• Flavor & Dosage Form options for veterinary prescriptions
• Bio-Identical Hormones
• Customized Preservative-Free, Dye-Free and Allergen-Free Products
• Low-Dose Naltrexone
• Hormone Consultations
• Nutrition Counseling for Wellness, Weight Loss & Athletic Performance
• Professional Grade Supplements including: Thorne, Ortho Molecular, Metagenics, Design for Health, Pure Encapsulations, Integrative Therapeutics
• Pharmacist formulated CBD
• Locally owned
FROM THE EDITOR
Stay Connected
Email Health & Home Editor Anne McGregor at annem@inlander.com.
The conversation continues on the Inlander Facebook page, and stay in touch with us at Inlander.com/Health&Home.
DON HAMILTON PHOTO
Starting Small
BY ANNE McGREGOR
Ilove it when a seemingly esoteric bit of research turns out to hold big promise. That’s why I was intrigued by the story out of Washington State University that a young researcher examining animal hair, of all things, was incorporating AI to yield big data. It turns out there’s a lot of info packed into those fallen strands. Read about how this research could expand to help humans manage their health in “Splitting Hairs” (page 20).
Another seemingly small idea with big potential is the story of Matt’s Place (“The Home Team,” page 10). After Theresa Whitlock-Wild’s husband Matt Wild was diagnosed with ALS, the medical hurdles were obviously immense. But Whitlock-Wild quickly realized one of the most pressing issues recently diagnosed people faced was finding a place to live. That insight started a process that has now led to the construction of not just Matt’s Place, but now Matt’s Place 2.0, a prototype modular, accessible home that demonstrates a new way of thinking about homebuilding.
And in our People profile, writer Eliza Billingham talks with Stephaine Courtney about her path to becoming a mother (“The Mother of Invention,” page 50), a journey that revealed distinct obstacles for women of color that Courtney just couldn’t ignore. So she started the Shades of Motherhood Network to look for solutions.
All of these stories show how a moment of curiosity and insight, when combined with perseverance and dedication, can indeed initiate change that ripples forth. So start small this new year and see where it leads you.
Cheers!
CONTRIBUTORS
LESLIE DOUGLAS is a graphic designer at the Inlander from Lawrence, Kansas. And when she’s not clicking away on her screen, she takes on photography assignments for Health & Home and the Inlander. She says she was, “thrilled to take photos for Fireclay tiles,” something that married her love of a good color palette with photography.
DORA SCOTT is an Inlander staff writer in charge of food coverage. In this issue, she profiles Andrew Potter, executive chef of the Steam Plant. “Chef Potter’s passion for food is infectious and it makes me want to pluck up the courage to try his Orange Blaze Chicken Sandwich recipe at home. Just like Potter, I love dishes that have an Asian twist,” she says.
SPOKANE • EASTERN WASHINGTON • NORTH IDAHO also at inlander.com/health&home 1227 W. Summit Parkway, Spokane, Wash. 99201 PHONE: 509-325-0634
HEALTH & HOME EDITOR
Anne McGregor annem@inlander.com
HEALTH & HOME ART DIRECTOR
Ali Blackwood
INLANDER EDITOR
Chey Scott
INLANDER NEWS EDITOR
Samantha Wohlfeil
CONTRIBUTORS
John Bergin, Eliza Billingham, Leslie Douglas, Erick Doxey, E.J. Iannelli, Young Kwak, Will Maupin, Madison Pearson, Azaria Podplesky, Gary Reiss, Summer Sandstrom, Dora Scott, Robert Slack
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EVENTS
Indoorsy Season
BY MADISON PEARSON
Harlem Globetrotters
Basketball has had a big year with Caitlin Clark dominating all aspects of the sport and our very own Gonzaga Bulldogs putting forth their best efforts as always. Still if you’re a bit tired of the sameness each game brings, the Harlem Globetrotters are sure to wow you and give you a new appreciation for the sport as a whole. Witness world record-breaking trick shots, incredible slam dunks and wild stunts as the Globetrotters do what they do best: impress a crowd of basketball-lovers. Mon, Jan. 27 from 7-9 pm, $31-$117, Spokane Arena, spokanearena.com
Spokane Lunar New Year
About a month after the Gregorian calendar New Year comes the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year’s local Lunar New Year celebration features cultural dances, an Asian Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander business expo and other events — many take place in the Spokane Convention Center, but various performances can be found all around downtown Spokane. And there will be fireworks, starting at 7 pm! Visit the following link for a full schedule of celebratory events. Sat, Feb. 1 from noon-7 pm, free, all ages, downtown Spokane. spokaneunitedwestand.org
The Chocolate Affair
I think we can all agree that there’s hardly anything better than a piece of decadent chocolate. Combine that with supporting small, local businesses and you’ve got a recipe for greatness. Wander through some of Coeur d’Alene’s downtown business with friends, family or a loved one and sample an assortment of locally hand-crafted sweet treats while also tasting wines along the way. After tasting 16 bite-sized treats, your sweet tooth will be satisfied and you’ll be filled with the warmth of all that hospitality. Sat, Feb. 8 from 2-6 pm, $25-$40, downtown Coeur d’Alene. cdadowntown.com
Inlander Restaurant Week
Save your appetite for this year’s Inlander Restaurant Week! Each year, more than 100 restaurants invite the community to try out three courses of their finest culinary creations. From fine dining to more casual fare, every facet of the local culinary scene is represented in this weeklong celebration of all things food. Whether you decide to indulge in new flavors or revisit old favorites, you’ll have plenty of decisions to make as you peruse menus from Spokane and North Idaho, with options that check in at $25, $35, or $45. If all of that sounds good, I just have one question for you: Are you hungry? Feb 27-March 8, daily, $25-$45. inlanderrestaurantweek.com
20 YEARS
It’s Our Anniversary!
It kind of snuck up on us here at Inlander HQ: While the hamster-wheel of our weekly newspaper has rolled on for the past 31-plus years, we’ve also been doing a bimonthly glossy magazine for two-thirds of that time.
As a contributor since the first January 2005 issue (“On Your Feet” — a story on preventing falls) and editor since 2008, even I was surprised when we decided to pile up our archives on our white wall here at the office for a photo. Seeing all the colorful issues — each representing two months of effort from more writers, designers, photographers, illustrators and guest columnists than I could even count — brought back happy memories. It’s an eclectic body of work.
We started out as InHealthNW, an outgrowth of an Inlander special section — “Healthy Living” — that people really connected with. For a dozen
years, we sent reporters out to explore all variety of health-related topics — including fitness and diet best practices, how to combat stress, ways to get a better night’s sleep, kids’ health issues and parenting advice. We also covered broader health care industry concerns, including things like how airline industry-inspired surgical checklists improve patient safety, the early frustrations around electronic medical records and even why doctors burn out.
In 2018, we expanded our coverage to include homes so we could tell stories about exciting elements of local culture that didn’t quite fit into the Inlander, such as the work of our region’s architects, builders and interior designers. Thus was born Inlander Health & Home
I’ve certainly enjoyed taking readers on tours of dozens and dozens of local homes — from
downtown condos to mountainside ski chalets, brand new houses ready to welcome big extended families, restored historic homes, sustainable “passive” homes and even a marvelous tiny house. Through all these stories, we’ve sought to share the myriad ways people in our region define “home.” And while many aspects of these projects are aspirational, there’s always something to be learned and just maybe put to use in your own projects.
Since 2016, Ali Blackwood, our art director, has been my number-one collaborator, designing the cover and most of the pages for every issue. In our production process, I assign the stories and get them ready for layout. Ali is presented with a word file, and voila! — each story comes alive on the page. Seeing the transformation never gets old, and Ali’s technical prowess and endless creativity make this job so much fun.
From everyone on our team who helps produce this publication, we all hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
— ANNE McGREGOR
We have a lot of issues.
LESLIE DOUGLAS PHOTO
Home Team the
Designed to improve quality of life for ALS patients, modular, eco-friendly homes also show what the future of homebuilding could look like
BY E.J. IANNELLI
Thanks to awareness-raising initiatives like the Ice Bucket Challenge, we all have a better appreciation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and its debilitating effects. The progressive neurodegenerative disease, sometimes referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, causes ongoing motor neuron deterioration in patients’ brain and spinal cords until they are no longer able to perform essential biological functions.
Public awareness of the disease is important for fundraising and research toward future treatments, but for individuals living with ALS today, the more immediate concern is how best to adapt as the disease robs them of the ability to move, eat and speak.
Theresa Whitlock-Wild, whose husband Matt Wild was diagnosed with ALS about 10 years ago, points out that families can easily spiral into debt paying for home renovations and necessities like wheelchairs and ramps. Patients’ partners or family members also often have to make profound life changes to become full-time caregivers.
