It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and a crowd of about 20 people is squished into the small tasting room at the 7 Seas Brewery. There are no neon signs on the wall, no blaring music and no wide-screen HDTVs broadcasting a sporting event. So why are all these people here? A rectangular-shaped window looks out over Gig Harbor’s new brewery. What’s inside the tall, gleaming silver vats is why people have come: They just want a good glass of beer.

VIDEO: Travis Guterson tells us how 7 Seas brews its Royal Stout

The 26th annual Key Peninsula Citizen of the Year banquet will be held March 20 at the Key Peninsula Civic Center in Vaughn. The Key Peninsula Lions Club has sponsored the dinner since 1984. It’s a program that’s dedicated to the merits of volunteerism. The 29 candidates listed below all live, work or own property on the Key Peninsula, and they were nominated based on their service to the community. For more information or to purchase tickets to the event, call: 253-853-2721 or 253-884-3319. The KP Civic Center is located at 17010 S. Vaughn Road, KPN.

If New Yorkers are known for being cold, they had a hard time staying in character when the Key Peninsula’s “Evergreen’s Indigo Sky” was in town for the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. The big red Dogue de Bordeaux with the wrinkly face and her brother, “Evergreen’s Big Bruiser,” melted the hearts of even the staunchest Manhattanites at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Two Waters Arts Alliance, the Key Peninsula-based promoter and supporter of local artists and art events, is celebrating its eighth year since its founding.

Last month, we introduced Gig Harbor artist Joan Teed, her husband Allen, and their Hylas 49 sloop, “Moonstruck.” Teed documented their 3 1/2-year voyage to the Mediterranean through pen and paintbrush. Here, their voyage continues:

The Mustard Seed Project will host its monthly community forum with a focus on community creative thinking.

The Maritime City is home to a large art community, and they’re always looking for new venues in which they can display their talent. So when the Peninsula Retirement Community decided to host its first art show, artists welcomed it with open arms.

The island nation of Haiti has gone through unimaginable trauma and loss in the past three weeks. Those not left beneath the rubble caused by the magnitude-7 earthquake have been left mourning the loss of a parent, sibling or best friend while having a leg amputated, suffering from disease, or, at best, having no home.

When my husband left home on a Saturday morning earlier this month, he noticed “fire training” signs on Warren Drive and called me to suggest I might enjoy photographing it. That was a foregone conclusion, as I love to photograph everything.

Fat Tuesday, Feb. 16, the beginning of Mardi Gras, will bring the third annual Feast or Famine dinner to the Longbranch Improvement Club. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Key Peninsula Community Services Food Bank.

The Key Peninsula Historical Society museum will open from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 4 for a special display on whales, fishing, crabbing, clam digging and more.

Dale Toman dedicates countless hours in his workshop that’s tucked behind his home near Vaughn. Often times, he loses track of the hours he spends in the shop, which is complete with a wood-burning stove in the corner, a large workstation island with table saws, and a radio that plays the songs he remembers as a child.

Jen Lee sits at a table and peers down at a group of cards displayed on the table. She offers insight on what she sees during the Tarot card-reading session.

Pulling up anchor “Why don’t we take a few years off, buy a sailboat and sail around the Mediterranean?” So began a little idea in 1990 that grew into a big idea, which blossomed into a full-blown plan and goal, and it became a reality in August 2006. We packed our bags, leased our house on Wollochet Bay, hugged our family and friends goodbye, closed the door on our old lives and embarked on an adventure that would change our lives forever.

This year proved to be a flurry of business in Gig Harbor. Shopping centers expanded and welcomed new stores, like a surf shop, the Blazing Onion and Walgreens. But while the recession roared on, mom-and-pop businesses became fatalities. Corner stores and long-time standing businesses fell, leaving empty buildings, shattered dreams and broken hearts. Commerce and expansion will continue in the Maritime City. Life will go on, but as the year comes to a close, here’s a look at what we lost.

Year’s end is a time to look both back and ahead — to see where we’ve been and to dream of where we’re going.

It was standing room only at the coffee shop on a Sunday afternoon at Borders Books and Music. People relaxed on couches and sipped lattes, and young musicians filled the room with sound. The orchestra, called the Arletta Sound, consists of about 20 students who band together to play — not for money or for a school project but for the joy of camaraderie.

The air around Purdy has been filled with buzzing chainsaws and the smell of freshly cut wood the past couple of weeks. But there’s no tree felling at the intersection of 144th Street and Purdy Drive. Instead, the tools are being wielded by nationally known chain saw sculptors who create art that defies common rustic expectations of roadside carvings.

There’s nothing that sparks the holiday spirit like the sound of music. And Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula will offer plenty of venues to please musical palates. Whether it’s the melodious sound of tinkering hand bells, the ancient rhythm of a harp as it responds to human touch, or just the soothing harmony of voices coming together in song, there will be plenty of concerts for music lovers to relax, enjoy and revel in the season’s festivities.

This Christmas, elves will be hiding near the Gig Harbor waterfront at participating businesses. Why? Because harbor merchants hope to create a fun atmosphere for shoppers to enjoy the holiday experience.

Thanksgiving is past, but our awareness of all we are grateful for is still with us.

When life gives you snow storms, buy a snowplow. That’s Tony Dulas’ basic philosophy, and his Gig Harbor business, Harbor Point Excavating, is growing.

Dressed in her scrubs and walking through the Santuario del Senior de Huanca in Cuzco, Peru, Sheila Hunt was constantly stopped and asked the same question.

“Celebrate the Key Peninsula,” a new coffee table book with an extensive collection of photos by local artists, was celebrated earlier this month at the Key Peninsula Civic Center’s VFW Room.

Windermere Key Realty and Children’s Home Society will host a toy and clothing drive for children in need on the Key Peninsula during November and December at 11615 state Route 302 in Gig Harbor.

Professional animal communicator Penelope Jensen believes everyone has the ability to get in touch with their non-human companions. In fact, pet owners who are close to their animals are probably already connected — but may not know it.

The Key Peninsula Lions Club will continue its public forums with elected officials at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 with state Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor.

Anyone who has lost a pet can remember them in a special way this holiday season.

Harbor Kitchen will host a fundraiser on Sunday to benefit the Pony Up Rescue for Equines.