Site chosen for fishing fleet statue in Everett
Published 8:43 pm Tuesday, October 7, 2008
EVERETT — The Port of Everett has agreed to erect a statue on its waterfront as a tribute to its once-mighty fishing fleet.
It even has a location for it — a spot near its 12th Street Yacht Basin that will also be home to an administration building for the agency. The location was approved unanimously Tuesday by the port commission.
“Thank you for finding a beautiful spot on the waterfront,” Kay Zuanich, co-chairwoman of the Fishermen’s Tribute Committee, which has been working on the issue for several years, told the commission.
Zuanich said the group, which has been raising funds to pay for a tribute, will work with the Snohomish County Arts Council to launch a design competition among artists to develop a fitting statue.
Everett once had hundreds of fishing boats based here that searched for fish in Puget Sound and in the ocean from California to Alaska. Zuanich and Barbara Piercey, both members of Everett fishing families, decided the community needed something to acknowledge the importance of the industry here, which has waned in recent years to just a few boats.
The group has been raising money for about five years and has held dinners and sold artwork and caps and also gets some of the proceeds of a 127-page photo book called “Everett Fishermen” that was published by Arcadia Publishing.
Earlier, the group had considered a fisherman’s spire in the proposed $400 million development of the waterfront as a tribute, but the development has stalled awaiting financing and Zuanich said she liked a statue better.
Similar statues already exist in Bellingham, Gig Harbor and Seattle.
The tribute would be placed in the port’s redeveloped Craftsman District and would include historical information on the fishing industry.
The port, in conjunction with Historic Everett, the state Historic Preservation Office and the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, has been working on developing a historical interpretative program.
It would include information on commercial fishing, the lumber and shingle industry, other waterfront businesses and the ship-building industry.
Port officials are considering six proposals from companies that would like to develop the program. With help from the history groups, it hopes to pick one by the end of the year.
