Tacoma High 5 - August 2023

This isn’t even on the list this month, so consider it an extra (a High 6 isn’t really a thing): go eat a pizza at Sig Brewing on Tacoma Ave. We dropped in after hanging out downtown at Tacoma Pride this June and ordered the Lewis Del Mar—green sauce, chicken, pickled jalapeños, mamas lil’ peppers, crema, red onion, and crust that had that good salt and chew.

Tacoma High 5 is our way to nudge you toward what we love about Tacoma, toward 5 things that bring balance to our life in the city. 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.

  1. Community Event

  2. Sweet Treat

  3. Exploration & Adventure

  4. Local Love

  5. Volunteering & Sharing

This list is about choosing to participate in the place we call home, and it’s about small things that make one day distinct from another so that it becomes part of the story of summer, the kind of time about which you say, “Hey, remember when…” And it’s nothing huge like, “Remember when a tree fell on our kitchen” or “Remember when we went to Bermuda for 3 weeks?” Nope. It’s those small remember-whens, the remember-whens you have about a day when you just stepped outside your routine and lived in the present close to home.

Maybe we’ll see you out there!

Image from ALMA

1. Community Event - Music & Markets


Benefit Concert: Vibrations & Visual for Health & Healing for Aaron Hartzell

Saturday, August 5th
8 pm

Local bands play for a cause and then you get the chance to sing at the karaoke after party. A night out to raise money for a community member struggling with cancer.

Downtown Tacoma Block Party

Sunday, August 6th
12-8 pm

Head downtown between 9th & Broadway for live music, line dancing, food, activities for all ages, comedy, arts, and even a pop-up by the Tacoma Sunday Market hosted by Downtown Tacoma Partnership. Visit the event page for the performance schedule.

Dusty’s Hideaway Yard Market

Sunday, August 20th
4-9 pm

Local vendors and makers market at one of Tacoma’s best spots for tots, onion rings, slushies, and burgers/sandwiches. It’s nice! Hanging out at Dusty’s is like hanging out in someone’s back yard, but with service.

2. Sweet Treat - Blueberries for free at Charlotte’s Blueberry Park

Open 7 Days a Week
Sunrise to Sunset
Picking Season: July-September

Have you made friends with Charlotte’s Blueberry Park yet? If you’re cozy with the park already you might know 10 of the 20 acres are wetlands, and over 3,000 blueberry bushes of 5 different varieties grow on a large part of the remaining 10 acres.

Berries are free for the picking! Just like a true friend, Metro Parks doesn’t use pesticides or chemicals on this crop we all share. Take a pal, or a parent, or a first date. Bring a pail or a bowl or just your hungry paws. And keep your eye out for the Community Garden too.

Note: When our Abode office volunteered at the park earlier this summer we noticed there are no restrooms. Figured it would be friendly to share this knowledge before we send you on your way.

3. Exploration & Adventure - Porchfest

Saturday, August 5th
Set 1: 1-2:30 pm
2:30 pm parade
Set 2: 3:30-5 pm

Images from Tacoma Porchfest

Tacoma Porchfest is over 80 bands on 55 porches! This free music festival can be all about exploration and adventure. If there isn’t one particular band you just absolutely have to see, you can go where the streets and sounds lead you. Explore (and parade!) the Central Tacoma neighborhood while listening to bands play from the porches of ordinary/extraordinary Tacoma neighbors who offered up their front stoops for the sake of the festival.

Porchfest Realm
North: 6th Ave, South: S. 12th
East: Sprague, West: Alder/Oakes

Two Zones: “We separated the neighborhood into two sets, so people can see the most bands! Set 1 is on the eastside from 1 - 2:30pm and Set 2 is on the westside from 3:30 - 5pm. In between we have a people moving parade with 3 bands going from the Ferry Street Community Garden to the Unity church parking lot where we have a "main stage" and food trucks.” - Porchfest Page

Who’s playing? And when? Check out the Porchfest Event Guide. Want to support the bands? They’d love that!

Wondering if you’ll like it? Read a few of their online articles.

4. Local Love - Subscribe to Grit City Magazine

You can follow Grit City Magazine on the socials for news and perspectives and nice photos. Go ahead! But if you can find the funds, each dollar towards a hard copy is worth it. Reading the hard copy invites me deeper into Tacoma. I learn things about Tacoma’s past and present. I feel things about its people, and I usually laugh at something silly or irreverent. And there’s no scrolling, no urge to skim and move right along. Big, colorful, thoughtfully designed pages. Time for a cup of coffee and an article and a pause at the turning of the real, actual page. Relief. Every issue includes a poster by a local artist, so if you have proclivity for collecting, you’ll fit right in.

Grit City Magazine publishes 4 times each year. With a subscription you’ll pay $23 every 3 months.

5. Volunteering & Sharing - 2 August Opportunities

Image from Oscar’s Enemies July 2023 Manitou Pick-up

Oscar’s Enemies Litter Pick-up Day

Saturday, August 19th
8:45 am sign-in
9-11 am litter pick-up
11 am raffle
Location TBD

Oscar’s Enemies is meeting up for another monthly Tacoma neighborhood litter pick-up and you are invited! Register here, bring a litter-grabber (we recommend a 5-gallon bucket too) and Oscar’s enemies will provide the rest: gloves, garbage bags, organization, raffle prizes, a truck to round up garbage as you go, and even refreshing drinks at the end. Maybe we’ll see you there sometime!

Image from 253 Club YWCA

Menstrual Product & Hygiene Drive with 253 Club

Wednesday, August 30th
5:30 - 8 pm
The Red Hot - 2914 6th Ave, Tacoma

The YWCA Pierce County’s 253 Club partners with The Red Hot for a menstrual product and assorted hygiene product drive so you can support the community (menstrual products especially are both expensive AND necessary!) while also eating hot dogs/vegan dogs and drinking beer. Sounds good. 253 Club is raffling prizes from 5:30 to 8pm, and The Red Hot gives you $1 off your first beverage all day with a donation. We’ve had fun at this for a couple of years and plan to go again. It feels good to eat nacho cheese (think Frito Pie or the Dirty Nachos) while sharing a bit of love and support at the same time. See you there?

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

We had an impromptu Saturday afternoon date up at 7 Seas with lunch from Canteen Colvos (smash burger, sweet potato fries, and a lobster roll 🦞), coffee from Naomi Joe (sweet folks), and a wee bit of pinball. Gretchen couldn’t sleep that night
This year we’re back with a list of 10 ways to give love in December ❤️ Our guide includes 5 recommendations for local gift giving with holiday markets and some of our favorite small shops, and 5 suggestions for giving to unknown neighbors outs
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
Featured
10 Ways to Give Local Love - 2024
10 Ways to Give Local Love - 2024

This year we’re back with a list of 10 ways to give love in December. You’ll find our guide for local gift giving with holiday markets and some of our favorite small shops included, and 5 suggestions for giving to unknown neighbors outside your circle of friends. All 10 ways of giving put love into the Tacoma community! Read on for the magic of a musical play given by kids, a list of local cafes for coffee lovers, a gift card drive to support clients at the YWCA, a nostalgic holiday movie marathon, a way to support health and care for folks who can’t afford insurance, a chance to transform $1 into 2 meals, and the best local spots to shop for little ones.

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.

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.