2025 Updates + Merch Drop
We had such a beautiful, regenerative, and joyful time this summer with you all! It was a particular honor to have so many alum take over facilitating at the 2025 Maine Outcast Campout, knowledge sharing in more structured ways besides of course being great river buddies. New campers, thank you for taking a chance and saying yes to learning and growing together. Welcome to the fam.
Vanessa (she/her) and Denise (she/her) provide Martha the attention she demands in her Shania Twain shirt at the lodge.
Big thank you to OROS who has been with us from the start providing the best bobbers out there for our campers. They even made for some festive decor!
Another year, another big shout out to Evans Notch Lodge for being our home away from home on the Androscoggin and Wild rivers!
2025 is a big rebuilding year for us: we’re establishing our board, planning strategically for growth, and evaluating what has been accomplished since 2019 when Confluence Collective was founded. A special thank you goes to NEMO, who supported us last year and again this year by setting us up with all the camping gear needed for a total newbie on the water to join campout, and access to packs for fishing day trips throughout. They’ve shared our story and come to experience their own, this year with Lisa (she/her) learning to fly fish with watchful (and wonderful) pup Leo pictured below. Thank you for believing in what we do, and appreciating the intentionality of our growth and community building efforts.
Lisa (she/her) casts into the current during a fishing outing with other campers
A NEMO backpack gives us dangerous room to bring more rods than necessary for all programming. Look out, we’re geared up and ready!
After such wonderful campout experiences over the last 4-5 years (WOW) we also have a ton of photos and videos that need to be combed through and shared. Do you have an interest in editing for social media platforms? Do you have ideas for educational content? We have lots of raw “how-to” recordings and storytelling videos that just need the final touches before sharing out to our community — and we need your help!
If you or someone you know is in to open-access knowledge sharing and storytelling to virtual audiences, get in touch: us@confluencecollective.org
Lanita (she/her) smiles big with her first Maine brook trout caught at the Maine Outcast Campout.
Justin (he/him) loses his gentle grip on another brookie — his first Maine trout now part of the #icatchsmallfishtour
…wait, what about the merch?
Cait (she/her) and impromptu model swallowtail butterfly enjoy a moment of rest on the riverbank. The It’ll Fish hats are reordered and in stock again if you missed out the first time!
YES! We have a returning embroidered hat design (your new and official good luck fishing hat) AND new shirts available now! We worked with our friends at Little Chair for some heat transfer and screen-printing projects:
Here is our design for an ecosystem utopia revival shirt for the 90’s vintage tee kids who remember incandescent dolphins surrounded by beautiful fish and whales with beams of sunlight. This version is decidedly more…outwardly gay and whimsical. Original design by Bri Dostie and stickers coming soon of these fancy little caddis and friends.
A screen printed riverside ode to ballroom culture, category is: fishing with a friend. This sentiment, like the hopeful “It’ll Fish” is one we’ve shared on the riverbank verbatim or in similar words: I got you, girl! Supporting one another on the water is a beautiful act of care and trust. Knowing you have folks ready to help out with a net down river makes one more cast that much easier as well! Show your pride and remind each other that we have community to lean on, and we create the spaces and experiences we need with one another. You can grab yours now from the shop to show your pride and offer up support on your home waters.
Creating merch for our community has been a difficult decision every year, wanting to ensure we are size inclusive and doing our best to not perpetuate exploitative impacts of capitalism while still tied to participating in some way. It’s rough out here folks. That’s why we go all in on community creations for quality products that will last you many days on the water, and offer a nod of knowing to one another in the wild when we need it the most. The world would love any queerness to be quieted to leave systems of oppression and white supremacy uninterrupted. Since that’s harmful and violent BS, we’re being louder to remind each other we’re not alone and with collective action, this world can change for the better.
A note from the small print: a portion of proceeds from products like these go towards local community groups in each location we host groups. Past proceeds have benefitted: First Light, Nibezun, MMIP Family Support groups, the Marsha P Johnson Institute, Maine Environmental Education Association, and Bomazeen Land Trust.
the new Pride stickers are up on the website as a joyful reminder of Pride’s revolutionary roots.
If you know someone or an organization doing the good fight for land back and disrupting systems of oppression, let us know so they can also get a humble but heartfelt donation from our community.
and if you’ve made it this far…
We want to see your best riverwalk in your new favorite fishing shirt! In fact, we will give you a shirt of your choice to model on an in-person group fishing shoot in the Portland and/or Lewiston-Auburn, Maine area: reach out to bri@confluencecollective.org to inquire and coordinate further.
If you are from farther waters, you can also get in on the fun: Take photos of your river-fit in the wild for a chance to win a sticker prize pack! This will include 5 stickers of your choice, plus a handful of our new pride stickers to add rebellious beauty around you. Just tag us in your social post, or submit photos here to be eligible. We can’t wait to see you out there.
