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Connect to Tacoma Community: August 2020

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These “Connect to Tacoma Community” posts are a continuation of our Tacoma Events lists. Events have shifted from up close, in person, hand-shaking, food-sharing, hugging, and elbow-rubbing gatherings, to outdoor, distanced, small group, and remote gatherings. But the truth is, the focus always has been, and continues to be connection. We’re seeking ways for all of us to engage community, make changes, and get through this together (emphasis on together).

Take a look at our list of 10 events around Tacoma in August, and 5 Tacoma entities we suggest following if you’re looking to stay in touch with what happens in and around our city. We’re wishing you all health and discovery this August. Take care.

Connect to Tacoma with Events & Gatherings

1. Straight Talk - Race, Relationships, and Racial Justice

Monday, August 3rd
* (and every Monday indefinitely)
5 pm
From Home via Zoom

  • Free - register here

  • Panel discussion focusing on bi-racial couples in this time of the pandemic and race-based uprisings

  • These discussion are hosted by the Metropolitan Development Council and The Tacoma Urban League and are geared toward communities “not in the mainstream flow of information”

  • * Love this idea? Join every Monday! Straight Talk is a series you can engage in each Monday while the COVID0-19 crisis continues

2. Tangled: Why Your Hair Matters to Society

Monday, August 3rd
7 - 8:30 pm
From Home via Zoom

3. Free Food Boxes for Families

Tuesdays, August 4th & 18th
10 am
Tacoma Community House
1314 S L St, Tacoma

  • Free

  • Emergency Food Network and Tacoma Community House are partnering to offer free boxes of food for people in the community who could use some help with food security

  • First-come first-served

  • Staff offering the food boxes will wear masks and keep their distance to keep the community safe

Image from En Rama

Image from En Rama

Weekly Meals for the Community

4. Local restaurant En Rama in Downtown Tacoma offers free to-go meals every Wednesday. No questions asked!

  • Wednesdays

  • Pick-up a free boxed meal from 2 - 3 pm

  • 1102 A St, Suite 220, Tacoma

5. Tacoma Rainbow Center is Caring With Pride with support from Alma Mater on Thursdays in Downtown Tacoma

  • Thursdays

  • Fresh meals, non-perishables, hygiene supplies, and masks offered 11 am - 1 pm

  • 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma

6. Visit Peace Lutheran Church in Hilltop every Friday for a free to-go Community Meal with other community resources available as well. All are welcome!

  • Fridays

  • Pick-up from 5:30 - 6:30 pm

  • 2106 S Cushman Ave, Tacoma

If you have enough or more than enough food, these might be opportunities to give or volunteer. We take turns needing and being needed, giving and receiving, there’s a gift in all of these circumstances.

7. Old Town Summer Concert Series

Wednesdays
August 5, 12, 19 & 26
6:30 - 8:15 pm
Livestream from Home

  • Free

  • Bring the music home, pretend your down in the park in Old Town with the salty air, a blanket in the grass, a picnic, and a crowd - hey, you can actually recreate that on your living room floor or out in your back yard (minus the crowd)

  • Enjoy live music every Wednesday from different musicians each week, and next summer we all hope to be back in the park!

Images from Metro Parks Tacoma

Images from Metro Parks Tacoma

Fridays
August 7, 14, 21 & 28
7 pm parking, showtime at dusk
STAR Center
3873 S 66th St, Tacoma

  • $20 suggested donation per vehicle - register here

  • Come early to purchase food at food trucks

  • Make sure to read the details about the audio, parking, and other guidelines

  • Movie titles are subject to change, but here’s the planned lineup:

    • 8/7- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, 1977 (PG)

      8/14- Hidden Figures, 2016 (PG)

      8/21- The Princess Bride, 1987 (PG)

      8/28- FernGully, 1992 (G)

9. Point Defiance Beach Cleanup

Third Saturdays
August 15th
9 am
Point Defiance Marina
5912 Waterfront Dr, Tacoma

  • Free volunteer event - register here

  • Help keep the beaches and parks we love clean and healthy

  • During COVID-19 group size is limited, so please be sure to register (a household counts as 1 volunteer within the limit)

  • Cleanup continues rain or shine, so dress for the weather

  • Also, if you miss this day, or if it’s already full of volunteers, take a look at other Tacoma park cleanup opportunities for a chance to lend a hand

10. Skill in Action: Virtual Workshop with Michelle C. Johnson

Sunday, August 30th
12 - 3 pm
From Home Online

  • 3 levels of payment: $35 community - discounted, $45 sustainer - covers your own participation (sold out!), $55 supporter - covers your participation and supports others as well - Register here

  • This is a workshop brining together social justice, yoga, and community

  • Michelle C. Johnson will lead an exploration of how we take action and respond to systems of oppression

  • Open to all levels of yoga experience and includes dharma talk, meditation, asana, and discussion

Connect to Tacoma with Ongoing Engagement

We recommend following these organizations, communities, businesses, entities, etc. There are so many more we’d like to suggest, but that’s for another month, another chance, another list. If you haven’t explored these or gotten connected, take a look. We’re pretty sure you’ll be welcome.

