Press release - April 2023
Town installs 2023 Poetry Gardens and publishes book of winning entries.

The Town and its Friday Harbor Arts Commission (FHAC) invite the public to enjoy new poems now on display at the four Poetry Gardens located next to the Post Office, in the waterfront viewing area below Downriggers, and in front of San Juan Community Theatre and Mullis Center.  The 30 poems were written by San Juan County residents and selected by former Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna in the Town’s second Poetry Garden Contest.  

The Town also published an e-book and a limited edition booklet of the winning poems, Friday Harbor Poetry Gardens 2023.  The e-book is available on this site.  A celebratory poetry reading is planned for early 2024.   

Authors of the poems installed in the original gardens in 2020 were invited to donate their plaques to the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park for special installation.  “The public will continue to enjoy these poems for many years to come,” said Town Councilmember and poetry committee member Mason Turnage. “The Town appreciates the generosity of the poets and the Sculpture Park as well as the efforts of our Poetry Garden citizen committee members Rebecca Cook and Boyd Pratt and arts commissioner David Jenkins.”