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Gig Harbor Now and Then | A ‘hick town’ or overflowing with ‘hearty, clean mirth’?

Posted on November 2nd, 2026 By: Greg Spadoni

Before getting to this week’s column of local history, I’d like to point out the importance of this month of November. It is one of only two months in 2026 for which I have to come up with three new Gig Harbor Now and Then columns instead of the normal two. More important, it also marks the beginning of your opportunity to effortlessly double your donations to Gig Harbor Now to keep this online newspaper going.

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Coincidentally (really; it was not planned this way), the subject of today’s column is the debate over whether Gig Harbor was or is a hick town. It could be argued that any place that supports its local newspaper is not a hick town. But is it robustly not, or is it simply teetering on the edge?

Is Gig Harbor still a hick town?

The current state and future direction of the Gig Harbor Peninsula have always been topics of discussion among its residents. The intensity of the discussions ebb and flow with the passing of time. It’s somewhat muted during times of national crisis, such as economic depressions and wars, when those subjects garner more attention. It’s between such crises when the local discussions grow louder, longer and more impassioned.

The year 1920 was between two national crises. World War I was over and the depression of 1921 had not yet begun. The Bay-Island News gives us a look at one of the arguments over Gig Harbor’s present and future as of 1920. We can use that to compare Gig Harbor now to Gig Harbor then (see what I did there?).

Today’s topic comes from the Sept. 3, 1920, Bay-Island News. The date printed on the newspaper was an obvious mistake (Friday, September 3, 19.0.), but it was not a rare one.

Still a hick town?

In a letter to the editor, a prominent citizen proposed that Gig Harbor do something to improve its image to the rest of the world. It was in response to recent letters to the editor of various complaints.

They were as diverse and trivial as the editor’s improper use of grammar, petty political accusations and the lack of response to the cancellation of an attempted revival of an unpopular public function that hadn’t been held in three years.

Dear Sir: The controversies recently printed in your paper have been highly diverting. But the impression made upon the sensibilities of an impartial reader is that much energy is being spent on non-essentials. With such an amount of wit at our command here in Gig Harbor, why not all combine forces to do something which would lift the place above the banality of a “Hick” town?

Was anything ever done to make such a change?

Is Gig Harbor today above the banality of a hick town, or is it simply at par?

And what about all that wit in Gig Harbor? Where did it go?

By turning the acumen displayed to some better purpose the inhabitants could create a charming summer spot here instead of wasting time and brain force upon useless digestation.

Wasting time and brain force in 1920? Social media in 2026 would’ve made the writer’s head explode.

With a barge hung full of colored lights moored at night at the water’s edge—small craft decorated with Japanese lanterns floating about in the moonlight with tinkling stringed instruments—we would have a touch of Venice.

I’m unaware of any of those things being in Gig Harbor today, but it does have authentic Venetian gondola rides, and that alone gives it more of a touch of Venice than colored lights and tinkling instruments. So maybe it really is above banality today … if a touch of Venice is a valid determining factor.

Could a fate be promoted here in dignity and not to the financial gain of any purse [that seems to be asking entirely too much, doesn’t it?] — say a Flower Battle and Regatta — with swimming and rowing, and races of different craft in the day-time — pretty girls sitting on bright, gay cushions, carrying big Japanese parasols — and an evening such as I have described above — if this were produced without malice in our hearts to anyone, we would soon find that, we could give to Gig Harbor a name of delightful attraction which would lift it to a place of respect in spite of its size.

Minus the “not to the financial gain of any purse” part, isn’t that the general purpose of today’s Maritime Gig and a variety of other community events?

Is Gig Harbor not now a name of delightful attraction? And is it currently in “a place of respect in spite of its size”? A lot of people today seem to think so, which is more evidence of an above-banality achievement.

Then consider the real benefit to us mentally! Any student of mental hygiene knows it to be for better to enjoy hearty, clean mirth, unmixed with malice in our hearts toward our neighbors, than to spend our thoughts on throwing mud in no matter how jocular a manner.

That’s it — Gig Harbor’s new slogan!

The new slogan looks great with the city’s longtime logo.

Or:

It’s a tough call, which new slogan is better. Maybe the city can use both.

I submit to the city council that one or both new slogans be posted at every entry point to the city, on the doors of every city vehicle, and on all official letterheads and web pages.

There’s nothing like a perfect slogan to draw visitors from around the world. Properly produced and promoted, Hearty, Clean Mirth in Gig Harbor could become as well known and successful as Paul Hogan’s I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya was in the 1980s.

As for the rest of the writer’s statement, I’ll point out that throwing mud in a jocular manner is very often considered to be a central part of hearty mirth, especially among the banal.

Or shall we remain … a butt for the jokes of every cheap vaudeville performer that strikes Tacoma’s vaudeville stage … [and] the big joke for Pierce county which it almost seems sometimes we deserve to be because of our near-sightedness?

Oh, so that’s what this was all about. Somebody was sensitive to being the butt of (cheap) vaudevillian comedians and the jokes from the rest of Pierce County.

Well, if not for Gig Harbor, someplace else would’ve been the county’s joke butt. In that sense, the town was already performing a community service by elevating the next in line. What’s wrong with that?

Some people are just never satisfied.

By the way, the writer eventually moved to a different town and county, several states away.

The slacker!

Is that really the right attitude — try, try, then give up and move out of town?

Broad agreement, save one

Perhaps a fan of “big Japanese parasols,” the Bay-Island News editor, Franz Drummond, was fully on the writer’s side, at least as far a civic celebration was concerned.

The editor desires to register unqualified endorsement of the fete proposed. That we could pull it through in a most creditable manner goes without saying; the benefits are easily apparent. The financial expenditure would not necessarily be burdensome.

He went on to give a list of the town’s good points before taking issue with the writer’s sharpest jabs.

Gig Harbor is not worrying about the “jokes” of cheap vaudeville performers—in fact, few of our people ever hear them. We want to get away from that kind of stuff and provide, right here at home, entertainment of a higher quality. The News takes great pride in declaring that only the highest class of entertainment given in Tacoma, featuring world-famous characters, can draw a crowd from Gig Harbor and the surrounding country.

True, we have with us a few embittered souls whose chief mission in life seems to be the breeding of strife; but every town has its quota of these deficients.

And their successors.

Editor Drummond closed by admitting what rankled him about the writer’s letter.

Perhaps we are dealing in nonessentials in commenting upon these things; but we think it inadvisable to print the views of [the writer] without challenging the open insinuation that this is a “Hick” town.

Editor.

He weren’t gonna let nobody call his home a hick town!

Shared possibilities

One entry in the editor’s list of good points of Gig Harbor really struck a chord with me.

We have one of the best equipped printing plants to be found in any town of this size in the state. The product may be a “Hick” newspaper, but there is always the chance that it may grow better.

That’s the exact same attitude I’ve always had about Gig Harbor Now and Then’s stories of local history. The product may be a hick column, but there is always the chance that it may grow better.

— Greg Spadoni, November 2, 2026