Book launch

Islander Susan McCabe will read from her recently published essay collection, “Hot Flashes and Cold Showers,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at Women Hold the Key’s Synergy Center, located on the corner of Vashon Highway and Gorsuch Road.

Hardware Store Gallery

Jeff Good, watercolor artist, and Bob Horsley, acrylic artist, currently have a joint show at The Hardware Store Restaurant Gallery. The show runs through March 27.

Original Works

Vashon Center for Dance will present “Original Works,” showcasing new works by seasoned and emerging professional choreographers and performed by advanced students from the Center for Dance and other local programs.

Performances will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, March 14, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at Vashon Center for the Arts. The 2 p.m. matinee is billed as “sensory-friendly,” with corresponding accommodations for those with sensitivities. For more information and tickets, visit vashoncenterforthearts.org.

Ride the Cyclone

Students of Vashon High School’s theater program will present a musical, “Ride the Cyclone” in six performances taking place Friday-Sunday, March 14-16, and Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22, at Vashon High School’s theater.

The show has a high-flying plot: Six teenagers from Uranium City, Saskatchewan, have gone off the rails — literally — on a roller coaster called the Cyclone. One of them will get the chance to come back, thanks to the all-powerful fortune-telling machine Karnak. With their lives hanging in the balance, they dish, debate, and sing out their deepest fantasies.

This show is occasionally raunchy, said director Andy James, with content that may not be suitable for children. This content will be explained in information placed in the theater lobby prior to the show. A family-friendly performance, for those who are sensitive to such material, will be performed at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 16.

Find out showtimes and get tickets at tinyurl.com/zzsbxux5.

Golden Oldies Players

Vashon’s Golden Oldies Players will present a free staged reading of a new play by Jeanie Davies Okimoto, “Trouble at Harmony Hill,” at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at Bethel Church.

The play tells the story of a group of friends in a retirement community who must navigate the arrival of a new resident on their floor: a loud and disagreeable man in a bright red ball cap whose political views stand in the glaring contrast to theirs.

The play’s cast includes longtime stalwarts of Vashon’s theater community, all now in their 70s and 80s — Rich Wiley, Patricia Kelly, Gretchen Neffenger, Bill Kirschner, Peter Kreitner, Marjon McDermott, Dianna Daniel, and Michael Monteleone. As an added treat, the play also features a special appearance by the Vashon Ukulele Band.

Sera Cahoone

Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sera Cahoone will perform two all-ages concerts at Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie this weekend, presented by islander Debra Heesch. The first concert takes place at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 15; the second will happen at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 16. Get tickets at brownpapertickets.com.

Concert film

Andrew Franks, a Seattle-based filmmaker who grew up on Vashon, will bring the immersive concert film “ODESZA: The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience,” to Vashon Theatre for a screening at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 16.

The documentary film explores the connection between the band ODESZA and their fans, how life experiences shaped the creation of their latest album, and how ODESZA grew from small-town aspiring musicians to a four-time Grammy Award-nominated, major festival headlining musical act.

Franks, the co-director and co-editor of the film, will speak after the film and answer questions from the audience. The screening is being presented by Vashon Film Institute.

Visit vashonfilminstitute.com/vfipresents for tickets.

Irish Fest

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with traditional Irish music and dance at Snapdragon’s Black Cat Cabaret from 4-9 p.m Sunday, March 16.

Festivities start at 4 p.m. with a ceili dance (all are welcome to join in) taught by caller Doug Dolstad and backed by the Vashon Celtic Ceili Band. Live music from Geordie’s Byre will start at 6 p.m., followed by a performance by local singer and guitarist Kat Eggleston and her husband, piper John Dally.

The celebration will close with the trio Triskelion, featuring Mark Wells, Karen Dale, and Lawson Cannon.

Competitors for “Best St. Patrick’s Day Costume” should arrive by 8 p.m. to compete for the “Pot o’ Gold” prize. Admission is $15 by cash or Venmo at the door.

Lance’s birthday bashes

Longtime local educator and musician Lance Morgan will celebrate his 65th birthday with a pair of free musical shows.

At 4 p.m. Sunday, March 16, Morgan will present an acoustic concert of his original music at the Vashon Havurah, 15401 Westside Hwy. He’ll be joined by Aristy Gill, Sam and Sara Van Fleet, Sunder Michelle and Alex Craighead.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, March 22, Morgan will front the band Monsters Under the Bed for an evening of 1980s dance music at the Vashon Eagles Club, at 18134 Vashon Hwy SW. He’ll be joined by Scotty Hayes, Emory Miedema-Boyajian, Michael Marcus and Rhiannon Walther.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Authors visit library

Vashon Library will feature two local author events on Saturday, March 22, with no advance registration required to attend.

At 11 a.m., meet local author and illustrator Bill Jarcho, also known as William J. Zambini, who will read from his new kids’ book, “Come on Down and Pet the Fish!” All ages are welcome with an adult, and Jarcho will sign and sell copies of his book.

At 4 p.m., Patrick Hutchinson, author of “Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman” — a book that received a rave review in The New York Times — will give a talk about his book as well as sell and sign copies.

The book is a memoir, based on Hutchinson’s Outside Magazine article, of his journey from an office job to restoring a cabin in the Pacific Northwest. His work has also appeared in Wired, Vice, Seattle Magazine and Seattle Weekly. The book can also be ordered from Vashon Bookshop.

8th annual VIVA show

All island artists are invited to enter the 2025 Vashon Island Visual Artists member’s show, “Our Island, Our Home,” at Vashon Center for the Arts, May 2–25, 2025.

This exhibition invites island artists to explore the meaning of “home” through relationships — family, friends, community, and the land and sea, reflecting the close-knit spirit of Vashon life.

The show is open to all current VIVA members — join or renew now to participate. The deadline to enter is April 11.

Visit vivartists.com for more details and to enter.  

Paintings by Jeff Good (left) and Bob Horsley are now on view in a joint exhibition at The Hardware Store Restaurant Gallery. (Courtesy photo)