Connect to Community: March in Tacoma

Stop by a local nursery or grocery store like Harbor Greens on Bridgeport for primroses or other early bloomers to brighten your life. Mine come back year after year and they only cost a dollar or two.

Stop by a local nursery or grocery store like Harbor Greens on Bridgeport for primroses or other early bloomers to brighten your life. Mine come back year after year and they only cost a dollar or two.

Last March we published our monthly events list as usual. And one by one, those events we shared had to be cancelled. The Stay Home, Stay Healthy order guided all of us to avoid gatherings, exercise caution, limit contact. That month, March 2020, feels close and far at the same time. A year later, those large gatherings are still a thing of the past, and a hope for the future, but not part of our present.

Despite all the changes, challenges, struggles, and sorrow, and even because of them, there is still so much for you in the Tacoma community. The message is still safety, caution, patience, and care. And with all of that, there can be connection. I’m connecting to the past by using the same image for March 2021 as I did for March 2020, because no matter what year it is, and no matter what else is going on, the daffodils do bloom.

Find 10 ways to connect to Tacoma community this month in our list below. It’s a mix - Tacoma is always a mix - with chances to share food, get or give help with laundry, listen to local voices about growing up bi-racial, talk with an author about publication, shop vintage in Lincoln, pick up a craft kit in Old Town, take a virtual bus trip to learn about transportation and gentrification in Hilltop. Join, give, receive, support.

Connect to Tacoma with Events & Gatherings

Image from Casita Tacoma

Image from Casita Tacoma

1. Lincoln District Vintage Walk

Saturday & Sunday
March 6th & 7th
11 am - 5 pm
Lincoln District, Tacoma

Vintage dealers, food, music, small business support, and community connection all wrapped up in this weekend vintage walk. Visit Casita Tacoma on Instagram for more details and a list of lots of favorite Tacoma businesses involved. Also, if you can, bring some non-perishable food and some toiletries to help out the Lincoln High School Resource Center.

2. Downtown: On the Go - Ride the Bus with THA & HAC

Thursday, March 11th
3 - 4 pm
Via Zoom

Brendan Nelson, President of Hilltop Action Coalition (HAC) and Alyssa Torrez, a Real Estate Development Project Specialist for Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) discuss housing, transit projects, gentrification, and how current Hilltop residents could be impacted. Make sure to register for the virtual bus ride through the event link above.

3. Craft Saturday - Brain Teaser

Saturday, March 13th
11 am - 1 pm
Job Carr Cabin Museum
2350 N 30th St, Tacoma

Mark your calendar for 2nd Saturdays at Job Carr Cabin Museum! This month’s free craft kit includes everything you’ll need to make brain teaser puzzle. Pick up your kit from the front porch of the cabin and please respect social distancing. Craft Saturdays are designed with kids in mind, and you’ll find instructional videos online if you need help with your activity once you get home.

I like to visit this butterfly magnolia on the West Slope every spring.

I like to visit this butterfly magnolia on the West Slope every spring.

4. The First Day of Spring

Saturday, March 20th

This is an event, but there’s no organizer, no itinerary, no cost, and absolutely, positively no Zoom included. This isn’t virtual spring. This is spring. Winter is over, and that’s been a long time coming. We’ve seen the signs for weeks and weeks, leaf buds and flower buds and ferns unfurling. Today, go outside. See what you can see. How many flowers can you find? How many birds are skittering and soaring and hopping and bustling about? Need more direction than that? Okay, visit a park you’ve never been to in Tacoma. Or, if you’ve been to every last park, go to your favorite one. It may be rainy, drizzling, sprinkling, gray, and damp. It may be breezy and blue and bright. It’s spring!

Image from Creative Colloquy

Image from Creative Colloquy

5. Creative Colloquy Writer’s Workshop Series - Paths to Publication: A Cautionary Tale

Thursday, March 25th
7 - 8:30 pm
Via Zoom

We’re so fortunate to have a local literary group organizing events throughout the year to gather writers and literary enthusiasts! This month’s Writer’s Workshop Series features poet, nonfiction writer, and children’s book author Jennifer Preston Chushcoff in a discussion about the experience of self-publishing and traditional publishing. Q&A to follow, and be sure to register through the link above if you plan to attend!