“As the disease progresses, it starts to get harder and harder. It becomes more isolating,” she says.
After speaking with other ALS patients and their caregivers, Whitlock-Wild realized that one of their top needs was a safe, affordable environment that improved the quality of life for those afflicted with this degenerative disease. With the aim of advocating for and supporting people whose lives have been upended by ALS, Whitlock-Wild and her husband established the Matt’s Place Foundation not long after his initial diagnosis. ...continued on next page
Brian Court of Seattle’s Miller Hull architectural firm designed Matt’s Place 2.0, a modular home in Spokane that offers streamlined construction and optimal accessibility. PATRICK MARTINEZ PHOTO
“
The idea was to make it scalable and shippable anywhere around the country.
The Home Team...
The nonprofit’s fundraising efforts began with the sale of $1 bracelets in local coffee shops. But its goals were ambitious. In 2017, with the help of over 100 contractors, the organization spearheaded the construction of Matt’s Place, a traditional stick-built house that was designed expressly for ALS families.
“We learned something from that,” she says. “So we went to Spokane, and in 2019, we started the process of building Matt’s Place 2.0, which was a prototype using CLT, that is, cross-laminated timber. The idea was to make it scalable and shippable anywhere around the country.”
Brian Court of the Seattle-based firm Miller Hull has been the lead architect on the Matt’s Place 2.0 project. He describes the forward-thinking ideas and the engineering talent behind the purpose-built house as a concerted effort to create “the ultimate solution.”
“This project is trying to go places that buildings really haven’t been before, with ALS patients as the primary driving force in the design of the building,” he says, “and then also using innovative new materials to demonstrate how a two-story, single-family house can be essentially climate-neutral.”
The cross-laminated timber used in the house’s walls, floors and support structure is a renewable, low-carbon alternative to the conventional concrete and steel materials that contribute so heavily to global CO2 levels. CLT also lends itself to the modular design that the project set out to achieve. It can be prefabricated at a single factory and then transported to specific plots of land.
...continued on page 14
Matt’s Place 2.0 relies on prefabricated cross-laminated timber for its support structure, walls and floors. MILLER HULL SKETCH AND PHOTOS
“The idea is that we would look at the general dimensions of the site, come up with a building configuration that would make sense and then go to our kit of parts. We have a kitchen module, bathroom modules, bedroom modules and we can click them together literally on the computer screen and build the house.”
At the same time, with guidance from Matt’s Place Foundation, Court and his team have given considerable thought to design that extends beyond practicality and, in Court’s words, addresses “the mental and spiritual well-being of the patient.”
The interior spaces are open-plan to promote maneuverability and feel more expansive than they are. Windows are enlarged to let in as much warm natural light as possible. The incorporation of so much timber creates a sense of connectedness with the outdoors. A photovoltaic system on the roof meets 100% of the building’s power requirements and could allow the house to go off-grid.
Technology plays a big part in the design as well. Matt’s Place 2.0 is currently home to an ALS patient who enjoys more self-suf-
ficiency as a result of automation and assistive technology.
“He can manage everything in his environment,” says Whitlock-Wild. “He can see the security cameras outside. He can open his gate to let visitors in and out, un-deadbolt the door, let the dog in and out and open the blinds from what I like to call his command station.”
Nevertheless, Matt’s Place 2.0 is only a milestone on a much longer road. Matt’s Place Foundation and its partners are already working on iteration 3.0, which will apply the same advanced materials and modular concepts to a multi-family building. The prototype unit will be a direct neighbor to the 2.0 house in Spokane.
The carbon-minimal, rapidly deployable construction concept behind Matt’s Place could even be expanded to include all kinds of housing. Court foresees a time when shopping for a house is a more interactive and customizable process, with customers choosing from a range of rooms that snap together. Think of it as a modern, pre-fab take on the popular Sears kit houses from the early 20th century.
Renderings of Matt’s Place 3.0, a multifamily building designed to expand on the techniques used for Matt’s Place 2.0. MILLER HULL IMAGE
The Home Team...
“That’s the dream of architecture right now, that we could create this much dramatically simplified way of constructing buildings and getting them on site. And I think there’s general consensus that the more we can do in a factory, quality control goes up, cost can come down,” he says.
“So, in many ways this is solving one of the critical issues right now, ALS, and how families deal with that, but it’s also looking to the future of what the built environment is going to be. We see this as the future of buildings.”
Whitlock-Wild says that this approach, once it’s established and streamlined, could potentially reduce build times by up to 60% compared to traditional stick builds.
In the near term, however, Matt’s Place is concentrating on developing these modular houses in line with its mission and, by extension, for any patients who have mobility issues or require care assistance, not just individuals with ALS.
“By building for these needs, we’re hoping to alleviate the tensions and stress in their everyday life so that they can start healing and learning how to thrive despite the challenges that they’re faced with,” says Whitlock-Wild.
“We can’t solve all the issues, but we can think differently about how to make it better.”
“You didn’t realize that we make the mostbeautifultileintheworldinSpokane, didyou?”FireclayCEOEricEdelsonsays byphonefromtheBayArea.It’strue.Since October2022,allofthecompany’spressedclay andglasstileshavebeenmadeattheformer QuarryTileplantinnortheastSpokane.Infact, theSpokanelocationistheonlymanufacturer ofglasstilesintheUnitedStates,Edelsonsays. Thecompany’sCalifornialocationsusedifferentproductionmethodsforothertypesoftiles.
Fireclaywasfoundedin1986withacouple of small factories in California that sold to other retailers.Edelsontookthereins16yearsago. “In2013,weactuallyfiredallofourcustomers, allofourretailaccounts,anddecidedtogo direct.Andwestartedusingtheinternetand socialmediatoreallyjustbringourproducts directlytoarchitectsanddesignersandhomeowners.Andthatledtotremendousgrowth.”
“NooneinSpokanereallyknewitexisted because their model was to manufacture for othercompaniesandallowthosecompaniestoresell,”Edelsonsays,notingthatthe 120,000-square-footSpokaneplantisactuallya lotlargerthantheirCalifornialocations. openingFireclaynowhaseightshowrooms,after fivein2024,includingitsfirstEast CoastshopinNewYorkCity’sFlatironDistrict andoneinSantaMonica.TheSpokaneshowroomisscheduledtoreopensometimein2025, thoughcuriousshopperscanalreadystopbyto seetilesamplesinthefactorylobby....continuedonpage18
LESLIEDOUGLASPHOTOS
Grout Expectations...
Gerald Havens oversees operations at the Spokane plant, which can turn out a finished tile from the pile of locally sourced raw clay in just 90 minutes. After mixing the raw material with plenty of water in the equivalent of a massive KitchenAid, the resulting very runny mixture is quick-dried into a fine powder. The powder is then tightly compressed into molds with the resulting tiles hustled off on a conveyor belt for firing in a 42-meter-long natural gas kiln. After glazing is applied, the tiles are fired once more, then carefully packed for shipment.
Whatever the tile type, 90% of Fireclay’s production is made to order.
“We offer design services and then make your tile exactly the way you want it,” Edelson says. “We like to say our story starts with yours… When you work with us and we make something for you, it’s one of a kind. We’re making it exactly for you, and we do that at scale for 1,000 customers a month.”
“We like to say our story starts with yours…”
Crafting glass tiles is a different process entirely. Large sheets of plate glass float on a cutting table where they’re carefully scored and expertly cracked apart into smaller tiles, which are then individually screenprinted with ink. A trip through the kiln softens the tiles’ sharp cut edges into smoothly curved, elegant pieces.
Havens says in addition to an assortment of
in-stock tile colors, the plant can create custom color-matches and mosaics at various price points. He assists customers with a sample “chip box” of tiles — including, glass, pressed clay or brick options. Completing an order that’s custom-color matched can take a few weeks as customers will receive a sample for approval prior to placing the final order.
“We work with everyone and anything. It’s the retiree who wants to do a little spruce up of their kitchen backsplash all the way up to a boutique hotel
A sheet of glass is scored at the Spokane factory before it’s carefully snapped into smaller sections that will be inked and fired in the kilns. FIRECLAY TILE PHOTO
where we’re doing every bathroom. We’re part of national rollouts for Starbucks or corporate customers like Salesforce or Google or Meta,” Edelson says, noting Fireclay tile is featured at the Spokane Airport. “We work with the most discerning, highest-end clients across the country, but we also make ourselves available to everyone via the internet.”
