Highway 302 Spur bridge opening Saturday
Nov 29, 2023 | By: Gig Harbor Now StaffThe road has been closed and a short detour in place since April for a fish passage project.
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Gig Harborites love the natural surroundings in which they live, and Gig Harbor Now staff members keep them apprised of opportunities to enjoy and preserve their forests, waters and creatures.
Developments would bring more than 150 residences to Swede Hill
Nov 28, 2023 | By: Ted KenneyAdd northern Swede Hill to the list of Gig Harbor locales slated for accelerating suburban growth. West of Highway 16, on land sloping down to Burnham Drive NW and McCormick Creek, two local developers are shepherding separate proposals through the city’s permitting process that would add more than 150 residences on land now occupied by
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Chum Fest brings lots of families (but no salmon) to Donkey Creek
Nov 20, 2023 | By: Julie Warrick AmmannThe salmon didn’t show up, but hundreds of festival goers did. The 2023 Chum Festival, hosted by Harbor WildWatch, was a family-friendly walk this year, with hands-on learning activities along txʷaalqəł Estuary from Austin Park, behind Harbor History Museum, and to Donkey Creek Park. To keep it fun, participants received a small passport book to
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Jennifer Preston: Foraging for the fungus among us
Nov 15, 2023 | By: Jennifer PrestonEditor’s note: This is the second in Jennifer Preston’s two-part series about mushrooms. Read the first here. The Pacific Northwest is known for its wide variety of wild mushrooms. They sprout up throughout the year from the coast to the Olympics Peninsula’s temperate rainforest, in local parks, perhaps even in your backyard. We are lucky
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Le Mans sailboat race a well-loved and wacky local tradition
Nov 13, 2023 | By: Chapin Day“All hands below deck!” Weather permitting, that strange command should echo around Gig Harbor next Saturday morning, Nov. 18, just five minutes before one of the world’s wackiest sailboat racing starts. Even the most committed landlubber ashore, ignorant of sail racing’s rules or which side is port and which side is starboard, can enjoy the
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Jennifer Preston: All mushrooms are magic
Nov 08, 2023 | By: Jennifer PrestonThey help turn wheat into bread and fruit into wine. They ferment cacao beans, making it possible for us to enjoy one of the world’s favorite treats — chocolate. They give us penicillin, forever altering the way we fight infection. These mostly invisible, seemingly magical organisms quietly go about their work sustaining forests and enriching
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The sinking of the Walrus in 1963 was a disaster averted
Oct 26, 2023 | By: Ted KenneyHave you heard about the sinking of the Walrus? It was only one of the greatest maritime near-disasters in Puget Sound history. There’s no memorial to it, as not-quite-calamities don’t usually get one. But among the survivors, and those with them at Catholic Youth Organization’s (CYO) Camp Blanchet on Raft Island in the summer of
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On Raft Island, the Peninsula’s last summer camp carries on, with updates
Oct 26, 2023 | By: Ted KenneyResidents on the east side of Lay Inlet enjoy looking across the bay at All Saints Camp and Retreat Center, a heavily forested stretch of Raft Island shoreline that provides a home to wildlife and brilliant fall colors. The view hasn’t changed in decades. Neighbors might have worried earlier this month, when barges and heavy
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Two In Tow & On The Go: Claybabies are a Fox Island find
Oct 20, 2023 | By: Tonya StricklandClay babies are rare rock formations shaped like cloud animals, found among Fox Island’s pebbly shorelines. Here’s how to spot ’em!
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In the Margins: Hupp Springs hatchery contributed to a salmon success story
Oct 18, 2023 | By: Leland SmithIn my previous life, I had the joy of serving as sports editor for The Peninsula Gateway from 1984-93. Many hot dogs and bags of popcorn ago, I had a front-row seat for all things in the Wide, Wide World of Sports here in the Peninsula area. It was a great gig: Taking the pictures,
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