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.

Dec
29
Sat
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum
Dec 29 @ 10:00 pm – 10:15 pm
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum

History and holiday magic unite at the Washington State History Museum during the Annual Model Train Festival in December. Bring your family, friends, and the railroad enthusiasts in your life to see this showcase of the most spectacular and detailed model railroad scenes in the Pacific Northwest! Don’t miss the largest permanent model train layout in Washington.

Dec
30
Sun
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum
Dec 30 @ 10:00 pm – 10:15 pm
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum

History and holiday magic unite at the Washington State History Museum during the Annual Model Train Festival in December. Bring your family, friends, and the railroad enthusiasts in your life to see this showcase of the most spectacular and detailed model railroad scenes in the Pacific Northwest! Don’t miss the largest permanent model train layout in Washington.

Dec
31
Mon
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum
Dec 31 @ 10:00 pm – 10:15 pm
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum

History and holiday magic unite at the Washington State History Museum during the Annual Model Train Festival in December. Bring your family, friends, and the railroad enthusiasts in your life to see this showcase of the most spectacular and detailed model railroad scenes in the Pacific Northwest! Don’t miss the largest permanent model train layout in Washington.

Jan
1
Tue
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum
Jan 1 @ 10:00 pm – 10:15 pm
23rd Annual Model Train Festival @ Washington State History Museum

History and holiday magic unite at the Washington State History Museum during the Annual Model Train Festival in December. Bring your family, friends, and the railroad enthusiasts in your life to see this showcase of the most spectacular and detailed model railroad scenes in the Pacific Northwest! Don’t miss the largest permanent model train layout in Washington.

Jan
19
Sat
TACOMA ART MUSEUM’S REBECCA AND JACK BENAROYA INAUGURAL EXHIBITIONS AND OPENING CELEBRATION @ Tacoma Art Museum
Jan 19 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

The Grand Opening for the public will consist of a free community festival on Saturday, January 19 from 10 am to 5 pm. “As a community-centered and civic-minded museum with a mission of connecting people through art, TAM strives to serve our entire community by offering interesting and engaging programming while ensuring access for all,” stated Director of Education Christina Westpheling. “Our free community event on January 19th is a fantastic example of TAM’s mission in play. We’ll have hot glass demonstrations, art making activities, music and dance performances, people can meet artists – and it will all be free to any and all visitors. We are proud to offer such interesting and fun events to our community.”

Feb
7
Thu
History After Hours: Candy Bar @ Washington State History Museum
Feb 7 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
History After Hours: Candy Bar @ Washington State History Museum

An ages 21+ program. This is your chance to learn about Washington State history through tasting sweets, paired with craft beers and wines! Try dessert delicacies while learning from confectioners about the history and processes behind our state’s most well-known treats. From Aplets and Cotlets to Almond Roca, Washington’s candy history is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. Tickets are available HERE!

Interested in purchasing a History After Hours 4-Pack to attend all four of this year’s 2019 History After Hours programs?! The package is just $65!

February 7 – Candy Bar

May 9 – (In)Famous Washington

October 10 – Washington in Spaaace!

December 5 – Bootleggers’ Ball

 

Get your full package deal HERE today!

Feb
21
Thu
Scholarly Selections: Ferrying Food – The Story of the Cowlitz Farm @ Washington State History Museum
Feb 21 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Scholarly Selections:  Ferrying Food – The Story of the Cowlitz Farm @ Washington State History Museum

The Cowlitz Farm kept the Hudson’s Bay Company supplied with grain and pork from the 1830s-1850s, employing the latest technology to become one of the first corporate farms in the United States. UW Tacoma History B.A. Josiah Pollock will present his award-winning research about the Cowlitz Farm.

Third Thursdays offer free admission from 3:00-8:00 PM. See the exhibits and hear this free Scholarly Selections lecture too!

Mar
5
Tue
Gig Harbor Literary Society @ Harbor History Museum
Mar 5 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Harbor History Museum and the Gig Harbor branch of the Pierce County Library invite you to join the Gig Harbor Literary Society, dedicated to exploring the literary world of historical fiction, nonfiction, and other works of interest.

Our March meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 5th at 6:00 p.m. at the Harbor History Museum. The book for our March meeting is BONE RIVER by Megan Chance.

—–
In the mid-19th century, Leonie Monroe Russell works alongside her husband, Junius, an oysterman in Shoalwater Bay in the Pacific Northwest. At night she continues her father’s lifelong obsession: collecting artifacts and studying the native culture that once thrived in the Washington Territory.