Tacoma Pierce/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity

Vision: “Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity’s vision is to build and foster a community where everyone has a decent, affordable place to live. Our Christian foundation calls for us to set aside religious differences and work toward a common goal: to eliminate poverty housing in our community.

  • Everyone needs a foundation to build a future.

  • Every home is a building block.

  • Every home improvement gives children a better chance for a stronger future.

  • Every donation helps a family help themselves.

  • Every helping hand makes a difference.”

Follow Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity on Facebook
Follow Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity on Instagram

Image from Yoga Wild

Image from Yoga Wild

Yoga Wild

About: “We are a yoga company for students outside the typical yoga demographic. Too many are excluded from the mental and physical benefits of yoga due to cost or lack of representation. We have a studio with 20 classes a week at sliding-scale pricing. At Yoga Wild, we also encourage students to get out in nature and their community with classes, series, and volunteer work parties throughout Tacoma.”

Note: Yoga Wild is adapting to the times to keep everyone safe and healthy. The studio is closed, but you can find lots of online live classes and practices via YouTube as well.

Follow Yoga Wild on Facebook
Follow Yoga Wild on Instagram

Mission: “Our mission is to cultivate a space for professional Women of Color to nurture community, collaborate, and share professional, educational and life resources.”

Follow Tacoma Women of Color Collective on Facebook
Follow Tacoma Women of Color Collective on Instagram

Tacoma Public Schools

About: “Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) is one of the largest districts in Washington State serving approximately 30,000 children in preschool through grade 12. The district has 35 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, 10 high schools and 4 early learning centers. 19 schools are designated as innovative.  TPS has nearly 5,000 employees and is one of the largest employers in Tacoma.”

Follow Tacoma Public Schools on Facebook
Follow Tacoma Public Schools on Instagram



Grit City Magazine

About: “Grit City Magazine was founded on the notion that Tacoma has good stories to tell. We explore the places that define it, pay homage to the history that built it, and celebrate the people who make it what it is today. This is a city of makers and craftsmen, artists and philosophers, natives and newcomers, dreamers and doers, and above all, grit. If you have a story to tell, we want to hear it.”

Follow Grit City Magazine on Facebook
Follow Grit City Magazine on Instagram
Subscribe to Grit City Magazine

KEEP IN TOUCH ABOUT TACOMA LIFE, TACOMA COMMUNITY, TACOMA HOMES, AND A BIT ABOUT US

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🍰 Follow Pearl Street west and west and further west until you’ve gone by the tropical nursery and the Garden of Eatin’. If you land at the ferry to Vashon Island or in the rose garden at Point Defiance Park, you’ve gone too far (b
Not every listing comes ready made and fully expressed. Funds (we’re talking dollars here) are always vital when purchasing a property, but sometimes a vision and a plan are just as important as the cash 🔮 What could this place become? 🏡💈?
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Happy May Day from the columbine and apple blossoms, the forget-me-nots, bluebells, lilac and huckleberry, from the rhododendron, weigela, and rosemary. They’re singing with color and scent and humming with bees. Each year I bring in a sample o
Today is closing day for our Community Central listing and that means it’s time for flowers! 💐☀🎉 Listed 3/28/24, Under Contract 4/1/24, Closed 4/30/24 just as the oak tree out front is showing fresh new leaves. Let the rest of this post be an
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What's Happening, Tacoma? 21 May Events
What's Happening, Tacoma? 21 May Events

May is Bike Month. May is Historic Preservation Month. May holds Affordable Housing Week. May is the month for a lightsaber battle, for live music and crafts in Old Town Park, for night markets, plant sales at your local high school, hands-on printmaking and paper arts, and locally made short films. It’s the month to learn about the history of Tacoma, and even contribute your own story at events like the Eastside Story Fest. It’s the month to pick-up litter with a bunch of nice people, the month to set out nutritious foods for your mail carrier to share with the food bank, the month to take time to learn more about affordable housing. It’s the month to tune up your bike and join a group ride.

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.

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 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 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!

Meet the Tacoma Community House New Little Free Library!
Meet the Tacoma Community House New Little Free Library!

It’s finally here! The Tacoma Community House Little Free Library is up and open. Duggan, Brooks & Books are grateful to the Tacoma Community House and Craig (our designer and builder!) for all their help and support in getting this library to its home in the Hilltop Neighborhood of Tacoma. Read all about it!

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.