Arts & Entertainment Community

Harbor Happenings | Halloween is hauntingly near

Posted on October 20th, 2026 By: Charlee Glock-Jackson

Halloween activities kick into high gear this week with events at the YMCA, Harbor Hideout and Port Orchard.

Jack-O’-Lantern Jubilee

The Tom Taylor Family YMCA hosts a Jack-O’-Lantern Jubilee from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct 22, at 10550 Harbor Hill Dr. The free event is open to everyone, including non-members of the Y. It includes face painting, games, arts and crafts projects and more. A Pee-Wee Pumpkin Parade for younger kids is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon at the Y.

Port Orchard’s Bay Street Association has a full “Halloweekend” of fun along the downtown waterfront Oct. 23, 24 and 25. There will be treats from Bay Street merchants, a haunted escape room, pictures with a witch and a haunted market. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Wire bonsai workshop

In keeping with the spirit of the spooky season, make your own personal twisted wire bonsai tree from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at Harbor Hideout (formerly Locust Cider), 3207 57th St. Ct. The class is limited to 20 people, with all materials included in the $50 ticket price. Sign up here.

Twisted bonsai

Witchy paddle through the bay

Don your witchiest garb, grab your stand-up paddleboard or kayak and join a flotilla from the boat launch to the lighthouse on Saturday, Oct. 24. The paddle begins about 2:30 p.m. and ends around 4:30 p.m. at 7 Seas Brewery with a costume contest, a cackling contest and a donation drive for Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH Food Bank.

Witches on the water in 2025. Photo courtesy of Carrie Conway

Learn purse seining

Climb aboard the historic purse seiner Veteran for a unique opportunity to experience commercial fishing up close on Wednesdays, Oct. 21 and 28. The BoatShop will host up to six people to join the Veteran’s crew in fishing for chum salmon in Colvos Passage. The Veteran launches at 8 a.m. from the Maritime Pier and each trip lasts about four hours. The fee to reserve the whole boat is $600 for BoatShop members, $700 for non-members. No individual tickets are available. Book your fishing trip here.

Art tag installation

During last summer’s Chalk the Harbor, community members decorated dozens of art tags. The alliance will unveil the Buoy oh Buoy art project created with the tags at noon Thursday, Oct. 22, at Ancich Waterfront Park, 3525 Harborview Dr.

Hornet invasion

The Washington State Department of Agriculture found a live yellow-legged hornet in Vancouver earlier this year. It’s a highly invasive species known to attack honeybee hives and reduce honey production. WSDA staff will discuss the dangers of invasive species to our state’s agriculture at a free “Invasion of the Ecosystem Snatchers” at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, at The Beer Vault, 14004 Purdy Dr.

State of the Watershed

KGI Watershed Council’s State of the Watershed annual meeting takes place at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St. It’s an opportunity to connect with watershed partners, reflect on progress and look ahead. The meeting will also be live streamed via Zoom.

Pier peer

Harbor WildWatch will host Pier into the Night at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7Seas Brewing. Divers and an underwater drone will livestream what they encounter below the surface and biologists on the dock will identify the sea creatures that appear on the big screen set up nearby. Usual sightings include feather duster tube worms; sculpin; gunnels; red rock, kelp and graceful crabs; nudibranch; giant Pacific octopus and more.

Legacy Giving workshop

Learn how to maximize gifts to organizations you care about at a free “Age of Impact: A Legacy of Giving” workshop at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Harbor History Museum. Presented by the museum, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation and Gig Harbor Now. RSVP here.

‘Facing turmoil’

Humanities Washington presents “Facing Turmoil with Integrity: What Gandhi and Martin Luther King learned from an Ancient Masterpiece” at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Heron’s Key, 4340 Borgen Blvd. It’s a free discussion about The Kural, a 2,000-year old Tamil book of wisdom, and how it inspired modern practitioners of non-violence. Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma will lead the discussion about how connections across languages and lands can inspire clarity and courageous action in our own time and place.

Book launch

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, best-selling Olalla author Gregg Olsen and his daughter Morgan Olsen will celebrate the publication of “Ordinary Wife,” their first book together. It’s the true crime story about Idaho’s Lyda Southard, a female serial killer known as “America’s Lady Bluebeard” or “The Black Widow,” who poisoned her husband with arsenic extracted from flypaper. Over a five-year span, four husbands, a brother-in-law and her 2-year old daughter all died under suspicious circumstances. The book launch party takes place at 4 p.m. at Olalla Bay Market, 13965 Olalla Valley Road S.E.