On her 37th birthday, Leonie discovers a mummy protruding from the riverbank bordering her property–a mummy that by all evidence shouldn’t exist. As Leonie searches for answers to the mummy’s origins, she begins to feel a mystical connection to it that defies all logic. Leonie’s sense that otherworldly forces are at work only grows when news of the incredible discovery brings Junius’s long lost son, Daniel, to her doorstep. Upon his unexpected arrival, a native elder insists that Leonie wear a special shell bracelet for protection. But protection from whom? The mummy? Or perhaps Daniel?
Leonie has always been a good daughter and good wife, but for the first time, these roles do not seem to be enough. Finding the mummy has changed everything, and now Leonie must decide if she has the courage to put aside the expectations of others to be the woman she was meant to be.

From award-winning author Megan Chance, BONE RIVER is a haunting, lyrical tale of passion and identity.
—–

Attendees are welcome to bring an appetizer or dish to share with fellow bibliophiles. The Museum will provide complimentary non-alcoholic beverages. Enjoy a drink while you talk books? You are welcome to BYOW (Bring Your Own Wine). Library staff will lead the discussion. Materials will be available for checkout at the Gig Harbor Library, as well as for purchase online at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Seats are limited; RSVPs are encouraged. To RSVP or for questions, please contact Zachary Sokolik, Marketing & Events Coordinator, at marketing@harborhistorymuseum.org or 253-858-6722.

Mar
14
Thu
Washington State in Wartime: The Home Front in 1942 @ Harbor History Museum
Mar 14 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

As a compliment to the “Bomber Boys: Portraits from the Front” exhibit currently on display, we are excited to welcome back audio historian and broadcaster, John Jensen for another Humanities in the Harbor presentation on Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 6:00 p.m.

Although Washington State numbered only 1.7 million at the War’s outset, it supplied crucial resources in millions of tons of food and raw materials, thousands of airplanes and tanks and hundreds of ships. No state was more profoundly affected economically by the introduction and expansion of war industries. Through seldom-seen film clips, radio broadcast excerpts and rarely viewed photographs, those early days of the war are vividly captured in detail. Join us as John Jensen shares rarely known stories and anecdotes about a nation at the start of an all-encompassing conflagration and the exploits of a state that contributed more per capita to the war effort than any other.

A former San Francisco broadcaster, John Jensen has been an avid collector of music, movies, and radio broadcasts of the 1930s and 40s. Early fascination led to employment as general manager of KMPX, a radio station devoted to playing the music and radio broadcasts of those years. He produced a world-wide radio broadcast honoring the US Navy 200th Anniversary, starring Bing Crosby, Mel Blanc, and other radio stars from the 1940s. In 1992, he directed the 50th Anniversary Salute to Armed Forces Radio broadcast, heard world-wide. As an audio historian, he has provided research and assorted media to filmmakers, such as Jack Haley, Jr., Frances Ford Coppola, and George Lucas. He recently retired as senior director of public relations for World Vision. Since then he has been lecturing at various venues throughout the Puget Sound area on the Great Depression era and World War II.

Humanities in the Harbor is held at Harbor History Museum, 4121 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor, WA 98332. Admission is FREE thanks to Humanities Washington!

Admission is $5, but FREE for Harbor History Museum members. RSVPs are encouraged as seating is limited. Tickets may be Purchased Online or at the front desk of the Museum. Members are encouraged to RSVP as seating is limited. RSVPs and questions may be directed to Zachary Sokolik, Marketing & Events Coordinator at Harbor History Museum at marketing@harborhistorymuseum.org.

Apr
11
Thu
“The Real Men of CATCH-22” @ Harbor History Museum
Apr 11 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Humanities in the Harbor, a monthly lecture series that explores unique and engaging topics for the greater Gig Harbor community, will continue in April with another presentation complementing our “Bomber Boys: Portraits from the Front” exhibit.

Join Museum Director Stephanie Lile for a look inside the real world of famed novel and movie CATCH-22, the very bomb group our exhibit “Bomber Boys: Portraits from the Front” is based upon. These men flew B-25 bombers throughout the Mediterranean theater, risking life and limb in strategic bombing efforts that helped bring the war to an end. The presentation will include the backstory of the “Bomber Boys” exhibit and serves as a great intro to the special showing of the 1970 CATCH-22 movie being shown at the Galaxy Theatre on April 24th in partnership with the Gig Harbor Film Festival.

Lile’s presentation of “The Real Men of CATCH-22” as well as the screening of CATCH-22 at Galaxy Theatre are FREE to both Harbor History Museum members and Gig Harbor Film Festival members. RSVPs are requested as seating is limited. RSVPs can be made online or directed to Zachary Sokolik, Marketing & Development, at marketing@harborhistorymuseum.org.

Admission to “The Real Men of CATCH-22” is $5.00 for non-members and may be purchased online or at the front desk of the Museum. Admission to CATCH-22 at Galaxy Theatre is $10.00 for non-members and can be paid at the door.

Humanities in the Harbor is held at Harbor History Museum, 4121 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor, WA 98332. The Galaxy Theatre is located at 4649 Point Fosdick Dr NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335.