Founding Fish Festival


Plein Air on the
Upper Delaware

1st ANNUAL Founding Fish Festival
May 21, 2022; Demos, Noon—3PM
Visit us in Barryville as part of the weekend’s events on the Upper Delaware, from Port Jervis to Hancock. Shad not only provided sustenance to the regions early inhabitants but also a source of creative inspiration: Zane Grey and Thomas Eakins

“Few people have considered the American shad as thoroughly as John McPhee. An avid fisherman and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, he wrote “The Founding Fish, “an engrossing book parsing every possible angle and attribute of the American shad and American shad fishing.”
— "Ode to a Founding Fish," by T. Edward Nickens (08/2006)
 

PLEIN AIR DEMO“Festival of the Founding Fish
A full weekend of events (May 20-22), is planned along the Upper Delaware River, from Port Jervis to Hancock NY, celebrating the historic role shad or “founding fish,” played in providing sustenance to the indigenous and colonial inhabitants.

We’ll make the case that the fishing has also been a source of inspiration for literary heavyweights (Zane Grey, Ernest Hemingway) and painters (Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth). Shown here is Thomas Eakins, Shad Fishing at Gloucester on the Delaware River, 1861.

DATE: Saturday, MAY 22, 2022

TIME: 12PM to 3PM

LOCATION: 3385 NY-97, Barryville, NY (behind Barryville General, Check-in on River Road)

  • Zane Grey Plein Air: Painters painting, 1PM to 3PM

  • Shad Fishing Demonstration: Andy Boyar, 2-3PM

  • Music by Lacey Keane, Stacy Cohen & The River Ramblers

CALENDAR OF EVENTS and tickets available at Festival of the Founding Fish

Ode to John McPhee

Few people have considered the American shad as thoroughly as John McPhee. An avid fisherman and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, he wrote The Founding Fish, an engrossing book parsing every possible angle and attribute of the American shad and American shad fishing. John is associated with the long-running and popular, Lambertville NJ annual shadfest. — "Ode to a Founding Fish," by T. Edward Nickens (08/2006)

Native Americans caught shad as a staple food, and European colonists kept barrels of salted shad in their homes. During the Revolutionary War, shad were deemed the “savior fish” that fed George Washington's troops after the harsh winter of 1778.

BARRYVILLE NY TO PA BRIDGE. PHOTO BY: National Park Service

BARRYVILLE ON THE DELAWARE. PHOTO BY: National Park Service

 
 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS and tickets available at Festival of the Founding Fish

Produced by The Delaware Company in partnership with: Upper Delaware Scenic Byway Committee, Sullivan County Visitors Association, Barryville Chamber of Commerce, Narrowsburg Chamber of Commerce, Cochecton Preservation Society and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts