Will rock trio Sleater-Kinney participate in Lacey’s 50th birthday party? Maybe

Lacey has contacted the indie rock band Sleater-Kinney to see whether band members would help celebrate the city’s 50th birthday.

“We have been reaching out to them,” said Mary Coppin of Lacey’s Public Affairs Department.

The band Sleater-Kinney — made up of Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss — formed in Olympia in 1994. The group's name is derived from Sleater Kinney Road, one of Lacey’s main thoroughfares and the location of one of their early practice spaces.

Coppin, along with city museum curator Erin Quinn Valcho and 50th anniversary committee chairman Howard Burton, updated the Lacey City Council on Thursday about plans for the anniversary celebration. They also heard other party suggestions from the council.

Lacey became an incorporated community Dec. 5, 1966. But rather than celebrate on one day, the city has decided to party for a year, from July of this year to July 2017. Sleater-Kinney, if members agree to perform, would play a concert set for July 2017, Coppin said.

Other plans for the celebration:

▪ Valcho said an actor will portray noted Lacey developer Bob Blum, working from a script penned by local historian and parks board member Ken Balsley. The script will tell the story of Lacey, she said. Blum probably is best known for developing South Sound Shopping Center, which was once an enclosed mall.

▪ Valcho said the Washington state poet laureate will write a poem for the city’s 50th birthday party. Tod Marshall, a Gonzaga University professor, is poet laureate through 2018.

Other ideas include burying a time capsule that would be dug up 50 years from now and getting a busload of people, all of whom were born in December 1966, to participate in a planned parade, Coppin said.

In addition to getting Sleater-Kinney to perform — an idea that originated with deputy mayor Cynthia Pratt — council members suggested inviting other famous people who have ties to Lacey, such as former Seattle Sounders goalie Kasey Keller, and Gary Larsen, a former defensive tackle with the Minnesota Vikings.

The party committee also got some good news on Thursday, when the council agreed to increase its budget to $60,000 from $25,000.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 6:55 AM with the headline "Will rock trio Sleater-Kinney participate in Lacey’s 50th birthday party? Maybe."