Inlander 05/23/2024

RISKY ROADS

SPOKANE TRAFFIC CITATIONS DOWN 40% PAGE 12

FRESH AND LOCAL

REGIONAL FARMERS MARKET SEASON IS HERE PAGE 31 CATS OUT OF THE BAG

CIVIC AND GONZAGA PARTNER ON BIG FINALE PAGE 22

Kicking Kicking

Scenes from Spokane Velocity’s inaugural season at ONE Spokane Stadium

Photos by Erick Doxey

Story by Will Maupin

Page 14

EDITOR’S NOTE

I’m far from alone in confessing that most of what I know about professional soccer comes from Ted Lasso. But folks’ love for the sports sitcom is no joke for our city’s new professional men’s soccer team, the SPOKANE VELOCITY. In a way, the hit Apple TV+ series paved the way for a whole generation of local fans who, after seeing a dramatized version of the British soccer scene, got amped up for Spokane’s very own home squad. This week’s cover section takes readers behind the scenes of two recent Velocity matches at the brandnew ONE Spokane Stadium, showcasing scenes from the pitch, the stands and beyond, taken by our photographer Erick Doxey and paired with words by regular sports contributor Will Maupin. If you’ve yet to attend a Velocity game, these photos offer a taste of what you’re missing.

Best of all, coming this August is the debut of the city’s pro women’s team, the Spokane Zephyr, and the roster is already taking shape. We’ll definitely have more on the women in the months to come. The Inlander staff and I do have one plea, however, to the folks running the teams. Can we get some mascots?!

— CHEY SCOTT, Editor

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WHAT’S A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM THAT SPOKANE SHOULD HAVE?

SHAY KENWAY

There are so many that Spokane doesn’t have. Do we have a pro tennis team?

Nope!

Then I would say tennis or football.

Do you have any good team name ideas? Probably something to do with lilacs, something we’re known for.

JAZMIN SULLIVAN

A cornhole team! I think professional cornhole is so funny.

Do you have an idea for their team name? The Trash Goats.

KIM PEKRUL

I just learned about this new sport called Jugger. It’s a tactical field sport with foam swords, maces and shields. It’s super medieval.

If we had a Jugger team, what would the name be?

The Spokane Goats.

MIKE ELDER

Baseball. We have the Indians, but Seattle loves their Mariners. We could blow up, I think.

Any pro baseball team name ideas? The Spokane Eagles.

MIKE MANNING

Football would be great, but that’s never gonna happen. A WNBA team would be amazing!

What should they name the team? Something with the river would be good, like the Rapids or something like that.

05/18/24, DOWNTOWN SPOKANE INTERVIEWS BY MADISON PEARSON

The Power of the Pineapple

Twin rail disasters that hit the Pacific Northwest in 1910 are reminders of the power of what we now call atmospheric rivers

BY KNUTE BERGER, CROSSCUT.COM

result. The ones we know form near Hawaii and are called the Pineapple Express. Just one of these can carry more water than the outflow at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Extreme weather events are well-known in the Pacific Northwest: floods, landslides, massive snowfalls, wildfires, even the occasional wandering cyclone. Remember the Columbus Day Storm of ’62?

But in the winter of 1910, a double-whammy proved deadly — back-to-back avalanches that set records for death in the United States and Canada. What caused this twin catastrophe, and why did it kill so many?

Today we hear about atmospheric rivers — vast streams of water vapor in the sky formed by warm temperatures over the Pacific. Depending on their strength and number, they can pound the West Coast. Extreme snow and rain can

In late February 1910, deep snow was piling up on the western slopes of the Cascades — the mountain barrier that can stop a Pineapple Express and allow it to dump its moisture. This time it stopped a different type of express: trains of the Great Northern railroad where they emerged from the east side of the mountains to the west near Stevens Pass at a railroad town called Wellington.

The Seattle Express from Spokane and a Fast Mail express became stuck there. The track ahead was buried after days of heavy snow, so heavy that even the massive rotary snowplows deployed to clear the railroad tracks were stuck too.

The two trains were held up for nearly a week in an exposed position: beneath the steep

The twisted wreckage of railcars after a blanket of “Cascade concrete” sent it tumbling down a canyon near Stevens Pass. MUSEUM OF HISTORY & INDUSTRY PHOTO

slope of a snow-laden mountainside. The Seattle Express passen gers were cold, food was running out, and they worried about an avalanche sweeping down on them.

On Feb. 28, the heavy snow turned to rain which increased anxiety. That night, an unusual thunderstorm shook the Pullman car windows and lit the sky with lightning. The winds picked up, and at 1:42 am on March 1, the mountain let loose a blanket of what is called “Cascade concrete.” A slab avalanche of wet, heavy snow rushed down the mountainside and slammed into the two stalled trains. It pushed them — and other locomotives and plows — into a deep ravine and the stream below. One witness described the wrecked train cars as looking like “an elephant had stepped on a cigar box.”

It was obvious that there would be few survivors, though some folks made it out. The dead included families, children, businessmen, railroad workers, laborers, conductors, engineers, firemen, mail clerks. The telegraph lines were down, so men set out on foot through the snow to find help down the mountain and alert the outside world. Many bodies were mangled, and as the snow began to melt, corpses were found by following rivulets of blood that emerged in the snow.

The last of the dead wasn’t recovered until the following July. The official toll was 96, but the true number is unknown. Some of the dead were never identified. The bodies of victims were wrapped in Great Northern blankets, hoisted up the hillside in sleds, then stacked like cordwood.

Justthree days later, disaster struck again at Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia near Revelstoke. A slide had blocked the path of a westbound Canadian Pacific train headed for Vancouver. They too were dealing with deep snow caused by successive Pineapple Expresses.

Working through the night to clear the tracks before the pas senger train arrived, a work crew of mostly immigrant laborers had nearly finished clearing the tracks. Suddenly, at 11:30 pm on March 4, the adjacent mountain let loose its blanket of snow. It fell swiftly and buried the workers. Rescuers and medical person nel were rushed in by rail, but there was only one survivor, a locomotive fireman who had been thrown clear. Sixty-two other men were buried in the snow, some found still standing where they were hit while at work, frozen, it was said, like the victims of Pompeii.

