Image: Museum of Glass, Bellingham
Museum of Glass will bring back 'Glass Fest Northwest' on August 8, offering a day of free admission, live glass demonstrations, local art, music, food and hands-on activities at its plaza and museum spaces in Tacoma. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is presented as a community celebration centered on art and the Pacific Northwest, with artist booths and food vendors alongside opportunities to explore exhibitions and installations in the museum.
The museum says the festival will take place at Museum of Glass and will include activities on the Museum Plaza as well as in the Hot Shop. Free admission is part of the day-long program, and the museum’s calendar notes that live glass demonstrations occur every day the museum is open. For the festival, the museum is highlighting a fuller mix of public-facing events, combining craft demonstration with music, food and interactive components.
A key feature of the 2026 edition is a collaboration with Native American artist Dan Friday. The museum identifies Friday as the Glass Fest visiting artist for August 5–9, and says he will join the festival in the Hot Shop in collaboration with 'IN THE SPIRIT Arts Market & Northwest Native Festival'. That festival is held across multiple Tacoma cultural venues, including Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum and Museum of Glass, and is also being presented as free and open to all ages.
Friday is described by the museum as a member of the Lummi Nation and a Skagit Valley-based artist. The museum says his work draws from cultural themes and uses modern processes while maintaining basic Native American qualities. It also notes that he has spent the past two decades working with artists including Dale Chihuly, Paul Marioni and Preston Singletary, and that in 2017 he started the Native Youth Outreach Program at Pilchuck Glass School.
The Glass Fest page places the event within the museum’s wider Hot Shop and visiting-artist programming. Museum of Glass invites artists to apply for residencies in its Hot Shop, where selected artists work with the Hot Shop team and, in some cases, donate works to the museum’s collection and annual auction. The museum’s 2027 visiting artist application is currently open, with submissions accepted until Nov. 1, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.
The museum is also using the festival announcement to point visitors toward related summer programming, including the 'Forged in Fire' lecture series, which runs from July 25 to Nov. 21 in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026 and in partnership with America 250. But the focus for Aug. 8 remains 'Glass Fest Northwest' itself, when the museum will offer free admission and a schedule built around live glassmaking, local vendors and the collaboration with Dan Friday.
