30-01-2025
It's Monkeyshines season. Where to find hidden glass art in Tacoma for Lunar New Year
With Wednesday marking the start of this year's Lunar New Year, it means it's time for another annual tradition in Tacoma: Monkeyshine hunting.
For the next couple of weeks more than 3,000 glass treasures will be hidden in local parks, trees and other public places around the city. It's a tradition that has been going on for more than two decades.
This year's glass balls and medallions are embossed with a snake to honor the Chinese zodiac. The event was founded in 2003 by a local artist who goes by the moniker 'Ms. Monkey,' and the objects are made by artists with the Tacoma Glassblowing Studio, Area 253 Glassblowing and Hilltop Artists, among others, who have donated time and materials to make it happen.
A GoFundMe seeking to raise $16,000 to support The Monkeyshines Project raised nearly $13,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. In the past the event has been funded in part by grants, and Ms. Monkey told The News Tribune Wednesday the GoFundMe offsets material and studio costs.
Monkeyshines are only hidden on public property (so don't go snooping or trespassing to find them). The organizers don't reveal when or where they are hidden in order to design it as a scavenger hunt that brings joy to the public. An important rule for the community: Keep only one monkeyshine, per searcher, per year. If you end up finding more than one, Ms. Monkey has said to take a picture and rehide the other for someone else to find. Another rule of thumb is to not follow people you see hiding the monkeyshines.
Monkeyshines come in all colors, including clear and camouflage, and might be hidden at low, medium or high levels, as reported by the News Tribune's Craig Sailor in 2022. Some glow in the dark this year. Look again if you don't find a monkeyshine in one spot — the same location could be used again by a different monkey. People often leave hints and tips on where to search on the Monkeyshines Facebook page.
Ms. Monkey, who asked to remain anonymous to protect the 'spirit of generosity and gifting and community through art,' said she came up with the idea of hiding glass balls around town while brainstorming ways to combat the 'icy and rainy and dreary and oppressive' weather in Tacoma.
'What do we do? How can we make ourselves happy? And so we thought, well, we can make some stuff and hide it and then stalk people and watch them find it and watch them get excited, and we'll get excited, and everybody will be happy,' she said. 'Really pretty simple concept, and it just kind of evolved from there.'
As others started to hear about the idea, they asked to get involved and it built momentum over the years, Ms. Monkey said. The first year they hid 200 pieces of glass. That number has increased every year since, she said.
'It's all free for the public. There's no charge. It's all over Tacoma. It has always been all over Tacoma. We've hit every neighborhood,' she said. 'The glass art itself, it's what gets people out. It's how we get people out of the house, and it's how we create a common quest where people can talk to others and make connections.'
A number of other 'rouge monkey' artists have jumped on the tradition and hidden their own creations around the city, like marbles, clay creations, shells, coins, prints, paintings, painted rocks and other objects. Ms. Monkey has noted that those rouge monkeys operate independently from her group and make their own rules.
The gift of the monkeyshine is community building and finding beauty in the world, Ms. Monkey said.
'When you're searching for a monkeyshine, you have to get out, you have to look around. You have to get really involved in your environment. You really become connected to your city,' she said. 'I know I personally have seen so many areas of Tacoma that I would not normally see had I not been hiding monkeyshines. I think that's true for both the hiders and the seekers.'
Over the decades Ms. Monkey said it's been uplifting to see people out and about, with families and friends and strangers, smiling with each other and connected in a common goal. She's seen people picking up trash while they search, received heartfelt emails from people who have been moved by their finds and knows of one couple who even got engaged with a monkeyshine. Now more than ever, it's important to remember what connects us, she said.
'Get out of the echo chambers. What's always been here and what always will be here is nature,' Ms. Monkey said. 'I saw so many kinds of birds today and sea creatures ... Just get out and go and you'll feel better. You'll feel happy.'