At Rogers Pass, more than half of the victims were Japanese and many remained nameless. The use of immigrants for railroad work was common — the railroads often didn’t even know their names. At Wellington, many of the snow-shovelers were Ital ian immigrants. They were paid 15 cents an hour. Before the avalanche, some had walked off the job when the railroad bosses refused to up their pay in the miserable conditions. The Great Northern’s railroad baron, James J. Hill, was known as a pennypincher. Still, the disaster forced him to build a longer railroad tunnel through the Cascades. The town of Wellington was abandoned. Up north, the Canadian Pacific eventually bypassed Rogers Pass and built a new tunnel elsewhere. The avalanche dangers were deemed too great.

In Seattle, an inquest concluded that the Wellington disaster was an “act of God,” though it said the Great Northern could have been more proactive regarding passenger safety. Others pon dered nature’s power. An editorial in The Seattle Star opined:

“In after days when the snow piles high on the peaks and the wind comes moaning down the dark chasms, men will tell of Wellington — of those who lived and those who died, of the strong, compressing grip of the snow which crushed Pullman cars and rotary engines to knots of wood and steel and then cast them aside, with the human mites that were in them.”

We mites who live here have learned the hard way that we have to cope with the elements — and their extremes. Pineapple Expresses are no day at the beach. n

Fishing for Riches

Anglers are cashing in and helping salmon by catching northern pikeminnow in the Columbia and Snake rivers

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

It’s 1 pm on a cloudless Tuesday in mid-May at Boyer Park and Marina, about a half hour south of Colfax. Joyce and Tom Bledsoe carry a cooler full of 24 fish between them to a canopy on the grass, where those fish will earn them almost $200. Not too shabby for a day’s work.

The retired couple are spending their summer fishing for the Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program, which runs from May to September and pays people to fish. A collaboration of the Bonneville Power Administration, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and

Wildlife, the program rewards anglers for catching northern pikeminnow, a fish native to the Columbia River system that preys heavily on juvenile salmon.

Last year, the top angler earned more than $100,000 over five months of nonstop fishing. The top 20 anglers turned in an average of about 4,000 pikeminnow each, ranging from 9 inches to 2 feet long. The fish are later used for fertilizer or animal feed.

The goal of the reward fishery, which started in 1991, is not to eliminate pikeminnow but to get populations down to a more natural level.

Dams built along the Snake and Columbia rivers

from the 1930s to ’70s gave pikeminnow an unnatural advantage. Pikeminnow spawn well in the fast-moving water below dams and hunt well in the calm waters above or beside them, says biologist John Hone, who works for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and helps run the sport-reward program.

“They’re a lazy fish,” Hone says. “They’re what you would call a lie-in-wait predator.”

Adult pikeminnow hang out in calmer waters next to a current, he says, usually behind rocks or other barriers. Juvenile salmon, also called smolts, are swimming with that current, trying to get out to sea. When young salmon get confused or slowed at a dam, it’s a conveyor belt buffet for any adult pikeminnow lurking nearby.

By decreasing the population of predator-sized pikeminnow by 10% to 20%, the program hopes to give young ocean-bound salmon a better chance at survival. The program has hit its harvest goal every year since 1997, relying completely on citizen anglers to come out and fish.

Anyone with a fishing license can register with the program, fish for pikeminnow, and turn them in at the nearest program station for a voucher that’s cashed in with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

“There’s some people that just do it because they

A juvenile salmon sticks out of a pikeminnow’s mouth at Boyer Park. ELIZA BILLINGHAM PHOTO

FOR RICHES,”

feel they’re helping the salmon,” Hone says. “Or they sign up because they’re out here bass fishing and they might catch a couple [pikeminnow] to pay for oil or gas or something. But your guys that are serious, like the top 20 guys or gals, catch a large percentage of the fish.”

The program incentivizes just that. The more fish you catch each season, the more they’re worth. The first 25 are worth $6 each, any between 26 and 200 are $8 each, and any fish over the 200 count will earn you $10 a head. Plus, lucky anglers might snag an elusive tagged pikeminnow — a fish with an internal tag is worth $200, and an external tag on a pikeminnow fin fetches $500.

In the first week of the program this season, anglers up and down the Columbia and Snake rivers caught almost 7,000 pikeminnow. Currently, the Dalles Dam is the hottest spot to fish, but come mid-June, Hone says Boyer Park, which is right below the Lower Granite Dam, will be the best place to catch pikeminnow.

After 10 years participating in the program, the Bledsoes know this to be true. They’ve already caught more than 25 fish and hope to hit that 200 mark by the time the pikeminnow really start biting. They’ve made about $30,000 in each of the past few seasons.

“We’re not killing it,” Joyce says, “but it pays for expenses.”

‘THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS’

Under the makeshift canopy at Boyer Park, Washington state wildlife technician Tember Renneau takes the fish out of the cooler and slides them one by one down a wide PVC pipe.

A monitor above scans the fish for internal passive integrated transponder — or PIT — tags, which are placed in a small percentage of pikeminnow and salmon. If a pikeminnow has eaten a tagged salmon, that PIT tag will sometimes remain in the pikeminnow stomach, giving the program more insight into how many salmon are lost to predation. One of those would earn the Bledsoes an extra $200. But today, no such luck.

One of the fish, though, does have something inside it. A black, scaly salmon tail sticks out of a pikeminnow’s mouth.

“That one’s got a smolt in its mouth,” Renneau says. “This is why we do this.”

Pikeminnow may not look like an aggressive fish because they don’t have visible teeth like pike or walleye. But pikeminnow do have pharyngeal teeth — sharp barbs in the back of their throats that break down food quickly and increase the fish’s metabolism, Hone says. In addition to juvenile salmon, adult pikeminnow can eat other small prey like crayfish and younger pikeminnow.

The sport-reward program pays for pikeminnow that are 9 inches or longer, which is considered predatory size. Pikeminnow won’t become heavy predators until they’re about 4 or 5 years old. But the species is long-lived, Hone says, with fish sometimes surviving for up to 15 years.

