Out and About: Celebrate summer, sample beer or go ‘Back to the Future’
LoveOly? Attend Summer Fest
The Olympia Downtown Alliance’s LoveOly Summer Fest — a free street party conceived as a way to bring the community downtown after pandemic closures — is back. The festival, happening from 1 to 7 p.m. Saturdays in August at Fifth Avenue and Washington Street, includes art, games, activities for kids, a craft market and a beer garden, but the centerpiece of each event is an outdoor concert produced by the Olympia Film Society. The Supersuckers, the hard-rocking, large-living band led by Seattle’s Eddie Spaghetti, is headlining the Saturday, Aug. 6, concert, with opening acts Speeddealers and The Stuntmen. The music is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia.
Brew bash
Also happening Saturday, Aug. 6, is the Olympia Brew Fest. More than 30 breweries will be serving up beer, cider and mead. Among this year’s brews are drinks that taste like other drinks — Packwood Brewing’s Mountain Goat Coffee Porter, Dick’s Brewing’s Orange Juice Jewels IPA, Axis Mead’s Green Tea Mead, and Bauman’s Cider’s Strawberry Mojito. The event also features music by Luna Melt, Big Blue Van and the Toucans steel drum band; games and contests; and an international selection of barbecue including Korean bulgogi, Jamaican jerk and Middle Eastern shawarma. Tickets are $35 at the door, $5 for designated drivers.
Movies al fresco
Those who love to watch movies while sitting on a blanket under the stars have two options on Friday, Aug. 5. Tumwater’s Screen on the Green is showing the 1985 Michael J. Fox classic “Back to the Future,” which has made a lasting mark on popular culture and isn’t often shown on a big screen these days. The screening begins at dusk at Tumwater Valley Golf Course, 4611 Tumwater Valley Drive SE. Lacey in Tune is wrapping up its summer movie series with Disney’s acclaimed 2021 fantasy “Encanto,” about a Colombian family with extraordinary powers. The evening begins with Latin American music by Culture Shock, which will play beginning at 7 p.m.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.