Fishwit Prize Award Ceremony & Jazz Party

Photo | AHS Collection

Raise a glass to one of Aspen’s most irreverent traditions! Join the Aspen Daily News and Aspen Historical Society for the return of the “Coveted Freddie Fisher Irreverent Wit Prize” with a lively evening of music, stories, and sharp-witted celebration honoring Freddie Fisher – jazz musician, former Hollywood actor, longtime Aspen fix-it-man, and the town’s most legendary writer of Letters to the Editor. The party is free and open to the public, with a full cash bar and a discounted locals’ menu from Epicure Catering.

The evening will include the announcement of this year’s winner of the Fishwit Prize, recognizing a local writer whose letters to the editor carry Freddie’s signature blend of humor, truth-telling, and perfectly timed zingers. The winner will share their winning letter submitted to Aspen-area newspapers over the past year. Musical accompaniment will be provided by the Amend Quartet, a popular Denver jazz group performing straight-ahead jazz and American Songbook classics.

The program will feature entertaining stories from Freddie Fisher’s unusual life and legacy, along with readings of some of Fisher’s sharpest letters to the editor and selections from past Fishwit winners. Previous awardees include well-known local voices such as Su Lum, Jim Breasted, Roger Marolt, Lorenzo Semple, Carl Heck, Tim Cooney, Gaylord Guenin, and Johnny Boyd.

The Fishwit Prize Award Ceremony & Jazz Party is presented by Aspen Historical Society, Aspen Daily News and the Paul JAS Center with support from Open Range Wines, Marble Distilling Co., Aspen Collective, Buckhorn Public Arts

After Party at The Aspen Collective
An afterparty for Fishwit Prize attendees will follow at The Aspen Collective on Tuesday, Feb. 10, beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Fishwit Prize on the Road
Additional Fishwit Prize events will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 11:

• 12:45 p.m. — lunchtime performance at the Pitkin County Senior Center
• 6 p.m. — Fishwit Prize Party and Amend Quartet at Marble Distilling Co. in Carbondale

This event honors Aspenite Freddie “Schnicklefritz” Fisher, a celebrated band leader in the 1930s and 1940s, then a prolific writer of hilarious letters to the Aspen papers in the 1950s and 1960s. The Coveted Fishwit Prize was launched by Greg Poschman in 2004 to celebrate Fisher’s 100th birthday, continuing for several years before going dormant around 2014. Since then, the Golden Fishwit Trophy has languished on the wall at the Aspen Historical Society, unawarded — until now! This year, the Golden Fishwit Trophy returns to the stage and back into Aspen’s lively tradition of wit, satire and civic conversation.