As a certified B-corporation, Fireclay is part of a growing number of companies, including Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia, that endeavor to embody the philosophy that business can be a force for good. The certification process takes place every three years and is exacting, “like a root canal on your business,” Edelson says. “It’s really looking at every facet of your company, from your corporate governance to how you treat your team and your employees to what you do for the environment, how you show up for your community, and the support you provide your local community, and how you treat your customers.” The company is 30% employee-owned, something that has been a new experience for the Spokane-based crew, Edelson says. “It’s been a really fun journey helping the Spokane team members understand what it means to be an owner, to understand what it means to have a say.”
Fireclay CEO Eric Edelson
Going from raw material to finished tile (below) can take as little as 90 minutes at the Spokane Fireclay Tile factory.
ANNE McGREGOR PHOTOS
Splitting Hairs
A research team at WSU has developed an AI model for analyzing hair — and the potential implications are huge
BY E.J. IANNELLI
Imagine going for your annual wellness checkup, and instead of a blood draw, the nurse simply plucks a few strands of hair. Through a computer analysis of those strands, maybe even within the short timeframe of your visit, the medical team is able to determine the presence of health anomalies that might require intervention.
Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new method of hair analysis that could lend itself to applications like that in the future. The method uses artificial intelligence to process large volumes of high-resolution microscope images of hair fibers and compile data such as the color, shape, width and length of each strand. Those and other parameters could potentially offer telling clues about certain characteristics of the hair donor.
The new method arose out of the work that Jasson Makkar, a molecular biosciences graduate student, was doing for WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He and his research team were studying the effects — the “downstream phenotype” in his more technical description — of manipulating a gene that influences hair follicle growth in mice.
“If you look at the fur, you can see that there’s something slightly off about it, but there’s no way of quantifying that just based off looking at it. So we wanted to have an objective measurement of what those differences were,” he says.
To conduct those measurements, Makkar had the painstaking task of manually arranging and measuring tubes of hair.
“I was sitting for many hours taking images under the microscope and then taking those images home. There were nights that I just sat there counting fibers,” he says.
And it was tedium, that age-old driver of innovation, that spurred him to find a better method. In the fall of 2021, a year before chatGPT launched and pushed AI into the headlines, he began exploring ways to automate the process.
“I was reading articles about how they were using computer vision for detecting objects when trying to develop automated driving and things like that. So I tried a couple of different packages that were available where they had pre-trained models. And none
...continued on next page
Splitting Hairs...
of them seemed to work really well for detecting hair fibers,” he says.
One of the problems that Makkar kept running into was that the hair fibers don’t all lie uniformly. Even if you were able to arrange them in the same direction in a single image, it’s difficult to replicate that exact same orientation across an entire series of images. However, without a consistent orientation, the computer models had a hard time recognizing and quantifying the different fibers.
That’s when Makkar discovered that a similar problem had been overcome in satellite imagery.
“With satellite images, you have a similar issue where everything isn’t really organized along nice and easy axes. If you take a sky-view image of a car or a boat, you can’t necessarily control that the car is going to be facing perfectly vertically or perfectly horizontally in the image,” he explains.
After finding computer vision models that had been developed to identify objects in satellite images, he then modified and retrained them to analyze microscope images of hair fibers. Powered by Kamiak, WSU’s high-performance computing cluster, the resulting AI model can process images at speed via a deep learning algorithm.
Although Makkar developed his solution for research on mice, he says the basic framework can be extended to any mammal — including humans.
...continued on page 24
Graduate student Jasson Makkar uses the slide scanner, along with graphical processing units incorporating artificial intelligence to analyze hair samples.
COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE/TED S. WARREN PHOTO
A single hair is actually made up of many parts.
COURTESY PHOTO
“I absolutely love and trust my doctor at Kaiser Permanente.”
—Malika G. Kaiser Permanente Washington member
Care you’ll love
You deserve high-quality, personalized care — when and where you want it. Whether you see us in person, though virtual care, or by video or phone, you’ll always talk to a medical professional who knows your health history and has your best interest at heart.
Learn more at kp.org/washington
Splitting Hairs...
“It’s really hard to say what this is limited to. Based on physical characteristics alone, there are diseases that have physical hair fiber anomalies. You could have premature hair graying with dementia, for example, or you can have hair loss with a number of autoimmune diseases. Or you can have particular hair phenotypes that are associated with genetic disorders in children.”
Associate professor Ryan Driskell, who heads the research team, also sees a lot of promise in the AI model that he casually describes as a “hair follicle chatGPT.”
“A lot of us think that hair follicles are trash on the floor, right? They’re a nuisance. You vacuum them up. But there’s a lot of information in the hair follicle,” he says. In addition to its innate characteristics, hair can even provide insight into an individual’s external environment — a concept known in scientific circles as the exposome — through the presence of surface toxins or UV damage.
As a result, if simple hair samples could be used in lieu of some biopsies or invasive screenings, it could improve rural medicine and take some of the anxiety out of health care visits.
Furthermore, in addition to flagging potential health issues, this technology could have forensic applications. Not only could microscopic hair analysis indicate what kind of animal a particular hair fiber came from, it could also help establish whether it came from the back, head or arm.
Albeit still in its infancy, Driskell says this AI model offers a starting point for “creating a better understanding of what hair is across humanity.”
“I’m honestly quite surprised it’s been underutilized for so long,” says Makkar.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE INLAND NORTHWEST
STORIES BY SUMMER SANDSTROM
In a world that can be at times chaotic, complicated and stressful, having someone to turn to for advice and support can make a monumental difference, which is why Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Northwest’s volunteer mentors program works to foster mentorship relationships for at-risk youth.
The parent organization Big Brothers Big Sisters of America started in 1904 in New York City as Big Brothers, a movement for county clerks to help boys in the court systems, then, in 1977, merged with Big Sisters International. The Inland Northwest chapter was founded in 1965, primarily serving kids in Spokane County but also throughout Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE INLAND NORTHWEST nwbigs.org
1912 N. Division St., Ste. 100
“Our mission is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth,” CEO Kyle West says.
West adds that while its name is gender binary, the organization serves kids of all gender identities.
“Generally speaking, these are at-risk youth,” he says. “They’re kids who are experiencing hardships and facing adversities in life really through no fault of their own.”
All mentors are volunteers and must go through a screening and training process before being entrusted with a mentorship relationship, something West says often lasts for three or more years.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Northwest has two types of mentorship programs: community-based mentoring and schoolbased mentoring.
In the community-based mentoring program, mentors and mentees go out into the community to do things like arts and crafts, play sports, or watch movies, with mentors expected to spend be-
tween two to four hours per month with their mentees.
Two programs, called MPOWER and Lunch Buddies, are school-based programs.
MPOWER mentors work with at-risk high school students to support them to stay on track to graduation and help them make plans for life after high school, while Lunch Buddies mentors work with elementary and middle schoolers once a week, spending lunch and recess with them.
On Jan. 31, Big Brothers Big Sisters will offer a community breakfast at the Montvale Event Center at 7:30 am with the goal of recruiting over 60 new mentors.
“These relationships help the kids we serve to build resilience and help them to overcome adversity, improve their academic engagement, improve their social skills, restore their self esteem, help them to acquire confidence and believe that they can experience a bright future,” West says.
The nonprofit is always looking for more volunteers, since West says they often have more mentees than mentors. To sign up to become a mentor or to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Northwest, visit website nwbigs.org.
MORE TO CHECK OUT
THE CITY GATE
170 S. Madison St.
Founded in 1988 by a group of pastors, The City Gate works to provide services and build community for those in Spokane’s inner city who are experiencing homelessness or other struggles. With a mission “to reclaim, rebuild and restore lost and broken lives,” the nonprofit church provides a space that is open to all. The City Gate holds church every Sunday, and they have a food bank, kitchen and a clothing bank. They also own and operate 28 of the Alberta House apartments, providing low-cost housing and emergency shelter spaces to those in need. To sign up to volunteer, donate or learn more about The City Gate, visit thecitygatespokane.org
NORTHWEST MEDIATION CENTER
35 W. Main Ave., Ste. 230
With a mission of working to foster, provide and teach peaceful problem-solving skills, the Northwest Mediation Center aims to help resolve disputes around things such as child custody, landlord tenant issues and dissolving business partnerships in a peaceful, impartial manner. These mediations often help people avoid litigation and help them save money on resolving disputes, especially as the Northwest Mediation Center offers services on a sliding scale. “Our purpose here in the community is to really help lower the adversarial level between people — that’s why we’re here,” Executive Director Leslie Ann Grove says. The organization also offers classes, and they are always looking for volunteers to help with fundraising, events or to become mediators. To get involved, donate or sign up for an upcoming class, visit nwmediationcenter.com.
