Gig Harbor Now Staff

Gig Harbor Boat Works: The biggest little boat builder in town

Mar 05, 2024

In a city that prides itself in its maritime past, the names of its boat builders are legend. Skansie, Crawford, Anderson, Glein, Hoppen, Maloney, Robertson … Huh? Robertson? Yeah. Robertson. You don’t recall seeing that name on a waterfront boatyard? Don’t bother looking. It’s not there, although you probably have driven by a simple sign

Gig Harbor City Council puts sales tax increase before voters

Feb 29, 2024

The Gig Harbor City Council voted unanimously on Monday, Feb. 26, to place a proposed sales tax increase before city voters on the Aug. 6 primary election ballot. The 0.1 percent sales tax increase would bring the city’s overall sales tax rate to 9.0 percent. The city would use proceeds from the increase to fund

Day Tripper | Tacoma’s Museum District

Feb 28, 2024

Many of us think of Tacoma as the town where Highway 16 merges with Interstate 5, allowing us to travel north to Seattle or south to Olympia and beyond. And many of us of a certain age still harbor memories of the days when you knew you were in Tacoma because of the infamous “aroma

Gig Harbor Now and Then | Cold, hard facts about ice delivery in 1931

Feb 26, 2024

Our previous column’s subject transitioned from a failure to deliver fire to the successful delivery of ice. The Gig Harbor Now and Then local history question was: What was the name of the ice delivery man in Gig Harbor in 1931? Answer: Let’s see, what are the most obvious possibilities? Ice, Icicle, Cold, Chill, Cool,

Gig Harbor Council to consider putting public safety sales tax increase before voters

Feb 23, 2024

The Gig Harbor City Council will consider placing a sales tax increase before voters during its meeting on Monday, Feb. 26. If approved by voters on the Aug. 6 ballot, proceeds from the increase would support public safety efforts. The proposal before the council would increase sales tax inside Gig Harbor city limits by 0.1%,

Gig Harbor Now-Kitsap Sun partnership included in first cohort of Murrow Fellowship program

Feb 21, 2024

Gig Harbor Now, in partnership with the Bremerton-based daily newspaper Kitsap Sun, is one of nine news organizations selected to receive a journalist as part of the new Murrow Fellowship program through Washington State University. Murrow Fellowship evaluators selected the Gig Harbor Now-Kitsap Sun partnership and eight other news organizations from among 40 applications from

Property tax statements may be in your mailbox

Feb 15, 2024

Property tax statements are in the mail. Like last year, Gig Harbor-area bills rose more than anyplace else in Pierce County. Unlike the past few years, however, it can’t be attributed to soaring home values. The 5.2% increase for city residents and 6.7% for combined city and unincorporated properties is largely the result of voter-approved

Minterbrook Oyster Company hopes Laguna’s will be a slam dunk with diners

Feb 14, 2024

In Purdy, sometime this spring, ground will be broken for Laguna’s. And soon after, patrons will break bread, shuck oysters and crack crab at an oyster house-style restaurant owned and operated as an extension of the Minterbrook Oyster Company. Minterbrook plans to build the Peninsula-area’s newest restaurant near the Purdy Bridge on the former site

Gig Harbor Real Estate | Prices pick up ahead of spring buying and selling season

Feb 13, 2024

The Gig Harbor real estate market continued to pick up momentum in January despite a significant shortage of available homes to buy.

Gig Harbor Now and Then | WWII-era incendiary balloon was a mere inconvenience on the Key Peninsula

Feb 12, 2024

Our previous column noted that in a unique event, a Japanese incendiary balloon designed to set the forests of the Pacific Northwest aflame landed on the Key Peninsula in 1945, near the end of World War 2. The topic generated three questions. Where did the Japanese incendiary balloon land on the Key Peninsula? Answer: On