Join us at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 5, at Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River for a conversation with city manager Abigail Elder, media creator Sarah Fox, and orchardist Lesley Tamura on the intersections of place, storytelling, and the public in the Hood River watershed. How do art and storytelling foster a shared sense of place across racial, economic, and cultural differences, and how do these stories shape our sense of who—and what—constitutes the public? As part of this discussion, moderated by Adam Davis, our three guests will share about their collaboration on The Watershed Rock Opera, a multimedia performance celebrating the Columbia River Gorge and its people, to open in April 2025. 

This event is part of The People and the Public, our 2024–25 Consider This series.

Tickets

Tickets are available for $15. To purchase a ticket, please visit the Columbia Center for the Arts's website.

To ensure that everyone who wants to attend is able to, we make a portion of tickets free. To request a no-cost ticket, please use this form.

Other ways to participate

Can't make it to Hood River? The conversation will also be broadcast live, for free, on YouTube. No registration required.

About our guests

Sarah Fox (Hood River) is the creator of the Hear in the Gorge podcast and curator/host of the Sense of Place event series. As a multimedia producer, her work has appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting in addition to film and audio stories for businesses, nonprofits, Northwest tribes, governmental agencies, and individuals. Her work has included wide-ranging topics like tribal fishing, Woody Guthrie, avant-garde art, vegan trailblazers, and river restoration. And her commitment to the rural communities of the Gorge reflect her own upbringing in Oregon. As a 2024 Oregon Humanities Community Storytelling fellow, Sarah shares stories about the working lives of people in Hood River County. You can find more about Sarah at sarahfoxhere.com. 

Abigail Elder is the city manager for the City of Hood River. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city, covering everything from streets to public safety to land use (and figuring out how to pay for it all.) A public librarian for almost twenty years before becoming a bureaucrat, she holds master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Portland State University. She is a past president of the Oregon Library Association, a current board member of the Oregon City/County Manager Association, and serves on the Water/Wastewater Policy Committee for the League of Oregon Cities. Abigail’s favorite part of her job as city manager is that it offers countless opportunities to learn, grow, and connect with the community.

Lesley Tamura is a pear grower in Hood River. Born and raised in the Gorge, Lesley grew up on her family’s pear orchard. After studying elementary education and working as a public school teacher for ten years, she returned to her hometown to work in the family business as the fourth generation of the Tamura family to grow tree fruits.