Tacoma Community
Michael Duggan
What's New, Tacoma? 17 New Businesses + 3 ...

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!

What's New, Tacoma? 17 New Businesses + 3 Coming Soon
Tacoma Community
Michael Duggan
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.

Tacoma Community: 15 Things to Do in October
Puget Sound Day Trips
Michael Duggan
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!

Get Out of Town: Puget Sound Day Trips
Tacoma Community
Michael Duggan
Tacoma High 5 - July 2024

Tacoma High 5 is our way to nudge you (and us!) toward what we love about Tacoma. 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. This month’s list includes Tacoma Pride, an all ages neighborhood music festival, a game that gets you supporting small businesses (and winning prizes), Swedish-style baked goods, and the chance to help out Habitat for Humanity or spend Friday afternoons watering trees to keep Tacoma (and its future) healthy and shaded.

  1. Community Event

  2. Sweet Treat

  3. Exploration & Adventure

  4. Local Love

  5. Volunteering & Sharing

Tacoma High 5 - July 2024
Tacoma Food & Drink
Michael Duggan
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!

Tacoma Outdoor Dining Guide

Community Connection

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.

Tacoma High 5 - July 2024

Tacoma High 5 - July 2024

Tacoma High 5 is our way to nudge you (and us!) toward what we love about Tacoma. 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. This month’s list includes Tacoma Pride, an all ages neighborhood music festival, a game that gets you supporting small businesses (and winning prizes), Swedish-style baked goods, and the chance to help out Habitat for Humanity or spend Friday afternoons watering trees to keep Tacoma (and its future) healthy and shaded.

  1. Community Event

  2. Sweet Treat

  3. Exploration & Adventure

  4. Local Love

  5. Volunteering & Sharing

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?).

Tacoma 2024: Make Yourself At Home

Tacoma 2024: Make Yourself At Home

As we take our first steps into 2024, we’re thinking about home and how we make it. We’re thinking about how we continue to seek, find, and create belonging. In this list we’ve collected 7 ways we’ve made ourselves at home in Tacoma and made friends with the city. Go to a festival, become a regular, follow some local news, help out, be pals with the library, explore local history and art, do something new. After a while you’ve made a connection that didn’t exist before. These 7 ideas aren’t deep Tacoma secrets. Rather, think of this list like suggested ingredients for making yourself at home. Take a look and join us.

10 Ways to Give Local Love - 2023

10 Ways to Give Local Love - 2023

This month we’ve created a list focused on 10 ways to give in December. You’ll find 5 sections of recommendations for local gift giving with holiday markets and some of our favorite small shops included, and 5 suggestions for giving outside your circle of friends and family to community and unknown neighbors. All 10 ways of giving put love into the Tacoma community! Read on for a choir made of refugees and USA-born residents offering a concert to celebrate peace, a list of local cafes for coffee lovers, a gift card drive to support clients at the YWCA, a nostalgic holiday movie marathon, a diaper drive to comfort local families, a gift that cares for birds, and more.

5 Ways to Support Food & Housing for Neighbors in Tacoma & Beyond - Vol. 2

5 Ways to Support Food & Housing for Neighbors in Tacoma & Beyond - Vol. 2

We all get by with a little help from our friends. And really, we get by with a little help from strangers too. Be a friend or a friendly stranger by finding one way to support neighbors in the Tacoma community, in Pierce County, or across Washington by choosing from the 5 ways to give on our list. Support affordable housing and mental health, volunteer at a food bank, help prevent displacement due to gentrification, and serve or provide a community meal. Over time, we all have something to give and a real need to receive—most often it’s probably both at once.

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

Tacoma High 5 - May

Tacoma High 5 - May

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 delight, encourages a spirit of exploration and some generosity as well. This month’s list includes a ballet about a local activist, a new coffee shop to visit, a new open mic, farmers market updates, a community scavenger hunt/race for affordable housing, bike month events, and a chance to lend your hand at cleaning up the city!

  1. Community Event

  2. Treat Yourself

  3. Exploration & Adventure

  4. Local Love

  5. Volunteering & Sharing

Reintroducing the Sam Smith Fund: Reducing the Black Homeownership Gap in WA State

Reintroducing the Sam Smith Fund: Reducing the Black Homeownership Gap in WA State

You may have read about the Sam Smith Fund in our original blog post introducing it back in February 2022. If so, read on for some updates, including a major increase to the down payment assistance amount! This African American homeownership fund gives us as Realtors an opportunity to do more than just educate ourselves about racial disparities in homeownership. And anyone can contribute! We're eager to grow as an industry into greater ways to support and advocate for truly equal access to housing and homeownership.

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things - Vol. 3

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things - Vol. 3

Is this an ultimate, all time, best of the best, win or go home, top 5 list? No. Are these our 5 absolute favorite things in Tacoma? That’s not really the point. This is the 3rd group of 5 things we think are good in Tacoma. A place to go for a hometown tropical getaway, gloriously fresh bread, a loop trail around a 15,000 year old lake, a treasure hunt, and a drink we think you should try. Some of it’s free. All of it is good. We’re not making any other claims (who needs all that best-stress anyway?).