TEEN & KID CLOSET
307 E. Sprague Ave. and 13120 N. Pittsburg St.
Since 2007, Teen & Kid Closet has been providing high quality clothes to kids and teens in need. All items in the store are free, but the organization does operate on a referral basis, meaning shoppers need a referral from someone in social services, such as a social worker, school counselor or pastor. Teen & Kid Closet primarily serves youths in foster care or poverty, and they focus a lot on homelessness and families who are immigrants and refugees as well. “A lot of times kids in these situations have no choices, they don’t get to pick what they get,” co-founder Robyn Nance says. “This is a really cool experience that leaves them with things that they get to choose… and with things that make them feel good.” Nance says they’re always looking for volunteers to help in the store and for both monetary and clothing donations. More information can be found at teenkidcloset.org.
PETS
Not Just Any Puppy
Look past those puppy eyes and find a dog that’s right for you
BY ROBERT SLACK
Ihave always been fascinated by the great mystery of how two completely different species — humans and dogs — have found a pathway to becoming bonded. It’s the reason so many of us seek a dog companion, and also why it’s important to remember that your pet will bring their own personality to the mutual relationship. Therefore, when adopting a pet into your family, choose wisely!
For some folks the first consideration in choosing is what kind of dog they prefer. You might consider what “group” you choose from: working, herding, toy, hound, sporting, terrier, etc. Each group has certain characteristics you may or may not prefer. There are abundant resources that cover the various traits each group possesses. Many people, perhaps most, just want a poi dog, the Hawaiian word for mixed breed or, as some would say, the common mutt. I had several poi dogs when I lived in Hawaii, and now I have Kai (Hawaiian for
ocean), my 18-pound Spokane companion. She’s a mixed breed, mostly resembling her mom, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Wow, what a title. She responds to most of my commands, but I must admit that we struggle over the “come” command… my bad. Which brings up the next topic of choosing a pet: temperament testing.
This most important topic is not only necessary but also complicated and requires you to put in some effort in checking out the various resources available to you, including talking with veterinarians, animal shelters, dog clubs, training clubs and pet stores — they all have lessons for you to ponder. Or, you might just Google “temperament testing” for dogs and see if you can learn enough about temperament to trust your own judgment.
In general, you will come across these four temperament testing categories to consider when choosing a pet: “normal,” dominant, submissive, and independent. If you put in the time to learn about testing for these traits, you are more likely to choose wisely and pick “normal” by avoiding such things as signs of aggression or excessive fear traits (biting or hiding!). There is a great tendency to pick beauty over temperament, so be careful about what motivates you when picking a pup.
Once you’ve adopted your canine companion you have the same job a parent has in raising a child: setting boundaries. This requires a lot of work — first at home and then out in the animal world at large because socializing your pet is also part of boundary setting. Consider joining groups or clubs that offer opportunities for your pet to be around other dogs for this all-important training. Spokane has abundant resources to help you do that in a way that’s not just hard work but also fun.
After passing your temperament and socialization tests with at least a C grade, you may want to move on to advanced training. There are lots of fun options including things like agility and tracking. Some folks choose service dog training (which includes therapy dog and guide dog training). Or you might want to explore “clicker training.” These are just a few of the many areas your dog might do well — giving you and your pet some neighborhood bragging rights, but also, and more importantly, the satisfaction of a deeper bond with your canine pal.
Robert Slack is a retired veterinarian who lives in Spokane. He is the author of Tails: Curious Stories of the Animal-Human Bond.
LOCAL BUSINESS
Open Wide
The Slate Flosser was invented by Spokane dentist Danny Snyder to help patients need less of his care. He wanted “to help them be focused on preventative dentistry,” explains Brynn Snyder, the company’s CEO, designer and
also Danny’s wife. Slate’s 3-in-1 flosser is “unlike anything else out there,” she says. It combines sonic vibrations and silicone gum sweeps to remove plaque, massage the gums and improve blood flow. There’s even a tongue scraper for freshening breath.
The Snyders wanted to make flossing so easy and enjoyable that people are delighted to spend 60 seconds banishing harmful bacteria that lurks between teeth — bacteria that not only causes all sorts of unpleasant tooth-related miseries, but is also implicated in broader health concerns. “If you have gum disease for more than five years, you’re more than 70% more likely to have dementia,” Snyder says. Research shows gum disease may increase the risk of
heart disease, respiratory issues and several types of cancer.
National media attention — including a Men’s Health grooming award; articles in Allure, Goop, and Well and Good; and a feature on the podcast “How I Built This” — helped the company reach $1 million in sales in 2023, ballooning to over $3 million in 2024.
With such rapid growth came the need for a new headquarters. “We wanted to invest in Spokane people and in a location downtown,” Brynn says, so the company is renovating the old firehouse on First Avenue, with finishing touches being completed this spring. The team currently numbers 10, though plans include creation of more than 100 local jobs.
Brynn says it’s all part of a goal to “bring in people to Spokane and show them why it’s a wonderful city.”
— JOHN BERGIN
MEDICAL WEIGHT LOSS
START
We start by bringing you in for an initial consultation with our Nurse Practitioner Zelda Swain to determine if you are a good candidate for medical weight loss. If you’ve had lab work done in the past 6 months bring that in, or we can draw them in office. If you’re a good candidate, you will receive your first injection at your initial consultation.
DURING
We then have you come in bi-weekly to check your progress/body compostition and decide on your personalized dosage. We administer 1 shot in house, and send you home with your second. We also recommend regular at-home supplements as well as weight lifting to help offset any side effects and aid in muscle growth.
AFTER
Average duration to reach goal is about 4-5 months depending on the patient. We then transition into a maintenance dose of one injection per month. While still maintaining diet, exercise and supplements.
BENEFITS
• Decrease in body fat %
• Increase in lean muscle mass
• Increase in energy levels
• Improved gut health
• Improved hormone health
• Blood sugar control
• Reduced inflammation
• Improved cognitive abilities
Slate Flosser is a women-run business, including (from left) Caroline Schibel, Yulia Goncharova, Brynn Snyder, Jesica Tollefsen and Tatiana Fisenko.
Believe Bride stylists say most local brides try on 10 to 15 dresses per session, though many brides visit multiple salons, testing 50 to 75 dresses before committing. This
Madison James dress is modeled by stylist Olivia Borden.
GARY REISS PHOTO
Saying Yes to the Dress
Local bridal shops make both classic and trendy dresses available
for Inland Northwest brides BY AZARIA PODPLESKY
Some brides have known what their wedding dress would look like since years before they were engaged. Others pick up bridal magazines a few months into their engagement and start narrowing down their preferences from the seemingly endless options.
A-line or ball gown? Sleeves or no sleeves? What about the length of the train? Do you want the dress to match the venue, like a flowy dress for a beach wedding, or do you want to defy expectations?
There is a wedding dress for every bride and a bride for every wedding dress, but among a sea of ivory and cream, choosing the perfect dress can seem nearly impossible. Luckily for Inland Northwest brides, local bridal shops can help, whether brides want to keep it classic or make a trendy statement as they walk down the aisle.
Marcella Davis, owner of Marcella’s Bridal, has been designing wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses since 1989. She has operated a brick and mortar shop in Spokane since 1999.
To see what wedding dress designers are creating each season, Davis and her team travel to dress markets around the country. After watching runway shows and comparing and contrasting dresses, Davis makes her purchases.
The process can be overwhelming, she says, if you don’t do your homework ahead of time.
“You have to know what’s going to sell in your shop,” she says. “What are the trends? What are people looking for? And we’re buying dresses that won’t even be in the shop for six to nine months.”
From her years of experience in Spokane, Davis has learned that Spokane brides can be found dressing at the extreme ends of the spectrum. There are brides for whom a ballgown can’t be too big and brides who plan to wear a simple dress while getting
married in their parents’ backyard, barefoot and with flowers in their hair.
“Spokane is a very interesting melting pot,” she says. “That’s the fun part of what we do, and what we have been doing for so many years, is trying to have a little bit for everybody’s taste because not everybody is the same. But we try really hard to stick with very classic elegance, because at the end of the day, that’s what makes us look like brides.”
For brides looking to include trendy elements into their wedding dress, Davis notes that pearl accents are really popular, as are bows. Satin architectural dresses were big at the markets she attended, as were dresses with detachable sleeves. Pairing a detailed veil with a more simple gown was also a popular look.
...continued on next page
Meagan King, a stylist at Believe Bride, twirls to demonstrate the ball gown-effect of this satin ivory dress with an on-trend basque waist. GARY REISS PHOTO
Saying Yes to the Dress...
