The Finnish American Folk Festival of Naselle is pleased to welcome back a favorite son . . .

Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson, the moderator for "The Spoken Word" this festival, also moderated the Poetry Open Mic at the 2004 Finnish American Folk Festival in Naselle. Gary is a student of the Bainbridge Island Poetry Workshop and presents his poetry regularly in Poulsbo and at the San Carlos open Mic on Bainbridge Island. Gary has been writing for 15 years and usually writes about growing up Finn, man's relationship with the natural environment, and the ironies of life looking back over 60 years.

Although Gary was raised in nearby Deep River, a village named after a tributary of the Columbia, much of his poetry comes from The Upper Peninsula of Michigan where he lived for ten years as manager of timber lands.