If you are looking for a little bit of holiday cheer stop by the W. W. Seymour Conservatory in Wright Park today. The conservatory is located on the East side of Wright Park at 316 S Gst.

The December floral exhibit features Amaryllis and Poinsettias.

For more information on the W.W. Seymour Conservatory you can visit the Metro Parks Tacoma Website here.

Just another great reason to get out and Explore Tacoma!

Prince is going to turn the Tacoma Dome Purple on the 19th!

One of the first CD’s purchased back in the day was Prince’s Purple Rain.

Now a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Prince is known for his fantastic live shows and diverse musical efforts.
Ticket prices have not been announced as of the time of this article. For more information on tickets you can visit Live Nation

For more on Prince you can visit the Wikipedea post on him.

This year Historic Tacoma is holding their annual meeting on November 3rd from 7pm to 9pm.

The meeting will be held at the Sure House Open Church. This building was built in 1909 and was designed by Frederick Heath. The building is located at 901 S. 10th St in Tacoma. The building was formerly the Swedish Mission Tabernacle.

For more information on Historic Tacoma you can visit their site Historic Tacoma Website

Historic Tacoma is a great organization for anyone who is interested in exploring and preserving Tacoma’s past.

The Seattle Times Article Saturday starts off with a sentence that just rubs me the wrong way

For Once, some is moving to Tacoma. (The italic to is directly from the Times I did not add that for emphasis.)

The LeMay Auto museum has been drawing or should we say driving a lot of attention to Tacoma in recent months. Now the Seattle Times has to get into the act and look down their nose again at Tacoma by  leading their article on the Concours d”Elegance selecting Tacoma over Kirkland. While this is good news for Tacoma it is certainly not the slap in the face that the Seattle Times wants its’ readership to think.  The Times goes on to say:

Landing a nationally known competition that attracts 100 top-flight collector cars and 4,000 or 5,000 paid visitors won’t make up for losing a gaggle of highly paid investment analysts.

This statement is in reference to Russell Investments moving from Tacoma to Seattle. Why is it that many in Seattle and seemingly all of the Seattle press is so against Tacoma having any type of success in attracting new businesses, new attractions, or for that matter anything? It’s not like we are threatening Seattle by our developments here are we?  What is so hard about the region pulling together and working in concert to continue to grow and prosper as a whole? Why the neverending  snide comments and back handed complements? Come on Seattle media try and be classy.

Point Defiance Park was named as one of the ten greatest public spaces for 2011 by the American Planning Association.

The APA noted that Point Defiance park enjoys natural forests, saltwater beaches, amazing views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The park offers visitors many opportunities for relaxing, recreation, education, and enjoying nature.

Tacoma is lucky to have such a wonderful park and facilities to enjoy. Point Defiance has a long and interesting history. If you would like to find out more about Point Defiance you can visit the park or if you’re not in the neighborhood you can visit these websites. Imagine we have a 702 acre park in our backyard in Tacoma. There is something for everyone to enjoy when they visit Point Defiance Park.

Metro Parks Tacoma: The full press release can be found here

Wikipedia: Point Defiance Article

Tacoma News Tribune: Point Defiance Life of a Park

If you’re car is dirty today is your lucky day! Get out Explore Tacoma and get your car washed for free at Brown Bear Car Wash.

You can find out more here.

Lets all go help Brown Bear celebrate their birthday today.

Tired of looking at your dirty car? Brown Bear Car Wash will be happy to help you for free!

On August 24th 2011 Brown Bear is celebrating their 54th birthday and we are getting the gifts! On the 24th. All Brown Bear Car Washes in the Puget Sound will be offering free car washes to anyone who stops by.

Here is the press release:

Over the last five years, the Seattle-based company has washed 105,640 cars during its annual “free car wash day”

SEATTLE—Brown Bear Car Wash will add sparkle to thousands of cars and trucks on August 25 as the Seattle-based, family-owned company offers free washes to celebrate its 54^th anniversary. Hours for the special one-day offer are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Brown Bear will be giving away free “Bear Essential” car washes at all of their automated “tunnel wash” locations in the Puget Sound area. Over the last five years, Brown Bear has washed 105,640 vehicles during its annual “free car wash day” to celebrate the company’s founding.

“We’ve had an amazing response. It’s a fitting way to say ‘thank you’ to our customers who have supported us over the years.  And hopefully we’ve introduced new customers to the kind of service and value we deliver year around,” said Brown Bear founder and owner Vic Odermat.

He said the event also reinforces the esprit de corps within the company.

“We blend hard work, pride and a lot of fun into an event that benefits our customers and the environment,” said Odermat.

Odermat started Brown Bear in Seattle in 1957 with one location at 15^th Ave West in Seattle.  Brown Bear now owns and operates car washes throughout the Puget Sound area and Spokane.

The family-owned company, through its parent company, Car Wash Enterprises, Inc., owns and operates a total of 41 car wash facilities in Washington State as well as a large network of gas stations and convenience stores.  It is one of the largest privately held car wash chains in the U.S. and is widely recognized within the industry as being a leader in the environmental movement.

