Neighborhood News
- Rogers + Puyallup Class of ’96 Reunion @ Silver Cloud Hotel Tacoma at Point Ruston | Saturday (10/10), 5 to 10 p.m.
- More than 1,000 students graduated from Puyallup’s two rival high schools, Rogers and Puyallup, back in 1996; 30 years later, both classes are reuniting under one roof. Roughly 200 alumni and guests are expected for dinner, live music, a DJ, a red-carpet arrival, and a ra!e. Organizer Gale McArthur says old rivalries take a back seat to old friendships for the night. Sponsorships run $350 to $2,500; reach Kendra Aguilar at kenagu25@gmail.com. Rogers96.com and Puyallup96.com have the details.
- 11th Annual Hilltop Street Fair @ People’s Park | Saturday (8/29), 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Hilltop Business Association’s street fair turns 11 this year, and it’s bringing the full lineup back to People’s Park: food trucks, beer gardens, vendor booths, live entertainment stages, and activities for kids.
- International Day of Peace | Saturday (9/19)
- Tacoma marks the International Day of Peace with a community celebration put together with help from Zeta-Maya Entertainment’s Carlos A. Ortiz. A school-district version of the “yer is making its way through Peachjar, too, so expect to see it in backpacks as well as inboxes. Reach New Tacoma Neighborhood Council’s Tom Ebenhoh at 360-402-1778 for a copy.
- Connecting Tacoma: TOTG’s Annual Fundraiser @ William W. Phillips Hall, UW Tacoma | Thursday (10/8), 6 to 9 p.m.
- Tacoma On the Go marks its first full year under its new name (formerly Downtown On the Go) with its annual fundraiser, doubling as a first look at the organization’s 2026 strategic plan for walking, biking, and getting around downtown. Early-bird tickets are on sale now. Tickets and donations are available at connecting-tacoma-2026.auctria.events.
- Pierce County Library Debuts Sensory Kits at All 19 Branches
- Every Pierce County Library System branch now stocks sensory kits for children from birth through age 12, funded by a $10,000 American Library Association grant. Each kit packs puppy lap pads, ear protection, sunglasses, and visual timers. You can ask for one at the help desk, no card required, though kits stay in the building. The library built the kits out with the Tacoma Area Coalition of Individuals with Disabilities.
- Desserts on the Driveway @ Fort Steilacoom Park | Friday (8/28), 6 p.m.
- Lakewood’s informal chat-with-offcials series returns to Fort Steilacoom Park’s pavilion, dessert included. Bring your questions about the city, or just bring your sweet tooth. A second session is already on the books for September 10 at Lake City, 8800 121st St. SW, if Friday doesn’t work.
Local Governance
- Pierce County Pitches a “Unified Regional Approach” to Homelessness
- Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello wants a countywide response to homelessness, and he’s pitching it as something distinctly not like King County’s Regional Homelessness Authority. Tacoma is now weighing whether to join what Mello is calling a Unified Regional Approach, with the City Council expected to keep discussing it in the weeks ahead. Worth watching where your city lands.
- City Manager Talks 2027–2028 Budget @ New Tacoma Neighborhood Council | Wednesday (9/9), 5:30 p.m.
- Tacoma’s City Manager’s Office brings an early look at the 2027–2028 budget process to the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council, including where the General Fund stands (a projected $40 million shortfall) and how the city’s Roadmap to Recovery and Tacoma 2035 plans are shaping the choices ahead. The Proposed 2027–2028 Budget heads to a City Council study session on October 6, so this is a chance to get informed before it’s finalized. Downtown Library, 1102 Tacoma Ave.
- Speed Cameras Start Warning Drivers September 14
- Tacoma activates two automated speed enforcement cameras September 14 as part of its Vision Zero push for safer streets, with a one-month warning period before citations kick in. The first two locations went in because of high rates of speeding and serious crashes: one camera watches the uphill direction on Norpoint Way NE; the other clocks southbound traffic on SR 509/Marine View Drive. Six more cameras follow in January on South Sprague, Pacific, and Portland avenues. tacoma.gov/automatedenforcement.
- Parks Tacoma Wants Your Take on the 2027 Budget | Wednesday (9/2), 6 p.m.
- Parks Tacoma is shifting from a two-year to an annual budget cycle for the first time, and it wants input before locking in 2027 priorities. The virtual community workshop is open to anyone who uses or wants more from the district’s parks, trails, and programs.
- DuPont Gravel-Mining Fight Marks a Summer of Fundraising @ The Hive | Thursday (9/17), 6 p.m.
