Tacoma ART BUS

01/26/2025

01/14/2025

On Thursday's ART BUS Tour we will be visiting shops in Gig Harbor for the very first time! Check out the art of FASHION!

On this tour we get to meet Aidenn Mullen, the new owner of One 11 Mens Clothing, a shop thoughtfully curated for the Pacific Northwest guy in your life. Aidenn's journey started as a menswear designer for successful East Coast brands, but when she discovered One 11, she fell in love and decided to make the leap into small business ownership. Now based in Gig Harbor, she’s bringing her passion for menswear and a keen eye for style to the local community. Her shop is stocked with an exciting mix of inventory, featuring brands like YoColorado!, Bridge and Burn (Portland, OR), Pendleton (OR), and The Landmark Project, which supports National Parks. From cozy loungewear and warm outerwear to rain gear, shackets, and accessories like wallets and climbing rope belts, One 11 has something for every PNW guy. Keep an eye out for new arrivals like sunwashed knit button downs, quarter zips, graphics tees and hoodies and more. Aidenn is thrilled to share her love of menswear with Gig Harbor and beyond!

Tickets are going fast! Get yours here: https://weekly-volcano.com/store

01/14/2025

During the ART BUS tour on Thursday evening (1/16/25) we will be heading to Gig Harbor! One of the place we will be stopping by is B's Bagels & Butters, which is a cozy, community-driven gem where fresh, hand-crafted bagels meet inventive cream cheeses and spreads. This woman-owned business is known for its warm, welcoming atmosphere, B's serves up a delicious variety of bagels—from classic favorites to seasonal specialties—made with high-quality ingredients. The shop also partners with local artists, showcasing their work on the walls and in a dedicated nook featuring unique, locally made retail items. With friendly service and a commitment to supporting the local arts scene, B's provides not only a great meal but a true sense of community in the heart of Gig Harbor.

Get your tickets here: https://weekly-volcano.com/store

12/19/2024

Our first stop of the evening with Tacoma ART BUS on Dec. 19th is MaidPro Tacoma, a family-owned business founded right here in Tacoma by Thomas and Penelope. MaidPro now operates over 265 franchise locations across the United States and Canada. Thomas believes in the importance of legacy and leaving behind something that provides value to the community. They take great pride in the workmanship and the dedication of their Pros who strive to meet and exceed the standards of a MaidPro clean.

The Pros at MaidPro Tacoma work hard so you can relax during the holiday season and throughout the year with weekly, biweekly, monthly, and one-time deep cleans. You can trust in their 49-point checklist, 24-hour re-clean promise, and Pros that have undergone background checks and training prior to entering your home.
Whether you are decking the halls or ringing in the new year, cleaning is a big deal to MaidPro Tacoma and they are very excited to exhibit art by the amazing and talented Voxxy tonight! Voxxy works with digital as well as analog art. This visit features the original painting “Take the Risk”. A visually stunning piece that draws you into it with vivid colors and incredible depths. Voxxy’s work is fun, dramatic, colorful, and inspiring. She is definitely not afraid to take a risk with her art. Check out her Etsy store VoxxArts. All the work displayed tonight is available for purchase and would make a great gift for that special art lover on your Christmas list.


"Take the Risk" 30"x40" acrylic on canvas

12/19/2024

Tacoma ART BUS is looking forward to visiting Water from Wine during Thursday's tour! They also have a cool event happening on Sunday you might wanna check out!

Water From Wine is a non-profit Washington winery. There are 6 Acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on their Founder’s vineyard dedicated to funding clean water efforts globally. That means that 100% of the proceeds of all wine produced from this vineyard goes back to fight the global water crisis, bringing access to potable water to communities. They partner with over 20 different clean water organizations with differing regional expertise from South and Central America, various parts of Africa, India to East Asia and right here in the US. They have contributed over $1.3 million toward clean water infrastructure, access and sanitation since 2017.

The ART BUS Tour is Thursday December 19th from 6-8:30 PM.

