By Christian Carvajal Olympia Film Society’s 16th-annual Duck the Malls fundraiser benefits independent artists and crafters in the South Sound while supporting visual-arts programming at Capitol Theater. It boasts items from over 50 vendors, including makers of board games, ceramics, dolls and other toys, ironwork, lighting and musical instruments. Homemade desserts are on sale at …
By Christian Carvajal As December begins, the 41st-annual Olympia Toy Run means thousands of motorcycles roar up Pacific Avenue onto State, Capitol, Fifth and Deschutes Parkway. Toys and proceeds go to the Salvation Army Toy ’n’ Joy Shop program. All street-legal motorcycles are invited to participate, and many riders return from towns all over western …
By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL The Olympia Downtown Association presents a cornucopia of holiday entertainment complete with parade the Sunday after every Thanksgiving. Over a thousand people are expected to attend this year’s gathering. Shops compete in “Twinkle Fest” by decorating their storefronts; shoppers win prizes by voting. The Hotel Olympian (116 Legion Way SE) hosts a …
By Christian Carvajal It’s one of our favorite yuletide scenes: The Peanuts gang twirls happily around an ice-covered pond. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington visits a hockey rink for vampires. Manhattan-based telefilms linger over kids and their parents skating beneath the fluttering flags of Rockefeller Center. Until this month, however, aspiring skate champions …
THEATER REVIEW by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS What an inspiring, majestic mountain director Lauren Love scaled with her production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America at South Puget Sound Community College. This monumental script is over a quarter-century old now, and there’s still nothing like it in theater history. Even expansive productions like Peter …
By Christian Carvajal We all know the state of Washington is proud of its creativity. Over 200,000 Washingtonians make their livings in the arts, adding $22.7 billion to our state’s domestic product. In order to be installed in Washington’s new Certified Creative Districts program, however, a community must first meet clear criteria. Managed by Annette …
By Kameko Lashlee Every Tuesday evening on the corner of Fourth and Plum Street, a cacophony of uptempo jazz music and foot-stomping emanates from the second-floor ballroom of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Ballroom and Conference Center. This weekly shindig, broadly known as Oly Swing, is a time capsule of sorts: a revival of 1950s-style …
By Alec Clayton [quote]Arts Walk is a preview for my Olympia friends and collectors of my new collection of work. – Debra Van Tuinen[/quote] Barlow Palminteri, featured artist for Arts Walk at Art House Design, is well-known for his realistic, sharply focused paintings of interiors, often peopled by friends. The people and objects in his …
By Karen Lunde Olympia brings artists and thousands of art lovers together each spring and fall for its semi-annual celebration of the arts, Arts Walk. Angel Nava, arts-program specialist for City of Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation, has taken the helm for the fall event, shifting responsibility from arts-program manager Stephanie Johnson. Johnson pointed out …
By Christian Carvajal As StoryOly completes its third season of raconteurial entertainment, host (and professional storyteller) Elizabeth Lord is busily making plans for 2018’s “Grand Slam” finale. Winners from the preceding 11 monthly events compete head to head for the votes of celebrity judges. (Disclosure: This writer was among those monthly winners.) StoryOly is a …