- The Clover Creek Restoration Alliance celebrates a summer of fundraising with an event at The Hive, part of an ongoing legal fight over a DuPont gravel-mining permit the group says would dry up Sequalitchew Creek. The case, appealed in court back in July, could head to the Washington Court of Appeals against CalPortland. Updates and donations are available at clovercreekra.com.
Arts & Entertainment
- APCC’s 29th Annual Polynesian Luau @ Asia Pacific Cultural Center | Saturday (8/29), 3 p.m.
- The Asia Pacific Cultural Center’s Polynesian Luau turns 29 this year, and it’s still the same recipe: fire-knife performances, island music, Pacific Islander dance troupes, crafts, prizes, and a whole roasted pig. Proceeds support APCC’s cultural programming. South Tacoma gets loud in the best way.
- One Night Choir Tacoma @ Schneebeck Concert Hall | Saturday (8/29), 6:30 to 9 p.m.
- No auditions, no experience required, no long-term commitment: One Night Choir Tacoma gathers strangers at UPS’s Schneebeck Concert Hall for a single evening of learning “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman together. “I wanted to create something different: one night, no pressure to do it ‘right,’ just people coming together to celebrate and have fun while making music,” said organizer Erin Guinup. Rehearsal tracks are online if you want to practice ahead, but showing up cold to sight-read works, too. The final run-through gets recorded for YouTube. Free, funded by a City of Tacoma Arts Commission grant, with the next one already set for December 9.
- Tacoma Moon Festival @ Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park | Saturday (9/12), 1 to 6 p.m.
- Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park hosts its 14th annual Moon Festival, a free, family-friendly celebration commemorating the 1885 expulsion of Tacoma’s Chinese community. The day opens with the Mak Fai Lion Dance at 1 p.m. and runs through Cambodian classical dance, a Scandinavian folk band, Bollywood dancing, and a naturalization ceremony with Tacoma Community House, closing with a lantern parade led by the Moon Princess at 5:50 p.m. 1741 N. Schuster Parkway.
- Soulfull Festival @ 915 Broadway | Saturday (9/5), noon to 7 p.m.
- Broadway shuts down for Soulfull Festival’s third year, a free afternoon-into-evening of music, food, art, and community. The lineup features DJ Reggie B, Bonita Lee, A.G. Joints, Cydney Jayy, and a MixxedFit session with Terra Gilmore, plus a Poetry Open Mic Hour hosted by Poetry After Dark. Eat your way through more than 40 vendors and food businesses, including Buddy’s Chicken & Wa!es, Trini Plate, Tee’s Lemonade, and Go Philly Cheesesteaks & Wings, then swing by Kay’s Paint Joint & Gallery’s Mobile Art Bus for free paint activities while supplies last. Free entry, all ages.
- Indonesian Day @ Asia Pacific Cultural Center | Saturday (9/12), 11 a.m.
- A free family festival celebrates Indonesian culture at the APCC with flavorful dishes from local food vendors, energetic traditional dance and music, and a hands-on craft corner for kids. Browse business vendors, catch cultural performances, and enter raffles for Indonesian-themed prizes. Food, music, dance, and community, all in one warm afternoon.
- DuPont Fairy Trails @ Sequalitchew Trail | Sunday (9/20)
- DuPont Parks and Recreation sends “enchanted guests” out along the Sequalitchew Trail for a stroll built for kids who still believe in fairies. Along the way: whimsical fairies, magical creatures, and other enchanting surprises, followed by crafts, photo ops with the fairies, and snacks and treats once you’re off the trail. Costumes of favorite magical or Halloween characters are encouraged. $10 per kid through September 10, $15 after; children 2 and younger are free. Sign up at dupontwa.gov/195/Events.
- Kiss of the Spider Woman @ Lakewood Playhouse | September 4 to 20
- Lakewood Playhouse closes out its season with the Tony-winning musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, the story of two men sharing a cell in a Latin American prison. Adrian Roberto and Sergio Antonio Garcia lead as Molina and Valentin, with Courtnee Ramos as the Spider Woman herself, under outgoing producing artistic director Joseph C. Walsh. Catch the ASL-interpreted performance September 12 or the pay-what-you-can Industry Night September 13. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
- Lonnie Holley Visiting Artist Residency @ Museum of Glass | Wednesday to Sunday (8/26–30)
- Self-taught Alabama sculptor and musician Lonnie Holley takes over the Hot Shop at the Museum of Glass for a visiting artist residency this week. Holley builds sculpture out of found materials, and his work has landed in the White House Rose Garden and at the United Nations. Watch him work live at 1801 Dock St.
