Meet the man behind Tacoma Porchfest’s iconic fire-breathing dragon
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- Tacoma Porchfest returns July 12-13 with 280 bands across 110 local venues.
- Steve LaBerge's fire-breathing dragon leads the parade with propane-fueled flair.
- LaBerge built the dragon in 2020 with arts funding from Tacoma Creates.
This weekend marks the fourth annual Tacoma Porchfest, the free walkable music festival where about 280 local bands take over 110 porches and businesses in Central and North Tacoma.
Porchfest will be happening July 12-13, the same weekend as Tacoma Pride this year — something organizer Irina Rasputnis says was a result of her own calendar restraints — so plan to see some joint programming, with a Porchfest stage in Wright Park and bike parade taking attendees from one festival to the other on Saturday, she said.
Every year Steve LaBerge has driven a fire-breathing dragon of his own creation in the Tacoma Porchfest parade. Standing 7 feet tall, the dragon’s fiberglass exterior and internal grid of LED lights glow blue, yellow and red. Its metal jaws gnash and spit fire as LaBerge sits inside, pulling levers to twist its neck and head.
LaBerge, who will be 67 this fall, is an insurance agent by day and artist who specializes in larger-than-life whimsical creations. A big, glowing, fiberglass heart he made sits in his North End front lawn on North 30th Street, and in his backyard rests a large blinking spaceship topped with finger-like tentacles.
The dragon’s fiberglass exterior surrounds a rebuilt electric tricycle, its head moving like a puppet with gears and pedals by the steering wheel, LaBerge said. Propane tanks behind the seat channel gas to a pilot light in the mouth that ignites with a push of a button. For a large festival like Porchfest, LaBerge gets an open-flame permit and the dragon is inspected by the Fire Department, he said.
LaBerge built the dragon in three months during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Puget Sound Revels asked him to build the dragon for parades after receiving a grant from Tacoma Creates to bring their theater shows to under-served communities in the city.
“The first time it went on the street, we took it to the grocery store. … Every winter we take it out for at least three community parades with the Puget Sound Revels. And it did go to Burning Man one year,” LaBerge said. “It fits in my garage. The neck kind of breaks down. It kind of lowers its head — it’s hinged.”
The dragon brings smiles and surprise to people passing by (although LaBerge says it “makes dogs a little bit uncomfortable”).
“I’ve never had a bad reaction,” he said. “It’s really fun when people are watching a parade, for me to come up behind and have them not see the dragon but have it literally be on their shoulder, and then to blow a flame up.”
LaBerge said he loves Tacoma “because there’s these interesting things happening.”
“I don’t see myself as a great leader or, you know, good at a lot of things, but I am kind of good at making bizarre, creative, whimsical things, and I would like to think that they somehow inspire,” he said. “For most of history [as] we know it, art is for a very select few. And so why not make more art that is immediately accessible [and] interesting to anybody and everybody? A 5-year-old can be thrilled to see a spaceship or a dragon just as much as an 80-year-old.”
If you go
Tacoma Porchfest runs from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The parade will begin at 3 p.m. at State Street and South 12th Street. LaBerge also plays bass drum in the Tacomarama street band.
Bands will be playing North of 6th Avenue on Sunday and South of 6th Avenue on Saturday. A map is available online.
The festival is organized in partnership with the Central Neighborhood Council, North End Neighborhood Council and the Sixth Ave Business District, according to its website. It is made possible with funding from Tacoma Venues & Events and individual donations from festival attendees. Donate to support the festival online.