In addition to decreasing the pikeminnow population, the goal of the fishery is also to decrease the average size of adult pikeminnow. Smaller fish eat less prey.

So after Renneau counts and scans the fish, she measures each one and logs it. Those numbers are reported to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is responsible for collecting data and determining the success of the program, including if the average size of pikeminnow is actually decreasing.

But before Renneau measures, she asks about bycatch. It’s very rare for a pikeminnow angler to catch a salmon, since the baits that pikeminnow are partial to — like chicken liver or Mormon crickets — don’t typically attract salmon.

But bycatch of other species is more common. In addition to pikeminnow, Joyce caught a few peamouth, walleye and smallmouth bass. Walleye and smallmouth bass are nonnative species that are increasing in the Columbia River basin, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife research.

“Let’s say five years ago, in this water right out here where

Northern pikeminnow are not to be confused with northern pike, an invasive species and apex predator introduced to Washington waterways sometime before the early 2000s.

Northern pikeminnow, on the other hand, are native fish. The fish are technically members of the minnow family, and since they’re carnivorous predators like pike, they got the name “pikeminnow.”

we’re sitting, it was very rare to catch a walleye,” Hone says. “Now, even the anglers participating in the pikeminnow program, it’s not uncommon for [them] to catch 20 or 30 walleye in a day here.”

The fish and wildlife departments want to keep a close eye on other predatory species, in case removing pikeminnow opens the door for other salmon predators to thrive. They’re also tracking water temperatures and fish “energy budgets,” or how much fish eat at different temperatures. Water temperatures in the Columbia River could be rising, and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife research from 2021 suggests pikeminnow and walleye may eat more in warmer waters.

Before leaving the tent, the Bledsoes register for another day of pikeminnow fishing. Anglers must register with a sport-reward station like this every day, as each registration lasts 24 hours, and they need to haul in their catch during that window to get their payment voucher.

The station at Boyer Park is situated on a small grassy lawn next to a KOA campground with a small convenience store on the edge of the marina. Picnic tables, swimming spots and nearby hiking make it a perfect place to camp out.

Apparently, pikeminnow anglers think so, too. A few years ago, they would overrun the campgrounds during June and July, much to the frustration of non-anglers who come to the gorgeous park for other summer fun.

So, campground management created a new spot just down the road specifically for angler camping and RV parking. After turning in their fish, the Bledsoes head back to their camper to cool off and unwind. It’s one of the best parts of fishing at Boyer Park, they say.

“There’s a lot of fish on the Columbia,” Joyce says. “But there’s no place to stay.”

‘YOU’VE GOT TO LOVE TO FISH’

The Bledsoes are retired, so they don’t have to make a lot of money or even keep track of what day it is, they joke. They’re just happy to get paid to do something they’d probably do anyway. But for people lured in by

the idea of banking $100,000 in a few months, that kind of success takes serious dedication.

“Those guys are fishing, let’s say 20 hours a day pretty consistently, seven days a week,” Hone says. “I do believe the second-place guy does take Sundays off. But yeah, they basically have to have the ability to live in their boat.”

The top anglers are mostly elusive types who don’t want to give away the secrets to their success. They’re protective of their favorite spots and techniques. But it’s pretty well known that pikeminnow bite well at night, which means a lot of the best anglers are fishing every night at midnight or 1 am.

Fishing near a dam throws in other complications. Common knowledge says that fish bite best at dawn and dusk. But since pikeminnow like to hunt next to the strong current created by a working dam, they might be most active in the heat of the summer afternoons when the dam is running everyone’s air conditioners, Hone says.

If you want to get in on the action but don’t have a boat, there are still options. There’s a basalt outcropping below the Lower Granite Dam right next to the boat restricted zone. If you can cast about a hundred feet, you can sink your hook in a well-known pikeminnow spot without competing with boats. It’s a cheap, popular way to catch pikeminnow. But come June and July, you definitely won’t be alone.

Since 1991, the program has removed over 5.5 million pikeminnow from the Columbia and Snake rivers, but the involved agencies are still looking for more participation. Hone hopes more young people will take advantage of the program, especially students who are looking for something to do during the summer months. The fishery even launched an app last year to streamline registration and hopefully attract a younger crowd.

The only true qualification to be a part of the sportreward program?

“You’ve got to love to fish,” Joyce says. “Which we do.” n

elizab@inlander.com

Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife biologist John Hone (left) and tech Tember Renneau. ELIZA BILLINGHAM PHOTO

Nine-one(m)one(y)

Spokane questions the cost of our regional 911 center. Plus, development is on hold in Latah Valley, again; and the Pride intersection was vandalized, again.

In mid-April, the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SREC) board asked Spokane to decide by May 24 whether the city will fully join the 911 center or will operate its own emergency call center. SREC currently handles calls for the Spokane Fire Department, while the Spokane Police Department handles its own. In a May 17 letter, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown asked for a three-month extension to make a decision. The mayor noted the city generates nearly half of the tax revenue that goes to SREC, yet still gets charged user fees that have increased significantly. Spokane Fire’s user fees increased by $50,000 per month this year, even though SREC is on pace to have $38 million in reserves by the end of the year, the letter notes. “Based on the City’s analysis, SREC could eliminate user fees and still achieve a balanced budget,” the mayor wrote. The city also wants more than two of the 10 seats on the board if it fully commits, since more than half of the calls for fire or police occur within city limits. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

HOUSING ON HOLD

On Monday, the Spokane City Council voted 5-2 to pass a one-year moratorium on development in Spokane’s Latah-Hangman and Grandview-Thorpe neighborhoods. During that period, the city won’t accept, process or approve new development applications. The pause takes effect immediately and won’t affect projects already in the pipeline. Infrastructure in Latah Valley hasn’t kept up with population growth in recent years. There’s no permanent fire station, and there are only a few roads in and out of the area. Many residents are concerned about limited evacuation options in the increasingly likely event of a wildfire. “Adding more homes will increase the risk for current residents and future residents,” said Molly Marshall, a Latah Valley resident who has helped organize neighbors to call for a pause on development. The moratorium was sponsored by City Council members Paul Dillon and Lili Navarrete, who said it would give the city time to plan for wildfire safety measures and other improvements. “This really is at a crisis point,” Dillon said. Council members Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart acknowledged the problems with infrastructure in the neighborhood but voted against the moratorium because they didn’t think it would meaningfully address the infrastructure problems and could contribute to Spokane’s housing crisis. In 2022, the City Council passed a six-month development moratorium in the area. The topic of another moratorium was frequently debated during last year’s city elections. (NATE SANFORD)

SET ABLAZE

Late last week, a few people set fire to the LGBTQ+ Pride crosswalk at the intersection of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Howard Street, according to the Spokane Police Department. This came just three weeks after the crosswalk was finally repainted, following last year’s vandalization, which under existing state law couldn’t have been charged as a hate crime if the vandal had been caught. Thanks to the efforts of state Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, the Washington Legislature changed the law this year making defacement of publicly owned property eligible to be prosecuted as a felony hate crime. However, since the law doesn’t go into effect until June 6, last Thursday’s defacement can only be investigated as arson — which is still a felony charge. As of Tuesday, Spokane Pride had raised enough money to cover the financial burden of repainting the crosswalk, according to Matt Danielson, the organization’s executive director. “Our community always comes together in times of need,” Danielson says. Read more about last week’s incident at Inlander.com. (COLTON RASANEN) n

Fines and Fatalities

BY NATE SANFORD

It’s not just your imagination: Reckless Spokane drivers aren’t getting in as much trouble as they used to.

Between 2017 and 2019, Spokane police issued an average of 11,991 traffic citations per year, according to data the Inlander obtained via public records request. The number started to fall during the pandemic, and last year police issued just 7,163 traffic citations — a 40% decrease compared with the three-year, pre-pandemic average.

in vehicle crashes, according to a report released by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission last week.

A decline in traffic enforcement across the state could be a key factor, says Mark McKechnie, a spokesperson with the state Traffic Safety Commission.

The decline in traffic enforcement has coincided with an uptick in drivers killing and seriously injuring people in Spokane.

Last year, car crashes inside Spokane city limits killed 19 people and caused 102 suspected serious injuries, according to Washington State Department of Transportation data. That’s a 54% increase compared with the three-year, prepandemic average of 10 deaths and 68 serious injuries per year.

Interim Spokane Police Chief Justin Lundgren says traffic enforcement has dropped in recent years because of “pervasive” staffing shortages and a large increase in emergency calls.

“We had to pull resources into patrol to be able to handle those emergency calls for service and make sure that we have enough staffing and officers in the field to be able to respond when people call for help,” Lundgren says. “That has impacted our ability to do as much traffic enforcement as we would like.”

Spokane’s decrease in citations — and the uptick in deaths and serious injuries — mirrors a statewide trend. Since the onset of the pandemic, traffic deaths across Washington have skyrocketed. Last year was Washington’s deadliest year since 1990, with 810 people killed

“People have noticed that enforcement is down. They feel like they and others are less likely to be stopped,” McKechnie says. “That probably leads to more lawbreaking, and more high-risk behaviors if people think the chances of getting caught are less.”

‘PERFECT STORM’

When the pandemic first hit, many police departments eased up on traffic stops to limit contact with the public, McKechnie says. In 2020, 473,084 traffic citations were filed with Washington courts, compared with an annual average of 718,529 in the three years prior.

Even as the nature of how the virus spread became better understood, enforcement continued to wane. Many departments struggled with serious staffing shortages. There was also an uptick in violent crime, which saw many officers pulled away from traffic enforcement, McKechnie says. As the number of fatal crashes rose, many officers were also pulled away to do investigations, which further limited their ability to do proactive enforcement.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm. Lower staffing, increasing crime and increasing fatal crashes were all drawing from the same limited pool of resources,” McKechnie says.

The number of statewide citations fell to about 364,000 in 2021, and about 347,000 in

2022. The number rebounded slightly last year, but is still significantly lower than it was before 2020.

“The factors that lead to a traffic fatality are complicated, it’s usually not just one thing. But it’s also hard to ignore that enforcement went down so significantly at the same time that our fatalities went up,” McKechnie says. “We assume there has to be a relationship.”

But even before the pandemic, traffic deaths in America had been steadily rising. Researchers have pointed to decades of carcentric infrastructure, increasingly large cars and smartphones as possible culprits.

Some states have seen slight decreases in traffic fatalities over the past two years, but deaths in Washington continue to rise. The fact that Washington has the lowest number of law enforcement officers per capita may be one factor, McKechnie says.

DEDICATED TRAFFIC UNIT

The Spokane Police Department used to have a five-person unit that was solely dedicated to traffic enforcement. The unit was eliminated in 2021 due to staffing shortages, and the officers were moved to patrol.

The unit was briefly brought back in April 2022, but sometimes those officers would be reassigned to patrol for days or a week because of staffing shortages, Lundgren says. The unit was fully disbanded again in January 2023 as part of a larger reconfiguration.

Even without a dedicated traffic unit, patrol officers in Spokane continue to make stops and write tickets when they have time in between calls, and the department will sometimes do special emphasis patrols during high-traffic weekends, Lundgren says.

Precinct captains will also sometimes assign officers to take a shift solely dedicated to traffic enforcement — but that can only happen when their team is adequately staffed, Lundgren says. Emergency calls need to be prioritized.

The department is authorized for 352 commissioned officers. But Lundgren says there are currently four vacancies, 11 officers unable to work because of injuries or other reasons, and 21 who are in some stage of training.

“That’s about 10% of our workforce that we’re not able to use at this time,” Lundgren says.

Staffing will improve somewhat when the officers complete training in coming months, he says, but he also acknowledges that the department will have to find ways to trim expenses as the city struggles with a $25 million budget deficit.

Last fall, former Mayor Nadine Woodward identified bringing back the department’s traffic unit as a major priority. Her 2024 budget allocated $1.8 million from the city’s traffic calming fund — which collects money from automatic traffic camera tickets — to restart the unit.

But Lundgren says the traffic unit hasn’t restarted yet because of staffing shortages.

“We’re just not in a position to be able to have that standalone unit whether the money exists or not, the real issue is the staffing,” Lundgren says.

Spokane’s decline in traffic citations has correlated with a drop in revenue. Traffic infractions issued by officers brought in $1.1 million in 2018, and just $379,672 in 2022, according to a budget presentation last year.

Woodward’s 2024 budget anticipated that $700,000 would be brought in from the restarted traffic unit. The current pace of traffic citations issued this year makes that unlikely.

In the first four months of 2024, police issued 2,360 traffic citations. If the pace remains the same for the rest of the year, they’ll end with 7,080 citations — slightly less than the total number issued in 2023.

Lundgren is hopeful that the traffic unit can be restarted once the department’s staffing problems are addressed.

“There’s quantifiable research that shows, as we increase the level of traffic enforcement, there is a positive net effect on serious collisions,” Lundgren says. “We’d love to get back to having a dedicated unit.” n

nates@inlander.com

Fever Pitch Fever Pitch

We spent two home matches with the Spokane Velocity team, fans and staff at ONE Spokane Stadium. Here’s what we saw.

PHOTOS BY ERICK DOXEY STORY BY WILL MAUPIN

LIVE LOUNGE ENTERTAINMENT

Just Plain Darin

CHINOOK LOUNGE

MAY 24 TH & 25 TH 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Enjoy a night with Just Plain Darin an accomplished musician and powerful vocalist with a full list of eclectic, original material.

Bruiser

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE

MAY 24 TH & 25 TH 8:30 PM - 12:30 AM

Bruiser is an iconic band that brings top-notch rock and pop dance music and performers to dance floors in the Inland Northwest.

Kosh Shioya

CHINOOK LOUNGE

MAY 31 ST & JUNE 1 ST 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Enjoy Kosh Shioya’s beautiful blend of contemporary and classic sounds.

Eternal Jones

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE

MAY 31 ST & JUNE 1 ST 8:30 PM - 12:30 AM

From Spokane, Washington, Eternal Jones features quality seasoned musicians playing rock and blues dance music with some surprises.

Ariel Mbumba breaks away from a defender during the Velocity’s match against Union Omaha on May 11.

Soccer is the world’s game — the beautiful game — and here in Spokane, it’s the Velocity’s game.

For the first time this spring, soccer fans across the Inland Northwest have been able to take in this glorious spectacle while witnessing USL League One action — the highest level of professional play the city’s ever called its own — during a match at the new ONE Spokane Stadium.

Between the Spokane Velocity men and the impending debut of the Spokane Zephyr women’s team in August, the Lilac City is now present on the world’s stage.

When fans sit down to take in a match, the action is all down on the pitch, between the players and the ball; their coaches and tactics. But it’s also what fans don’t see that’s allowed a city of our size to finally enjoy this opportunity.

The stadium, a quaint but comfortable 5,000-seat venue, was only built after an agreement was reached between the pro soccer teams’ owners and Spokane Public Schools. Three hours before kickoff, staff work quickly to switch out branding and advertising for the match, swapping high school-related signage for the Velocity’s visuals.

The air smells of hot rubber down on the artificial pitch, like tires burning out, as the team emerges for warmup with high hopes of providing a win for their fans in the stands. As the sun bakes the emerald-green turf, tiny black rubber pellets spray up each time a player’s foot, shin or knee makes contact with it.

In front of a slowly but steadily increasing crowd

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Defender Ahmed Longmire heads the ball during the April 27 match.

Velocity players warm up on the pitch of ONE Spokane Stadium before facing Fresno’s Central Valley Fuego.

THE FINAL SCORE

APRIL 27 - DRAW* (PENALTY SHOOTOUT)

Spokane Velocity 1 (2) - Central Valley Fuego FC 1 (4)

*In the USL Jagermeister Cup, games that are tied after 90 minutes go to a penalty shootout. Spokane and Central Valley were each awarded one point in the standings for the draw, with Central Valley receiving an additional point for winning the penalty shootout.

MAY 11 - WIN

Spokane Velocity 3 - Union Omaha 2

Kimarni Smith (center) walks out to the pitch alongside local young soccer fans.

on the two-level western grandstand and the smaller but closer eastern side, the players fine-tune their touches on the ball. They work to snap it into the back of the net rather than crash into the ad boards lining the pitch.

Eventually overtaking the scent of the sun-baked turf is the mouthwatering aroma of bratwurst and pulled pork, hot dogs and soft pretzels, nachos and freshly cracked beers. By the time the game’s ready to start, the stadium smells — in the best way possible — of professional sports.

Thousands of fans are ready to root on their hometown team.

Below the concourse, the Velocity players gather in the locker room for one last motivational speech. Head coach Leigh Veidman implores his team (using the occasional profanity) to go all out for a win.

Then the men take the field, hand in hand with young soccer players from around the region who are noticeably thrilled to be taking the pitch alongside the pro athletes they aspire to be like someday. The two teams line up side by side for the national anthem.

From then, it’s an athletic contest: The home-standing Velocity against the unliked visitors. One side against the other — the reason nearly 5,000 fans are here, hoping Spokane’s team can win.

For many teams in USL League One (the third level of professional soccer in the United States), their home pitch is often primarily a football stadium, with visible yard markers and end zones. For these opposing teams, getting fans in the stands is far from guaranteed.

Intentionally designed as a multiuse facility, ONE Spokane Stadium doesn’t bear permanent marks of a football field. Once match time comes around, it’s a place perfectly fit for soccer.

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TOP: A 509 Syndicate member cheers after goal during the May 11 match, a Velocity win. BOTTOM: The fan club’s pep band members hang out in the southern fan zone.

The media booth of ONE Spokane Stadium offers prime views of the pitch.

UPCOMING HOME MATCHES

Kickoff at 6 pm

Sat, May 25 vs. Greenville Triumph SC

Sun, June 2 vs. Chivas De Guadalajara U23

Sun, June 23 vs. Lexington Sporting Club

Sat, July 6 vs. Chattanooga Red Wolves SC

Sat, July 27 vs. Charlotte Independence

See more match dates, purchase tickets and find other details at spokanevelocityfc.com

Velocity fans and members of the Spokane Rapids youth soccer team (from left) Colt Holder, Jaxon Andrews, Malcolm Chambers and Jake Northcutt.

