Pierce County Events Calendar

Pierce County Events Calendar

This calendar is the place to find fun events happening throughout Pierce County, including Tacoma, Puyallup, Lakewood and beyond.

Have an event that isn’t listed? Please email events@SouthSoundTalk.com with the following information:

  • Name of Event
  • Date, time and location (name of business if applicable and complete address)
  • Organizer(s) name
  • Cost
  • URL to purchase tickets
  • Website URL
  • SHORT description of the event
  • Photo

Our editors will review and post within a few business days.

Agenda
Agenda
February – November 2023 Feb – Nov 2023
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Feb
16
Thu
2023 Day of Remembrance Resilience – A Sansei Sense of Legacy exhibition opening @ Washington State History Museum
Tickets
Feb 16 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

FREE – the Washington State History Museum has free admission from 3-8 PM on Third Thursdays
Join us for the opening of Resilience – A Sansei Sense of Legacy and honor the annual Japanese American Day of Remembrance. Meet Susan Kamei, author of the acclaimed book When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II. Kamei’s book is a comprehensive historical narrative of the WWII imprisonment of more than 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry; she will talk about the enduring impact of this shameful episode in our country’s history. Continue to explore the impacts of Executive Order 9066 through Within the Silence, an interactive performance presented by Living Voices.

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Categories: Author Talk
Scholarly Selections Elegies, Obits, and Honoring Life in Writing: A Creative Exploration of Love with Sarah Chavez, Ph.D. @ Washington State History Museum
Tickets
Feb 16 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

FREE – the Washington State History Musuem has free admission from 3-8 PM on Third Thursdays
While loss and change potentially initiate painful grieving, artists and writers across time have used writing to remember and contextualize life and experience to bring forward the goodness that preceded a loss and/or that which is to come. Western culture has historically encouraged a forgetting or rewriting of the past, but as ancestral and community-focused wisdom shares, looking at the past provides writers and their audiences the opportunity to celebrate life and grow in a more balanced relationship with the environment.
This talk will discuss the transcendence writers and artists create when they allow themselves to sink into mourning and share that space of memory—and often celebration—with readers. From the example of elegies, obituaries, and eulogies, we are given permission to share one of humanity’s multifaceted truths

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Categories: Author Talk
Feb
28
Tue
Stayed on Freedom: A Book event with Michael Simmons and Dan Berger @ Tacoma Arts Community Center
Tickets
Feb 28 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Black Power movement is often associated with iconic spokespeople, but its momentum was due, in part, to the work of those with untold stories. UW-Bothell Professor and historian Dan Berger’s new book Stayed On Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey focuses on the story of Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons: two unheralded, grassroots Black Power activists who dedicated their lives to the fight for freedom.
Michael Simmons will join author Dan Berger for a discussion about his life and the recently released book, moderated by Social Justice Fund NW Executive Director Valériana Chikoti Bandua Estes.

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/t6qqkdjfaZ1G9x3i9

Dan Berger is professor of comparative ethnic studies at the University of Washington Bothell. He is the author or editor of several books and curates the Washington Prison History Project. His most recent book is Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family’s Journey, just published by Basic Books.
Michael Simmons has been a domestic and international human rights activist for 60 years. Beginning as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as Director of European programs for the American Friends Service Committee, Michael’s work has taken him to Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. For 18 years, he co-founded and ran the Ráday Salon, an independent human rights learning and discussion program in Budapest, Hungary. He also taught courses on African American History and US Elections at the Budapest campus of McDaniel College

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Categories: Author Talk Volunteering and Community Enrichment Workshops, Classes and Lectures
Apr
14
Fri
Restoring the Past @ Tacoma Historical Society Museum
Tickets
Apr 14 @ 6:30 pm

Friday, April 14 – 6:30pm
THS Museum

Join us at the Tacoma Historical Society Museum for our free monthly talk,
Restoring the Past, presented by architects Jim Merritt & Jeff Ryan. Jim Merritt and
Jeff Ryan have been working together in the Architecture field for over 35 years.
Both Jeff & Jim have a special interest in historic restoration and adaptive re-use.
Jim & Jeff will share their experiences working on the restoration of the Historic
Tacoma Union Station in 1989 and the restoration of the Northern Pacific Railway

Headquarters.

This event is free or by donation. Donations can be made at the door.

Refreshments will be provided.

For questions: 253-472-3738 or info@tacomahistory.org

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-the-past-tickets-605157661857

Sponsored by Port of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Utilities.

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Categories: Adult Focused Events Author Talk Education Local History Workshops, Classes and Lectures
Apr
22
Sat
Washington State Historical Society’s History Awards @ Washington State History Museum
Tickets
Apr 22 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Washington State Historical Society’s History Awards
Saturday April 22, 6:00 PM- 9:00 PM
$25 WSHS members / $30 non-members
Purchase tickets here: https://www.washingtonhistory.org/event/history-awards-2023/

The Washington State Historical Society’s annual History Awards supported by the James B. Castles Heritage Endowment recognizes excellence in advancing the field of history in the state of Washington through writing, teaching, historic projects, and understanding cultural diversity. Learn more about the Annual History Award categories here.

