Rep. Derek Kilmer(D) loves Washington state's 6th District, the region he represents in the other Washington. And, boy oh boy, he has professed his love for its beautiful scenery and awesome people. Unfortunately, he's pretty much used up all the words in the English language professing his love for the district, so he's hosting a photo contest of the region - on his Facebook. Below is a release with details:

Representative Derek Kilmer today announced his first Facebook Cover Photo contest for residents of Washington's 6th District.  All residents are encouraged to enter an original, high-quality photograph of the region for an opportunity for it to appear as the cover photo on Representative Kilmer's Facebook page. 

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As you know the Tacoma City Ballet is in the midst of a yearlong scavenger hunt for Golden Krakatuk Nuts. The nuts tie into the company's highly anticipated Dec. 7, 2013 performance, Prequel to The Nutcracker.

Here's a refresher: TCB hides hand-painted Golden Krakatuk Nuts inside jewel boxes around Tacoma; inside the boxes is a scroll with prize details, such as gift certificates, merchandise or tickets to Tacoma City Ballet's World Premier of said Nutcracker in December. Each month through the year, Golden Krakatuk Nuts will be hidden at businesses throughout Tacoma. To find the nuts, decipher the poetic clues, which will be posted at Tacoma City Ballet's website, Facebook page, as well as this blog. You find the Golden Krakatuk Nuts and great riches will be heaped upon you! For complete on the contest and Nutcracker performance, click here.

The August Golden Krakatuk Nut clue dropped this morning. This clue will guide you to a restaurant, shop or other business at which the nuts may be in plain sight or may be behind the counter.

Read more...

By now you know the Tacoma City Ballet is in the midst of a yearlong scavenger hunt for Golden Krakatuk Nuts. The nuts tie into the company's highly anticipated Dec. 7, 2013 performance, Prequel to The Nutcracker.

Here's a refresher: TCB hides hand-painted Golden Krakatuk Nuts inside jewel boxes around Tacoma; inside the boxes is a scroll with prize details, such as gift certificates, merchandise or tickets to Tacoma City Ballet's World Premier of said Nutcracker in December. Each month through the year, Golden Krakatuk Nuts will be hidden at businesses throughout Tacoma. To find the nuts, decipher the poetic clues, which will be posted at Tacoma City Ballet's website, Facebook page, as well as this blog. You find the Golden Krakatuk Nuts and great riches will be heaped upon you! For complete on the contest and Nutcracker performance, click here.

The July Golden Krakatuk Nut clue dropped this morning. This clue will guide you to a restaurant, shop or other business at which the nuts may be in plain sight or may be behind the counter.

Read more...

Have you heard about the Facebook page dedicated to the restoration of Wasabi Funyuns? The Walkie Talkie blog hopes it receives thousands of "likes," and hopes even more fervently Frito-Lay will bring them back. Sure, regular Funyuns are awesome; portable, shelf-stable onion rings is an invention right up there with the creation of the vacuum cleaner. And the concept of adding a light dusting - albeit uneven layer - of pale green wasabi powder to them brought tears to our eyes, both figuratively and literally.

Speaking of Frito-Lay, Army and Air Force Exchange Service shoppers will have a shot at winning a $1,000 shopping spree this summer courtesy of the Exchange and Pepsi/Frito Lay. From now through July 25, shoppers can enter at any Exchange store for the chance to win one of 15 $1,000 gift cards redeemable at any Exchange store or online at www.shopmyexchange.com.

"Grief does not change you ... It reveals you." - John Green, The Fault in Our Stars  

If the truth in this statement is as real as it feels, then Jim Redman and family always had it in them to do better in this world. To take something as meaningful to them as music was to Brian Redman and pay it forward so that others could experience the same joy.

A stalwart in the Tacoma community - as a musician, bartender and all-around good guy, Brian Redman was killed when he crashed his scooter in September 2009.

In the years following his brother's death, Jim Redman and a circle of family and friends have thrown a benefit concert and poker tournament to help raise awareness of Brian's legend and to raise money for a scholarship program for young musicians.

"Tacoma was Brian's home and he loved playing for a local crowd," said Jim. "He played for his community and that's what we want to continue."

Since starting the memorial fund, which is under the umbrella of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, the family has been able to award one kid per year $1,000 each to continue pursuing their passion of music and community service.

But Jim wants more.

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There's no finer way to get to know a neighborhood than feverishly tearing your way through it, scouring the area, seeking landmarks you might otherwise walk by, racing against the clock on foot or on bike. This is the madness that is a street scramble. This is what to expect at the Tacoma Street Scramble - Sunday, June 23 - to get you, your team or your family out and about in a whole new way.

Tacoma Street Scramble will start at the Washington State History Museum. From there, participants will scurry off to explore downtown Tacoma, Ruston, Thea Foss Waterway, Old Town, the Tacoma Dome and other areas. The beauty of the street scramble is that it is not a race, at least not in the traditional sense. Teams and individuals can choose either a 90-minute or 3-hour time limit to hunt down any number of the 30 checkpoints.

For more details, click here.

Read Kristin Kendle's full feature on the race late Friday afternoon in the Spouse magazine.

CONTEST BASED ON HIDDEN NUTS >>>

By now you know the Tacoma City Ballet is in the midst of a yearlong scavenger hunt for Golden Krakatuk Nuts. The nuts tie into the company's highly anticipated Dec. 7, 2013 performance, Prequel to The Nutcracker.