The 509 Syndicate fan club marches to ONE Spokane Stadium from Riverfront Park before each game.

A WEST WIND BLOWING

Spokane Velocity isn’t the only game in town. The team’s sister squad, Spokane Zephyr FC, take to the pitch in August for the inaugural season of the USL Super League. With the action now just months away, the club has begun the process of putting together its roster.

So far, ONE Spokane Stadium is a bright spot in USL League One. Here, anyone with a ticket can enter the supporters’ section behind the south goal. There, all fans are welcome to join the most enthusiastic, flag-waving and drum-beating supporters in the stadium, The 509 Syndicate.

The soccer club puts on their performance, and while more goes into that than the typical fan will ever see in person, the reason this club exists at all is because fans in Spokane know how to show up, proof of an “if you build it, they will come” situation.

The Velocity has built it, but it’s the fans who have made it. Halfway into its inaugural season, the Velocity players will continue creating the club’s legacy on the pitch, yet it’s all for the fans to enjoy and enhance. n “FEVER PITCH,” CONTINUED...

Last week, Zephyr announced the signing of the first player in club history, midfielder Marley Canales. After a strong collegiate career at UCLA, Canales was drafted by the Seattle Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2022. Like the NWSL, the USL Super League is considered a top-level pro league by the sport’s national governing body, the U.S. Soccer Federation. Canales spent two years with the Reign and made 23 appearances for the U.S. National Team at the youth level.

Days after sharing news of Canales’ signing, Zephyr also announced the addition of two more players. Defender and Washington native Makena Carr also comes by way of Seattle Reign FC, while 22-year-old midfielder Wayny Balata is a Canadian graduate of Southern Methodist University.

The Zephyr will be looking for local talent at an open tryout on Saturday, June 1. (WILL MAUPIN)

Find more information, including season ticket packages and tryout registration, at spokanezephyrfc.com

Midfielder Pierre Reedy signs an autograph for a fan.

Defender Derek Waldeck high-fives fans after the team’s victory over Omaha.

TOP: Spokane fans witnessed a Velocity win on May 11.

BOTTOM: A view from above of the April 27 match versus Fresno.

THEATER

Herding Cats

Huge in reputation and production value, Cats comes to the Civic in a collaborative, education-driven way

BY E.J. IANNELLI

Cats was an unlikely theatrical phenomenon. The musical’s primary source material is Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, a collection of quirky children’s poems by T.S. Eliot, the same literary figure who gave us ominous and melancholic works like The Waste Land and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. It indulges in a mythology entirely of Eliot’s imagining, complete with invented concepts like the ‘Heaviside Layer’ and the ‘Jellicle Ball.’

And because his Book of Practical Cats is a series of feline portraits in verse, the structure of the show is more akin to traditional ballet than modern Broadway.

Nevertheless, a bona fide phenomenon it became. After Cats debuted in 1981, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s creation launched the era of the megamusical — a category of production so sensational that it shapes popular culture and draws audiences like tourists to a famous landmark. With all that cachet, not to mention its extended dance numbers, oversized junkyard set pieces

and renowned songs like “Memory,” Cats isn’t a show to be undertaken lightly.

Jake Schaefer, the Spokane Civic Theatre’s executive director, was under no illusions otherwise when the musical was selected as the community theater’s 76th season finale.

“A lot of things have been building to this. As one of the first nonprofessional companies in the world to do Jersey Boys, and after the season where we did the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we were looking at this season to fill in blanks. What haven’t we done? What do we need to do? So we worked really hard to get the rights for this show,” Schaefer says.

“It’s big. It’s everything on a magnified scale. People in this show are doing flips and high kicks. And there’s fight sequences. And there’s special effects. We’ve got movers and strip lights and hazers and fog machines. I mean, it’s every trick in the book.”

So, while Cats might have opened at the Civic only

last weekend, its cast members have been undergoing intensive dance instruction since January. Creative partnerships, planning and preparation started well before that. According to Schaefer, who’s also directing the show, the key to adapting the megamusical to the local stage has been education, something he sees as a natural implementation of the Civic’s mission.

“The point of everything should be about learning,” he says, citing the actors’ “catting” as an example. “Like, what is your posture when you’re leaning up against a 12-foot fridge as a cat? When there are this many people onstage in this configuration and what’s behind you is a 6-foot dryer, how do you work that?”

The importance of that learning process led Schaefer to look to the wider community. Peter Rossing — a name more closely associated locally with WestCoast Entertainment, the company behind the STCU Best of Broadway series — was tapped to handle scenic design for his very first time in Spokane. And given that Gillian Lynne’s original choreography defines Cats as much as its distinctive set, costumes and music, Schaefer began collaborating with Suzanne Ostersmith of Gonzaga University’s dance program early on.

He also reached out to a former student of Ostersmith’s, Bonni Dichone, to choreograph the show. Dichone has an extensive dance background and previously performed in a Coeur d’Alene Summer Theater production of Cats.

“It is a physically demanding show,” she says, “even for a trained dancer who dances all day, every day. You enter the stage in the first number, and you do not leave for any reason until intermission. It’s not like, say, Hello Dolly or The King and I, where you go offstage and you sit

Nicole Ostlie as Sillabub in the Civic’s production of Cats. RYAN WASSON PHOTOS

for three numbers and then you come back.”

And yet newcomers like Julia Pyke gladly embraced the show’s various challenges.

“I feel like that’s kind of the way I roll. Just go for it, and figure out the details later,” she laughs. “I’ve kind of always regretted not doing theater when I was in high school. So when I saw that Civic was doing Cats, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to just try out and see what happens.”

Spokane Symphony audiences might recognize Pyke as the orchestra’s principal flute player, but her presence on the Civic stage — or any theatrical stage, for that matter — is a first. On top of that, she’s playing a central figure, Grizabella, a mangy and ostracized cat whose glamorous youth is well behind her. Grizabella longs to ascend to the Heaviside Layer, the feline version of heaven, and be reborn. The song “Memory” is her plea to the other cats to accept her.

“Diving into the character has been really illuminating,” Pyke says. “As an orchestral musician, you have to do that when you’re performing, of course. You have to convey a character [and] tell a story through your playing and your body language. But this definitely takes it to a whole new level where I don’t have my flute to hide behind, so to speak.”

To balance some of the demands and stimulate peer learning, Dichone brought classically trained dancers like Emma Hedberg (playing Cassandra), Clio Tzetos (Victoria) and Sydney Zinnecker (Coricopat) to perform alongside Pyke

and other cast members.

“We’ve got some really amazing, top-notch, top-tier dancers from the Gonzaga program in our production,” Dichone says, plus “a lot of people who have never trained in dance, who are doing moves and choreography that even trained dancers would struggle with. But they’ve really thrown themselves in with so much abandon and passion and, in a way, great innocence and naivety that it just somehow works. I think it will really blow people’s minds, quite honestly.”

“To redo the iconic choreography of Cats would be like repainting a Picasso,” says Schaefer, explaining why he and Dichone chose to stick closely to Lynne’s varied and intricate movements. However, he and Rossing have opted for a more “active” set — one where “everything comes up and down and moves and opens and closes” — that departs from big-budget productions but better suits the Civic’s stage and resources.

“There’s no corner cutting here. It’s all systems go. Our production is [just] a little bit more approachable because you know these people. The national tour or whatever, it’s just these professional actors in spandex and leg warmers. But when a community theater does it, that’s part of the reason why it’s so great. These are our people.”

This, he adds, is “Spokane’s Cats.” n Cats • Through June 16; Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm • $40 • Spokane Civic Theatre • 1020 N. Howard St. • spokanecivictheatre.com

May 29, 2024 at 7pm

St. John’s Cathedral Healing of

May 30, 5:30 pm at Riverfront Park

MAY 30TH

• Jubilee 50th at Temple Beth Shalom

• Environment in Body at Riverfront Park

MAY 31ST

• Iller Creek Hike

JUNE 1ST

• Slavin Conservation Hike

JUNE 1ST

• Creation Care Worship 5:30 pm at St John’s

Civic regular Jean Hardie as Old Deuteronomy.

A Beacon for Peace

Atomic bomb survivor Keiko Ogura is honored by the University of Idaho for her decadeslong peace advocacy

BY CHEY SCOTT

Last May, Keiko Ogura was greeting some of the world’s most powerful political leaders visiting her home city of Hiroshima, Japan, for the G7 Summit.

One year later, the 86-year-old atomic bomb survivor was crossing a stage in Moscow, Idaho, while donning a billowing silver robe to receive an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University of Idaho.

This recent visit marks the second time Ogura has made the long journey across the Pacific to the Palouse’s rolling green hills. In 2022, she was the keynote speaker for the university’s “Remembering Hiroshima” symposium, and since then she’s continued to partner with students and faculty of its Habib Institute for Asian Studies.

For one of those projects, she tasked Japanese language students with translating a children’s story recounting her experiences when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, in what would be the final days of World War II. Ogura, who had turned 8 just days before, and her family lived 1.5 miles from the bomb’s hypocenter and miraculously all survived. Her father decided to keep her home from school that morning, nervous about the many air raid sirens that had gone off in recent days.

Severely burned and injured victims fleeing the destruction died at Ogura’s feet, begging for water, and her father spent weeks cremating the dead at a nearby park. As many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima alone died from that single bomb by the year’s end. And as many as 80,000 more people died from a second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.

Even though she lived through such horrors, Ogura says she didn’t feel hatred toward America.

“I was just a child, but when the war ended I was so happy anyway,” she says. “So many people first had anger, but soon we realized that before we thought of revenge,

we had to survive tomorrow.”

As with many other bomb survivors — known as hibakusha in Japanese — for most of the first half of her life Ogura didn’t openly talk about the horrific events of that day and the weeks and months to follow. Beyond the survivor’s guilt and trauma of such memories, she says there were numerous stigma against survivors, such as that women exposed to the bomb’s radiation could not bear healthy children.

In the 1980s, however, after the sudden death of her husband, Kaoru Ogura, then director of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Museum, Ogura realized the power in her stories — not as just a victim of the bombing, but as a plea for peace to future generations.

“After my husband died, a friend of ours, a German writer, visited,” Ogura recalls. “I could not speak English quite well, but he said, ‘You know Hiroshima quite well’ — all my life I’ve lived here — and this sorrow and agony, it will help to think about the other persons [impacted by the bomb]. He was the first person I started [working for] as an interpreter.”

Ogura has devoted the past four-plus decades of her life to raising awareness around the world of the atrocities of nuclear war, learning English and founding the nonprofit Hiroshima Interpreters for Peace to share survivors’ stories with a global audience. She’s published multiple guidebooks for visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and received numerous accolades for her advocacy, an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho now among them.

Last summer, several of the University of Idaho students who translated Ogura’s memories of the bombing were able to travel to Hiroshima to present the story during the city’s annual remembrance

events. Originally written and illustrated by Japanese high school student Rio Yokoyama, the work was translated by 13 students in University of Idaho Japanese instructor Azusa Tojo’s class.

“She came to the U of I to read the story to my class in English, and then at the end she told us, ‘I want you to try to deliver my story to the younger generation,’ and we decided to translate the story in English as part of a class project,” Tojo says. “It took us a whole year.”

The story is presented as a traditional Japanese kamishibai, for which illustrated panels are shown to audiences while text on the back is read aloud.

As the number of living hibakusha grows smaller each year, Ogura feels even more urgency to share her story.

“The Idaho university students who visited Hiroshima, they really understand what they should do — educate other Americans through their experience and spread the word to other places,” she says.

Selecting Ogura to receive this year’s honorary doctorate was a clear choice, says Sean Quinlan, dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences.

