Copies of the printed version are available free of charge throughout the area at these locations:
OLYMPIA
Archibald Sisters
Bayview Thriftway
Browsers Books
Bus Stop Café
Captain Little
Childhoods End Gallery
Compass Rose
Danger Room Comics
Doubletree Inn
Eastside Food Co-Op
Ember Goods
Encore Chocolates
Farrelli’s Pizza Olympia
Golden Hour Tea
Harlequin
Johnny Coffee
Lantern Records
Last Word Books
Lolli Llama
Marriot Towneplace Suites
McMenamins Spar Café
Meconi’s Subs
Mossy Bottom Records
Old School Pizzeria
Olympia Coffee Roasters
Olympia Coffee Roasters Wildwood
Olympia Seafood
Olyphant Arts Supply
Ossa Skinworks
Painted Plate
Popinjay
Psychic Sister
Rainy Day Records
Ralph’s Thriftway
Rex and Rose
Rhythms Coffee
Schwartz’s
Splash Gallery
Spuds Wildwood
The Brotherhood Tavern
The Leaning Maple
The Olympia Center
The Owls Nest Coffee
222 Market Place
Vics – Wildwood
Wagner’s Bakery and Cafe
Washington Center
Wayside Cafe and Deli
Well 80
Westside Food Co-Op
LACEY
Cutters Point Coffee Company Ruddell Rd
Cutters Point Coffee Lacey Blvd
Farrelli’s Pizza Lacey
Lacey Parks & Rec
Olympic Crest Coffee
CENTRALIA
Gracie’s Stempunk Emporium
The Olympic Club
The Station Coffee Bar and Bistro
CHEHALIS
Book and Brush
Good Fork Nutrition Center
Shakespeare & Co.
Shonas Food Company
TENINO
Landmark Tavern
Tenino Market Fresh
The Sandstone Café & Quarry
YELM
Shiplap Shop and Coffee House
Yelm Co-Op
TACOMA
Bluebeard Cafe
Compass Rose
Metropolitan Market
Tacoma Glass Gallery
The 15% Board Game Café
Valhalla Coffee
STEAMBOAT
Uraco Coffee Steamboat
SHELTON
Marmo Gallery Uraco Coffee Shelton
You can read/download the print edition in PDF format here.
Links to individual articles online coming soon.
Contents
The Oly Arts Origin Story
by Christian Carvajal with Ned Hayes
Page 4
In May 2016, in the best possible way, Olympia writer Ned Hayes was struck by lightning. His third novel, The Eagle Tree, was scaling bestseller lists as speedily as its neurodivergent narrator climbed trees. Hayes demonstrated his Oly boosterism when he decided to spend some of that authorial windfall on a new publication to highlight the manifold arts presentations and opportunities in the South Sound. This new publication would put a spotlight on the arts in our region. Appropriately, we named it Oly Arts.
Oly Arts was given a bold mandate from the jump: Instead of just being an online blog or digital publication, Hayes had research from his past work at Adobe that demonstrated there was still a great deal of life in print publications —and early advertising partners like the Ballet Northwest, Capital Heating, Twin Star Credit Union and the Washington Center for the Performing Arts felt the same. In summer 2016, we debuted the first new print publication that covered the arts in the South Sound. We were simultaneously launching a complete website, a podcast, two mobile apps and a new print magazine, so we were nothing if not ambitious.
Roger McIntosh Recognized for 40 Years of Service to the Washington Center
by Alec Clayton
Page 8
In recognition of 40 years of dedicated service to the performing arts in Thurston County and the South Sound, Washington Center Production Manager Roger McIntosh has been selected as the 2026 Excellence in the Arts Commitment to the Arts Awardee. The Center’s Star Dressing Room has been officially named in his honor in recognition of the organization’s “deep appreciation for four decades of service, care, commitment, and the philosophy that guided his work,” according to a Center Marketing and Sales Director Tineke Raak.
Peek Into Artists’ Process on Studio Tour
by Molly Gilmore
Page 10
The South Sound Studio Tour, a free tour that invites the public into 46 working art studios, is more about process than product.
“At Arts Walk, you get to see a wonderful range of not just visual art but performance and so on, but it’s mostly finished stuff,” said Susan Aurand, acting president of the tour’s board of directors. “The point of the studio tour is to allow people to go behind the scenes and see how the work is made.”
Many artists are sharing their studio space with colleagues for the tour, happening the last weekend of May in Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, so there’ll be about 80 artists involved, showing their work and offering insights into their methods. That’s twice the number who participated just two years ago, Aurand said.
Four Shows for the Spring
by Rachel Benton
Page 14
Similar to a vibrant garden, our arts scene in Thurston County is filled with a variety of artistic companies and artists who are consistently adding color, beauty, joy, and their own lovely fragrance to our lives. Let Oly Arts be your “florist” this spring and give ideas of what you can add to the bouquet of your lives.
Shows to consider this season are Theater Artists Olympia’s Anna Considers Mars, Harlequin Productions’ Where the Summit Meets the Stars, Olympia Family Theater’s The Hobbit, and South Puget Sound Community College’s Anastasia the Musical.
CRAZY DINNER!by nightmayor
by Lynette Charters Serembe
Page 16
You may have seen the hugely popular Lord Franziannian’s annual Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show, featuring offbeat artists from in and around the Olympia area, and hosted by Lord Franziannian, a character developed by polymath writer, actor, and storyteller Elizabeth Lord. In true vaudeville style, Franziannian’s showcases various local creative and quirky oddball acts, no two are the same, and they’re none like anything you’ve seen before. It was from this pool of peculiar unconventionality that Lord (Elizabeth) discovered the band nightmayor (lowercase ‘n’ intentional). She says she first met the group in 2021 at the vaudeville show and was hugely impressed by them. She loved their creative output and original ideas; they “blew (her) away”. Two years ago, she became involved in their original musical The Total Package and enjoyed working with them so much that this time around she is directing their production CRAZY DINNER! With this wild and zany pool of talent, it proves to be sharply scrumptious and salty, infused with intelligent humor,
the Double Shot Theater Festival
by Adam McKinney
Page 20
the Double Shot Theater Festival is a kind of theatrical 100-meter dash. For roughly 20 years (festival creator Bryan Willis isn’t quite sure when it all got started), Double Shot has been assembling directors, actors, and playwrights to complete the Herculean task of writing, memorizing, rehearsing, lighting, costuming, and eventually performing 10-minute plays, all in about 24 hours.
Celebrate Mother’s Day Weekend at the Center Salon, a Creative Showcase for South Sound Audiences
by Molly Walsh
Page 23
The 2026 Center Salon will take place Mothers Day weekend, Saturday, May 9, in the Washington Center Black Box Theater with cabaret-style seating to provide an immersive ambiance. In commemoration of Mother’s Day weekend, many pieces included in this year’s Center Salon will tie back to the themes of mothers and motherhood. This includes a slideshow that will be projected ahead of the salon, featuring family photos of performers and audience members.
Lacey Spring Fun Fair!
Two Days of Free Fun for Everyone!
Page 26
Stroll into Saint Martin’s University Marcus Pavilion on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17, and you will find over 40 booths tailored for kids of all ages. Kids’ World is full of fun & free crafts, games, entertainment, and more! Their 2026 fun includes Pony Rides, the Giant Slide, the circus train the swings, plus inflatable obstacle course and more inflatable activities for kids!