As the temperature went up to a mid-afternoon record high 92 degrees last weekend, Pierce County residents flocked to the beach, parks and even air-conditioned cinemas — and thousands spent part of their day at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Livable Communities Fair offered fun for kids and information-packed exhibits and speakers for adults.
“We believe it was the best that we’ve had,” said Fair Manager Diane Braaten. Attendance was estimated at 9,000, based on the number of carry bags and other give-away items.
Pierce County, which produced earlier fairs in Gig Harbor, Parkland and Puyallup, worked in partnership with the City of Tacoma on the event. Boeing Employees Credit Union, Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Public Utilities were main (Rainier Level) sponsors. “The fair would not happen without our sponsors,” Braaten said.
Other sponsors were (Commencement Level) Built Green – Master Builders Association of Pierce County, MultiCare Health System, Murrey’s Disposal – Waste Connections Inc., Pierce County Recycling Composting and Disposal LLC dba LRI, The Cascadia Project LLC, Pierce County Public Works and Utilities and Amtrak Cascades; (Valley Level) Regence BlueShield, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department Children’s Environmental Health Program, AHBL, Pierce County Parks and Recreation, Port of Tacoma, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, Simon Johnson LLC, SoundGRO, Tapco Credit Union, Washington State Department of Transportation and Columbia Bank. Media Sponsors were The News Tribune, 710 KIRO Radio/Ciscoe, Pierce Transit, KLAY Radio, Comcast and C-RCC.
The fair featured dozens of livable/sustainable ideas that benefit neighborhoods and communities. It provided information and educated the public on recycling, low impact development, affordable housing, roads/transit, emergency preparedness, public safety, environment, recreation and other topics.