12/19/2024

Tacoma ART BUS will be making a stop at one of our most beloved local places: Pacific Northwest Shop - Tacoma during Thursday's tour! In case you are not familiar with it here are some cool things to know:

Over 45 years ago, Bill and Ann Evans opened their family owned and managed retail store dedicated to the sale of products made in and inspired by the Pacific Northwest. Over time, they searched far and wide across the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho in the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada to build relationships with local artists and manufacturers.
Today, as a second generation small family business, they work with hundreds of suppliers to bring a variety of products to their shelves. Their brick and mortar gift shops are located in the historic urban villages of Proctor in Tacoma, and Wallingford in Seattle. If you’re ever in the area please stop by for a visit! They also have an online store!

The Pacific Northwest shop offers a wide array of specialty foods such as chocolates and huckleberry products, decorative items for the home, jewelry, bath and body products, books, and much more. They also offer a selection of North Coast Native American designed products to choose from.

The store has prospered through the years thanks to faithful customers and to the high quality merchandise they offer.

Tacoma ART BUS December Tour is happening December 19th from 6-8:30 PM. The bus is FULL!

12/19/2024

We cannot wait to see our good "buddy" Ron Swarner when we visit Peaks and Pints during the December Tacoma ART BUS Tour! Doug Mackey and Evan Purcell, our favorite musical guests will be our celebrity tour guides! IYKYK!

PEAKS & PINTS: It may seem as though you’ve driven all the way to the mountains — just for a craft beer. But you’re actually in the grand confines of Peaks and Pints at Basecamp Proctor in Tacoma. Peaks and Pints is no makeshift tavern in a one-horse town. Co-founded by longtime media pooh-bah Ron Swarner and restaurateurs Justin and Robby Peterson, this craft beer store, taproom and eatery is planned down to the metal plates and tall tree in the corner. For 8 years running, now, Peaks and pints is more famous for it’s curated beer selection. Great beer, great sandwiches, great staff and more great beer. Did I mention the beer? 23 on tap, and 800 plus in the cooler. How about the weekly beer podcast, Grit and Grain on the Channel 253 Podcasting network. Produced by Doug Mackey! Like beer? Like cider? Like cold brew coffer, wine, and combucha? Not so much? Then drink their beer!

The December 2024 ART BUS Tour is Thursday December 19th from 6-8:30 PM.

12/19/2024

Tacoma ART BUS will be visiting Shaq's Big Chicken during the Third Thursday tour where we get to see a few local artists displaying their work! If you can't catch the bus, they would love a visit from you to check out their displays and maybe find a holiday gift for one of your loved ones! Here are some more details:
Shaq’s Big Chicken, founded by the legendary Shaquille O'Neal, is a brand that embodies bold flavors and a larger-than-life dining experience. With a menu crafted to deliver mouthwatering, crave-worthy chicken, Big Chicken takes pride in offering dishes that are not only delicious but also packed with personality. You may not consider the food to be art, but the recipes certainly are. Every creation, from the perfectly seasoned and crispy chicken to the creative sides and sauces, is a masterpiece designed to make your taste buds sing. Shaq's influence is evident in the fun and welcoming atmosphere, ensuring that every visit to Big Chicken is a slam dunk of flavor and satisfaction. Tonight Shaq’s Big Chicken will host local artists in the dining room for you to enjoy along with a few snacks!

Tonight for one night only we will see the work of 4 local artists: Christina Batista, Melody Ybarra and William Snyder.

Christina Batista works with the community of artists, known as the Tacoma Artists Meet-Up, who support and inspire her to keep creating with different types of art mediums. She is a graphic designer who mostly does traditional and/or digital art but is always willing to learn new methods and skills. Her themes are mostly nature based, with a pinch of the human figure.

Melody Ybarra is a Pacific Northwest artist. Her photographs capture beautiful moments in nature and in time. She is also the photographer for Meghanne Storey, a Pacific Northwest award-winning music artist. Pictures can be viewed at designermeloriginal, both on fb and Instagram.

William Snyder is a mostly self taught artist and heavily inspired awesomeoligist. New to Tacoma and a new father his art style could be described as more of a ‘ghost samurai driving a flying robotic shark’ than a boring ‘cow in a pasture,’ kinda thing. Or so that is what we heard …
ART BUS is Dec. 19th from 6-8:30 pm. See Weekly-Volcano .com for more details.

