If you make it out to the big festival for Tacoma Pride this July, make sure to stop by our Windermere Abode booth for friendly folks and great raffle prize baskets from local businesses!
Tacoma High 5 is a tradition we started back in July of 2021. It’s something we pull together every few months as a way to nudge you (and us!) 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 delight, encourages a spirit of exploration and some generosity as well. For July 2024, we’re continuing with our 5 categories:
Community Event
Sweet Treat
Exploration & Adventure
Local Love
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 we both quit our jobs and skipped town to an all-inclusive resort for a month?” Nope. It’s more like those small remember-whens, the remember-whens you have about a day when you just stepped outside your routine and lived in the present (that place we tend so rarely to inhabit). Something more like, “Remember when we went to Porchfest and that cute chunky dog was splashing around in the kiddie pool while the band played?”
Maybe we’ll see you out there this month! But if we don’t see you, we hope you’re doing okay, and that someone else saw you instead and gave you a friendly wave and a big hello.
You’ll know you’ve arrived when all the colors of the rainbow are walking by and waving overhead and the sound of music fills the street.
1. Community Event - Tacoma Pride
Saturday, July 13th
12-6 pm
Downtown Tacoma
This year’s Tacoma Pride Festival poster declares "Diversity is our strength, unity is our power!” Seek out and soak up some diversity and unity between 7th and 9th on Pacific Ave. Wear what makes you feel alive and lively, eat treats from lots of food trucks, and give the musicians and performers some love. Find the main stage at Fireman’s Park.
Follow Midsommar Bakery on Instagram and taste these delightful buns at the Proctor Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.
2. Sweet Treat - Midsommar Bakery Pastries
Saturdays, 9 am-2 pm
Proctor Farmers’ Market
We like fresh baked goods, braids of pastry sprinkled with spices and studded with seasonal fruit. And we like supporting micro businesses—businesses so local they just show up at the farmers market, so small you can count on your fingers the number of folks involved.
It’s okay if they grow, no problem, mostly we just want them to stay around. Pastries are an especially beloved food category in my life, and ones like this—not too sweet, with simple flavors, and homemade dough that stays tender even as it get that golden-brown glow—are especially welcome in Tacoma, a city that really could benefit from a richer bakery scene. We’ll leave you with this image of Midsommar Bakery’s Swedish style baked goods the cinnamon bun, cardamom bun, orange almond bun, and vanilla-strawberry bun.
You don’t have to consider yourself a big music fan to really find yourself smiling and in the best kind of mood as you wander Porchfest.
3. Exploration & Adventure - Tacoma Porchfest
Saturday, July 20th
Central Tacoma - from Cedar to Sprague and 6th to S. 12th
The 3rd annual Tacoma Porchfest is coming up and it’s all about exploration. Explore the blocks of Central Tacoma and explore a veritable menagerie of live music at the same time.
Last year a marching band parade connected the morning round of bands with the afternoon session. A fire-breathing dragon joined the spirited bunch of roller-skaters, tuba players, stroller-pushers, drummers, and cyclists in the streets. From block to block to block musicians sang their tunes from front porches while the people of Tacoma gathered on sidewalks and settled down in lawns.
This festival is free to attend, but there are many ways to support: play music, donate, volunteer, or offer your porch!
I happened to pick up my bingo card at Lauda because it’s a personal favorite, but you can get your card (and choose your color) at any of the participanting businesses.
4. Local Love - Small Biz Bingo
July 1st-31st
All Across Tacoma
Shop Local Tacoma encourages all of us to have some fun and win prizes while supporting small, local businesses this July by playing Small Biz Bingo! Pick up a card at one of the participating businesses and get your first stamp while you’re at it.
The card is $3 and that could be all you spend, but most of these shops have something small like a sticker, pen, greeting card, yo yo, lip balm, chocolate bar, or other treat you might find you can afford. Maybe you see something in July you can buy and save for a birthday you know is coming in September.
Every purchase supports small businesses and you might even be shopping with the business owner themselves! Stop in at the participating businesses on your card, show your card, make a purchase or complete a small task (like send a postcard from Lauda—but I bet you won’t be able to resist choosing at least one greeting card, pen, or pencil) in exchange for filling a bingo square. And you could always show the shop some love by sharing about them on social media too or telling a real friend in real llife!
Prizes! Small prizes for completing a row of 5. Big prizes for filling your entire bingo board! Reference all the guidelines for how to play at Shop Local Tacoma.
5. Volunteering & Sharing - 2 Opportunities
Image from TPC Habitat for Humanity
Volunteer at a Habitat Store
Looking for a way to give some of your time and skills? Habitat for Humanity needs you in more ways than out on an affordable housing construction site—they’d love to have your help volunteering in a Habitat for Humanity Store too! Pierce County Habitat Stores are in Tacoma, Lakewood, and Puyallup.
There’s an online volunteer orientation on July 1st, but if you miss this one, let them know you’re interested and get the next one on your calendar. Here’s how Habitat says you can help at the store:
Pick Up Assistants: We need able-bodied people to help our drivers pick up donated items.
Customer-Service Assistants: Assist customers with purchases and help them load their purchases.
Warehouse Associates: Prepare merchandise, price items, and stock merchandise
Images in this collage sourced from Tacoma Tree Foundation
Volunteer with Tacoma Tree Foundation
Summer is a beautiful time in the Pacific Northwest, and it’s a time when trees in our city, especially young trees, need help getting enough water to grow and stay healthy. Whether you love Tacoma, love trees, or feel passionate about healthy air and climate resilience, volunteering with Tacoma Tree Foundation could be perfect for you!
Email info@tacomatreefoundation.org to let them know you’d like to help out this summer. Volunteer opportunities include:
Helping at events like tree-planting/tree sharing events
Watering Tacoma trees on Friday afternoons this summer
That’s us—Gretchen, Michael, and Dandie Duggan.
We’re wishing you a sweet July with your perfect blend of being tucked away—on your balcony or back porch, in your garden or favorite park—and being out on the town never knowing who you might meet, what you might see, or where the day will take you.
If you can swing it, give a little to community this month, we’re pretty sure community will give right back to you.
We don’t promise to be everywhere—we do love those tucked away in the garden times too—but we hope to see you out there!
Keep in touch about Tacoma life, community, events, homes, and a bit about us.
