I had a 7 a.m. sunny run with the hounds around Point Defiance, a four and a half hour cloudy housecleaning spree prior to getting my bod down to Art on the Ave, the Sixth Avenue community and art festival.

Consequently, I was tired and half expecting it to rain by the time I made it to Culture Babe’s house, and surprised that by the time we hit the first strains of music emanating from Jazzbones, the sun was emerging again.

The festival was everything and more than I was expecting, with friends like Mindy Barker (helped by Gretchen) and Leigh (helped by Tracy Marie), Willow Eskridge (helped by her super cool images) all my Dockyard Derby Dames friends, and  more, more, more hanging out looking like they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Fun, too to see Midsummer Soiree friends Mandy, Dez, and Suzanne sitting in the Jazzbones garden with buckets o’ booze (hurricanes?).

Culture Babe and I headed to co-scribe Jossy, who scored a grand table in front of Six Olives where CB and I shared a mojito “event” (32 ounces of mojito love, though I suspect it was considerably less, what with the large volume of ice in the glass).

Our dipping fries with wasabi ailoli were crunchy divinity, and were gone all too quickly â€" by the time we were out of food and libations, a Luau group had assembled and CB and I wandered around, taking in the sights.

At CHAOS, I saw what appeared to be a well-orchestrated flurry of activity, with agile men climbing streamers of Volcanoes created by creatively dressed individuals of to the top of an impressively large scaffolding, under the watchful eye of Lynn Di Nino.  It was mesmerizing to listen to the orators, and watch the hubbub, and then to see the crowd gather just past the construction, watching brave Derby Dames scramble around a quarter-sized “rink” to give the masses a taste of what Derby can look like.

Art cars were rad, DASH performers talented, booths interesting, and all told, more fun than I thought a festival could be.

For me, things like Art on the Ave show what the next level of community can look like: all kinds of people gathering together to enjoy the city at its casual fun best.

And as Culture Babe and I sat in the shelter of Pairings, meeting up with Jennevieve, Trevor, and Julia, we mused over the very full couple of hours.

All good things must end, and I came home to my clean house and family with a happy sigh and a single, simple thought.

Mmm, Tacoma. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler