That's us in our Tacoma back yard. We like hanging out back there where Dandie chases rabbits and locks eyes with squirrels up in the branches of the once-little maple who seemed to grow giant overnight, where songs from our neighbor's radio provide a background to the sounds of another neighbor's lawn mower. But it's good to move beyond the back yard too, out into the streets and studios, theaters and libraries, parks and galleries of Tacoma. Maybe we'll see you out there.
We’ve rounded-up and narrowed-down 15 ways to get out into community this October. There’s a lot of life happening in the city every month, but October is full to bursting. It’s Tacoma Arts Month, Hispanic Heritage Month continues, and it’s time for the Tacoma Film Festival. That’s just the beginning.
Don your most intellectual scarf and hat combination for a literary night, dance and eat with the Greeks, step into a candlelit tour of 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 (insert most avant-garde hat and scarf duo), 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 plants seeds at a favorite park to keep Tacoma green.
Image from Creative Colloquy
1. Creative Colloquy Crawl
Tuesday, October 1st
6 - 9 pm
It’s literally time to get literary. What better way to open Tacoma Arts Month than with the art of words written, spoken, read? Free and open to all.
1 night
3 hours
7 venues
many storytellers
1 small (walkable/rollable) area of Tacoma from King’s Books to The Grand Cinema, from Manuscript to The Rusty Goat
Image from Tacoma Greek Festival
2. 61st Tacoma Greek Festival
October 4th - 6th
Friday & Saturday, 11 am - 9 pm
Sunday, 11 am - 6 pm
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Free and open to all
This festival is going 61 years strong! Year after year it brings Greek food, dance, culture, gifts, and books
Appetizers and dinner entrees served from the kitchen along with food booths serving even more options for traditional fare and baked goods
Live dance performances and tours of the Greek Orthodox Church
The community at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church works long and hard to prepare for this beloved festival and share the best of Greek heritage and culture with Tacoma, and they donate a portion of the proceeds from sales each year goes to a local charity - just one more reason to go and get involved!
Image from Fort Nisqually
3. Fort Nisqually Living History Museum: Candlelight Tour
Friday & Saturday, October 4th-5th
6 - 9 pm
Fort Nisqually in Point Defiance Park
Be like a ghost of the 21st century dropping in on the life of the Hudson’s Bay Company of 1855. The folks of 1855 will go about their business as if you’re not even there, but you’re lucky to show up on a day of dancing, games, music, and interesting conversation. This is a firelight and candlelight only event, though the moon and stars may make an appearance too. Leave your flashlights at home, but bring your sense of curiosity and dress for the weather.
General Admission is $18. Advance tickets required.
Image from Tacoma Public Library
4. Tacoma Reads: Little Literary Fest
Saturday, October 5th
11 am - 4 pm
Wheelock Library
This free, all ages literary festival celebrates this year’s Tacoma Reads theme: Rhythms of Resilience with performances, activities, and storytime.
I’ve read both the adult fiction and YA selection this year and they’re wonderful books! Learn more about Tacoma Reads and find the books at your local branch.
Image from 2nd Cycle
5. 2nd Cycle’s Annual Bike Stories & Bicycle Fashion Show
Saturday, October 5th
6 - 9 pm
6:30 - 7:15 pm Bicycle Fashion Show
Tacoma Armory
We’ve made it out to this event a few times and it’s fully Tacoma. It’s eating food and seeing people you know, it’s hearing stories, bidding on local items, celebrating the community that gathers around cycling, supporting youth and adults. It’s silly and emotional and fun. This time it’s also bike fashion through the ages from late 19th century cycling get-ups to the present.
Register here (select your ticket priced based on what you can afford) and check out more about 2nd Cycle.
Image from TPC Habitat
6. Tacoma-Pierce County Habitat for Humanity new Volunteer Orientation
Monday, October 7th
6-6:45 pm
or Thursday, October 17th
12-12:30 pm
via Zoom
Sometimes we want to help, want to volunteer, want to lend a hand, but don’t quite know where to start. If you’re open to using a hammer, paint brush, drill, sandpaper, or saw this might be the place to start. If all those tools sound intimidating, please understand that you don’t need to know how to build a house to show up, part of volunteering and giving is also receiving. You’re going to build some skills, receive knowledge, and be part of something important: affordable housing! To get started with TPC Habitat for Humanity, register for one of these volunteer orientations for folks 16 and up. It’s quite a community!
Image from Tahoma Bird Alliance
7. Introduction to Forest Bathing and Nature Journaling
Wednesday, October 9th
10 am - 3 pm
Adriana Hess Wetland Park
Experience nature and enhance what you’re noticing and receiving from the trees, grasses, birds, and weather by engaging in some guided journaling practices lead by Beverly Choltco-Devlin. There’s room for words, images, and numbers. Don’t worry if you’re not experienced in drawing, this is a class, an opportunity, an introduction. Snacks and journaling materials provided, though you’re welcome to bring your own. Move from appreciation to stewardship as you learn more about the natural world.
For ages 12 and up. $35 for members, $50 for non-members—register here.