Lisa Seher, who co-owns Bridal Collections in Spokane and Cloud Nine Bridal in Coeur d’Alene with her daughter Kaitlyn, also frequents bridal conventions. During recent trips, Seher noticed a lot of clean and simple crepe dresses as well as many dresses that featured a basque waistline, which is a deep V-shape that starts just below the natural waist.
Seher is also seeing a lot of ball gowns, though she says fitted dresses are still popular too. Like Davis, Seher has also noticed a rise in detachable sleeves.
“You can have one look for the ceremony and then one look for the reception,” Seher says. “You can walk down the aisle with sleeves, and then snap, snap, snap, they pop off, and you have your party look.”
Seher also carries private labels at Bridal Collections and Cloud Nine Bridal, which means she can give the designers input based on what her brides have requested.
Cassidy Worley, operations manager of Believe Bride, also frequents bridal markets as well as showcases from independent designers to find both trendy and timeless dresses. The Believe Bride team also collaborates with industry groups and designers to anticipate what brides will be looking for in the coming seasons.
“This blend of hands-on market experience and trend analysis ensures our extensive collection reflects the styles and details our brides will fall in love with,” she says.
From recent analysis, Worley anticipates brides looking for their princess moment in satin ballgowns and, like Seher noted, basque waistlines. Romantic florals, in the form of bold appliqués, 3D embellishments and botanical-inspired lace, are also catching the eyes of brides-to-be.
For brides looking to do something a little unexpected, Worley notes the rise in
A curated gallery of gowns from size 2 to 32 is available at Bridal Collections in Spokane. BRIDAL COLLECTIONS PHOTOS
popularity of sculptural draping, asymmetrical necklines and bold cutouts, all of which she says blend simplicity with artistic sophistication. For even more dimension, consider layered tulle, embroidered organza or pleated detailing.
“What makes bridal fashion so magical is its individuality,” she says. “Each bride brings her vision and style, and trends simply provide inspiration to create something uniquely hers.”
You can have one look for the ceremony and then one look for the reception.
Whether a bride is looking for something classic or something that no one has seen before, Davis, Seher and Worley suggest brides come to their appointment with an open mind. Seher says some of her favorite brides are the ones who come in saying they’d never wear a sparkly ballgown yet leave with a sparkly ballgown.
“When you are shopping for a wedding dress, be ready to fall in love, because it’s just like falling in love,” Davis says. “It happens when you least expect it.”
...continued on next page
Saying Yes to the Dress...
The three also encourage brides to bring only their most trusted family and friends to share in the intimate experience of finding a wedding dress. It’s important to remember though that the choice is ultimately the bride’s to make.
Remember that the final decision should reflect your heart.
“Surround yourself with people who know you well, respect your vision and offer constructive feedback,” Worley says. “Their support is invaluable, but remember that the final decision should reflect your heart.”
Davis, Seher and Worley also want brides to know that the bridal teams at their respective
Believe Bride operations manager Cassidy Worley (right) adjusts a veil modeled by bridal stylist Olivia Borden. GARY REISS PHOTO
“Come in with an open mind and a positive attitude,” Seher says. “Don’t be scared. We’re here to help you find your dream dress. It’s a judgment-free zone.”
The way Davis sees it, the care the bridal team puts into the appointment passes to the bride who is then in the position to pass it on to someone else.
“Here’s what I love to tell every one of my brides,” she says. “We are all here at the same time for one reason, and that is to take care of each other. We want to make sure that we are ready to have that experience. We’re going to take care of you and get ready, because then you’re going to have the opportunity to take care of someone else, and that’s what’s going to make the world a better place.”
A
We Do’s
their love
BY ANNE McGREGOR
Inland Northwest couples are looking forward as they craft wedding celebrations with the intent of revealing what’s truly important to them on their special day. Large wedding parties and the muted nuptial elegance of the past are giving way to more personal expressions, including loads of flowers (and often pets!), an eco-friendly vibe, and non-traditional reception entertainment, according to wedding coordinator and floral designer Kayla Jacobson, owner of Aisle + Daisy.
Bright Botanicals
“The biggest trend that’ll be very, very new for next year is going to be lots of color. Like bright colors, and lots of, kind of untraditional colors that we really haven’t seen in past years for weddings,” says Jacobson. For spring and summer that could include hot pinks and bright roses. For fall, think luscious jewel tones. Wildflowers in glorious abundance will also be popular, something Jacobson relates to the TV series Bridgerton, with its depictions of upscale, elegant garden parties.
“With that come a lot more bright, fun, very bouncy florals,” she says. “I finally get to use a lot of flowers that aren’t typically used for weddings.”
Jacobson will be offering floral design for her clients this year and is pleased to be
able to source flowers locally. “There are actually a lot of local farms. The Sowing Joy Farm offers a lot of flowers, Gracey’s Flower Farm down in Fairfield offers lots
But flowers aren’t the only botanicals getting used at weddings. Jacobson says fruits and veggies are a wonderful addition. “They’re a relatively inexpensive way to bring a lot of impact,” she says, noting that fruits and vegetables are available no matter the season and can be incorporated in numerous ways. She recently created bud vases out of cored apples for a wedding. Another couple incorporated their homegrown tomato crop into their wedding design.
As for the bouquet toss, this tradition seems to be joining the garter toss as a washed up, often uncomfortable wedding reception “must.” Instead, Jacobson says brides are opting to “dedicate their own bouquet to someone very special to them.” One client gave her bouquet to a couple getting married a week later, others have given the flowers to their moms.
Eco-conscious Choices
While weddings are usually lavish celebrations, creating a wedding that doesn’t result in a lot of waste is a priority for many couples. One way to accomplish this is simple: reuse someone else’s decor. “There’s nothing wrong with that, it is going to save you money,” says Jacobson, who points clients in the market for a wedding decor package to Facebook Marketplace.
Floral arrangements can be one of the biggest sources of waste at a wedding. In particular, Jacobson calls out the use of floral foam to secure flowers in elaborate displays. “Floral foam has a lot of chemicals that are harmful to the environment. It’s supposed to keep the flowers alive and keep them in place, but it has a huge impact. And there are many, many alternatives now.” Jacobson doesn’t rely on floral foam in her work and encourages couples to request that their floral designers forgo it as well. She employs chicken wire as the mechanical support for arrangements, placing flowers that are really sensitive to being out of water in small vases that can be wired into the display.
And what happens to all those beautiful blooms after the ceremony? “As a coordinator, I’ve had to throw away just pounds and pounds of flowers at the end of the night because the couple just doesn’t want to get stuck with them,” says Jacobson, who says she asks clients about a week before their ceremony if they have a plan for all the flowers. If not, “As a thank-you, I will donate any of my couples’ flowers” to Cancer Care Northwest, says Jacobson, who underwent chemotherapy in 2024. “Everyone gets to enjoy them for a week longer.”
Other elements of a wedding celebration are also ripe for showcasing sustainability.
Jacobson recently worked with a couple who thrifted all their drinking glasses and incorporated candles locally crafted by a friend. “Since it was their own personal design style, they were able to repurpose a lot of it around their home for years to come,” she says.
Abundant and colorful flowers are on-trend for 2025 weddings.
WE DO’S...
Forgoing the Human Wedding Party, Adding Pets
While the selection of close friends and family to accompany the bride and groom on their trip up the aisle has felt like a given in years past, Jacobson says couples are reconsidering that choice.
“There can be a lot of drama around the wedding party. It can be difficult to choose people to be in your wedding party. And then, finally it is more of a financial burden.” In addition to outfitting the bridesmaids and groomsmen, Jacobson notes that if the bride is footing the bill for hair and makeup for the wedding party, it can add up to $2,000 to $3,000.
The benefits of a couple-only wedding party are many. Relieved from duties at the altar, people who would have been in the wedding can enjoy a better view from the audience and sit with their families. “It also allows the couple to do something a little bit more interesting and a little bit more upscale in terms of their ceremony decor,” Jacobson says. A recent couple splurged on “a ginormous meadow of flower arrangements that completely surrounded them. It was very fairy-tale-esque and getting up there, passing off the rings — none of that was ever a hiccup.”
Though other people might not make it into the wedding party, more couples are hoping to be able to include their pets. That’s a wish Jacobson can often accommodate.
“There are people that you can hire that will come and babysit your dog at the venue,” Jacobson says. “They can help send them down the aisle, clean up any messes. There are only one or two in the Spokane area, but they are busy every weekend, and they’ve grown really close to venues and established good relationships, so a lot of venues that used to be no-pets-allowed are becoming pet friendly.”