For locations of Brown Bear’s automated “tunnel wash” locations in the Puget Sound area, please visit www.brownbear.com
Lets get out there and show Brown Bear our support!

Did you know you can always see the weather Forecast for Tacoma, Washington on our site?

That’s right on the far right sidebar we have the weather directly from Weather.com for Tacoma!

Now when you are thinking about Exploring Tacoma you can find out what the weather is supposed to be like.

Tacoma’s Electronic Billboard Moratorium is still in effect!

Great news last night as the Tacoma City Council voted to keep the moratorium on electronic billboards in effect. The moratorium will be in effect until November 16th unless the council decides it needs more time to determine what course of action to take.

Last night’s meeting was well attended and the activists against the electronic billboards gave the city council over 1,400 signatures of concerned citizens who do not want the billboards in place in Tacoma. Also speaking out were supporters of the electronic billboards. One supporter suggested that Tacoma should just go along with the other 400 or so communities that have adopted electronic billboards. Since the other communities have them he stated that Tacoma should too.

Just because 400 other communities decided to make a decision does not make it the City of Tacoma’s obligation to follow blindly along. In my opinion the continued spread of mass media communications in our neighborhoods speeds the decline of the urban landscape. I say that Tacoma should stand as an example of saying no to the mass media exploitation of our community.  If we allow our neighborhoods to be filled with 24/7 electronic marketing it will be a sad day in the history of Tacoma.

We need to as a community continue to let the City Council know that we do not want this type of advertising in our neighborhoods. We need to let the companies who advertise on these devices know that we do not want their products. We need to let Clear Channel know that their billboards are not welcome. Now is the time to continue to our efforts to stop the commercialization of our cities neighborhoods.

As citizens of Tacoma we need to remember that we do have a voice that needs to be heard. I urge you to contact your City Council member. Speak up and make your voice heard.

For more coverage of this topic you can visit

KOMO News

The Tacoma News Tribune

Now go out and Explore Tacoma!

Lil Wayne has extended his North American summer tour He brings his I Am Still Music tour to White River Amphitheatre on Sunday, September 4th 2011 Tickets go on sale for the September 2nd show on Saturday July 23rd at all Ticketmaster outlets and on livenation.com

If you’re interested in seeing Lil Wayne perform elsewhere this summer his 2nd leg of his tour show list is below.
7/13/11 HARTFORD, CT COMCAST THEATER
7/15/11 RALEIGH, NC WALNUT CREEK
7/16/11 BRISTOW, VA JIFFY LUBE LIVE AMP.
7/17/11 MANSFIELD, MA COMCAST CENTER
7/19/11 SCRANTON, PA TOYOTA PAVILION
7/20/11 SARATOGA, NY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
7/22/11 CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH BLOSSOM MUSIC CENTER
7/23/11 PITTSBURGH, PA FIRST NIAGARA PAVILION
7/24/11 DARIEN, NY DARIEN LAKE
7/26/11 HOLMDEL, NJ PNC BANK ARTS CENTER
7/27/11 HERSHEY, PA HERSHEY PAVILION
7/29/11 CAMDEN, NJ SUSQUEHANNA BANK CENTER
7/30/11 VIRGINIA BEACH, VA FARM BUREAU AMP.
8/02/11 WEST PALM BEACH, FL CRUZAN AMP.
8/03/11 TAMPA, FL 1-800 ASK GARY AMP.
8/05/11 BIRMINGHAM, AL VERIZON WIRELESS MUSIC CENTER
8/06/11 ATLANTA, GA AARON’S AT LAKEWOOD
8/07/11 CHARLOTTE, NC VERIZON WIRELESS AMP.
8/09/11 MILWAUKEE, WI MARCUS AMPHITHEATRE
8/10/11 MINNEAPOLIS, MN XCEL CENTER
8/12/11 CINCINNATI, OH RIVERBEND AMP.
8/13/11 TINLEY, IL MIDWEST AMP.
8/14/11 NOBLESVILLE, IN VERIZON WIRELESS AMP.
8/16/11 OTTAWA, ON SCOTIA BANK PLACE
8/17/11 MONTREAL, QC BELL CENTRE
8/19/11 TORONTO, ON MOLSON AMP.
8/20/11 CLARKSTON, MI DTE ENERGY THEATER
8/21/11 MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO VERIZON WIRELESS AMP.
8/23/11 KANSAS CITY, MO SPRINT CENTER
8/24/11 PHOENIX, AZ ASHLEY FURNITURE PAVILION
8/25/11 SAN DIEGO, CA CRICKET WIRELESS
8/26/11 IRVINE, CA VERIZON WIRELESS AMP.
8/30/11 DENVER, CO COMFORT DENTAL
8/31/11 ALBUQUERQUE, NM HARD ROCK-PAVILION
9/02/11 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA SHORELINE AMP.
9/03/11 MARYSVILLE, CA SLEEP TRAIN AMP.
9/04/11 AUBURN, WA WHITE RIVER AMP.
9/07/11 OMAHA, NE QWEST ARENA
9/09/11 SAN ANTONIO, TX ATT CENTER
9/10/11 DALLAS, TX GEXA ENERGY PAVILION
9/11/11 WOODLANDS, TX WOODLANDS AMP.