Tacoma High 5 - May

Last month we made a general events list rather than a Tacoma High 5. Just compiling the list makes us aware of events we wouldn’t have noticed and a bit more likely to participate. In the photo above we’re at the Moore Library where we attended Pass the Torch and heard poetry from the most recent Tacoma Poet Laureate and the brand new laureate too. It feels good to stay home (we all need quiet nights), but I’m so glad we experienced this!

Tacoma High 5 is our way to nudge you toward what we love about Tacoma, toward 5 opportunities in one month that might bring balance to 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. We’re continuing with our 5 categories in May:

  1. Community Event

  2. Treat Yourself

  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. It’s a list to encourage those small “remember-whens”, the remember-whens you have about a day when you just stepped outside your routine and lived in the present and maybe surprised yourself a bit.

Maybe we’ll see you out there this month!

Image from Cascade Music Alliance - The open mic event started in April, continues in May, and is planned for June 21st as well.

1. Community Event - Soak up Music, Comedy & Poetry at Grit City Grooves Tacoma’s Newest Open Mic

Wednesday, May 17
6 pm slot sign-ups
Alma Cafe

Never the same twice. Open mic is open to poetry, comedy, and song. Come with your words, jokes, music, or come without any of that. Come empty handed if that’s how you find yourself. If, however, your pockets are stuffed with scraps of songs and notes and scribbles of punchlines, be sure to sign-up for your slot at 6 pm.

Community Event Back-up Plan: Farmers Markets!

Tacoma Farmers Market finds

Tacoma Farmers Market: Broadway
Thursdays, starting May 5th, 11 am-2 pm

Okay, in case you can’t make it to the open mic (or won’t even try) we’ll make it easy for you. The Broadway Farmers Market opens for its 33rd season, so you have a chance for a community event every Thursday through October. Flowers, herbs, baked goods, mushrooms, greens, food trucks for lunch, honey, jam, and music too. Liven up the day, carry flower through the streets, bring something springy home. There’s even more next month when the Eastside and Dune Peninsula markets start in June.

Proctor Farmer’s Market
Saturdays (regular weekly season started 3/25)

Might as well go to Broadway on Thursday and restock on Saturdays in Proctor. Balloon Roof Baking Company tends to be there (in case you love bread and cookies and rolls and more bread!), perennial plants, pickles, bouquets, more mushrooms, more greens, more lunch, more herbs. Another good day to be out and about in springtime.

2. Treat Yourself - Common Ground Coffee is brand new and ready to make friends

Open 7am - 4 pm
Thursday-Tuesday, Closed Wednesdays
2313 Tacoma Ave S

Stop in to welcome a very new coffee shop to Tacoma and they will likely welcome you right back. Treat yourself to a special drink and if you arrive hungry, there’s no need to leave that way. Remember, this is a treat so don’t skimp out on yourself. Add a breakfast or lunch item from Tacoma’s Memoranda Kitchen (savory, homemade, delicious) to make it a meal. Make it a habit, just not a Wednesday habit.

Image from PierceTrips.com

3. Exploration & Adventure - The cycle of the seasons has brought us back to bike month!

Bike Month is all month—makes sense, right? Visit bikemonth.org and follow along with for a list of events like Bike & Roll to School Day, bike parties, and a video of the history of bicycling in Tacoma. Follow along with @tacomamobility throughout May. Create a bike team and join the Bike Everywhere Challenge at PierceTrips.com. Find bike maps and routes, tips, and cycling guidance here.

Don’t miss:

Image Courtesy Washington State Historical Society (0006_S92-2-47) - Nettie Asberry (1865-1968), portrait in Colored Women's Federation of Washington and Jurisdiction Club Journal, 1922-1925, Tacoma, ca. 1925

4. Local Love -  Local dancers and local musicians celebrate Nettie Asberry, a local historic figure for local audiences

TUPAC & Northwest Sinfonietta
This Land: NETTIE
Saturday, May 20th, 7:30 pm, Rialto Theater
Sunday, May 21st, 2 pm, Pioneer Park Pavilio
Tickets

Whew. It’s hard to get more local than that! TUPAC (Tacoma Urbana Performing Arts Center) and the Northwest Sinfonietta tell the story of Nettie Asberry, founder of the WA Chapter of the NAACP, the WA State Federation of Colored Women’s Organizations, and co-founder of the Inter-racial Council to end discrimination in a new ballet concert performance. Nettie C. Asberry lived from 1865 to 1968, spending much of her life in Tacoma which is also the place of her death at age 103. Read about her Hilltop home and how it’s now being honored. Learn more about Asberry and other early Tacoma activists.

5. Volunteering & Sharing - 2 Opportunities: Be a Litter-picker-upper and/or get silly with a team for Affordable housing

Opportunity 1: Oscar’s Enemies Tacoma Neighborhood Litter Pick-up

Saturday, May 13th, 9-11 am
Location TBD

“Pick up litter and make the city glitter.” And do it with a whole big group of other people from around Tacoma who like to take care of the city and be outdoors and get the chance to win raffle prizes and fun stuff like that. If you want to come help out be sure to RSVP here and Oscar’s Enemies will email you with all the good details you need (they’re helpful like that). A couple of tips to get you started: We like brining a 5-gallon bucket which we line with the provided garbage bags. Lots of kids use salad tongs for grabbing litter.

Opportunity 2: Beyond the Backyard Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser

Saturday, May 20th, 10 am-1 pm
Register your team

It’s a community-wide scavenger hunt, adventure race with goofy challenges and a spirit of fun for all ages and abilities. Do it with family, friends coworkers, a youth group, your book club, your neighbors, whoever you can gather. It’s a bit wacky, a bit wild, you may get wet, it’s fun and it’s for affordable housing in Tacoma and Pierce County! $20 entry fee goes toward Habitat’s fundraising goal of $300/group. Read up on some FAQs and be prepared to be silly and competitive at the same time, while also doing good. That’s a lot of bases for one event to cover, best not to miss it.

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

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
We took our two hearts out for an impromptu lunch at @threeheartstacoma today and we suggest you do the same. When we read the news that they’re extending their soft launch and staying open for the week instead of closing until next Tuesday we
Slipping a few coins in the parking meter’s a small price to pay for such a nice spot to sit. If you haven’t visited @outerdarkcoffee yet go before all the leaves fall. They’re very good company outside the huge windows. If you miss
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
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Get Out of Town: Puget Sound Day Trips
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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
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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
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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.