If a pet attendee isn’t allowed, these furry family members can still be acknowledged. A recent couple ordered custom cocktail napkins with a picture of their cat. “Another thing I’ve seen this year is people will get images of their pets blown up and use cardboard cutouts on the dance floor,” Jacobson says.
Reception Entertainment
Move aside, wedding DJ. The reception is becoming a way for couples to offer unique entertainment to their guests. “What couples are wanting to do for their wedding day is to just be authentic to themselves, while also providing an excellent guest experience,” Jacobson says.
What’s that look like? Well, it might be a tattoo station.
“There are vendors in our area starting to offer these services. For some it can be a real tattoo with real tattoo art. I have seen a temporary tattoo station that is super duper fun. You can customize them on Etsy.”
Another idea for a long-term souvenir of the special day is offering a permanent jewelry station, where guests can opt to have a bracelet soldered around their wrist as a memento.
Jacobson says couples are getting creative with how to make their reception reflect their personalities. Caricatures were very special to a recent couple, so they hired several local artists to come and draw their guests for two hours after the ceremony. “It was probably the coolest experience I’ve seen — a very unique way of taking home a favor and also getting a glimpse into what the couple enjoys.”
Another way to memorialize the day is through custom audio phone books. Jacobson says there are a variety of options, but essentially an old-timey phone is set up with a greeting from the couple and guests then record a voicemail. Later the couple
Many couples want to find a way to include precious pets in their celebration. SHANOAH BRI PHOTO
Weddings
will receive a recording of the messages in their choice of format, possibly even a vinyl record, to remember the day.
“I get emotional about this one,” Jacobson admits. “You can do photography, you can get a videographer, but to intentionally capture each one of your guests’ voices is amazing. And guests who were not able to make it to your wedding can still call into the line and leave a message.”
As a wedding coordinator, Jacobson is ready to assist with a couple’s most cherished wishes, to make each wedding a unique representation of a couple’s love and commitment. “They’re breaking the mold. They realize that it’s a celebration of their marriage and should be a reflection of them, and I personally will always support that.”
Guests pick up the phone to leave a message, creating a vivid memory of the day for the bride and groom. LIV BROWN PHOTO
Wedding coordinator Kayla Jacobson says a reception with caricature artists, “was probably the coolest experience I’ve seen.”
SPOKANE ALPINE HAUS
The Inland Northwest is a gold mine in the world of outdoor sports and recreation, with myriad mountains to ski and snowboard in winter, vast lakes and rivers to explore in summer, a multitude of trails to bike year-round, and Spokane Alpine Haus for everything you need to get out and enjoy whatever the season.
Spokane Alpine Haus opened in 1976 on the South Hill and was purchased by Drew and Rachel Harding in 2015. The pair recently expanded the business, opening a second location right by Audubon Park last October.
Drew Harding says the store serves as a full-service ski and snowboard shop through the winter, then shifts gears in spring to become a full-service bike shop before adding summer water sports to its lineup as well.
One of Spokane Alpine Haus’ main focuses is to ensure that everyone’s gear fits comfortably and correctly, and that they can help people find the right gear for their adventures.
“I know sometimes skiing and snowboarding or even biking can be intimidating to people in terms of what is the right gear and what fits the needs for what they’re trying to accomplish,” Harding says. “Our goal is to ask a bunch of questions, figure out what they need and make their experience a little bit better.”
Harding adds that Spokane Alpine Haus specializes in boot fittings, ensuring that a number of their employees are well trained to offer those services.
“We send more people to after-hours training, different certifications that are offered in our industry, so we have probably one of the highest levels of certification between the majority of our boot fitters,” he says. “I think that right there kind of sets us apart from a lot of different shops and general retailers.”
Spokane Alpine Haus also has a boot lease program for families and growing kids, which costs $160 per year for the full package.
ensure that the kids get a good fit now, that it’s safe, it’s comfortable, and they have a good experience.”
SPOKANE ALPINE HAUS
thespokanealpinehaus.com
2925 S. Regal St. and 2215 W. Northwest Blvd.
“I know a lot of parents will try to buy for their kids so they can get a couple of years out of the gear, but sometimes it’s a little too big for year one and then maybe it’s a little too small for year two,” Harding says. “With our lease program, we just
In early March, Spokane Alpine Haus will be holding a demo at Mount Spokane to sell next year’s skiing and snowboarding gear from the brands they carry, with the proceeds going to Mount Spokane’s adaptive ski Powder Hounds Program. More information on the event can be found on Spokane Alpine Haus’ social media.
“Our goal at the Alpine Haus is to make sure people have a good experience, they get great service, and that they get the products that they need to help them get out and have fun,” says Harding.
STORIES BY SUMMER SANDSTROM
Drew and Rachel Harding opened a second location of Spokane Alpine Haus near Audubon Park.
LESLIE DOUGLAS PHOTOS
MORE TO CHECK OUT
3 CRAFT CHICKS
13106 W. Sunset Hwy., Airway Heights
If you’re an avid crafter or just want to try something new, 3 Craft Chicks’ wide selection of crafting tools and kits can set you up for a fun crafting extravaganza. They carry a bunch of scrapbooking supplies from brands like Doodlebug, Simple Stories, Graphic 45 and more. They hold a number of classes and retreats for various scrapbooking designs, and they have a Super Scrapbook monthly subscription in which members receive scrapbook kits. For more information about upcoming events, visit their Facebook page or website 3craftchicks.com.
RIVER RIDGE HARDWARE
2803 W. Garland Ave.
Since opening in the 1950s, River Ridge Hardware has served as a staple local hardware shop in Spokane. Not only does the store have a plethora of tools and gadgets for many of your projects, it has some fun tidbits as well as housing a framing shop called Frame It Today. Additionally, you can stop at River Ridge Hardware to get plants for your garden and other outdoor essentials at their garden center. “Our tagline
FERN PLANT SHOP
1526 W. Riverside Ave. and 211 E. Lakeside Ave., Coeur d’Alene Fern Plant Shop carries a range of common houseplants perfect to liven up your home, as well as numerous exotic finds that will add a fun flair to your plant collection. “Our mission at Fern has always been to enchant you with the magic of plants,” co-owner Alex Ekins says. Throughout the store, you’ll be greeted by an assortment
HECTOR AIZON FOR FERN PLANT SHOP PHOTO
A Culinary Nomad
Take your tastebuds on a trip with the Steam Plant’s executive chef Andrew Potter
Andrew Potter can do barbecue like nobody’s business. And Italian food. And Chinese food. And Mexican food. The list goes on, a testament to both his well-stocked cookbook shelf and the mileage traveled through his culinary escapades.
The saga of how Potter, born in Kentucky, has made his way to becoming the executive chef at Spokane’s Steam Plant Restaurant and Brew Pub, with its historic smokestacks punctuating the downtown skyline, starts with his mom’s bookshelf.
“She was really, really interested in food, and I would definitely consider her a foodie. She was a librarian, so she loved researching and had a massive cookbook collection and was really into traveling,” Potter says. Practically “born and raised in the kitchen,” by the time Potter was 7 years old, he was making meals on his own.
Kentucky barbecue holds a fond place in his heart, though the family moved to California by the time he was 3. He was in the food biz early on. “I started actually selling food at my school as kind of like side money as a kid. I was probably like 8 or 9, and I started selling burritos and Philly cheese steaks,” Potter says.
In high school, he built a large grill to serve barbecue for his school and football team. He’d also cook for friends and their families whenever he spent time at their houses.
“I realized that if I cooked for them, they were always so excited and happy about that,” Potter says.
Potter was 16 when he got his first official restaurant job — as a dishwasher at Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia National Park. He was working at Yosemite National Park when then-President George W. Bush dined at the lodge.
“Having the Secret Service in the kitchen was a really wild experience and just super memorable,” Potter says. And the experience revealed
STORY BY DORA SCOTT
PHOTOS BY YOUNG KWAK
Chef Andrew Potter deftly melds influences from cuisines of the world in downtown Spokane.
the travel potential of work in the food industry.
“That was really addicting, especially in the old days, you could really almost kind of go to a new city and get a job in a kitchen almost instantaneously,” Potter says.
His parents, however, had other ideas. They grounded his nomadic lifestyle and convinced him to go to college, where he double majored in creative writing and art at St. Andrews University in North Carolina.
Though he continued to be drawn to food — living and working in Alaska in the summer, spending a semester abroad in Italy — Potter decided to go to graduate school. A Google search for schools near ski slopes proved to be life-changing when Eastern Washington University popped up.
“I moved up here, sight unseen, to get my MFA, and had never been to Spokane before in my life,” Potter says.
