Expect food trucks, music and a cool sand painting at this weekend’s Tacoma Ocean Fest
It’s Tacoma’s only ocean-themed festival, and it’s back this weekend on both land and water.
Ocean Fest is being held at the Foss Waterway Seaport where it’s entering its seventh year with its trademark blend of ecology and art.
The main event is Sunday at the Seaport with art, music, dance, lectures, ecology and conservation-themed booths, science demos, kayaking, hands-on activities and food trucks.
It was begun by former News Tribune arts and entertainment reporter and Tacoma Metro Parks spokesperson Rosemary Ponnekanti. Ponnekanti relocated to Australia in 2022, and the event is now organized by the Seaport.
Sand painting
Few artists enjoy demolishing their work. Ocean Fest’s lead artist, River Meschi, is one of them.
“One of the most beautiful parts about sand painting is how temporary they are,” she said. “And one of my favorite parts is actually destroying it.”
Meschi has spent much of the last few weeks meticulously creating a sand painting inside the Seaport museum for Ocean Fest.
Sand paintings pop up all over the world from Tibet to the Navajo Nation. Meschi was inspired by her Italian and Slavic heritages to create “Mother of Waters”. In Italy, the annual Infiorata Festival uses flower petals to make designs. In Slavic cultures, sypanie piaskiem refers to “pouring of sand”. Finally, the “Mother of Waters” comes from the Latvian “Ūdens māte.”
Spreading out from Meschi’s vertical painting of a mountain-like woman’s tears are rivers and designs, all made from sand. A reflective mylar layer mimics water in the 16-foot-wide by 20-foot-long sand carpet.
The other inspiration for the piece is that looming 14,411-foot-tall peak on Tacoma’s horizon.
“I think of the mountain and how she brings waters into the waterways, the rivers, the clouds, the vapor in the air that we breathe, and it all goes back to the sea,” Meschi, a longtime Tacoma resident, said.
Meschi uses her hands to pour the tan-colored sand and then forms designs of eyes, trees and human figures using fine paint brushes. It helps, she said, that used to decorate cakes for a living.
Why is the mountain crying?
“When we cry ... we reveal ourselves as water beings, water creatures, in a sense,” she said, wearing a shiny green dress reminiscent of fish scales. “And when I think of folklore and what sadness has meant there, it’s always connected to a profound love. The depth of grief is measured by the depth of love.”
The sand painting will be on view all weekend and after at the Seaport. On July 20, the public will be invited to add their own designs.
“And then we’ll all sweep it up together, and everyone will get a little jar of sand to take with them,” she said.
Highlights
Vashon circus duo Sarah Lovett will bring their tilting musical sculpture, The Pandemonium, to the event on Sunday. As they climb and drum, the pair tell stories of climate change resilience and hope.
A community lantern paddle Saturday evening features giant illuminated sea dragon puppets by Seattle artist tacomaoceanfest.org/, including a sea horse boat.
A beach cleanup and you also get live Hawaiian music, an interactive trash whale mural AND the chance to hunt for hand blown ocean glass eggs hidden along Tacoma shores (Ruston, Owen and Titlow beaches) by Fire It Forward, a veteran-run group that gives back to the community through art.
If you go
What: Ocean Fest
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, June 4.
Where: Foss Waterway Seaport, 705 Dock Street, Tacoma.
Admission: Free
Information: tacomaoceanfest.org/
Related events:
▪ Lantern Paddle, 7-11 p.m. June 2 at Foss Waterway Seaport.
▪ Beach Cleanup, 10 a.m.-noon June 3 at Les Davis Pier, 3427 Ruston Way, Tacoma.
