Oregon Coast Glass Floats Hit 25-Year Mark: Lincoln City Celebrates How It Started

Published 11/13/24 at 8:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Lincoln City, Oregon) – How time flies when you're dropping glass floats on the beach. A major Oregon coast tradition has turned a quarter of a century old already.

Explore Lincoln City and the North Lincoln County Historical Museum (NLCHM) are celebrating a beloved anniversary with a special exhibit titled "25 Years of Finders Keepers." This annual tradition sees over 3,000 handcrafted glass floats scattered along Lincoln City's seven miles of beach. The exhibit kicks off on November 16, 2024, and will be open until November 15, 2025.

Historically, the Oregon coast was renowned as a prime location to discover Japanese glass fishing floats, attracting treasure hunters from near and far. Inspired by these historic floats, the Finders Keepers program began in 2000. Artists and community groups joined forces to mark the new millennium by continuing the joy of finding these glass treasures. For the past 25 years, Lincoln City's "Float Fairies" have hidden more than 75,000 glass floats along the beaches, creating a cherished tradition for visitors.

How Finders Keepers Began - And Who Started It

Finders Keepers began in 1997, when a local artist starting thinking glass floats would make an interesting way of launching the new millennium. He went to Lincoln City Visitors Bureau (now known as Explore Lincoln City) executive director Jennifer Sears, and it was Sears and staff that sponsored and kickstarted the inaugural season in 1999-2000.

Who started the Finders Keepers? It was a combination of Sears, staff and the artists. It was Sears who really made it all happen, but she died rather suddenly in 2005. Her part in starting the glass float drops was honored when they renamed the local glass-blowing facility the Jennifer Sears Glass Art Studio. It changed names again later in the 2010s.

Second-in-command at the LCVB was Sandy Pfaff, and she took over Sears' position immediately, staying for about a decade.

Back in the late 2010s, Pfaff spoke to Oregon Coast Beach Connection about the project.

"This is a great way to get our visitors excited about the upcoming Finders Keepers promotion in the fall," Pfaff said."I have been involved with Finders Keepers since 2000, and am honored to see it grow into the premier promotion of Lincoln City.”

For almost two decades, Finders Keepers was a seasonal thing. It only happened from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Float Faeries weren't used in the summer.

Then came the change to an eternal thing: Finders Keepers went year-round in 2018. For a long time, tradition held that one more new float would added each year. 2001 had 2001 floats dropped on the beaches, and in 2010 it was 2010 floats, etc. That was dropped by the wayside when special drops were added in the 2010s, and certainly after the project went all year.

The Exhibit

The “25 Years of Finders Keepers” exhibit opens with a public reception on Saturday, November 16 from 1 -3 pm, and will feature light refreshments. The ongoing exhibit is free to the public and will display 25 different floats — one from each year of the program — original posters from each year, glass-making tools and instruments, videos showing the glass-making process, along with interviews and photos of artists who have been involved in the program.

"The Finders Keepers Exhibition narrates the story of how the Lincoln City community turned the end of one tradition into the start of another," said Kim Cooper Findling, Director of Explore Lincoln City. "This creative initiative began as a celebration of the new millennium and has since become a hallmark of Lincoln City, bolstering our arts community and creating lasting memories for visitors."

In days gone by, visitors searching Oregon’s beaches often found treasures from the east, blown glass floats, in intriguing shades of green and blue. Used by Japanese fishing crews to float their nets, these spheres were as small as two inches or as large as two feet in diameter. They were hoarded, polished and adored - the ultimate find for a dedicated beachcomber.

Then Lincoln City dropped its project – spawning many imitators. Newport did it briefly in the 2000s. Gold Beach now does it, and Bandon has a very unique spin on it utilizing glass bottles with messages.

“We are excited to walk visitors through the history and development of the program and celebrate the amazing community of glass artists who have continued to create unique Finders Keepers floats.” said Christopher Melton, Executive Director, North Lincoln County Historical Museum.

North Lincoln County Historical Museum is located at 4907 SW Highway 101, Lincoln City, OR 97367 and is open Wednesday-Saturday, 11 am - 4 pm.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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