Grab Your Costume...and Paddleboard? for the First Ever Grit City Costume Paddle!

The brainchild of Tacoma glass artist and paddler Diane Hansen, with partners Tacoma Ocean Fest and Grit City Magazine, the paddle encourages our city to get weird on the water this Halloween.

Paddler participants will use kayaks, paddleboards, and other non-motorized watercraft all while wearing their best Halloween disguises. Don’t have a paddleboard or other means to participate? The Thea Foss Waterway has many places to walk socially-distanced to view the costume bearing paddlers, including Thea Foss Park, the Foss Waterway Seaport esplanade, and right here at Museum of Glass. If you join the paddle, be sure to wave at the Cone while you pass. The Museum will be open, 10am–5pm, on the day of this event. So stop by in your Halloween garb for a MOG Pumpkin Patch photoshoot!

There’s also an online costume contest with prizes for the winners of each category: Most Artsy, Best Ocean Animal, and Spookiest, which will be judged by local artist Lisa Fruichantie. Tacoma Ocean Fest and Grit City Magazine asks participants to submit their photos to social media with the hashtag #gritcitypaddle anytime before 12pm on Oct. 31, or email your photos to info@tacomaoceanfest.org. Contest prizes will be announced by 6pm on the Facebook event page, and recipients can stop by the Foss Waterway Seaport to pick them up. Open 3–7pm Fridays, 10am–2pm Saturdays, and 12–4pm Sundays.

For more information, see the Grit City Costume Paddle Facebook Event or tacomaoceanfest.org/water-fun.