- Tacoma Musical Playhouse Names New Executive Producer
- Tacoma Musical Playhouse has a new executive producer: Lexi Barnett takes over September 8, bringing 15 years of arts leadership experience to a theater built by founder Jon Douglas Rake. A changing of the guard for one of the city’s longest-running community stages.
Opportunities
- Stand for Our Sound Awards Nominations Open Through September 25
- Communities for a Healthy Bay wants your nominations for its Stand for Our Sound Awards, honoring people and businesses doing right by South Sound water. Categories range from Environmental Justice Service to Clean Water Hero in Elected Office to the Kay Treakle Lifetime Achievement Award. Nominations close September 25, with the awards ceremony set for November 5 at the University of Puget Sound. Nominate through Communities for a Healthy Bay’s website.
- Grit City Litter Cleanup @ Titlow Park | Saturday (8/29), 9 to 11:30 a.m.
- TAPCO Credit Union sponsors this month’s Grit City Litter Cleanup at Titlow Park. Tools and supplies are provided; families and school groups are welcome. Show up, grab a bag, and leave the park better than you found it.
- Bank On Washington Forum Bridges Financial Gaps @ UW Tacoma | Wednesday–Thursday (9/2–9/3)
- Financial Empowerment Network brings its 2026 Bank On Washington Annual Forum to William W. Phillips Hall at UW Tacoma for two days built around this year’s theme, “Bridges Over Barriers.” Expect sessions on learning, relationship-building, and finding collaboration partners for the year ahead, built on the idea that connections between two people or two resources hold up better than any single organization working alone. Registration is open through Financial Empowerment Network’s website.
- DuPont Seeking Volunteers for Two City Commissions
- DuPont Mayor Frederick is recruiting residents for two city commissions: the Park & Recreation Commission, which weighs in on parks, land acquisition, and recreation programming, and the Planning Commission, which handles land use, growth management, and transportation. Apply through the city’s online portal. Meetings run monthly in the evenings.
- Lakewood Playhouse Wants You for Season 88
- Lakewood Playhouse is holding open video auditions for two Season 88 productions, Where Blooming Flowers Meet the Sky and Luchadora!, and is especially looking for actors from Black and Latin American communities to help tell these stories right. Auditions are open to performers 16 and older: Record a brief introduction with your name and experience, plus a one-minute monologue from a play you love, then submit through the Google Form at lakewoodplayhouse.org. Need accessibility accommodations? Call 253-588-0042 or email brookelyne@00073036973.
- Lakewood Playhouse Seeks Creative Team for Come From Away
- Lakewood Playhouse is staffing up early for its 2027 production of Come From Away, and it’s hiring the people who’ll shape the whole show: a director, assistant director, and music director. Rehearsals kick off April 19, with performances running June 4 through 20. Interested? Send a résumé and a short introduction to jobs@lakewoodplayhouse.org before applications close August 31.
- Soulfull Festival Wants Performers and Donations for Its $6K Stage
- Organizers are still Filling out the Soulfull Festival lineup: They need a comedian, another poet, and two more singers who fit the festival’s neo-soul, R&B, blues, and funk lane. New performers fill out a sign-up form first so organizers can hear your work before booking you. The festival is also fundraising to cover live performances and a $6,000 stage build, and every dollar helps get it built. Reach out to get in the mix, or donate at blacknightmarket.com/donate.
- Tacoma Schools Hiring Crossing Guards
- Tacoma Public Schools is hiring part-time crossing guards at multiple elementary and middle schools: Edna Travis, Baker, Mann, Lister, Downing, DeLong, Crescent Heights, and Arlington all have openings. Pay starts at $17.35 an hour for up to two hours a day, with morning and afternoon shifts. Good fit if you like being outside and helping kids get to class safely; apply through the district’s job postings.
- Parks Tacoma Launches Adopt-a-Park
- Parks Tacoma is inviting businesses to adopt one of its more than 80 parks, betting the program shines a light on the smaller neighborhood spots people drive past without noticing. Sponsors sign on for three years, organize four work parties a year, and make a cash donation toward general park maintenance; Parks Tacoma puts up a sign crediting the group’s contribution. Volunteer work runs the usual gamut: pulling invasive species, planting, and picking up litter, with tools and training provided. Columbia Bank is the first sponsor, choosing Melanie’s Park along the Foss Waterway in honor of late CEO Melanie Dressel; nearly two dozen employees turned out for their first work party in mid-July. “Adopting a park in Melanie’s honor, while helping preserve vital urban green space for future generations, is a meaningful tribute to her enduring impact and commitment to community,” said Columbia Bank’s Andrew Tweedie. Interested businesses can reach Tessa Bondi at Tessa.Bondi@parkstacoma.gov.