Join us Saturday, April 22, 2023, from 6:00pm-9:00 pm at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma to celebrate this year’s awardees. Guests will enjoy bites and beverages with a cash bar at our awards reception and a special keynote address from Dorothy Wickenden.

2023 Washington State Historical Society History Awards 3Dorothy Wickenden, the executive editor of The New Yorker, wrote “The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition.” The Agitators is a historical book about three women, Harriet Tubman, Martha Coffin Wright, and Frances A. Seward, who worked together during the 19th century to fight against slavery and for women’s rights. The book covers the period from the 1820s to the end of the Civil War and explores these women’s lives and the prominent figures and political debates of the time. Author Wickenden provides a deep look into the second American revolution these women fought for and its lasting effects on the country through richly detailed letters and exhaustive research.

6:00 pm – Reception in the Grand Lobby

7:00 pm – Keynote address by Dorothy Wickenden

8:00 pm – 2023 Annual History Awards Ceremony

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Categories: Author Talk Tags: History
May
4
Thu
New Washington State Poet Laureate: Passing of the Laurel to Arianne True @ Washington State History Museum
Tickets
May 4 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Join us on May 4 in Tacoma as we welcome the new Washington State Poet Laureate.

Current Laureate Rena Priest will “pass the laurel” to the new Laureate Arianne True.
Poets from around the state will share poems that speak to our shared places and culture.

The Washington State Poet Laureate program is jointly sponsored by the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA) and Humanities Washington.

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Categories: Adult Focused Events Arts and Entertainment Author Talk Local Government Tags: #NativeAmerican civic literary National Poetry Month Poetry
Aug
11
Fri
Port of Tacoma Book Signing @ Tacoma Historical Society
Tickets
Aug 11 @ 6:30 pm

Join Tacoma Historical Society for our August Monthly Program presented by Rod Koon, author & former communications manager for Port of Tacoma. Rod will be discussing his recent publication “Images of America: Port of Tacoma” which details the history and development of the Port of Tacoma.

Copies of Rod’s book will be available for purchase and signing during the event.

Refreshments will be provided. Doors open at 6:00pm for exhibit viewing, talk begins at 6:30pm. This event is FREE or by donation. Donations can be made through Eventbrite or at the door.

RSVP on Eventbrite.

This event is generously sponsored by Tacoma Creates, the Port of Tacoma, Tacoma Public Utilities, Amtrak and Puyallup Tribe of Indians.

For questions, call (253)472-3738 or email info@tacomahistory.org
For more events related to the 150th Northern Pacific Commemoration, visit www.NP150.org.

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Categories: Author Talk
Sep
9
Sat
Family Saturdays – Story Time @ Washington State History Museum
Tickets
Sep 9 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Included with admission, FREE for WSHS members

Explore how history connects us all during this half hour story time program designed for children ages 4–10 and their families. We’ll read Imagine, written by Juan Felipe Herrera and illustrated by Lauren Castillo. Herrera was the first Latino U.S. Poet Laureate (2015–17). After the reading, we’ll engage in a hands-on investigation of a related artifact.

This program will be conducted in English and in Spanish.

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Categories: Author Talk Tags: #family Kids
Sep
23
Sat
Feminista Frequencies: Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley @ Washington State History Museum
Tickets
Sep 23 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Henry R. Fenbert Challenging History Lecture
Saturday, September 23, 5:30 PM– 7:00 PM
Tickets: FREE for WSHS members, $15 for non-members. Registration is required.

The second annual Henry R. Fenbert Challenging History Lecture features historian Monica De La Torre, assistant professor of media and expressive culture in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University.

De La Torre will discuss her first book, “Feminista Frequencies: Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley,” which tracks the emergence of Chicano community radio in rural farmworker communities in the 1970s. Her presentation will include a musical playlist featuring songs that illuminate the history explored in her research.

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Categories: Author Talk
Nov
11
Sat
An Evening with David Sedaris @ Pantages Theater (901 Broadway - Tacoma, WA)
Tickets
Nov 11 @ 7:30 pm

As one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers, David Sedaris will regale you with tales addressing the human condition in an evening of superb storytelling followed by an audience Q+A. He is a master of satire, beloved for his personal essays and short stories, and the author of several instant bestsellers. There are over 16 million copies of his books in print, having been translated into 32 languages. Bring yours to the book signing after the show or purchase a copy from beloved local bookshop, King’s Books.

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Categories: Author Talk
February – November 2023 Feb – Nov 2023