Tacoma 2023: Make Yourself At Home

Tacoma 2023: Make Yourself At Home

As we hang our 2023 calendars on the wall and consider a new year we’re thinking about home and how we make it. We’re thinking about what makes us feel like we belong, how we experience belonging in our lives, and how we can create it. In this list we’ve collected 7 of the ways we’ve made ourselves at home in Tacoma and made friends with the city. Making friends with a place is kind of like making friends with a person—you listen, show up, help out, pay attention, participate, and receive. After a while you’ve made a connection that didn’t exist before. These 7 ideas aren’t deep Tacoma secrets. Rather, think of this list like suggested ingredients for making yourself at home. Take a look and join us.

10 Ways to Give: Local Love - 2022

10 Ways to Give: Local Love - 2022

This month we’ve created a special list of 10 ways to give in December. You’ll find 5 sections of recommendations for local gift giving with holiday markets and some of our favorite small businesses included, and 5 suggestions for giving outside your friends and family, ways of giving to community and unknown neighbors, ways of giving your time, and even a gift that supports wildlife conservation and education. All 10 ways of giving put LOVE into the Tacoma community!

5 Ways to Support Food & Housing for Neighbors in Tacoma & Beyond

5 Ways to Support Food & Housing for Neighbors in Tacoma & Beyond

We all get by with a little help from our friends. And really, we get by with a little help from strangers too. Be a friend or a friendly stranger by finding one way to support neighbors in the Tacoma community, in Pierce County, or across Washington by choosing from the 5 ways to give on our list. Turn $1 into 5 meals for a food insecure household, lend a hand with affordable homeownership and aging-in-place, send funds to a weekly meal program, stand behind affordable rents and senior housing, or get involved with a Thanksgiving fundraiser. Over time, we all have something to give and a deep need to receive—most often it’s probably both at once.

Tacoma Community: A Dozen Ways to Connect in October

Tacoma Community: A Dozen Ways to Connect in October

October is a big month in Tacoma. It’s Tacoma Arts Month, Hispanic Heritage Month continues, and it’s time for the Tacoma Film Festival. That’s just the beginning. Find ways to support a healthy environment through volunteering, eat bratwurst and sing to the Beatles, write in the company of others, head to the museum for a trip through Mexico, and celebrate Halloween by (or on!) the water.

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things - Vol. 2

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things - Vol. 2

Is this a top 5 list? No. Are these our 5 absolute favorite things in Tacoma? Nope. This is just the second edition of a group of 5 things at a time from a list of way more things we think are good in Tacoma. The list is long: a corner we like to stand on, a window it feels good to sit by, a sandwich we like to eat, a place to search for treasure, a garden to visit at a particular time of year. Some of it costs no money at all. It’s a living, growing list of good things—not necessarily best (who needs all that over-the-top comparison and perfection?). Good is good.

What's New, Tacoma?

What's New, Tacoma?

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 gatherings. We’ve been hearing about and experiencing this change across the city and wanted to gather some of it up in one place. What follows is a list of 10 new, renewed, returned, resurfaced, reconstructed, reopened spots and experiences. Challenge yourself to experience something new this month; if you do, we’d love to hear about it!

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things

Tacoma Love: 5 Good Things

From nachos to the cemetery and everywhere in between, this is just what it says, a list of 5 good things. No one said best! No one said “top rated.” Get out of here with that! Good, is good, is good. Enjoy just the first group of 5 from a long of way more things we think are good in Tacoma. The full list is long and growing: a corner we like to stand on, a window it feels good to sit by, a beverage we like to drink, a street to walk, a tree or garden to visit at a particular time of year. Some of it costs no money at all and all of it is good. Promise.

Sam Smith "Hi Neighbor" Homeownership Fund

Sam Smith "Hi Neighbor" Homeownership Fund

This new homeownership fund gives us as Realtors an opportunity to do more than just educate ourselves about racial disparities in homeownership. And anyone can contribute! We're eager to see the fund grow, and for us to grow as an industry into greater ways to support and advocate for truly equal access to housing and homeownership.

Life in Tacoma 2022: 5 Ways to Create Belonging

Life in Tacoma 2022: 5 Ways to Create Belonging

The new year has us considering belonging, how people find it, how we create it. In this list we’ve collected 5 of the ways we’ve found belonging in Tacoma, or ways we’d like to continue building it. These aren’t deep Tacoma secrets, or never-been-seen-before ideas. There’s nothing sensational here. This list is more like suggested ingredients for finding your place by giving and receiving, exploring and settling down. Sometimes belonging just happens to us, other times we need to find it and foster it. Take a look and join us.

10 Ways to Give: Local Love

10 Ways to Give: Local Love

This month we’ve created a special list of 10 ways to give in December. You’ll find 5 recommendations for local gift giving with some of our favorite small businesses included, and 5 suggestions for giving outside your friends and family, ways of giving to community and unknown neighbors, ways giving of your time, and even a gift that supports wildlife conservation and education. All 10 ways of giving put LOVE into the Tacoma community!

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.