Lantern Paddle for Species

Get out those LEDs – and if you have one, a kayak or paddleboard. On Friday June 4, Tacomans will light up the Thea Foss Waterway with the first-ever Lantern Paddle for Species, a part of Tacoma Ocean Fest 2021.

With shoreside entertainment from 7-9pm, light art and paddle launch at 9pm, the event isn’t just a cool excuse to rig up lights on your paddlecraft or wave them on land.

You’ll also be helping create a magical twilight moment, celebrating all threatened marine species – like our own orcas and salmon – and reminding our world what we need to do to protect them from pollution, climate change and extinction.

SCHEDULE

7-9pm: PLU Steel Pan Ensemble & aerialist Deanna Riley

9-10pm: Projection light art

Both outside the Foss Waterway Seaport, 705 Dock St, Tacoma. The museum will be open. Watch the start of the 70-48 paddle race go out of the waterway from the Museum of Glass at 7pm.

9pm Paddle launch anywhere along Foss Waterway. Wear/bring lights and/or watch on land.

Please mask up and social-distance. Wear a lifejacket and know your water limits. Human paddlecraft only, please. Beginners: Stay inside the enclosed water area outside the Foss Waterway Seaport.

HOW CAN YOU HELP PROTECT MARINE SPECIES?

• Join the Lantern Paddle and bring/wear something that reminds us of the beauty of ocean life
• Explore our Ocean Actions and make them part of your daily life: refuse single-use plastic, avoid chemicals in your home/yard, support green energy, drive less, save salmon for orcas, eat ocean-friendly and more
• Clean up a beach – do the Tacoma Shoreline Survey & Cleanup on June 5!
• Talk to your friends about it. Speak up and vote for the ocean.
• Donate to one of our eco-partners that protect local marine wildlife: Harbor Wild Watch, Defenders of Wildlife, SR3, Citizens for a Healthy Bay, Washington Environmental Council, The Ikkatsu Project