Things are far from normal around these parts (read: the world), but that's not stopping museums, concert halls, and festival organizers in the South Sound from putting on great events that honor social distancing guidelines. We've rounded up the most notable Tacoma events this month below, from the virtual Washington State Fair Past Event Like List  to the Tacoma Art Museum's Virtual Gala Past Event Like List to Cider Swig: Drive-Thru Edition Past Event Like List . 

SEPTEMBER 4-6

COMMUNITY

Pop-Up Glassblowing and Activities Past Event Like List
The Museum of Glass is opening up its outdoor plaza for a weekend of socially distant live glassblowing, scavenger hunts, and art-making activities, like painting on glass jars. 
Museum of Glass

SEPTEMBER 4-19

GEEK

Fort from Home Past Event Like List
The Fort Nisqually Living History Museum presents three livestreamed events to help you experience the Northwest Victorian era without leaving your house or getting involved in any dangerous feats of time travel. Events in the series include Women, Firearms, and the Fur Trade (Fri Sept 4), Apple Pressing (Sat Sept 12), and Victorian Cooking (Sat Sept 19).

SEPTEMBER 4-OCTOBER 23

COMMUNITY

Virtual Washington State Fair Past Event Like List
The Washington State Fair in its usual incarnation is a no-go this year, but you can still get fair food to go Past Event Like List via a drive-through (through Sept 27), shop from local vendors at a virtual marketplace (through Oct 15), participate in a virtual Run the Puyallup (Sat Sept 5), and bid on stuff in the Round Up Auction (Oct 19-23).

SEPTEMBER 5-6

PERFORMANCE

The Man in the Chair Part 2 Past Event Like List
John Douglas Rake, who played the role of Man in the Chair in the Tacoma Musical Playhouse production of The Drowsy Chaperone, will host his own show featuring livestreamed performances with Tacoma actors singing their favorite songs from the Tacoma Musical Theater's repertoire.

SEPTEMBER 7-12

COMMUNITY

Wheels & Heels Virtual Gala Past Event Like List
Get all glitzed for a night in and tune into LeMay's livestreamed, weeklong edition of their annual Wheels & Heels Gala on YouTube. There will be silent auctions, car-hop dinners at local restaurants like El Gaucho, and more.

SEPTEMBER 8-16

VISUAL ART

TAM Virtual Gala 2020! Past Event Like List
The Tacoma Art Museum's virtual gala will highlight its newly expanded online programs and its work around diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. There will also be auction items, on which you'll have a full week to bid, as well as raffles, an interactive cocktail hour, and live entertainment.

SEPTEMBER 12

MUSEUMS

LeMay Collections at Marymount Grand Re-Opening Event Past Event Like List
After a several-month COVID-19 hiatus, this classic car museum is making its return. They've installed one-way signs for self-guided tours and sanitation stations so you can enjoy their 500-piece collection of vintage vehicles and memorabilia in peace. 
LeMay Collections at Marymount

SEPTEMBER 12-DECEMBER 19

MUSIC

Symphony Tacoma Fall 2020 Season Past Event Like List
Join Symphony Tacoma for free live chamber music performances and related discussions on their YouTube channel and Facebook Live page throughout the season, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (Sat Sept 26).

SEPTEMBER 13

COMMUNITY

Tacoma Ocean Fest Past Event Like List
This free aquatic-focused festival of arts and sciences will spend its third year online, where you can see music and dance video premieres and underwater films, participate in youth story contests (if you are a youth), hear OceanX talks, and learn about the Puget Sound. 

SEPTEMBER 20

FOOD & DRINK

Curbside Chowder Social Past Event Like List
Safely indulge in a smorgasbord of local chowders at this contactless event benefiting the historic seaport.
Foss Waterway Seaport

SEPTEMBER 26

VISUAL ART

Red Hot 2020 Past Event Like List
Renowned local glass artists Preston Singletary and Raven Skyriver will create a piece of art before your very eyes, and one lucky auction participant will get to take it home. 

SEPTEMBER 26-27

FOOD & DRINK

Cider Swig: Drive-Thru Edition Past Event Like List
Cider makers across the region—plus some local food trucks—will offer to-go kits and other goodies at this drive-through festival. Each kit will include a plethora of ciders, two Cider Swig tasting glasses, miscellaneous tchotchkes, and a discount code for next year's (hopefully) in-person festival.
Various pickup locations

THROUGH OCTOBER 25

VISUAL ART

In the Spirit Contemporary Native Arts Virtual Exhibition Past Event Like List
For the 15th year, Native artists showcase their work at the In the Spirit contemporary Native arts exhibition, which will offer prizes in categories including Best of Show, Honoring the Northwest, and People's Choice. You can view this year's virtual event at any time to see work by Jim Stritzel, Chholing Taha, RYAN! Feddersen, Peter Boome, and others, or check out the virtual juror conversation Past Event Like List (Sept 10) or Peter Boome artist spotlight Past Event Like List (Sept 24).