Community

Gig Harbor Now reporters cover community events and efforts that benefit and entertain the community.

2025 PenMet budgets show shift from building to operating rec center

Oct 03, 2024 | By:

PenMet Parks’ proposed 2025 operating and capital budgets illustrate a transition from building the Community Recreation Center to operating it. Contractors broke ground on the $31.6 million facility in August 2023 with completion expected 13 months thereafter. Supply chain issues pushed the opening date to spring 2025. However, progress on the 58,000-square-foot indoor center helped

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Local man helping auction relics from Western Flyer, a boat famously connected to Steinbeck

Oct 03, 2024 | By: Chapin Day

How much would you pay to own one-of-a-kind pieces of fishing, environmental, scientific and literary history? Could you be an “angel?” Those are questions inspired by a Wauna man’s quest. Michael Hemp, a vibrant, engaging and consistently curious 81-year-old whose business card lists him as “Historian, Heritage Marketing & Communications Consultant, Researcher, Archivist, Lecturer, Novelist,”

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New option at St. Anthony can help patients undergoing chemotherapy keep their hair

Oct 02, 2024 | By:

St. Anthony Hospital has a new option for chemotherapy patients who are approved to use cold capping during their treatment, which reduces the alopecia side effect of the drugs. Two months ago the hospital received its first cold capping machine, which is available to patients of the outpatient clinic who choose to use it. “The

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After failed acquisition, undeveloped Eagles Ridge parcel still on PenMet’s’s radar screen

Oct 02, 2024 | By:

The Eagles Ridge property is 114 acres of forested property with waterfront access. Only a fraction of it is developable.

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Gig Harbor Film Festival attendance up 57% from 2023

Oct 01, 2024 | By: Carolyn Bick

2024 Gig Harbor Film Festival awards went to “First We Bombed New Mexico,” “7000 Miles,” “Dawgfather” director Kent Loomer and others.

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Peninsula High School pool beset with leaks, closed for repairs

Oct 01, 2024 | By:

The Peninsula High School pool is out of commission due to multiple leaks in pipes underground. The Peninsula swim team has been practicing at Gig Harbor High’s pool, and that’s likely to continue for the foreseeable future, with repairs not yet underway, Patrick Gillespie, Peninsula School District’s facilities director, told the school board last week.

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Harbor Happenings | Fall fun starts this week

Oct 01, 2024 | By:

Correction: Fox Island Octoberfest is Friday, Oct. 4. An earlier version misstated the day of the event. The annual Scarecrow Festival kicks off the Halloween season from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at Sehmel Homestead Park. PenMet’s Scarecrow Festival includes a pumpkin launch, peeweee rodeo, Markers Market, and an assortment of vendors.

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Parents sue Peninsula School District in Evergreen sexual abuse case

Sep 30, 2024 | By:

Parents of students who were victims of alleged sexual abuse by a teacher at Evergreen Elementary School are suing Peninsula School District. Pierce County prosecutors charged Jordan Roy Henderson with 12 counts of first-degree child molestation. Allegations against Henderson in court documents claim he sexually abused female students at the school over a two-year period.

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Peninsula School District gives details on plan to tackle bullying, harassment

Sep 30, 2024 | By:

The district expects to have a review of its harassment and bullying policies and practices, and where changes could be made, by December or January.

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City council approves 0.1% sales tax increase for transportation

Sep 30, 2024 | By:

Gig Harbor’s sales tax will go up another penny on every $10 purchase starting Jan. 1, after the city council approved the increase and changes to how funds from the city’s Transportation Benefit District can be used. The new sales tax rate will be in effect for 10 years. The new tax is in addition

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