Here's a refresher: TCB hides hand-painted Golden Krakatuk Nuts inside jewel boxes around Tacoma; inside the boxes is a scroll with prize details, such as gift certificates, merchandise or tickets to Tacoma City Ballet's World Premier of said Nutcracker in December. Each month through the year, Golden Krakatuk Nuts will be hidden at businesses throughout Tacoma. To find the nuts, decipher the poetic clues, which will be posted at Tacoma City Ballet's website, Facebook page, as well as this blog. You find the Golden Krakatuk Nuts and great riches will be heaped upon you! For complete on the contest and Nutcracker performance, click here.

The June Golden Krakatuk Nut clue dropped this morning. This clue will guide you to a restaurant, shop or other business at which the nuts may be in plain sight or may be behind the counter.

Here you go you nuts:

Searching for the Krakatuk Nut, you are?

Then like Drosselmeyer you must travel far.

Look for beautiful boxes containing the Golden Nut

and other delightful prizes - Who can imagine what?

Only one box is hidden this month in our fair city

And to figure out February's clue, you must be quite witty.

June's Krakatuk Clue:

On his long journey around the world,

Drosselmeyer stopped here to quench his thirst and see the curl.

"What curl?" You ask.

Is it a curl in a horn or a flask?

Do you know what that means? Are you off to find the golden nut? A limited number of prizes will be available at each location, so speed counts.

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IT'S ON! >>>

Legendary Doughnuts is presenting an excuse to gorge on copious amounts of doughnut-y goodness with its third annual doughnut challenge running from now until May 12. Man vs. Food groupies can ante up and test their pig-out skills.

The challenge is to devour a 9-inch glazed doughnut - one full pound - in 5 minutes or less. Those who complete the challenge will be entered to win a $150 cash prize, a Legendary T-shirt and bragging rights.

In addition, the person with the fastest completion time will be awarded a free dozen doughnuts each month for a year, a Legendary T-shirt and a photo on the "Legendary Wall of Fame."

To participate, drop by Legendary Doughnuts, sign a waiver stating the Tacoma bakery will not be responsible for choking, gagging or weight gain, then return the following day you're your giant-ass doughnut.

LEGENDARY DOUGHNUTS, 2602 SIXTH AVE., TACOMA, 253.327.1327

TUESDAY, APRIL 9: WE HAVE A WINNER >>>

After three weeks of voting the Weekly Volcano readers have picked the most popular sandwich in the South Sound.

The Tournament of Sandwiches Championship match pitted Milton's darling Oliver's Sandwiches against Tacoma's über deli STINK — more specifically, the Lobster Sandwich vs. the Stinker, respectively.

Yesterday's championship battle saw the most online voting before dinnertime (5 p.m.) of the tournament. The Lobster Sandwich had a commanding lead by time the voting switched to the live ballot voting at 6 p.m. during the Tournament of Sandwiches Party in Masa's upstairs party room.

At the party, folks filled out pizza voting/raffle ballots when they weren't pounding margaritas and screaming at the television. The sandwich voting was often lost during the close NCAA Men's Championship hoop game in which Louisville beat Michigan 82-76 to win the title.

But, as promised, we tallied the on-location votes during halftime of the hoop game, which ended in STINK's favor.

Representation from Oliver's Sandwiches and STINK - Cheese & Meat were in the house. The Oliver's crew arrived a half-hour early with 5-year-old Oliver in tow - the darling boy the Milton sandwich shop was named after. STINK owner Kris Blondin and her entire staff arrived, consuming an entire table and many drinks. 

At halftime of the basketball game, Pappi Swarner gave a few remarks, thanked sponsor Subway and party host Masa and gave away 10 or so South Sound restaurant gift cards as raffle prizes.

The Weekly Volcano staff quickly downed their drinks and tallied the ballots. After combining the ballots with its 76 percent vote lead accumulated online, the winner of the 2013 Tournament of Sandwiches was announced:

Oliver's Sandwiches' Lobster Sandwich.

Both South Sound restaurants will be receiving Tournament of Sandwiches trophies after completion of the engraving. Also, look for an upcoming feature on Oliver's Sandwiches in the Weekly Volcano.

So it's official: the Lobster Sandwich is the winner of Weekly Volcano's 2013 Tournament of Sandwiches. Eat it up, South Sound.

Thank you!

We would like to extend special THANKS! to SUBWAY in Orting, Puyallup, Tacoma, Spanaway and Lakewood for sponsoring the Tournament of Sandwiches. When you are in those areas, stop by for a foot-long.

Also a big thanks to Masa on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue for hosting our Tournament of Sandwiches Finals party last night. Good times.

But most of all, thanks to all the awesome folks who voted. You rock.

See you next year for the Tournament of Burgers!

LINK: Tournament of Sandwiches explanation

LINK: Hot Damn! Yes, I want the Weekly Volcano's Afternoon Delight newsletter!

<<< VOTING CLOSED FOR MONDAY, APRIL 8 >>>

The titanic sandwich throwdown finale in on! Voting for the 2013 Weekly Volcano Tournament of Sandwiches Readers' Poll Championship game is live right now.

After three weeks of voting, you have picked the two most popular sandwiches in the South Sound area. What began as 64 sandwiches has been narrowed down to two: Oliver's Sandwiches' Lobster Sandwich and STINK's Stinker.

>>> The daily sandwich battles here on Spew are sponsored by SUBWAY in Orting, Puyallup, Tacoma, Spanaway and Lakewood.

Today's Championship Competition

Welcome to the big dance. Online voting will end at 5 p.m. Voting will resume at 6 p.m. live at the Tournament of Sandwiches Party at Masa on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue.