Naked gardeners, backyard fighters, and butterflies: KUOW's good news in 2025

The news might get a bad rap for focusing on negative headlines and sensational topics. But with bad news, often comes people responding with good actions. There might be a weather event over here, but a superpod of orca there. And no matter what happens, people always seem to find their community. Throughout 2025, KUOW has reported on it all.

Let's start with those quirky communities we have all around us.

Quirky communities

Naked gardening: “Just 15 minutes of some naked gardening, it will adjust your mind," Mark Storey told KUOW in May, ahead of World Naked Gardening Day.

Storey and some Seattleite pals started the annual event a couple decades ago, to encourage people to become more comfortable with nudity. The idea took off and has gone international.

“We just wanted to see if there was power in gardening and power in social nudity enough to make this thing go forward," Storey said. "And it's 20 years later, and it's just bizarre how popular it seems to be around the world. It's been quite satisfying.”

Kei trucks: Even before NPR made reporting on kei trucks cool, KUOW was telling stories of locals who fell in love with these tiny Japanese trucks with steering wheels on the right side. Northwesterners have found out that despite being tiny, these trucks are mighty as utility trucks, helping on farms, and spurring conversations at farmers markets.

Gig Harbor fight club: If someone asked you to go with them into the sticks to a place called "The Scrapyard" so you can throw punches and kicks at each other, you might run the other way. But for a group in Western Washington, that sounds more like comradery. The Scrapyard is a legal fighting organization that hosts MMA, kickboxing, and boxing for amateur fighters. It's proven quite popular with locals ... who may or may not tell their wives what they're doing that day.

An annual Puget Sound typewriter calendar: It's exactly what it sounds like — a calendar filled with typewriters from around Puget Sound. Typewriter enthusiasts (including myself, Dyer Oxley) submit photos to be included each year. They're sold in support of the region's typewriter repair shop in Bremerton.

Food

Marjorie's comeback: Rising rents have forced a lot of Seattle's restaurants to close. That's what happened with Marjorie, a restaurant run by Seattle restaurateur Donna Moodie. But thanks to a new city of Seattle program, restaurants are getting some help paying rent. For the city, it's a way to keep storefronts from going empty and to support small businesses as costs continue to rise.

“Even when I walk in, I don’t feel like I’m coming to work,” Moodie said of her restaurant. “I feel like I’m coming home in many ways.”

Help during government shutdown: Toasted, a bagel shop in the U District and South Lake Union, offered free breakfasts at their shops during the government shutdown of 2025, when SNAP benefits were threatened. It was just one effort among Seattle's foodie community to help those who depend on SNAP for food.

PCC returns: Luxury natural food store PCC made headlines when it left downtown Seattle in 2024. The location was its flagship store. But it wasn't gone for too long. In 2025, the PCC Corner Market opened downtown, a smaller version of its grocery stores that focuses on prepared foods.

Sports

Ichiro!: Once again, Ichiro Suzuki’s name was chanted throughout Seattle as he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Mariners retired his number. Suzuki is special, not only to Seattleites, but to baseball fans around the world. At a special event in August, fans even flew in from his home country of Japan to honor him.

The Torrent: Seattle sports got even bigger in 2025 with the arrival of the Torrent, the city's Professional Women's Hockey League team. The new name was announced in early November, shortly before the team officially hit the ice.

Animals and nature

Seattle's dog cafe: Coby's Cafe, in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood, is the first of its kind in the city. It's a coffee shop for dog lovers. As long as the dogs are friendly, they can wander as they please throughout the cafe as their families socialize.

“I just realized that this is such a beautiful gift to have these connections," owner Mary Wu said. "I wanted to create a space — not just online but in person — where dog parents can enjoy the benefit of connecting with other dog parents.”

Saving butterflies: This story is definitely in the running for best headline of 2025. "On a wing and a prairie" not only reported on the effort to bring back Taylor's checkerspot butterfly populations in Western Washington, it also covered how inmates at Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women were helping make it happen.

Tidepool pastime: When it's cold and dark, locals come out for a very unique show along Puget Sound's waterfront. This is where you can see everything from fish to squid, anemone to nudibranchs.

“Every single time I come down here, I see something different," beach naturalist Jonathan Robinson told KUOW. "I see something amazing, unique. Being able to show people something that they haven't seen before is probably one of my favorite things out here. Fostering that sense of wonder.”

Orca superpod: No one knows exactly why it happens, but when it does, it's quite a sight. The region's orca pods gathered together for the social event of the year, swimming between Edmonds and Port Townsend. It added up to about 74 orcas in one place.