6. Tacoma 90-Second Newbery Film Festival Showcase

Saturday, March 27th
2 - 3 pm
Online with Tacoma Public Library

Tune in for the best 2021 submissions to Tacoma's 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. This is an all ages event and a fun way to pass 1 hour of a Saturday afternoon! The short films are created by young filmmakers who take on the challenge of telling the entire story of Newbery-winning books in 90 seconds of film. It’s bound to be a wild ride. Do not miss it.

Connect to Tacoma by Volunteering, Donating & Accessing Support

Image from Windermere Abode

Image from Windermere Abode

7. Sandwiches for Neighbors in Need

Fridays
March 5, 12, 19 & 26
4:30 pm
Windermere Abode
2200 N 30th St, Tacoma

Meet for a physically distanced drop-off in Old Town in the parking lot behind Windermere Abode. Bring your wrapped sandwiches, packaged snacks, and fresh fruit. Recently, there’s been a need for fleece or wool blankets as well. A member of our Abode community will deliver directly to the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Thanks for all your help!

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Image from Tacoma Mutual Aid

8. Tacoma Mutual Aid Laundry Day

Saturday, March 6th
Tacoma, WA

Tacoma Mutual Aid is working to support anyone who needs some help accessing laundry services. This free laundry day will provide free laundry services and include transportation to and from laundromats. If you could use the help, send Tacoma Mutual Aid a message and they’ll get you set up. If you’d like to help make this event possible by donating quarters, funds, laundry supplies, or by volunteering your time, you can sign-up to participate on the Volunteer Sign-up form.

9. Asia Pacific Cultural Center - COVID-19 Relief Assistance

Friday, March 19th
10 an - 12 pm
APCC Parking Lot
4851 S Tacoma Way, Tacoma

Pre-register for this drive through/walk-up event by calling 253-383-3900. This if for Pierce County families who could use a hand with groceries due to struggles so many of us experience with changes brought by the pandemic. Maybe you could use the help, or maybe it’s someone you know, so go ahead and spread the word! Make sure to call ahead to be sure you will receive a $100 gift card to a major supermarket.

Connect to Tacoma with Ongoing Opportunities

10. Listen: Inside Abode Podcast - Black History Month Reflection: Navigating a Bi-Racial Identity with Bernadette Ray

Listen-in on a conversation between podcast host Dave Jones and high school Principal Bernadette Ray. They discuss growing up bi-racial in the PNW, the small world of Tacoma, and the upcoming name change of Woodrow Wilson High School (if you don’t know yet, you’ll learn a bit about the woman the school will soon be named for). Find the podcast on the Windermere Abode site, Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, Google Play, and more. Any by the time you’re seeing this, there will be more episodes out in this local Black History series. Go ahead and subscribe.

Keep in touch about Tacoma life, community, events, homes, and a bit about us.

On this closing day the biggest excitement came from a 7 year old who’s about to have his own room and who loves (fervently) the bathroom downstairs with orange walls. We’re excited for the whole family. Friendly neighbors came over to sa
I’m grateful Michael is willing to join me again, again, again and again on Orcas Island. We went last week so I could turn 41 in a place where my heart feels quiet, where deer tracks and bird tracks cross on the beach, where paths bordered by
When even the east glows at sunset What stills me in one window frame Where fabric flower feather and wax make the table a place How light of sky and light of candle and light of bulb need their own names Why home is also the distance seen beyond its
There’s change in the air across Tacoma, the return of things once lost, the reopening of places once closed, the transformation of one restaurant into another, the creation of brand new places to gather, shop, eat, and drink. We’ve been
From Sunday to Tuesday we joined almost every single person from @windermereabode for a retreat at @seabrookwa. We entered a time of camaraderie, visioning, personal exploration, and so many hugs. I don’t know how many realtor retreats are full
Featured
What's New, Tacoma? 17 New Businesses + 3 Coming Soon
What's New, Tacoma? 17 New Businesses + 3 Coming Soon

There’s change in the air across Tacoma, the return of things once lost, the reopening of places once closed, the transformation of one restaurant into another, the creation of brand new places to gather, shop, eat, and drink. We’ve been experiencing this change across the city and wanted to pull some of it together in one place. What follows is a list of 17 new, renewed, and returned businesses along with 3 coming soon. See if you can enjoy and support something new this month; if you do, we’d love to hear about it!

