Original Harbor Café Fisherman’s Table to be replaced

Back in the 1980s, Blaine belonged to the fisherman.

During gillnetter openings it wasn’t uncommon to have 600 boats in the water. The seasons were long and the days longer, but the fishing community thrived in this port town.

Up until the Harbor Café closed its doors in 2004, it was the place to be. A room just right of the entrance was devoted to fishermen, who filled the restaurant at all hours of the day. In the center sat a long table engraved with the names of every local fisherman alongside illustrations of renowned local fishing boats.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this table was the center of Blaine’s fishing community. Gary Dunster, chairman of the Blaine Fisherman’s Memorial committee remembers starting each day sitting at the Fisherman’s Table, eating breakfast and playing cards. When the boats pulled back into the harbor, they’d return to the table for dinner and drinks.

“We caught more fish at the Fisherman’s Table than we ever caught out in the bay, and that’s a true story,” Dunster said.

The table was created by Whatcom County artist Jim Williamson, who was commissioned by Harbor Café owners Joe and Pat Slevin. Joe Slevin had heard of Williamson’s reputation as a marine artist who had created numerous paintings of local fishing vessels, Williamson said. The two worked closely to create what Slevin envisioned.

Slevin’s boat, The Fawn, was one of five boats featured on the table.

Slevin wasn’t a fisherman, and the boat was only in his possession for a short time, but Dunster believes Slevin’s few experiences on the water instilled in him an appreciation for the industry.

“I think that’s where he got the idea of doing something like this, to honor [the fishermen],” Dunster said. “He had a tremendous respect for the fishing community, and I think we kept his business alive.”

Harbor Café eventually closed for financial reasons, Dunster said. In the years after, nothing could replace the restaurant. Occasionally, fishermen would meet up at Big Al’s, but eventually fishermen stopped going altogether. At the same time, Blaine’s fishing industry was losing momentum. Many retired and others left. The fish became fewer and the number of boats in the water dwindled by the year.

“[In the 80s and 90s], we had probably over 100 seiners fishing out of Blaine. Now we might have four or five.” Dunster said. “It’s not like it used to be, not even close.”

The Fisherman’s Table was given back to the fishermen when Harbor Café closed. By then, the names were so faded that they blurred together, and the wood had been sun-bleached to an unseemly yellow. It was eventually hung at the Blaine Fisherman’s Memorial along Marine Drive.

After watching the table’s intricate markings retreat back into the wood year after year, Dunster decided it was time to create a new Fisherman’s Table, one that time and sun couldn’t take away from the community.

It wasn’t easy.

“The images and the text had diminished to the degree that there was no possibility of attaining a usable scan to recreate them,” said Dave Freeman of AMS Print and Mail. “At one point we thought we would be able to restore the original, but we knew that taking the acrylic cover off the table would most likely destroy it all together.”

Luckily, Williamson said he was able to find the original drawings in perfect condition among stacks of artwork in his crammed art studio. Freeman and his team measured each image and location on the banner to replicate the exact size and dimension. Dunster and Freeman then compiled the list of 157 names.

Freeman and AMS are planning on printing the replica on a canvas material and frame it behind UV-resistant acrylic and hang it in the Blaine Harbor Master’s meeting room.

It will cost roughly $1,600 and likely be 29 by 116 inches, depending on available framing options.

Freeman only fished for a few summers in high school, but has fond memories of seeing the fishermen anchored at the dock and watching the fleet sail out to fish on opening day.

“Bringing this banner back to life helps to restore and keep the memory of the men and women who were part of Blaine’s past,” Freeman said. “I am glad to be part of keeping that memory for future generations to learn.”

For harbormaster Andy Peterson, the table tells the tale of how the community was built. Though Peterson spent years as a wharfinger and often visited the table to read the names and look at the illustrations, he was always afraid to sit at the table.

“It was one of those places where you knew if you weren’t a fisherman you shouldn’t sit down. It had an aura,” Peterson said.

Peterson can still remember coming down to the harbor just past 6 a.m. to see the table lined with fishermen. Even still, at Seattle conventions, Peterson comes across many with fond memories of that era of Blaine fishing.

For Dunster, the table represents many of the important people who have come and gone from his life.

“The fishing community is a strange bunch. We like to think we’re independent businessmen, but when it comes right down to it, we depend on each other all the time,” he said.

This is what drew him to the Fisherman’s Memorial Committee, to be more involved in the community he’s been a part of for over 40 years. The table will be a legacy, for him and the many fishermen who have frequented Blaine’s shores.

“I want the next generation to know and understand what that table means, what all those names mean,” Dunster said. “That’s really what we’re trying to do, preserve history the best we can.”

The committee will have a printed rendition of the table top design displayed at the Blessing of the Fleet memorial. Prints will be sold for $25 to cover the cost of the project and replenish the committee’s scholarship funds.