Fun and games

The South Sound Fiber Arts group gets together from 2 to 4 p.m. every other Sunday at the Gig Harbor Library, 4424 Point Fosdick Dr., to share stories and talk about their projects. All levels of knitters, crocheters, embroiderers and other fiber artists are welcome. The next meeting is Sunday, Oct. 25.

The Beer Vault, 14004 Purdy Dr., hosts a Witches Night Out from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21. Billed as a “wickedly fun night of shopping and sipping and laughs,” with a Best Witch costume contest, photo booth and more. The Vault also has Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays.

The Float, 14511 Sherman Dr. in Purdy, has Tank’d Up Trivia at 7:15 p.m. Wednesdays with prizes for the top three finishers; and karaoke from 8 p.m. to midnight Fridays.

Hop Pharm, 3216 Judson St., hosts Record Night from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24. Bring your favorite records to add to the musical line-up.

Ocean5, 5268 Point Fosdick Dr. NW, has family bingo at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Let’s Get Quizzical trivia at 6 p.m. Thursdays. Ocean5 hosts a Pumpkin Palooza, a family friendly party of pumpkin carving and crafts, from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. Tickets are $19.49 and include a free pumpkin, carving supplies and pre-made templates, plus decorations for embellishing your creation. Make reservations here.

Hidden Harbor Wine Library has bingo every Monday and canasta every Thursday, both starting at 4:30 p.m.

Live music

The Harbor Ukulele Group meets at 11 a.m. Saturdays at the library, 4424 Point Fosdick Dr. Newcomers are welcome.

The Peninsula High School marching band will perform at halftime of the Seahawks’ football game against Lakes at Roy Anderson Field on Friday, Oct. 23. Kick-off is at 7 p.m.

The Trailer Park Kings play the blues at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Kimball Coffeehouse in a South Sound Blues Association-sponsored gig. Music starts at 7 p.m. Kimball also hosts an open mic Thursdays, with sign-ups at 5:30 and performances at 6 p.m.

Olalla Winery has music by the Olympia-based quartet The Mistaken, playing twang, blues, jazz, folk and swing, at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23. The Winery will also host an evening of Boots and Bubbly Saturday, from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct.24. with country line dancing all night, and a glass of bubbly upon arrival. Tickets to both events are $20 here.

Finholms Market, 8812 N. Harborview Dr. has an open mic at 7:30 p.m. most Fridays, with instruments and equipment provided. The house band, Thunder Trout, does back-up, and all skill levels and talents are welcome.

The Float has danceable classic rock by Dusty Luck at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24.

Stevenson Brooks plays guitar favorites at Hidden Harbor Wine Library from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24.

Mullenix Music Box students present their fall costume recital at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Agnus Dei Church, 10511 Peacock Hill Ave. It will be an evening of live piano and voice music from movies, TV shows, video games and more, followed by a cookie reception. Free admission, and attendees are encouraged to wear Halloween garb.

At the movies

Join the Monster Movie Madness fun Monday, Oct. 26 at the Olalla Community Hall, 12970 Olalla Valley Road, for a one-time showing of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948). It’s a zany comedy with the bungling duo meeting Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolf Man. Doors open at 6 p.m.; the movie starts at 7 p.m. with donations encouraged. Bring a snack to share.

The Flashback Cinema movie at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the Galaxy Theatres in Uptown is “Clue,” starring Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry and Eileen Brennan. Wes Craven’s “Scream” is the Flashback Movie showing at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. Flashback tickets are $7.

The Galaxy’s Friday Night Fright film at 8:45 p.m. Oct. 23 is “The Wolf Man” (1941) with Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and others. Tickets are $6.

The Galaxy will have a special showing of the much-loved cult film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” starring the late Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, at 8:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24.

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945), about a corrupt young man who keeps his youthful good looks while an unusual painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness, is the Galaxy Classic film at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26. Tickets are $5.

Civic engagement

The Gig Harbor City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at the Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St. Tentative agenda items include a proclamation of November as Indigenous Peoples Month and a public hearing and adoption of property taxes. Council meetings can also be accessed via Zoom.