Arts & Entertainment Business Community

The mom behind the fast-growing What’s Good Gig Harbor group

You can use all of the old cliches: Build it and they will come; necessity is the mother of invention; find a need and fill it. All of them are appropriate in the case of Sarah Husby, who moved to Gig Harbor 15 years ago from Seattle.

She was looking for a comprehensive activity list for her family and decided to build one herself. Over the years, she said she has been in mom groups (her two children are now 14 and 9 years old) and is always looking for fun things to do with her family.

“I think a lot of people get paralyzed and don’t know where to go for that information,” Husby said. “What I found being a parent is you have to find things to do to entertain them, and I had to go to five, six, seven websites to figure out what was going on around the area. Everyone has their own love language and mine is, ‘Tell me what ails you, and I will find you ways to fix it.’ ”

Sarah Husby is a local Realtor, creator of the local activity guide 101 Things to Do, and also hosts the Facebook group and Instagram page called What’s Good Gig Harbor, as well as a collaborative project with local businesses called Good and Gather. She is co-sponsoring the Harbor Holiday Lights Contest with Shameless Promotion, a local web development and digital marketing company.
Photo by Lindsey Krogle, CEO of Shameless Promotion

So, in May she launched 101 Things to Do, a local activity guide, as well as a Facebook group called What’s Good Gig Harbor, and an Instagram page of the same name.

Growing Facebook group

Husby posts something each day about what happens in and around the harbor and the number of followers is growing. The  Facebook group currently has 3,000 members. She hosted a Good and Gather event as a collaboration with Local Whimsy on Harborview Drive on Dec. 17 with Santa and Mrs. Claus as guests who read The Night Before Christmas. The event also included DIY ornament-making tables, a hot cocoa bar and local vendors.

In addition, Husby is hosting a Harbor Holiday Lights Contest with co-sponsor Shameless Promotion, a web development and digital marketing company. Seventeen homes are participating and voting runs through Dec. 25.

“There are homes from the Narrows to the Purdy Bridge, and there is map of participating homes,” she said.

In front of each home is a sign with a scannable QR code to vote. The home that amasses the most votes will win $100, with a matching donation to the Project Help program at Peninsula Light Company, which helps to pay electric bills of those in need, Husby said. The contest winner will be announced Dec. 26.

“My hope is to continue to have What’s Good Gig Harbor events throughout the community. I don’t necessarily know what that is going to look like, but as it is unfolding, and as people bring up suggestions, I’m happy to collaborate.”

Networking and family fun

Husby is also a local Realtor specializing in relocation to the area. She said she hopes to partner with other businesses for Good and Gather events, which will help their businesses while networking to help her Realtor business, Infinity Real Estate.

“Part of this is to network and get to know people,” Husby said. “I have a lender who is helping support the Good and Gather, and Shameless Promotion is a local web design company, and they helped me with the website for the light contest. Someone suggested that I talk to Pen Met Parks, and Pen Light seems interested in next year for the light contest, and I’m planning a Halloween decoration contest, so it’s kind of unfolding in real time.”

Find the map of participating homes of Harbor Holiday Lights Contest with suggested routes at https://soundandharborhomes.com/harbor-holiday-lights/