Community

Gig Harbor Now reporters cover community events and efforts that benefit and entertain the community.

Harbor Happenings | Dragon Boat Flea Market, Restaurant Week and more

Mar 05, 2024 | By:

It’s like a really good garage sale and a thrift store all rolled into one. This weekend’s Dragon Boat Flea Market has an abundance of books, toys, sporting goods, art, collectables and other treasures for sale at bargain prices at the Eagles Hall. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March

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Heritage Distilling purchases Oregon’s Thinking Tree Spirits

Mar 04, 2024 | By:

Heritage Distilling Co. is growing. Gig Harbor’s award-winning craft distillery recently acquired Thinking Tree Spirits, Inc., a craft distillery based in Eugene, Oregon. Emily Jensen, Bryan Jensen, and head distiller Kaylon McAlister founded the Oregon distillery in 2014. Thinking Tree’s founders approached Heritage looking for a partner with the same “focus on quality and purposeful spirits.” The

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Water quality testing triggers advisory to Kopachuck, Voyager families and staff

Mar 04, 2024 | By:

The Peninsula School District recently issued an advisory to parents and staff at Kopachuck Middle School and Voyager Elementary School following water testing conducted over the past year. Tests show levels of certain contaminants formed as a result of adding chlorine to the system. Those levels, on average, are above the level deemed acceptable by

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Two In Tow & On The Go | Shoot your shot in Ocean5’s laser tag arena

Mar 01, 2024 | By:

The laser tag industry is approaching its 40th anniversary this month, but a $15 game at Gig Harbor’s Ocean5 never gets old.

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Actorcraft, a new acting school, brings some Hollywood to the Harbor

Mar 01, 2024 | By:

Have you ever dreamt of being in the movies, or auditioning for a play or commercial? This is for you. Next week, Gig Harbor will welcome the opening of Actorcraft, a new acting school founded by professional actors and educators Jeremy Kent Jackson and his partner Adrianne Alvarez-Jackson. Drawing on their years of experience working

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Gig Harbor City Council puts sales tax increase before voters

Feb 29, 2024 | By: Vince Dice and Charlee Glock-Jackson

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

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Jennifer Preston | Crafting community — start with art

Feb 29, 2024 | By:

For health, wellness and fun, it’s time to push the boundaries of community engagement beyond annual holiday tree lightings and parades. It’s time to blend public art and craft community. What is public art? When people think of “public art,” they may imagine an abstract sculpture located near a civic center. Or perhaps a figure,

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Growing chorus of voices decries racism, bullying in Peninsula schools

Feb 28, 2024 | By:

Over the past month, the Peninsula School Board has heard a stream of complaints about racism and bullying. The speakers and incidents they describe appear to be unrelated except for the theme: Discrimination against students who are different. On Jan. 30, a representative of Gig Harbor High School’s Black Student Union reported ongoing racial slurs

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Day Tripper | Tacoma’s Museum District

Feb 28, 2024 | By: Mary Williams

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

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Harbor Happenings | Delicious soup, beautiful bowls and a good cause

Feb 27, 2024 | By:

Buy a bowl, fill it with soup and know that you’re contributing to a good cause on Saturday, March 2, during the Empty Bowls event staged by the Gig Harbor chapter of Altrusa International. Local potters have created more than 800 bowls and a dozen restaurants are donating soup. Empty Bowls participants buy a handmade

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