12/02/2024

Weekly Volcano's December 2024 issue is online now and will be in stores over the next few days! Lnk in comments!

11/12/2024

We are considering changing up the ART BUS format a bit in 2025. We might abandon third Thursday because it falls during newspaper production week and this makes it difficult to pull off. How would you feel about us moving it to one Saturday per month instead?

The rationale behind this is that many businesses we wanted to visit in the past were already closed in the weekday evenings and we assume it might also make it easier for passengers to attend that work 9-5 M-F.

What do you think? Should we change it to a Saturday afternoon? We know we can't please everyone but we think this might open some doors and bring in some new people too.

Third Thursday Art Walk has dwindled down over the years and we find very few galleries are doing it. Only the museums are still holding this tradition and our 20 minute visits are a bit too short for the museums anyway. Thoughts?

10/31/2024

This is the back page of the Weekly Volcano November newspaper. Please peruse it for potential gift ideas and follow the QR codes to see more products and services from these businesses. We would like to do this again for the December paper and I lowered the price to $50 to participate. If you have a business inside Pierce County and you'd like to be featured, please email me at [email protected]. Deadline is Nov. 15th to reserve your space.

10/24/2024

Weekly Volcano would like to expand our distribution locations in University Place, Gig Harbor and Puyallup. If you have a high traffic business in these areas and you would like to receive a stack of Weekly Volcano newspapers once a month, please apply here:

https://weekly-volcano.com/locations

10/22/2024

The November paper is done and it will be hitting the streets early next week. I'm starting to think about the December issue now. I think I would like to repeat the catalog and expand it in December. I ended up offering those little catalog ads for half-off to the people in my circle and suddenly a lot of people wanted to do it all at once so I think in December I will make it $50 and see if we can fill multiple pages. The QR codes take the reader to the online stores of the local business so we can help people shop local online. I love this. Shopping local is becoming more and more important for all of us because it keeps our money circulating locally, creates more jobs, connects us more to our community and takes money away from corporate overlords.

If you have a business and a way for people to purchase from you online and you are located inside Pierce County, hit me up at [email protected] with a photo of your leader product (preferably on a white background), the name of your business, name of your product and a link to buy it online. Maybe if we get enough of these we can create sections like Gift Certificates, Arts & Crafts, Services, Food, Clothing, Antiques, Books, Health & Beauty, etc. Here is the November page:

10/17/2024

Tonight's Tacoma ART BUS tour this evening includes a visit to Elizabeth’s Holistic Health!

Elizabeth Johnson, owner of Elizabeth’s Holistic Health, is celebrating 30 years in business this October! She is so excited to commemorate by inviting ART BUS to come and visit her business. She started with massage therapy in 1994 but quickly added certified aromatherapist, reiki, shiatsu, Hatha yoga instructor, nutritional therapy practitioner, intuitive art therapist and master Esthetician, She offers micro-needling cryofacials and the newest addition to her spa is the far infrared sauna with light spectrum therapy. The artist she is featuring tonight is her longtime friend Lisa Openshaw and they will also have a drawing to win a prize tonight!

There are still a few tickets left if you act fast!
https://weekly-volcano.com/store/p/art-bus-tickets

10/17/2024

Our last stop of the night tonight on the Tacoma ART BUS Tour will be Water from Wine, a non-profit Washington winery. There are 6 Acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on their Founder’s vineyard dedicated to funding clean water efforts globally. That means that 100% of the proceeds of all wine produced from this vineyard goes back to fight the global water crisis, bringing access to potable water to communities. They partner with over 20 different clean water organizations with differing regional expertise from South and Central America, various parts of Africa, India to East Asia and right here in the US. They have contributed over $1.3 million toward clean water infrastructure, access and sanitation since 2017.

This is where we will vote on the best costume of the night and give away fabulous prizes! Costume Prizes are: a $25 gift certificate for Rise & Shine Cabaret Café, original 3x5 art piece by Wade Sherman with cookies and magic 8-ball, and a Gift Certificate for a an infrared sauna and red light therapy session at Elizabeth’s Holistic Health!

There are still a few tickets left if you act fast!
https://weekly-volcano.com/store/p/art-bus-tickets