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Health & Fitness

Shatter Sessions at MOG

The 10th Anniversary Party for the Museum of Glass has bands attempting to shatter glass with only their sound and much more!

A “shatterbox” was set up along the plaza outside the main entrance of the Museum of Glass facing the Thea Foss Waterway.  Dozens of curious party guests inched forward as the box designer described the physics of using the frequency and volume of sound to shatter a wine glass. 

A brave girl steps forward to try it.  Using a dial to control the frequency of the sound emanating from the speaker in the box, a red straw resting in the glass starts bouncing around, cluing her in to when she is approaching the correct frequency for that individual wine glass.  Each one is different.  She finds just the right moment to raise the decibel level and my daughter, never one to shy away from the chance to shatter perfectly good stemware, reduces the wine glass to tiny shards (see the first video.)

That was just one of the activities at the Museum of Glass on Friday night.  Their 10th Anniversary Shatter Sessions party was in full swing out on the plaza on a beautiful July evening.  All ages were represented and it was a festive atmosphere, especially in the beer and wine garden set up in the middle.  Tacoma’s own Engine House No. 9 premiered their new signature Museum of Glass beer there.  This was the only area that was crowded which was great for those of us trying out the games, crafts, and exhibits.

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Carnival type games were scattered about and while at first I was a little dismayed at the prices for tickets, I quickly realized that every attempt was a winner and these prizes were no little plastic whistles or lame stickers.  I regret not bringing a bigger purse with me as I ended up juggling handfuls of tee shirts, glasses, and various glass trinkets for the rest of the night.  It never occured to me to ask for a bag in the gift shop so I guess I deserved it.  We also won several passes to the MOG which will be great for bringing out of town guests here.

We wandered through the Museum exhibits and saw a new installation of works by Lino Tagliapietra since our last visit there just a few weeks ago.  The Hot Shop was rocking as usual with Martin Blank and crew creating glass sculptures for the crowd.

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Food choices included the Museum’s resident restaurant, Choripan by Asado, and a booth by the nearby Social Bar and Grill.  The aroma drifting from some Grilled Skirt Steak Skewer with Chimichurri and Grilled Chorizo with Rajas caught my attention every time we walked by and made me regret our decision to eat dinner before making our way over to the MOG party.  I even resisted the fresh espresso over ice cream at the Anthem Coffee and Tea booth.

The star of the party was definitely the music.  On a small stage in front of the iconic cone, six different bands took turns entertaining the crowd and, at the end of each set, attempting to break a wine glass in their own shatterbox on the stage.  As the sun when down, the thunderclouds rolled in.  A few drops of rain didn’t stop the music and the lightening, thankfully off in the distance, provided a natural pyrotechnics show for the last band, Hot Bodies in Motion.  Their bluesy rock sound was the perfect end to a great evening (see the second video above, complete with lightening flash near the end of the clip.)

The event was a hit with our family and I hope they continue to celebrate each anniversary this way.  There was something for everyone.  As we wound our way up the stairway along the MOG cone with the music fading behind us and a lightening show unfolding in the sky across the Bridge of Glass, everyone in our group agreed that it was one of the best local events we’ve attended.

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