsors of Season 15 (which includes the 6 monthly events – October-March.)
SENSE OF PLACE, SEASON 15
Oct. 16 – Community, Culture, Food: Matsutake Mushrooms! with Amy Petersen, forager. (Event will include short film featuring Homer Yasui and his final Matsutake hunt)
Nov. 13 – Geology Alive: Understanding Geologic Hazards in the Gorge with Richard (Dick) Iverson, USGS scientist emeritus
Dec. 11 – The Wolf Next Door: A Community Perspective on the Return of Wolves with Lara Volski, PhD Student of Human-Wildlife Interactions, University of Washington
Jan. 15 – More Than Skinnies & Singletrack: A History of Mountain Biking in Post Canyon with Doug Thiesies, Hood River County Forester, Gary Paasch, mountain biker & trail-builder, and Arthur Babitz, County Commissioner & mountain biker
Feb. 12 – Of Salmon and Basketball: A Conversation with Buck Jones, enrolled Cayuse member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and longtime staff of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC)
Mar. 12 – Beyond the Scrub: New Attention on Oregon White Oaks and Why They Matter with Lindsay Cornelius, East Cascades Oak Partnership Manager at the Columbia Land Trust
About Sense of Place:
Sense of Place is a program of Mt. Adams Institute, a Gorge-based nonprofit that seeks to strengthen the connection between people and the natural world through education, service, career development, and research.
For more information on Sense of Place, please go to senseofplacegorge.org and follow us on Instagram @senseofplacegorge. Sign up for the Sense of Place Newsletter to receive the most recent updates, behind-the-scenes stories from the speakers and host, Sarah Fox, and info related to Sense of Place events.In addition to the live and live streamed events, Sense of Place also offers a companion podcast called Hear in the Gorge, which uses first-person interviews, archival audio, and narrative storytelling to explore Gorge-related topics like mushroom hunting, the Oregon Trail, tribal fishing, and mountain search & rescue. The podcast has been recognized by the Oregon Heritage Commission, the Hood River Cultural Trust, Portland Monthly Magazine, Huff Post, and was honored by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) as one of the top-10 podcasts made in Oregon. Hear in the Gorge can be found at hearinthegorge.com or on most podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts.