Thinking about eloping in Tacoma, Washington? Move to Tacoma Podcast Host Marguerite Martin talks with Elope 253 Founder Rochelle Bergstrom about how much it actually costs to elope in Pierce County, what Washington State requires, and why 1,293 couples from Tacoma and beyond have gotten married in her downtown Tacoma chapel.

Rochelle was first on the podcast in October 2017 when she’d officiated 11 weddings. She shared that she started her business after hearing about the Spaceworks Incubator on the Move to Tacoma Podcast. Nine years later she’s still in the same storefront downtown and she has some great insights to share with us about running a small business in a city that’s still figuring itself out.

In this episode:

How much it costs to elope in Tacoma at Rochelle’s chapel Elope 253 ($595 to $2,295 packages)

Washington State’s three day waiting period for a marriage license

The two witness requirement, and what to do if you don’t have two people

How Rochelle started Elope 253 as a weekend side hustle through Tacoma’s Space Works incubator program

Why she gives downtown Tacoma four and a half stars as a business location

Hiring your first assistant when it terrifies you

The average Pierce County wedding now runs $33,000 to $35,000

Where Tacoma couples are actually meeting in 2026 (spoiler: it’s mostly online)

The number one thing people say makes them feel loved Elope 253 is located in downtown Tacoma.

Learn more at elope253.com. Move to Tacoma is a neighborhood guide, blog, and podcast helping people find their place in Tacoma, Pierce County, and beyond. If you want help finding a real estate agent who knows your neighborhood, that’s what we do at movetotacoma.com. Your agent pays the finder’s fee out of their commission.

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Grit City Magazine is one of the last print magazines telling Tacoma’s real stories, and on this episode of Move to Tacoma Tacoma real estate agent Marguerite Martin sat down with Editor in Chief Sierra Hartman and Creative Strategist & Social Media Manager Heather Swanson.

The conversation gets into the history of Grit City Magazine, from its 2017 founding with Puyallup tribal member William Manzanares through the pandemic years that nearly ended it. If you’re looking for Tacoma media, Tacoma journalism, or just want to understand how a hand stitched quarterly magazine survives in 2026, check out this latest episode. Sierra and Heather talk candidly about who submits stories to Grit City Magazine.

They walk through the hard lesson of realizing their early volunteer only model was mostly reaching upper middle class white writers with time on their hands, and what it took to build real relationships with underserved communities in Tacoma, including people of color and queer folks so Tacoma’s full range of voices showed up on the page. The conversation also digs into some of their most memorable stories, including a Japantown history told through a family’s own account of the incarceration era, and a firsthand account of the Asarco smelter stack coming down.

This episode is also a look at how small local media in Tacoma survives right now. Grit City Magazine runs on subscriptions, bite sized local sponsors organized by neighborhood, and packing parties where community members hand stitch each and every issue. Sierra and Heather talk about their plans for a digital edition to make the magazine more accessible, why they’ve resisted traditional ads, and how they’re thinking about doing it differently when they finally add them If you love Tacoma, Tacoma Washington neighborhoods, or stories about the people living here subscribe to Grit City Magazine at gritcitymag.com.

You can also find them at Grit City Books, High Voltage Records, Howdy Bagel, and Hive Provisions. If you’re thinking about a move to Tacoma yourself, this episode is a good reminder that Tacoma is full of people telling their own version of what it’s like to live here. Move to Tacoma is part of the Channel 253 podcast network. Learn more at movetotacoma.com.

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Jessica Tweed of Tacoma’s Oscar’s Enemies never set out to build a movement. In September 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Jessica asked her family to help her pick up litter in her Tacoma, WA neighborhood near Sixth Avenue for her birthday. What started off as Jessica and her friends having a socially distant birthday with grabbers, reused grocery bags, and her husband hauling trash in his truck has grown into Oscar’s Enemies. Oscar’s Enemies is a fully volunteer run organization that now hosts 18 organized litter pickups a year across Tacoma, WA and draws anywhere from 60 to 125 people per event.

In this episode of the podcast, Jessica walks Marguerite through the surprisingly complex logistics behind each pickup. Routes are scouted by driving the streets of Tacoma, WA looking for litter dense areas, checking for safe parking for so many volunteers, abundant crosswalks, and accessible bathrooms. This scouting process alone can take two to four hours per route. Locations are kept secret until the week of the event, a lesson learned the hard way after early announcements led to the litter disappearing before volunteers arrived. WHAT A PROBLEM TO HAVE.

The episode also covers how Oscar’s Enemies partners with the City of Tacoma’s Neighborhood Litter Patrol for supplies like bags, gloves, and landfill passes, and how the group collaborates with other Tacoma, WA organizations including Tacoma Trash Pandas, Tacoma Beer Week, and University of Puget Sound students. Jessica shares how the group keeps volunteers engaged with post pickup raffles featuring donated gift cards from local businesses, and milestone thank you gifts for repeat volunteers.

Marguerite, (who joined a pickup herself ahead of this recording), and Jessica also dig into the deeper why behind the work: what litter reveals about a city, why so much of it comes from overfilled bins and unsecured loads rather than the assumptions people make, and Jessica’s advice for anyone in Tacoma, WA who wants to start something similar in their own community. Looking ahead, Oscar’s Enemies is exploring a possible partnership with the Washington Department of Transportation to tackle litter on highway on ramps and off ramps in 2026.

Jessica Tweed is the founder of Oscar’s Enemies, a volunteer led litter cleanup group she started in Tacoma, WA in 2020 and has grown into 18 organized pickups a year. She lives near Sixth Avenue with her husband and has called Tacoma, WA home since fifth grade.

Marguerite Martin is a Tacoma real estate agent and the founder of MoveToTacoma.com, a neighborhood guide, blog, and podcast helping people find their place in Tacoma, WA and Pierce County. She has been a licensed agent since 2005.

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Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children has been a Tacoma institution since 1936. Even so- Move to Tacoma Podast host Marguerite Martin admits on-mic she didn’t fully understand what they do until she sat down with Executive Director Carolyn McDougal-Weyrick at dinner this winter. Turns out a lot of Tacoma doesn’t know either. Lindquist sees kids from birth to their 21st birthday, takes essentially every insurance including Apple Health, Medicaid, Molina, Coordinated Care, Delta Dental, and TRICARE, and doesn’t turn anyone away for inability to pay. They see over 24,000 patient visits a year out of their Parkland location at 131st and Pacific, and they still have room to grow.

Dr. Stephens walks through what makes the clinic different: six dentists, specialty services like oral surgery and endodontics on site, and a general anesthesia program she personally runs for kids ages 3 to 8 who need significant work done. Instead of six appointments, parents taking off work six times, and a kid who learns to dread the dentist, it’s one 90-minute visit. The kids wake up with their princess crowns intact and still want to come back. For income-qualifying military families on TRICARE Dental, Lindquist is the only place in the area that can waive the out-of-pocket and deductible costs entirely, which matters a lot when a family has four or five kids and a $1,300 annual cap per child.

The conversation gets into something that many Tacoma area nonprofits are struggling with. Federal cuts to the programs that serve the most vulnerable people in our community. Medicaid cuts went into effect July 1, 2025, and Lindquist is facing roughly a $280,000 shortfall from what they expected. But Lindquist has a plan. They’re not cutting services, they’re growing their private-insurance patient base. Because when a family with insurance comes through the door, it directly supports the half-million dollars a year in uncompensated care the clinic provides. They just finished a $1M renovation funded entirely by designated facility grants and donor dollars, so the space is freshly renovated. 15 new chairs, digital nomad x-rays, a surgical suite. Come as you are, bring the kid you’ve been putting off bringing, and if you’ve got private insurance, know that showing up helps your neighbors and is part of how this model stays alive.

The post Lindquist Dental: Where No Child is Turned Away Due to Inability to Pay appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Director of Brand & Marketing at Tacoma-based SiteCrafting Jen Rittenhouse joins Move to Tacoma Podcast Host and Tacoma real estate agent Marguerite Martin to talk about the work happening behind the scenes at SiteCrafting, a Tacoma tech company that’s been building and supporting websites since 1998. While they started with web development, Jen explains how SiteCrafting now offers a much broader set of services: branding, digital strategy, SEO, social strategy, accessibility audits, communications consulting, and even a UX research lab (the only one in South Puget Sound). Their clients range from local nonprofits to major community pillars like the Washington State Fair Event Center, MultiCare, Tacoma Public Utilities, and the Puyallup Tribe.

Marguerite and Jen get real about what websites actually require: not just design and code, but clarity about purpose, audience, and content- plus ongoing maintenance as technology changes. They talk through SEO basics (how people find you via search) and how the rise of AI summaries is changing behavior online: sometimes Google answers the question without sending people to your site, and sometimes AI pulls questionable info from unvetted sources. Jen’s takeaway is simple but powerful: it’s never been more important to be accurate, to be the “source of truth,” and to build direct relationships with your audience.

The conversation also moves into practical marketing advice for small businesses and nonprofits in Tacoma. Jen argues that email newsletters are still effective, and that the best move is to pick one channel and do it well rather than trying to do everything. She talks about social media realities and how making good content takes the same effort as making bad content.  She shares why it’s okay to post less often, and why LinkedIn is “having a moment” in 2026. They wrap with some Puyallup-specific joy (fair parking hacks, walkability, the farmers market) and a clear call to pay attention locally because the stakes of politics aren’t abstract when they show up in your own city’s decisions. Whether you’re in Downtown Tacoma or Downtown Puyallup!

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In this episode of the Move to Tacoma Podcast Marguerite Martin talks with Nicholas Carr, a Housing Policy Strategic Advisor for Washington State. They talk about why housing in Washington State is so expensive, why homelessness keeps rising in Tacoma and beyond, and why small fixes do not seem to be having the impact everyone wants.

Nick explains that housing isn’t just about buildings. It’s an entire ecosystem made up of five connected parts: land and zoning, money and financing, permits and construction, jobs and wages, and how the system responds when things break. When one part fails, the whole system suffers.

He argues that Washington’s housing crisis is ultimately an economic problem. The state has one of the most unfair tax systems in the country, where lower-income people pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the wealthy. As costs rise, this imbalance puts renters at risk and strains affordable housing providers.

Nick shares ideas for long-term solutions, including creating a true state housing department, using public land to build homes, simplifying rules to lower building costs, investing in construction jobs, and providing direct rental assistance to prevent evictions before they happen.

Throughout the conversation, Marguerite pushes back on narratives that blame renters. She emphasizes that tenants are often the most vulnerable people in the system and are doing what they can to survive. This is a wide ranging conversation that explores why communities end up fighting each other instead of addressing the larger economic forces driving the housing crisis.

The post How to Fix Housing in Washington State with Nicholas Carr appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

What Is Palmer Scholars?
In this episode of Move to Tacoma, Marguerite talks with Malachi Cabrera from Palmer Scholars, a nonprofit started in Tacoma in 1983. The organization helps young people in Pierce County who are underrepresented or face barriers to education and careers. Palmer Scholars works with students while they are still in high school and continues supporting them into adulthood.

Preparing Students for College and Reducing Debt
Malachi explains the Palmer Legacy program, which helps high school students prepare for college. Students learn how to apply to college, fill out FAFSA forms, and apply for scholarships. They also receive financial support for tuition and everyday needs like books, groceries, and transportation. Because of this support, many Palmer Scholars finish college with very little student loan debt.

Career Pathways in Trades and Environmental Work
The episode also covers two other programs. Palmer Pathways is a pre-apprenticeship program that introduces young adults to skilled trades like construction and electrical work. Students try different trades, meet people in the field, and even help build a tiny home. The Green Stormwater Infrastructure program focuses on environmental jobs and teaches students about stormwater systems and sustainability work.

Why Community Support Matters
Throughout the conversation, Malachi shares that what students value most is not just the money, but the sense of community and support. Palmer Scholars connects students with mentors and helps remove barriers like transportation. Listeners are encouraged to learn more, become mentors, or support the organization through donations and community events.

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Francis Faye Oak and Devin Rydel Kelly came on the podcast to talk about tenant rights, tenant organizing, and the growing tenant union movement in Tacoma. The conversation centers on the origins and goals of Tacoma for All, a housing justice organization that emerged in response to rising rents, displacement, and deteriorating living conditions, and on the recent fight to defend Tacoma’s voter-approved Landlord Fairness Code from proposed rollbacks at City Council.

Francis and Devin explain the difference between traditional “activism” and grassroots organizing, emphasizing the power of building relationships among neighbors around shared material conditions. They discuss how Tacoma for All successfully organized a citizen-led initiative to pass some of the strongest tenant protections in Washington State, and why they now see tenant unions as a crucial next step in building lasting power where people live.  Especially as landlords and local political leaders attempt to weaken those protections.

The episode also dives into what a tenant union actually is, using the New York Apartments Tenant Union in Stadium District as a real-world example. Sparked by unresolved maintenance issues and landlord neglect, tenants began talking with one another, realized their problems were shared, and organized collectively to demand safe, healthy, and stable housing.

Finally, the conversation broadens to the larger housing crisis, touching on nonprofit housing providers, political accountability, and the limits of relying on market-based solutions for a basic human need. Francis and Devin argue that housing instability is a systemic problem, not a moral failing of tenants, and that real change requires organized tenants, community solidarity, and sustained pressure on local power structures. The episode closes with a call for more Tacoman residents (renters and allies alike) to get involved, build relationships with their neighbors, and recognize their collective power in shaping the city’s future.

Tacoma for All is a democratic membership organization that unites tenants, workers, and community members to transform Tacoma into a city governed by and for working people. Together, their goals are to are build a movement to abolish poverty, guarantee housing for all, dismantle racial inequities, and secure a sustainable future.

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In this episode the Move to Tacoma Podcast- host Marguerite Martin sits down with Mayor-Elect Anders Ibsen for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about how Tacoma is governed. They discuss what meaningful accountability can actually look like in a city with a city-manager system.

Ibsen reflects on growing up in Tacoma, his early years on City Council, and the door-to-door conversations that shaped his mayoral campaign. He describes what he calls the “reverse internet”: face-to-face conversations that reveal most residents are not extreme or angry, but deeply concerned about housing stability, homelessness, affordability, and public safety. The discussion explores the gap between how safe people in Tacoma feel and their lived experience in their own neighborhoods,. Anders shares why he thinks perception, visibility, and trust matter as much as response times and crime statistics.

Throughout the interview Marguerite presses Ibsen on the questions many residents struggle to understand: What power does the mayor actually have? Who is accountable when systems don’t work? How can Tacoma make progress without new money or federal help? Isn’t the City of Tacoma about to go through a budget shortfall? Ibsen outlines his view of the mayor’s role as a coalition-builder and agenda-setter. Tacoma doesn’t have a “strong mayor,” the mayor of Tacoma is more a Speaker of the House. He sees his role as focused on articulating clear goals, aligning council and staff, and insisting on follow-through.

The conversation dives into specific examples, including scaling Tacoma’s underused therapeutic court system as an alternative to incarceration, regional partnerships to address homelessness, and the upcoming city manager search. Ibsen argues that many solutions already exist but lack coordination, accountability, and political will. Anders thinks that leadership means making priorities explicit, measurable, and visible to the public.

This episode offers a rare, inside look at how local government actually works in Tacoma, the limits of mayoral power, and what residents can realistically expect from their next administration. Most importantly? How Tacomans can hold it accountable.

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Hailey Hernandez knows what it takes to survive and thrive in Tacoma’s restaurant scene. Born and raised in Washington, she worked for years in the restaurant industry before burning out on low wages, toxic environments, and exploitation. In 2022, with only $300 and a $2,400 payday loan, she and her husband Dante launched Sidepiece Kitchen out of a shared commissary space in South Tacoma. What started as a small hustle to pay the bills quickly became one of Tacoma’s most beloved local businesses.

In this candid interview, Hailey shares the highs and lows of opening a restaurant in Tacoma without a business plan, big investors, or corporate backing. She talks about leveraging Instagram to connect directly with Tacoma locals, running successful grassroots fundraisers, and building out their South Tacoma brick-and-mortar location with their own hands. More than just biscuits, Sidepiece Kitchen lives their values: fair pay, health benefits, and community over profit. If you follow them online you know they’re not shy about standing up for what they believe in.

Whether you’re dreaming about how to open a restaurant in Tacoma, Washington, or you just love a good underdog story, Hailey’s journey is a must-listen.

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