A Weekend of Art in Gig Harbor

by Intern Laurel Rice

Hello Gig Harbor! I am fortunate to spend some time in your picturesque city as an intern with Gig Harbor’s Marketing Director. As a Tacoma Native, Gig Harbor has always been a close neighbor, seeming like a relaxing getaway where my family would come to visit friends, go to eat or attend the farmers markets and festivals. I am intrigued with the beautiful artwork present throughout the city, which makes me all the more excited to go to this month’s two summer art festivals!

Saturday July 21 and Sunday July 22, Gig Harbor will be a hubbub of creativity, arts, crafts, music, food, and fun. The Gig Harbor Summer Arts Festival and Chalk the Harbor are two highly anticipated events of the year, and are conveniently held on the same weekend. The events are free with a shuttle service provided from Around the Sound Transit.

We All Can Be United By Music

Be a part of it on June 26th at Summer Sounds at Skansie

"Imagine a world in which no prejudice exists based upon race, creed, color��"or intellectual capacity. " This is the introductory message on United by Music's website. And we are excited to have this group in Gig Harbor next week. United by Music has turned to the power of music to bring people together.

United by Music North America is a U.S. based 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Its mission: To further the scope of United by Music in Europe by providing programs of study and performance in blues, swing and jazz music for muscially talented people with intellectual disabilities in North America. They aim to improve the quality of life for members of our company and challenge public attitudes about people with an intellectual disability showing that we are more alike than we are different and profiling the exceptional talents of our company members.

Gig Harbor's Wine and Food Festival

Chefs taking center stage July 14th

With so many opportunities to taste great wine in and around Gig Harbor at wine shops, wineries and wonderful restaurants, it's no wonder the Gig Harbor Wine and Food Festival has become such a great event in such a short amount of time. It's a perfect fit for this community. Only in its third year, the festival is now just one month away, and is shaping up to be a great event! Not only is it a wonderful chance to observe multiple culinary talents, sample regional wines and beers, and taste amazing food, the festival also offers the chance to witness the cooking showdown of Summer 2012. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the creativity and expertise of Iron Chef winner, Chef Holly Smith (Café Juanita, Kirkland) and Chef Tin Nguyen (Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort Executive Chef).

The grand finale of the festival will be a challenge cook-off with Chef Holly vs. Chef Tin. Each chef will prepare an appetizer and an entrée featuring fresh Dungeness crab (provided by Taylor Shellfish Farms) to be presented to a panel of five judges. Two of the judges positions will be auctioned off to attending patrons, with the remaining three judges to be selected from area noted celebrities and dignitaries (to be announced).

Wedding Bells in the Gig

Many hidden venues for romantic weddings in Gig Harbor

June is traditional wedding month, and that is true for Gig Harbor too. I keep seeing bride and groom at Skansie Park with their photographer and bridal party getting that beautiful and romantic waterside photo.

In this day and age, weddings are planned many months and often years in advance and reserving a venue for your special day is always the first item on a bride's to-do list. So even if your wedding isn't until June of 2013 (or later) it's time to book your space.

Gig Harbor is home to some beautiful, yet hidden, wedding locations. Some small and some a little larger, all offering fabulous locations to say "I Do!" Our meetings and celebrations website www.MeetInGigHarbor.com has many suggestions for venues, photographers, caterers and more. Check it out for wedding or other event planning in and around Gig Harbor.

(photo by Melissa Kilner)

All About Alpacas!

Another hidden treasure of Gig Harbor

There are still so many things I don’t know about Gig Harbor. Everyone always thinks I know everything going on, but really I don’t. I definitely know a lot, but I do not know it all. And I was reminded of this once again last week, when I was invited to visit Rosedale Alpaca Farm.

Who knew so many of our neighbors were raising and loving the darling animal often confused with a Llama? I sure didn’t. I was invited to the annual Alpaca Shearing day at Rosedale Alpaca’s located out on Ray Nash Drive. I met Nita Stockwell, owner of Rosedale Alpacas, as well as several of her friends and neighbors and all of their Alpacas who joined together on this day for the shearing services of Kim. Kim traveled to Gig Harbor from Oregon on her four month journey through Oregon and Washington shearing Alpacas of the Pacific Northwest.

(photo above "Rocky" before and "Rocky" after"

I Dream of June

In the Harbor....

My dreams at night are now about outdoor activities…isn’t it funny that my subconscious is following the same calendar as my conscious? I had a dream last night that I was riding my bike through a field of flowers and the Beatniks were playing on the side of the road. LOL – my life in Gig Harbor is really a dream come true!

With the flip of the calendar page, June brings a rush of emotions, flavors, smells and sounds; all blossoming forth in my dreams and in Gig Harbor with events and activities too numerous to mention. Although not the most reliable of weather months, June usually brings warmer temperatures, enough to propel everyone outdoors. It’s a time to reunite with your neighbors, renew your garden, refill your senses, refresh your body and most of all, re-union with your community. Some of my favorite June opportunities to do this in Gig Harbor include:

The Gig Harbor Farmers Market – June provides three opportunities to enjoy the market. The Saturday market continues each week at Uptown from 8:30am-2:00pm, and additionally the market is now open on Wednesday’s and Sunday’s at Skansie Brothers Park from 11am-5pm.

Check Out Spectrum Choral Academy

Summer fun for children and youth

We are happy to share this information with you about Spectrum Choral Academy

Dear Gig Harbor and Kitsap Families,
Do your children love to sing? Do you want them to be part of a fun, supportive, musical community? Beginning this fall, I will be directing the three choirs of Spectrum Choral Academy (www.spectrumchoralacademy.com) - a community children's/youth choir program coming to Gig Harbor. This program is designed for singers age 5-20. I am excited about having rehearsals at Chapel Hill Presbyterian and have plans to grow the program to 80 singers over the next few years.


Here is a summary/highlights about Spectrum Choral Academy:
- Auditions are being held now for singers age 5-20.
- Three graded choir levels: Children's Chorus (grades K-5), Youth Chorus(grades 6-12), Vocal Performance Ensemble (grades 10-age 20 www.spectrumchoir.com )
- All rehearsals held on Saturday mornings (keeps your family's weekdays and evenings free!).
- Each Saturday includes individual rehearsal with your choir level, music theory and massed choir rehearsal (with all levels singing together).

Incredible concert venues already lined up for the year: Lagerquist Concert Hall - PLU (Tacoma), Kilworth Chapel -UPS (Tacoma), Chapel Hill Presbyterian (Gig Harbor), McCurdy Pavilion (Port Townsend).
- Two festivals and summer camp built into the very reasonable monthly chorus tuition. Check out: www.fortwordenfestival.com and www.youthchoirfestivalnorthwest.com
- a unique and specially designed "hands-on" music theory program for elementary and middle school students to get singers interacting with and retaining music comprehension skills instead of just completing worksheets.
- weekly teaching/mentorship experience for ensemble members.

For more information, send me a message, call or fill out the inquiry form online. We will send you our "Welcome Packet", which includes the entire rehearsal/performance schedule for the 2012-2013 Season.

Please help us spread the word about this spectacular, new program! We want to get the word out to the greater Gig Harbor community.

o Fondly,
Stephanie
360-271-8086
spectrumchoir@gmail.com

Spectrum Choral Academy website:
www.spectrumchoralacademy.com

Spectrum Vocal Performance Ensemble website:
www.spectrumchoir.com