Image from Tacoma Film Festival
8. 17th Annual Tacoma Film Festival
Thursday - Sunday, October 11th-13th
The Grand Cinema
Blue Mouse Theatre
TFF is back with over 100 films and events! Get in on screenings at The Grand and in Proctor at the Blue Mouse. Multiple locations means more spots to stop for snacks before and after the films—but of course the movies are the important bit.
Prices Vary - Purchase Individual Tickets - Buy Passes
Follow Tacoma Film Festival on Facebook for news and updates
Image from P.S. Correspondence Society
9. Grit City Letter Writers
Friday, October 11th
4 - 7 pm
Lauda
The GCLW is the new sister club to the Puget Sound Correspondence Society, a Tacoma-based meet-up that grew from the Seattle-based group. Come to Lauda, bring your favorite stationary and cards, or choose some from the shop. Bring your love of snail mail, of private missives, handwritten declarations of love, and good old-fashioned postcards with a quick “wish you were here” scrawled on the back. Write a letter to remind a friend to vote. Write a letter to say what you love about someone. Write an apology, an invitation, a little life update, a list of questions. This is planned as a monthly meet-up, so go ahead and save a spot on your calendar.
Postcards, coasters, and prints from one fine day of Studio Tours.
10. TACOMA ARTS MONTH—Studio Tours
Saturday & Sunday, October 12th-13th
11 am - 5 pm
All across Tacoma
Visit artists in action in the studios where they work, and get your hands on some interactive art pieces. It’s fun, it’s a tour of Tacoma, and it’s worth taking some time. We’ve come home with wonderful prints from some of Tacoma’s excellent letter press artists, and really good memories too. Studio Tours are free and open to all ages.
October is Tacoma Arts Month! It’s hard to say exactly how one should celebrate, because there’s so much to do, and part of celebrating art means celebrating exploration, and finding new ways of seeing. But we will tell you to link up with the astonishingly wide array of arts events and experiences on the Tacoma Arts Month Events page. Choose a day and just see what’s happening, commit to one arts experience each week, or go wild and crazy, make it a variety show and try to see a film, hear a concert, watch a dance, take in an exhibit, and create something of your own.
Can’t narrow it down? Studio Tours is a great place to start.
Image from City of Tacoma
11. Green Tacoma Day Volunteer Opportunity
Saturday, October 12th
At parks all across Tacoma
Public parks and green spaces make life in the city better, and help from volunteers makes parks and green spaces better. If you can swing it, choose a park close to your neighborhood or close to your heart, and sign-up to work with a crew of volunteers on Green Tacoma Day.
Volunteers will remove invasive weeds, plant seeds, improve pollinator habitats, and work on planting trees. Sign up here.
Image from Oscar’s Enemies
12. Oscar’s Enemies Litter Pick-up
Saturday, October 19th
9 - 11 am (meet at 8:45 am)
Location TBD
Oscar’s Enemies is meeting up for another neighborhood litter pick-up and you are invited!
Register here and you’ll receive all the details you need by email. Bring a litter-grabber and Oscar’s enemies will provide the rest (gloves, bags, organization, and raffle prizes). Tip: Bring a 5-gallon bucket and line it with the provided bag. We’ve seen kids using salad tongs for litter-grabbers—seems to work really well for shorter arms.
This group is organized, rewarding, and friendly.
Image from Proctor District Association
13. Proctor District Art Walk
Saturday, October 19th
3 - 7 pm
So much art this October, why not throw in a little more with an art walk around Proctor? You can always stop and eat too. Food can be art! It counts! Try Corbeau, the new spot we’re feeling so curious about, pick up The Cookie at Metropolitan Market, or share a big ol’ sandwich at Peaks & Pints. Then get back to appreciative nods with a thoughtful head-tilt, go saturate yourself with color and lines and creativity.
Image from Humanities Washington
14. The Firsts: Latina Struggles in the United States with Maria Chávez
Wednesday, October 23rd
6 - 7 pm
Moore Branch, Tacoma Public Library
Maybe you’re one of The Firsts, come hear from a speaker who will share her own perspective as well as the stories of Latinas from a wide range of interviews—there’s a good chance you’ll relate. Maybe you don’t share this identity, come learn, expand your understanding of the challenges some of your friends, colleagues, and community members are facing.
Maria Chávez is a political science professor at PLU and two-time winner of the American Political Science Association’s Best Book in Latino Politics: first for Everyday Injustice, and most recently for Latino Professionals in America. This event is offered at no cost and is open to all.
15. 20th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival
Thursday, October 31st - Sunday, November 3rd
Tacoma Art Museum
Images from Tacoma Art Museum
TAM celebrates Día de los Muertos in partnership with Mi Centro and you’re invited.
Tapete by artist Fulgencio Lazo on view from October 31 – November 3
Community alters on view from October 31 – November 3
Community Exhibition: Recuerdame, works by local Latine & Indigenous artists on view from October 31 – November 3
Festival with food, arts, and cultural celebration on Sunday, November 3rd, 10 am - 5 pm
This exhibition and the festival are free and open to the public.
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