Tacoma Community: 15 Things to Do in October
Tacoma Community: 15 Things to Do in October

We’ve rounded-up and narrowed-down 15 ways to get out into community this October. Don your most intellectual scarf and hat combination for a literary night, dance and eat with the Greeks, step into a candlelit tour our 1855, get psyched up about cycling (and bicycle fashion), try forest bathing, don your most eccentric scarf and hat combination for the film festival, write letters for fun, tour art studios, hear from Latinas who experience being The Firsts in so many ways, take a local art walk, and celebrate Día de los Muertos. We’ve got some ways to volunteer in here too—lend a hand with Habitat for Humanity, pick up litter, or pull weeds and plant seeds at a favorite park to keep Tacoma green.

Get Out of Town: Puget Sound Day Trips
Get Out of Town: Puget Sound Day Trips

Once in a while, we all need to get out of town. This month we’re sharing about Port Townsend and Vashon Island, two places we go again and again when a change of scene is calling. They’re places where the beach is always near, where parking is easy, where woods and trails beckon us away from the sidewalks. Places where small, local bakeries, coffee roasters, independent bookstores, and one of a kind shops outnumber chains by far. We’ll share some of the ways we pass the time and how we fill our stomachs (never a problem). Don’t worry too much about planning; these destinations are so close to Tacoma, you can show up again and try what you missed. Wake up one morning and just decide to go!

Tacoma Outdoor Dining Guide
Tacoma Outdoor Dining Guide

Want to go out and really be out—out in the open air, beneath a colorful umbrella, on a shaded patio, beside a bustling sidewalk, seated on a deck overlooking the water, pulled up to a bar counter by the street? We’ve gathered over 60 of Tacoma’s outdoor dining spots by neighborhood to get you started. Take a look at our list of restaurants, cafes, and bars with outdoor seating, then get yourself away from the screen, out the door, and into the life of Tacoma’s summer. See you out there!

Out on the Town 2024: Tacoma Tuesdays
Out on the Town 2024: Tacoma Tuesdays

Tacoma, Tuesdays, Trivia, Tacos, Talent. It’s the truth, there’s stuff to do. We have 19 of those things listed right here (twenty would have sounded so good) and not all of them start with “t.” There’s ballet and book club, wine and film, story time and bingo. So dust off your dancing shoes, clean your spectacles, strap the baby in a stroller, study up on random facts, warm up your vocal chords, and work up an appetite; it’s Tuesday in Tacoma!

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things—Vol. 4
Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things—Vol. 4

This is not an ultimate, all time, best of the best, win or go home, top 5 list. No, we aren’t really bringing that kind of energy to life. This is the 4th edition of 5 things we like in Tacoma from a list of way more things we like in Tacoma. Sound good? An annual rogue art treasure hunt, a tiny slip of sandy beach, an old place to watch new and cult classic films, a weekly opportunity for repairing your stuff, and a spot where the noodles and broth fill you up in a good way. Some of it’s free. All of it’s good. We’re not making any other claims (who needs all that best-stress anyway?).

The Sunset Side: Tacoma's Other Waterfront
The Sunset Side: Tacoma's Other Waterfront

This month we're here to give a shout out to the other waterfront, the home of Titlow Beach, Seashore Drive, the iconic Narrows Bridges, and the Tacoma sunset. We’ll share where we eat and what we order, the trails we like to take, and what makes this side of the city feel like home. All you need is one evening for a waterfront getaway.

Tacoma High 5 - August 2023
Tacoma High 5 - August 2023

Tacoma High 5 is our way to nudge you toward what we love about Tacoma. It’s a short list with a commitment to the local—it embraces the season, invites a bit of variety into life, encourages a spirit of exploration and some generosity as well. This month’s list includes a benefit concert with karaoke, a music festival staged on porches across Central Tacoma, block parties and outdoor markets, free berries, a favorite local publication, a neighborhood clean-up, and the chance to support the YWCA while eating hot dogs and nacho cheese. Maybe we’ll see you out there!

  1. Community Event

  2. Sweet Treat

  3. Exploration & Adventure

  4. Local Love

  5. Volunteering & Sharing

Hi, I'm Michael Duggan, a licensed broker with Windermere Abode. I would love to help you through the home buying or selling process. Please contact me to set up a meeting and get things started.