Strolling through downtown shortly after moving to Spokane, Potter happened upon the PF Chang’s that was then on the cusp of opening. He was hired on the spot as a pantry cook.
“I immediately got just hooked on wok cooking because it’s really fast, and I love the speed of it,” says Potter, attributing his dexterity with the wok pan to his juggling and drum experience.
“It felt like a combination of the two because it’s very rhythmic. You’re using both of your hands and knees, as far as adjusting the temp levers of the burners,” Potter says.
He says his experience in a Chinese restaurant continues to inform his cooking techniques today, like when adding an Asian flair to American barbeque. The
soula while his wife was in graduate school, and on returning to Spokane, he took up brewing beer as a side hobby.
“I got really into it, and made about 600 batches of beer over a couple-year period,” Potter says, of the experience he later put to use as an assistant brewmaster at Waddell’s Pub & Grille. Then he was off to
I realized that if I cooked for them, they were always so excited and happy.
Steam Plant’s array of kitchen equipment allows him to take even more creative liberties. Using the combi oven, which cooks with steam and hot air, he is able to slow cook meats, such as ribs that would traditionally require a Canton wok.
Like many in the food industry, Potter has racked up experience in many venues. He worked at multiple pizza joints in Mis-
the Rusty Moose, where he helped incorporate wild game into the menu, something that came easy to Potter but was a new venture for the restaurant.
“I had grown up hunting as a kid, and so that was right up my alley,” Potter says.
Now Potter’s at the helm of the Steam Plant using all the skills he’s gained in more than 25 years in the food industry. “We’ve
been growing the catering side of this restaurant considerably, because this restaurant is really kind of like three restaurants in one,” says Potter, highlighting the Steam Plant restaurant, the Sapphire Lounge and the catering they do for Montvale Event Center.
Despite his executive chef position, Potter takes pride in still being in the “trenches of service” with his crew.
“A great chef should be able to work every single station, including that dish pit, and not be afraid of it and not be above it,” Potter says.
While classic American dishes — like wood-fired pizza, burgers and pasta — are on the Steam Plant menu, Potter likes adding other references to other cultures to create original dishes such as coconut curry clams, Chinese five spice pork ribs and Cajun chicken fettuccine.
Though Potter might not get to travel as often he used to, he continues to explore world cuisines through his cookbooks and countless hours of research.
As an armchair culinary tourist, “you can travel to a place in your own kitchen that you could never go to any other way,” Potter says.
Recipe on next page…
The Steam Plant Restaurant and Brew Pub’s origins are clearly visible in the dining area.
TRY IT YOURSELF
Orange Blaze Chicken Sandwich
stylings with what he calls an “Americana twist.”
Marinated Grilled Chicken
INGREDIENTS:
• 3 lbs. chicken thighs or breasts
• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
• ½ cup orange juice
• 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
Combine marinade ingredients and toss with chicken. Refrigerate overnight.
The next day, grill chicken till done and set aside.
Orange Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 cup orange juice
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 teaspoon Korean chili flake
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
• Zest of 1 orange
• ½ Tablespoon cornstarch
• ½ Tablespoon cold water
Sauté garlic in olive oil, add remaining sauce ingredients except cornstarch and water. Bring to a low simmer. Mix cornstarch with water to create a slurry, and add slurry to the bubbling sauce while whisking vigorously. Continue to whisk until cornstarch thickens the sauce.
Add the grilled chicken to the saucepan, making sure chicken is well-coated; lower temp to keep warm.
Cucumber Salad
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• ¼ head of cabbage, thinly sliced
• 4 Peppadew peppers, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup champagne vinegar
Combine honey, champagne vinegar and lemon juice. Toss with cucumber, cabbage and peppers.
Spread
INGREDIENTS:
• ½ cup mayo
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ Tablespoon Sambal chili paste
• 1 Tablespoon green onions, thinly sliced
• Combine to form a spread.
ASSEMBLY:
• 2 baguettes or 6 ciabatta rolls
1. Divide baguettes into three sections and cut each section lengthwise, or cut ciabatta rolls into top and bottom halves.
2. Put spread on both top and bottom pieces of bread, place chicken on the bottom piece of bread.
3. Drain off excess juice from cucumber salad, and place on the top piece of bread.
4. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the cucumber salad (optional).
5. Put both pieces together and enjoy!
— RECIPES COURTESY OF ANDREW POTTER
Chef Andrew Potter created a fun recipe with plenty of complementary flavors, something right in line with his multifaceted culinary background. This chicken sandwich showcases his Asian food
YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
Beyond the Bitter Brew
Whistle Punk Brewing brings Europe’s broad beer tradition to the Inland Northwest
STORY BY WILL MAUPIN | PHOTOS BY YOUNG KWAK
“Beer is beautiful” is the mantra at Whistle Punk Brewing. While many microbreweries focus on specific styles, Whistle Punk focuses on sharing the love across the many beers that can be brewed, and their updated-daily menu reflects that.
Whether it properly fits in a pilsner or a hefeweizen glass, a Belgian tulip or a British nonic pint, or a German dimple mug or Czech pilsner glass, Whistle Punk will have a variety that fits your style and sensibility.
For many breweries around the region, the India Pale Ale [IPA] has been tried and true. At Whistle Punk, they eschew the common and go for the route less traveled.
“When we opened, it was kind of really the height of the IBU [International Bitterness Unit] wars and the height of people really trying to just make super hoppy beer. I loved IPA, too, it’s all I drank for a few years,” owner and brewer Matt Hanson says. “But when we opened, we just really had a passion for brewing lager and brewing malt-forward beers... and then always being extremely seasonal.”
On his 21st birthday, Matt Hanson bought a homebrew
kit and was hooked.
“[My dad] was brewing in the early ’80s,,” Hanson says, “but he was just brewing a couple times a year. And so when I got into it, it really got him back into it.”
That homebrew kit would eventually turn into a small brewing operation on his family’s property, and by 2015 Matt and his father, Craig, brought the Whistle Punk brand to life.
Two years later, in 2017, they moved into their current taproom space in downtown Spokane.
“When we first opened, we went from brewing whatever, 10 gallons at a time, to just 45 gallons at a time on a one-and-a-half barrel brew system that we basically built ourselves. It was not real brew equipment even, but it was like old steam soup kettles and things like that that we kind of retrofitted to make beer. That’s how it first started, and that’s what we opened the taproom with. And then I realized that I was brewing like six days a week at that point. So we upgraded to a four-barrel brew house.”
Whistle Punk now has two locations, one downtown
Tmavé Pivo, Irish Red Ale, Kolsch and Rauch Bock beers at Whistle Punk Brewing
and another in Millwood, the latter being where the brewing takes place.
Despite not having a familial connection to the Czech and German brewing traditions, and even though there will always be a couple of IPAs on the menu, Whistle Punk’s offerings are overwhelmingly Central European, not the Pacific Northwest fare of hoppy-over-everything ales.
If they have a single signature beer, it’s likely the Whistle Punk Doppelbock, which is released annually on Christmas Eve and served in the taprooms through February.
A traditional German dark lager, it clocks in at a hefty 8% alcohol by volume, with fruit cake and cinnamon flavors that deliver a full-flavored mouthfeel without the bitterness often associated with high ABV microbrews.
Unlike those bitter beers, the more malty lagers on tap at Whistle Punk are very food-friendly. While neither taproom has a kitchen, the downtown location partners with Heritage Bar and Kitchen, just across the hall, which offers its full menu to Whistle Punk patrons.
“We have a great relationship, and they’re our house restaurant,” Hanson says.
Open since 2017, Whistle Punk is now among the old guard in Spokane’s craft brewing scene. And they’ve done it by bucking the trends and focusing on the beers the owners like to drink.
It’s been a recipe that works, even when it sometimes sounds a bit weird. For example, there’s the Tube Shot, an offering you’re unlikely to find anywhere else in the region.
“You pour a 100 percent foam into a tall cylinder, almost like a Collins glass, and then the goal is to shoot it. It’s basically just a full pour of foam, but it’s a foam you can drink. It drinks really creamy. In the Czech Republic, they call it Mlìko, which just means milk,” Hanson says.
The Tube Shot is meant to be enjoyed with friends, often in a competitive way, seeing who can take it down the fastest, but like all beers on the menu at Whistle Punk, it’s likely to help move you out of your Northwestern comfort zone.
Father-and-son brewers
Craig and Matt Hanson started Whistle Punk in 2015.
INDICANA
STORY BY DORA SCOTT
PHOTOS BY YOUNG KWAK
In Spokane’s South Perry District, Indicana is spicing up the local food scene with its unique blends of Indian and Mexican cuisine.
