Community is Calling
Community is Calling
From bookstores and cafés to cigar shops, tap houses and wine bars, local gathering places offer more than a shared interest. Judi Ramsey, Michael Johnstone and other community builders show how intentional spaces can turn strangers into regulars, support creative circles and make room for the conversations—and companionship—people may be seeking.
Finding human connection in community spaces
by Ellen Hiatt
Photos by Marcus Badgley
“The secret to longevity, as I see it, has less to do with diet, or even exercise, and more to do with the environment in which a person lives: social and physical.” — Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones Solution.
There is no greater ecosystem of community than its communal spaces… all a reflection of the people, their values and interests, and their need to connect. Open the map on your phone, type in “café,” and within a few blocks or few miles is a place where locals gather. From Puget Sound to the foothills of the Cascades, this region is like any other – full of places where people give everything they have and are to create space for each other. But it’s not always easy.
Judi Ramsey says she’s been at it for four years, building Artisans Books & Coffee in Everett. It and its sister shop next door, Artisans PNW, share a century-old building downtown and were created for community. Specifically, for the neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ community. The lights are low, the bathrooms aren’t gender specific, and the tables are ready for board games, artist gatherings and book readings. That was her vision when she began. Her family and friends needed a safe space like it. But it takes time to build community. More than that… it takes intention.
“It really, really, really does,” she agreed.
There is a strong inclination to self-isolate, wrap ourselves in a blanket and open a good book, or get lost alone in the next episode of our favorite show, and beg forgiveness for declining the invitation to meet a friend.
But community is calling.
And sometimes, the community finds you.
In Snohomish, Michael Johnstone opened Humidity Cigars & Tobacco because retirement from his tech career was lacking something for him. And for his wife, who told him he needed to find something to do. So he pursued a personal interest: cigars.
In May of 2026 he opened a shop, and put a bench outside. The bench sits more than 25 feet from the shop’s entrance, the distance state law requires to keep smoke away from a doorway — a rule written to move people along that has instead given them somewhere to stay. It usually has a customer on it, gathering friends. His customers are the community, built around a common interest.
The cigar shop works the way a car club does. Volvo lovers (or insert any model of automobile, wine varietal, beer drinker, or sports genre) will easily find themselves another enthusiast – whether they’re helping another work on their Volvo or gathering at a car show to admire a restored P1800.
“You are never going to see a group of folks sitting around smoking cigars, staring at their phones. It’s not going to happen. It does not exist,” said Johnstone.
Like any hobbyist, the cigar — or the wine — isn’t the reason for gathering. It’s just how you got there in the first place. Building communities is always about finding what you have in common.
“I’m not going to pretend in any way that cigars are good for you physically. I would never make a statement like that,” said Johnstone.
But the community that gathers around the cigar shop? That’s another kind of medicine. Buettner has called busting loneliness the next blockbuster drug — no prescription required.
Ramsey is finding communities are making her café their third space. Mia Hanson intentionally gathers her creative collective there every Wednesday.
Hanson is a weaver who runs Mia’s Handwovens, and she organizes Spark Creatives. Two years on and it’s a standing Wednesday art group, seven or eight people some weeks, as many as 22 others.
“When Sparks started trying to build our community, I knew that if we could bring business into Judi’s shop one evening a week, that would help them but it would also help us. We both were passionate about having a creative community meeting point. It took a few months for it to take hold and now it really runs itself,” said Hanson. “The core of it all is the community and the creativity and being around other makers who want to be together. Sometimes people show up and they don’t say a word. They just need to be around other humans.”
“Their mantra is to bring people into their circle,” Ramsey said.
“It isn’t that I have built a community. It’s that I built a place where others felt comfortable building a community,” she added.
Ramsey’s intention was to create a place where people who build community can go. The community builds itself.
At tap houses, like Tapped Public House in Everett and Mukilteo, the after-work crowd and regular game nights are an attraction.
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The success of the Way Hospitality Group’s community-focused restaurant models with Tapped has led to their sixth property, Tapped Social downtown Everett. It boasts an Italian American themed restaurant with 16 cold craft taps, pool tables, dart boards, and a professional golf simulator.
Jeff “Wick” Wicklund, Welcome’s wine columnist, sees community gather, as well, in the sunny courtyard of his Wick-Ed Wine Social Club, where the attorneys come to hash out the day around the fire over a glass of wine from Sicily. “I don’t think it’s so much the wine that is the motivator,” he said. “It’s the idea that they’re going to a comfortable place and kind of dealing with the events of the day.”
He has a “Wickism” for what happens when they do: communal effervescence. “It’s like going to a concert,” he said. “When it’s you by yourself, it’s one thing. But when you add everybody else, it just kind of takes it to another level.” Wine helps, he allowed, because “it has so many nuances and layers. There’s a lot to talk about.”
Johnstone sees the same thing, by a different route.
“Men aren’t going to say, hey, let’s go talk about your problems and the things that are troubling you. Men don’t do that. What men will do is, hey, let’s go have a smoke,” Johnstone said, noting that he finds veterans groups often form around cigar culture.
They won’t go straight into the wife, the family, the kids, the hardships or the joys. “They’re not going to start there,” said Johnstone. But light a cigar and they’ll get there.
On Johnstone’s bench, a stranger will sit down beside a stranger, and “20 minutes later, they’re exchanging phone numbers.”
“Every morning before I open my shop,” said Johnstone, “I come in early, maybe an hour and a half early, and I go to one of the coffee shops, and I grab a coffee, and I walk for an hour, hour and a half.” He invited his email list to join him Thursdays and Saturdays. “We meet at the coffee shop, everybody brings a cigar, and we walk and talk. A leisurely stroll. It’s the reason that we got together. It’s not why we stayed together.”
Third spaces like the humidor or the bookstore “come and go,” noted Ramsey, “due to being able to afford being in business and the exhaustion from creating something from nothing against the odds. So you might find your perfect space and then lose it too soon.”
Or you might gather your friends for a weekly gathering over something you love. And discover it’s the friendship you love most. And support a local business while you’re doing it.
“The third place has always been an important part of civilization,” Wick said. “But I think it’s even more important these days.” Φ
Grab a friend and find your third space
According to Visit Everett, the city loves coffee so much that it ranks fourth in the nation for cities with the most coffee shops per person, boasting 4.5 shops per 10,000 people. Whether it’s fresh brewed coffee or a frothy brew in a cold mug, the whole region is packed with gathering spaces like tap rooms, bakeries, coffee shops and more. Here’s a few places you can keep in mind for your next gathering of friends.
Coffee
Walnut Street Coffee — Edmonds
A block off the bustle of Main Street, Walnut Street opens at 6 on weekdays and is rarely without someone who came for a friend rather than a to-go cup. The room is small enough that regulars recognize each other and the baristas know the orders.
410 Walnut St, Edmonds 98020
(425) 774-5962 | walnutstreetcoffee.com
Narrative Coffee — Everett
Four skylights, exposed rafters and tall brick walls make this 1921 building bright even in a Puget Sound February. It pulls a genuine cross-section of downtown — courthouse staff, students, parents with strollers.
2927 Wetmore Ave, Everett 98201
(425) 322-4648 | narrative.coffee
Moe’s on Olympic — Arlington
This is the sit-down Moe’s, the one the company itself calls a place to meet friends and stay a while. It anchors a walkable stretch of downtown storefronts, and weekend mornings fill with people who came to talk.
434 N Olympic Ave, Arlington 98223
(360) 209-4346 | moescoffee.com
Taprooms & Breweries
Watts Brewing Company — Woodinville
Founded in 2015 by homebrewer Evan Watts, the taproom spreads from a main room facing the tanks to a covered beer garden and a fireside patio, dogs outside and kids throughout. The calendar offers the convening: cornhole leagues Tuesdays, country swing some Wednesdays, line dancing every Thursday at seven with an instructor and a floor of beginners.
15510 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE, Ste E110, Woodinville 98072 | WattsBrewingCompany.com
Sound2Summit Brewery — Snohomish and Port of Everett
The original of Sound2Summit’s two rooms runs on a rhythm the regulars have memorized: trivia every Tuesday at six, music bingo the first Wednesday of the month, prizes for the top two teams either way. It took Best Lunch and Best Burger in the county’s 2025 readers’ awards, which tells you people are settling in.
1830 Bickford Ave, Ste 111, Snohomish 98290
(360) 294-8127 | Sound2Summit.com
Salish Sea Brewing Co. — Edmonds
Three blocks from the ferry dock, Salish Sea takes no reservations at either Edmonds room — you walk in, find a seat, and talk to whoever is beside you. Come for King Trivia on Wednesdays and live music most weekends.
518 Dayton St, Ste 104, Edmonds 98020
(425) 582-8474 | SalishBrewing.com
U-Neek Brewing — South Everett
Community hub with fun activities suitable for all ages. From Bricks and Brews to engaging painting and planting workshops, plus weekly Monday rotation of pinball, trivia, board/card games, and music bingo.
909 SE Everett Mall Way Ste D440, Everett, WA 98208
(425) 374-7293
Wine
Rustic Cork Wine Bar & Bistro — Lake Stevens and Port of Everett
All ages welcome, dogs on the heated patio, five new Washington wines on the flight each month. Thursday is trivia at 6:30 and Friday brings a local musician, no cover either night.
901 Frontier Cir E, Lake Stevens 98258
(425) 263-9616 | RusticCorkWineBar.com
Port Gardner Bay Winery — Everett
A downtown tasting room that behaves like a neighborhood living room, all ages, no cover, a glass or a four-wine flight for the same 10 dollars. Thursday is open mic and weekends bring live music, which has made it a landing spot for local musicians and the people who follow them.
3006 Rucker Ave, Everett 98201
(425) 339-0293 | PortGardnerBayWinery.com
Randolph Cellars — Snohomish
A family winery on Snohomish’s antique-shop main street, pouring Horse Heaven Hills and Red Mountain reds with a kitchen working alongside the bar.
1007 First St, Snohomish 98290
(360) 243-3994 | RandolphCellars.com
Snohomish County offers a tremendous selection of breweries, wineries, coffee shops and authentic meeting places. We encourage you to discover, support and share these amazing spaces! Φ
