When we talk to people about the magazine they’re often surprised to hear that there’s only two of us running the thing. This is technically true, but it’s more complex than that. The only thing that elevates us above a forgettable blog and a stack of photocopied pages stapled together is the overwhelming support of a whole lot of amazing people, most of whom do it simply because they like us. How amazing is that?
These happen to be a lot of the same people who ensured our party last weekend wasn’t a complete* shitshow. Sara and I didn’t really get out to enjoy it much, but from the quick lap I did to grab some photos it looked like people were having a pretty good time. Because of this fact, we wanted to take some time to thank the people who were involved.
This is a little bit like the credits at the end of the movie and we don’t expect it to be our next viral article, but we think it’s important. Tacoma is a tight-knit community and I would bet you’re already friends with most of these people through two or three degrees of separation. And if you’re not, this is your opportunity to get in there.
Thank you to…
- The really important person who was vital to some aspect of this thing but was forgotten nonetheless. We’re really sorry we forgot about you but I assure you we’ll remember just after it’s too late. At least you’re at the top of the list, right?
- Hillary Jensen-Bergren for introducing us to the awesome space that we threw the party in, for organizing all the food vendors, illustrating the flyers, and managing all the dozens of other little details that made the thing work. That on top of all the other helpful things you’ve done/drawn/fixed for us. If anyone got a chance to see her beautiful place during the party and wants more screen printing and fun in their life, check out the Shiloh Threads site.
- Rick and Jori Semple for allowing us to throw a party in one of your buildings even though it was pretty clear we had no idea what we were doing. You’re both wonderful people and you’re doing great things for Tacoma.
- Donaji Mejia for making our Hard Copy magazine the beautiful thing that it is. Your graphic design skills are somewhere up there with magic in my mind and the quality of work you can bust out with impossibly tight deadlines is nothing short of miraculous. If you ever want something with words and images to look better, she can make it happen.
- Joseph Brooks for not only designing the image that would make the letterpress posters for Hard Copy #5 but for sticking around and having a hand in the entire process. Everything from the day we had the linoleum block made, to painting the paper, to learning how to work the printing press, to signing finished pieces at the party; all of it was made better with your involvement. Be blown away by his talent here.
- Brandon Felton, Nina Hartman, Twighla Allen, Carrie B McG, Cameron McGinnis, Evan McGinnis, and Christine Jensen for doing literally everything at our party and making up for our astounding lack of planning. Sara and I would’ve been reduced to smouldering piles of stress if it weren’t for you all showing up and going above and beyond.
- Leah Morgan for lending your expertise on event planning and helping us avoid some of the potential pitfalls of party throwing. Also for bringing all your friends and wearing yet another spectacular jumpsuit to brighten the place up.
- Print Northwest for getting the magazines printed on extremely short notice. It would’ve been embarrassing to throw a party celebrating our print magazine without having print magazines at the party. If you need 1,000 of something put on paper and you need it done yesterday, give them a call.
- Visual Options for laser cutting the linoleum block from Joseph’s design and for always being down to try new things just for the sake of fun and experimentation. We’ve been into them for a while now so be sure to look them up if you ever need something fun made. Seriously, anything. More info here.
- Lance Kagey for lending us your printing press, along with all the ink and tools we’d need, and for donating all the super fancy paper that made all the beautiful posters at our party. The rogue poster project known as Beautiful Angle that he does with Tom Llewellyn is one of Tacoma’s finest treasures and his company Rotator Creative is a wellspring of good ideas.
- John James and Steve Nacaratto for bringing 30 feet of brightly glowing 253 love.
- Vainglorious Vegan, Hamhock Jones, and Bliss Small Batch Creamery for taking a chance on a party with no guarantee of more than 12 people showing up. Your food is amazing and we were so happy you agreed to come.
- 7 Seas Brewing and Rainier for donating enough beer to entertain an army. Your beer has played an integral part in the production of our magazines since day one (I actually spilled a tallboy of Rainier on a bunch of our first run of magazines but somehow they dried out and ended up looking fine). Your generosity made our party a party.
- To Hope Furnishings and Northwest Furniture Bank for lending us all the super comfy furniture we had around in the parking lot at our party. If you found yourself feeling relaxed and loungey at the party, you have them to thank. They do amazing things for the people of Tacoma on a number of levels. Next time you need some furniture or have some to give, look them up.
- Everyone who donated items to our silent auction. We weren’t sure how this whole thing would go but a lot of people got really into it and it was a HUGE help to all the things we’ve got planned for the magazine.
- SURGE for your exclusive tour of Old City Hall
- Courthouse Square and En Rama for your fancy ballroom, private tour, and gift certificate
- Tacoma Dome for your Trevor Noah tickets
- Shiloh Threads for your Wine and Design night
- Pretty Gritty Tours for your VIP tour of Stadium High School
- Rainier Beer for the super cool bobble head
- All of the businesses and organizations that opened your doors to make the party into a block party. Your friends became our friends and our friends got to know a really cool little spot on Puyallup Ave.
- All you lovely people, our fans, readers, and hard copy subscribers, for your patience and loyalty, and for showing up so we didn’t look like losers with a party nobody came to.
- Taylor Sampey for this amazing and totally unexpected sketch of the party.
*It was still a little bit of a shitshow, which we take full responsibility for. We were still setting up when people started coming in and a lot of little things didn’t really work like they were supposed to. If you had a hard time finding us, if your ears are still ringing from the train noise, or if you were put off by some other poorly thought out aspect of the event, we do apologize. Having never done something like this before we were bound to let a few things fall through the cracks. We learned a lot about throwing a party and it was a lot of fun so who knows, maybe we’ll throw another one some day.
