Oly Arts Fall/Winter 2026 Print Edition — Issue No. 37

Centralia

Gracie’s Steampunk Emporium
Rustic Heritage Bakery
The Centerville Cafe
The Olympic Club
The Owl and Cedar
The Station Coffee Bar and Bistro

Chehalis

Book and Brush
Good Fork Nutrition Center
Mint City Coffee Roasting
Shakespeare & Company
Shona’s Food Company

Lacey

Cutters Point Coffee Lacey Blvd.
Cutters Point Coffee Ruddell Rd.
Farrelli’s Pizza
Fog and Fern Coffee House
Olympic Crest Coffee Roasters

Olympia

Archibald Sisters
Bayview Thriftway
Browsers Books
Captain Little
Childhoods End Gallery
Compass Rose
Danger Room Comics
Doubletree Inn
Ember goods
Encore Chocolates
Golden Hour Tea
Johnny Coffee
Last Word books
Le Voyeur
Lolli Llama
Marriot Towneplace Suites
Meconi’s Subs
Noctua
Old School Pizzeria
Olympia Coffee Roasters
Olympia Family Theater
Olympia Food Co-op east and west
Olympia Seafood
Orca Books
Ossa Skinworks
Owl’s Nest Coffee

Olympia – continued

Popinjay
Rainy Day Records
Ralph’s Thriftway
Rhythms Coffee
Schwartz’s
Stardust Salon
The Brotherhood Tavern
The Olympia Center
The Owls Nest Coffee
The Spar
222 Market Place
Underhill Plants
Vics – Westside
Well 80

Shelton

Uraco Coffee
Timberland Library Shelton
Zepplin Shipping and Technology Center
Steamboat
Uraco Coffee

Tacoma

Bluebeard Cafe
Compass Rose
Metropolitan Market
Olympia Coffee Roasters
Tacoma Glass Gallery
The 15% Board Game Café
Valhalla Coffee

Tenino

Landmark Tavern
Tenino Market Fresh
Timberland Library Tenino

Tumwater

Brewhouse Grill
Coffee Pub Northwest Bar and Grill
Craft District
Spuds

Yelm

Shiplap Shop and Coffee House
Yelm Co-Op

by Molly Gilmore — page 4
If you’ve been in Olympia long, chances are that when you hear the word “vaudeville,” you think first of Elizabeth Lord — or Lord Franzannian, her alter ego and the maestro of the Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show that bears his name. When Lord and fellow entertainer Mark Franzen launched the show in 2007, vaudeville had all but faded into history. They, like others across the country, dug it up, dusted it off and brought it back to life. The 20th annual show, fully worthy of its hyperbolic name, opens Friday, Oct. 9.

by Lynette Charters Serembe — page 8
“Temporal: A group show by Coast Salish Museum of Fine Art: Stories of Indigenous Present, Re-imagining Indigenous Futures” is Curated by Mikaela Shafer in partnership with Indigenous Creatives Collective It is a show that is full of real people and stories of current indigenous people, using their own voices in their own space, envisioning a future where indigenous people exist in the here and now on their own terms. CSMoFA has taken over Thurston County Museum of Fine Art to represent Tribal Nations in the Northwest.

by Molly Gilmore — page 10
A dozen new creatures will soon join the sea lions, tigers and bears at the Point Defiance Zoo and the wolves at Northwest Trek. The eagerly anticipated arrivals — on view to the public beginning Oct. 15 — shouldn’t be too hard to spot: Each is between 7 and 9 feet tall. They are whimsical wooden trolls created by Danish activist and artist Thomas Dambo, who has attracted international attention for the folklore-inspired creatures he makes from reclaimed and recycled materials, including branches, twigs and pallets. They’re part of the traveling exhibition “Trolls: A Field Study.”

by Lynette Charters Serembe — page 12
by Kaia Selene Since her youth, local artist Kaia Selene has been driven to make art, and creativity has helped her to survive. She says it wasn’t until she was 41, that she made a show she herself rated as accomplished but as with all good art, the journey is the primary destination, the product is the intriguing manifestation of that journey. Selene makes her grand solo debut at Lantern Records as Miss Pink Pearl, one of her many performance personas.

by Alec Clayton — page 16
Harlequin Production’s State Theater is also an art gallery that features exhibitions of work by local artists concurrent with each of their stage shows. And there is an opening celebration for each exhibition where art lovers mingle, partake of snacks and drinks, visit with one another and with the exhibiting artists, and may purchase original works of art.

by Karen Lunde — page 18
You might label the Capitol Theater an indie and art-house film venue, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But insiders know the Capitol Theater is so much more. From late fall 2026 through the end of the year, the Capitol Theater will host a public film club, serve as a live-music venue, and showcase regional filmmakers. Then, in December, it becomes a concert hall and cinema at once.

by Molly Gilmore — page 20
It’s improbable — or maybe even downright impossible — that anyone could take in the abundance of plays, performances and exhibitions happening in Olympia and environs. That’s an excellent problem to have, as far as the Arts Aficionado is concerned, but if you’d like help narrowing down the options, Molly Gilmore is at your service.

by Diane Chiddister — page 26
Writer Star Wuerdemann always sought a place that connects writers to each other; sometimes, she found it. But in Olympia, she came up short. Wuerdemann recalled recently the advice given by Andrea Griffith, the owner of Browsers Bookshop, when she talked of her struggle to find a writing community. “Andrea said, ‘Sometimes you have to start it yourself.” Now Wuerdemann is doing just that. She’s launching OlyPages, a writing arts studio.

2026 Fall/Winter Theatre — page 23