- R.A.D. Self-Defense Course for Women @ Tacoma Police Department | September 14, 15, 17, and 18, 5:30 to 9 p.m.
- Tacoma Police Department is running a R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense) course for women, built around personal empowerment, safety education, risk awareness, crime prevention, and hands-on self-defense training. It’s not a martial arts program, and it’s taught by nationally certified instructors. Participants must be 16 or older and commit to all four sessions to enroll; $25 covers the course, and graduates get a free lifetime return and practice policy afterward. Space is limited, so don’t wait to sign up. 3701 S. Pine St., Room 1210. Contact R.A.D. instructor Sandra Baylor at 253-241-5884 or sgbaylor12@gmail.com.
Recreation
- Soundview Little League Chases a State Title @ Little League World Series | Sunday (8/30)
- Tacoma’s Soundview Little League concluded its run at the Little League World Series on Tuesday with a 4-2 loss to the Southeast Region team. Soundview finished the tournament with two wins and two losses after reaching Williamsport as the Northwest Region champion. The team gave Tacoma fans plenty to celebrate during its impressive trip to the national stage.
- Mission for Miles First Annual Fuel Fest & Car Show @ Griot’s Garage | Saturday (8/29), 9 a.m.
- Griot’s Garage hosts the first annual Mission for Miles Fuel Fest & Car Show, open to all makes and models, with proceeds bene!ting local charities and a trade scholarship. Preregister for $25 or pay $30 at the gate.
- Dog Nights of Summer @ Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium | Friday (8/28), 5:30 to 8 p.m.
- Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium clears the kids out for one adults-only evening for ages 18 and older, with summer treats and a quieter shot at the animals without the usual crowd noise. Dog tickets are sold out, but adult-only tickets remain available. All guests must be 18 or older.
- Thirsty Dog Run @ Titlow Park | Saturday (9/5), 5 p.m.
- Titlow Park hosts the Thirsty Dog Run, a dog-friendly race open to runners and walkers alike, presented by Proliance Puget Sound Orthopaedics. Add a souvenir cup at registration for a root beer float at the finish line. But hurry. There are only 72 cups available, first come, first served, though bringing a cup from a past Thirsty Dog race gets you the treat at a discount, too. Leash up and go.
- Pierce County Suicide Prevention Summit + Bridge to HOPE 5K | Friday (9/18)
- Pierce County Councilmembers Robyn Denson and Paul Herrera host the county’s First Suicide Prevention Summit, a free day of professional development sessions, community workshops, resource booths, and family activities, capped by the Bridge to HOPE 5K for Suicide Prevention. A heavy topic handled the right way: out loud, together, outside.
- Tacoma Narrows Airport Day | Saturday (8/29), 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Pierce County throws open the gates at Tacoma Narrows Airport for a free day of watching airport operations, touring airport businesses, honoring military service, and letting kids loose on STEM activities and booths. Gates open at 9 a.m., with a welcome at 9:30. Heads up if you live nearby: This isn’t an air show, so no aerobatics, but expect more air traffic noise and busier roads around 1202 26th Ave. NW, Gig Harbor. PierceCountyWa.gov/AirportDay.
- Move & Groove @ Fern Hill Neighborhood | Saturday (9/26), 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Parks Tacoma’s Move & Groove links up Birney Elementary, Ryan’s Park, and Charlotte’s Blueberry Park with a walk-bike-roll route through the Fern Hill neighborhood, plus live music and games along the way. Wheels, sneakers, and strollers are all welcome.
- First Creek Gets a Trailhead Facelift on Tacoma’s Eastside
- A wedge of land along East 56th Street, tucked between Eastside Community Center, First Creek Middle School, and Swan Creek Park, just got a $652,000 makeover: new benches, picnic tables, a kiosk and bike rack marking the entrances to Swan Creek Park and the Pipeline Trail, plus pull-up bars, step-up benches, a bamboo jungle, and mushroom-shaped climbing features for kids. A new trail segment now links the climbing boulders outside the Eastside Community Center to the Pipeline Trail, and wooden stairs make the mountain bike area and walking trails easier to reach. Construction ran March through July; the project was funded by a voter-approved bond along with grants from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office and Trust for Public Land. Not officially a park, but it’s earning the amenities of one.
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