Indicana is the brainchild of two Spokane foodies: Noreen Hiskey, who last ran the local pop-up Inland Curry, and Chip Overstreet, Spiceology’s former CEO.
Plans for Indicana began while Hiskey was running Inland Curry’s Thursday pop-up meals out of Feast World Kitchen in downtown Spokane.
Trying to make her home country’s flavors more accessible, Hiskey added a taco-inspired dish to Inland Curry’s menu. It was a big hit with customers, and in particular the dish drew Overstreet’s attention when his picky son enjoyed the ingenious approach to Indian flavors. In fact, Overstreet was so impressed he approached Hiskey about teaming up on a fusion restaurant.
INDICANA
1020 S. Perry St., indicanaeats.com, Tue-Fri 3-9 pm; Sat 4-9 pm
items like naan tacos and pork vindaloo with corn tortillas. “Then, dinner is more elevated,” Overstreet says. “It’s entrées. It’s banana leaf-wrapped salmon that’s out of this world.”
Both the lunch and dinner menus are inclusive of various diets, offering gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options.
After months of testing recipes, the business partners settled on two menus for Indicana: a casual lunch menu featuring
“Different things resonate with different people,” Overstreet says. “What is most exciting is when people leave they say, ‘I have to come back because there is so much more.’”
Indicana’s banana leaf-wrapped salmon, curry “rip and dip” and Baja beet cocktail
Noreen Hiskey and Chip Overstreet collaborate on South Perry District’s Indicana.
MORE TO TRY
LITTLE EURO
1235 S. Grand Blvd., littleeurorestaurant.com, 509-381-3023, open daily from 7 am-2 pm Marie Mekkelsen’s original Danish recipes came with her when she emigrated to the United States in 1906, and now her grandchild, Tami Sevier, has opened another Little Euro location on the lower South Hill.
Locals might be familiar with the extended family’s line up of European brunch spots — Sevier’s brother opened the first location in Pullman in 2008, while Sevier and her husband, Dave, opened an Old European in Spokane in 2008, followed by their first Little Euro in Spokane Valley in 2012.
The new South Hill Little Euro boasts exposed brick walls, white marble tables with a splash of orange accents. And thanks to Dave Sevier’s craftsmanship, customers enjoy the warmth of handcrafted wood cabinets, a wooden bar and decorative cutting boards. The menus across the locations are almost identical, serving Scandinavian sweet treats including aebleskivers (Danish pancake balls cooked in a special castiron pan), and savory selections like traditional Hungarian goulash.
Just past the North Division Y, BRU Coffee Hause’s white silo structure holds not loads of wheat, but coffee beans, energetic baristas and plenty of good vibes.
After five years of planning, Spokane native Sigrid Houske fulfilled her dream of owning and operating a coffee shop when BRU (which stands for “Be the Real You”) celebrated its grand opening in early August 2024.
The most popular drink menu item is the Hause Bru ($5-$6.50), a mouth-watering amalgamation of white chocolate, caramel, shortbread, vanilla bean and cinnamon powder. Houske says she perfected the recipe over the last 10 years she’s been working in the coffee industry.
THE HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL
10 S. Post St., davenporthotelcollection.com, 509-455-8888; The Emporium: Sun-Thu 5 am-5 pm, Fri-Sat 5 am-8 pm; The Lobby Bar: Sun-Thu 3-10 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am-11 pm
The lobby of the Historic Davenport has welcomed generations of guests and now includes a new cafe and lobby bar.
Founded by Louis Davenport in 1914, the hotel went through a succession of owners that, by the late 1990s, left it on the verge of demolition. Local developers Walt and Karen Worthy rescued the hotel in 2000, restoring it to its original glory, and reclaiming its place as “Spokane’s living room.” The Worthys sold the hotel in 2021, and it’s now operated by Atlanta’s Davidson Hospitality Group.
Though the hotel isn’t locally owned anymore, the new owners were committed to creating a new cafe, dubbed The Emporium, and the Lobby Bar that would fit seamlessly with the hotel’s original architecture, incorporating antique lights and vintage-appropriate green and white marble, among other nods to the past.
The Lobby Bar’s circular design draws visitors to relax and enjoy a classic cocktail accompanied by small plates like shrimp cocktail or oysters Rockefeller. Meanwhile, The Emporium is aimed at busy travelers, with ready-to-go sandwiches and wraps, pastries and of course coffee.
— DORA SCOTT
YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
The Mother of Invention
Stephaine Courtney transforms adversity into lessons on flourishing
BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM
Whenever Stephaine Courtney sees a problem, she creates. So far, she’s created the Learning Project Network. She’s created the Shades of Motherhood Network. She’s created the guidebook Our Community: Black Leaders in Spokane. And she’s got more ideas on the way.
Courtney is a local educator pursuing justice for Black and brown women — and their children — in maternal health and early childhood education circles.
“Our goal is to create projects that create social and humanitarian change,” Courtney says.
Courtney has lived in Spokane for 15 years, arriving when her parents first moved the family to the Northwest to serve at Fairchild Air Force Base. She earned a master’s degree in education from Whit-
worth University and started working in early childhood development.
As she worked, Courtney noticed a lack of culturally diverse educators and resources for early learners. So in 2015 she created the Learning Project Network, a flexible nonprofit mostly focused on pop-up training for teachers.
“The Learning Project really started focusing on multicultural education, social justice, mental health, and most importantly, creative ways to build representation and development in the classroom,” Courtney says.
Her next idea came from a teacher in one of those pop-ups.
“I was working with some early childhood educators during Black History Month, and one of the teachers was like, ‘Stephaine, I’m really embarrassed to say this, but I really don’t know any Black people,’” Courtney says. “I said, ‘There is no need to be embarrassed.’”
Courtney set to work compiling a guidebook to current Black leaders in Spokane. The collection of biographies featuring people like Stephy Nobles-Beans, Kitara Johnson, and Sandy Williams was eventually titled Our Community: Black Leaders in Spokane
For many on the list, it was “the first time they saw themselves visible in the community that they loved and they were investing in,” Courtney says. “One of the people in the book said, ‘I read this to my daughter and she was like, ‘That’s my mom.’ I am very big about legacy… I was raised around women who came from nothing and wanted to give the community everything.”
But while she was trying to fill gaps in her community, Courtney was facing an immense sense of loss of her own. She had dreamed of having a family, but doctors couldn’t diagnose why she repeatedly miscarried. After dealing with fertility issues for seven years, she finally had her first child, Jaliyah, three years ago.
Courtney’s struggle brought her to one of the quotes she now lives by.
“When a mother has a child, it’s time for the mother to be mothered,” she recites.
Through her own experience, Courtney started learning about the maternal health issues facing Black and brown women across the country. Maternal mortality is four times higher for Black women, according to research published in the World Journal for Gynecology & Women’s Health
YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
Some of that can be traced to lack of education and resources, Courtney says. One grassroots way to address that lack of education while building community is to train up a network of culturally savvy doulas.
“A doula is an individual who provides emotional and physical support,” Courtney says. “They are really the people that help direct someone to one-on-one resources such as counseling or peer support groups.”
A doula can help a new mother understand what’s a normal experience during pregnancy versus what requires medical attention. They can advocate for an exhausted woman in a delivery room or connect new mothers to supportive peer groups.
Courtney developed the Shades of Motherhood Network to train doulas and build a platform to talk about maternal health issues. They create art exhibits to display in local hospitals during April’s maternal health week to inform the community about the unique needs of women of color.
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TOAST TO NEW BEGINNINGS
AND FINE
WINES!
CELEBRATING LIFE’S MOMENTS WITH
According to the National Vital Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, Black infants are twice as likely as white infants to have low birth weights, and about 5% more likely to be born preterm. Lack of adequate prenatal care, especially in the third trimester, increases the risk for low birthweight and premature delivery, which in turn increases the risk of neurological, gastrointestinal and breathing issues for the baby.
For Black mothers, “we’ve really normalized pain in the body,” Courtney says. “History shows there’s spaces where they believe that Black people have a higher pain tolerance, so Black women specifically are not getting the same pain management or the same referrals that their white counterpart might get…We really need to look at this from a systems perspective and say, ‘What in the system is preventing a person from asking or receiving support and help? How can we change that?’”
As Courtney’s concerns continue to evolve with her life experiences, one thing remains constant: She hopes her work prods the community to have the courage to challenge the status quo.
“We need more people to see something that disturbs them so much that they can’t get it out their mind and they say, ‘What can I do?’”
Stephaine Courtney (right) meets with Shades of Motherhood project leaders (from left to right) Mira McClinon, Samyra Jefferson and Christina Sheldon-Jackson.