“She has a public voice, and she has really been able to tell the story of the bombing and to advocate for peace and have people reflect on that story in an almost unprecedented way,” Quinlan says. “I think her impact of being able to impart historical awareness and reflection is really awe-inspiring and very humbling. And in addition to all those accomplishments, we were incredibly grateful that she came here to the university and took such an interest in our students. She spent just an enormous amount of time mentoring and working with our students, which changed their lives.”

Thanks to the University of Idaho students’ efforts to bring Ogura’s story to English-speaking audiences, high school students in Italy are now hoping to translate the kamishibai to Italian.

“One reason I came here is I met an American child who was 6 years old,” Ogura says. “She did not know America dropped the bomb. So I thought the most important thing is to let them know what happened. But the historical stories, to understand them, it’s very difficult for children. So I asked the [college] students to translate and tell through them what nuclear weapons mean — not only [to] American children,” but young people around the world. n

See NHK World Japan’s documentary on Keiko Ogura, I’m Still Here: An A-Bomb Victim Speaks, at www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/5001378

Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Dome. CHEY SCOTT PHOTO

Keiko Ogura shares her story as a plea for peace. MELISSA HARTLEY PHOTO

JULY

JULY

Family Affair

Writer Tessa Hulls explores fraught relationship with mother, grandmother via new graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts

BY AZARIA PODPLESKY

Tessa Hulls remembers exactly where she was when she realized she had to create her graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts

It was February 2015, and the Seattle-based author and artist was biking up a mountain in Mexico. Hulls was talking to herself, as one is wont to do while biking mile after mile alone.

“‘This chapter of basically being an American and living for my own freedom has come to an end. What comes next?’” Hulls recalls asking herself, reflecting on a decade spent globetrotting from California to Antarctica to Ghana and everywhere in between. “The landscape literally told me, ‘Someone has to feed the ghosts.’ Then I spent the next nine years doing that.”

The ghosts in question surround Hulls’ grandmother, Sun Yi, and mother, Rose.

Sun Yi was a journalist in Shanghai who faced persecution because of her criticisms of the communist government. Sun Yi smuggled herself and Rose, then 7 years old, to Hong Kong beneath the false bottom of a fishing boat.

In Hong Kong, Sun Yi wrote a memoir, Eight Years in Red Shanghai: Love, Starvation, Persecution. The money from the book paid for Rose’s boarding school education. Sun Yi then had a mental breakdown and was institutionalized. Practically raised by the teachers at her boarding

school, Rose eventually received a scholarship to study in America and brought her mother with her when she immigrated.

Because of her grandmother’s mental state and the fact that her mother didn’t teach her Chinese, Hulls grew up with her grandmother present, but without her presence.

“I grew up in a house choked by ghosts, with my grandmother Sun Yi at the center of the darkness that was felt but never named,” Hulls writes in Feeding Ghosts “My family formed itself around the contours of this negative space.”

In the book, Hulls explores not only culture, immigration and mental illness, but also generational trauma and her relationships with her mother and grandmother, with ghosts looming ever-present on each page of blackand-white artwork, all hand-drawn by Hulls.

Nearly a decade after that fateful bike ride, Feeding Ghosts brings Hulls to Spokane’s Liberty Park Library on May 28 for a conversation with local author Sharma Shields, whose novels include The Cassandra and The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac

Despite spending years on the project, Hulls says she never wanted to create Feeding Ghosts. Rather, it was something she felt she had to do.

“A lot of that really came out of the question of ‘What does it mean to have the privilege of being an American and have a life that is so much safer and easier than the ones that belong to my mom and grandma?’” Hulls says. “It made me see the reason I was born as a writer and an artist… was because my family had a broken story. I needed to use these skills in order to finish what my mom and grandmother couldn’t.”

Feeding Ghosts involved years of research, some personal and some historical.

To understand just how dangerous her grandmother’s political stance was, Hulls researched Chinese history and, once her grandmother’s memoir was translated to English, began reading more about the events Sun Yi mentioned. She also spent time in the Hong Kong Public Records Office, the Hong Kong Museum of History and her mother’s boarding school.

“Really anyone that had a collection that would let me leaf through it, that’s where I was doing the paper diving research,” she says.

Hulls also interviewed family members, and the staff and former students of the boarding school her mom attended. Hulls’ mother even joined her on the research trip to China and Hong Kong, excited to spend time with her daughter and show her where she grew up.

Much of the emotional basis of Rose’s story in Feeding Ghosts, Hulls says, came from following her mom around with a notebook, watching her notice something that would bring up a story she otherwise might not have told.

“With immigrant parents, they can talk to you about their lives and memories, but without being able to envision the context, they just are words,” Hulls says. “There’s something about having that three-dimensional setting that brings their story to life.”

Hulls’ mother now has dementia and is no longer able to understand the complexity of her daughter’s memoir, but Hulls said they both see the time Feeding Ghosts allowed them to spend together as a gift.

Hulls spent much of her 20s traveling the world, and working on Feeding Ghosts in her 30s forced her to be still. Much of the book came together, for example, during Hulls’ time with the Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, which gives the recipient a small house from which to work on 92 acres in the Oregon backcountry in exchange for an hour of tending to the land each day.

“I went in there fully expecting that it was going to be really lonely and I would be challenged by that, but instead it was the least lonely I’ve ever been in my entire life,” Hulls says. “It made me really think about the difference between chosen solitude and involuntary isolation.”

Now on the other side of the book’s creation, she is happily back on the road, reconnecting with dear friends and loved ones. In her post-Feeding Ghosts life, Hulls is hoping to use her talents as a writer and artist to share other stories, specifically those of field scientists in remote environments.

But unlike her time on that mountain in Mexico or in Antarctica or Ghana, or any of the other places she’s traveled, Hulls no longer feels as if she’s trying to “outrun” the ghosts that consumed her grandmother and mother.

“It’s made me a different person,” she says about finishing the book. “It really helped me break down some of the compartmentalizing that I had built within myself since childhood, and I feel much more unified than I ever have.” n

Tessa Hulls in Conversation with Sharma Shields • Tue, May 28 at 6 pm • Free • Liberty Park Library • 402 S. Pittsburg St. • spokanelibrary.org

Tessa Hulls’ memoir released in March. GRITCHELLE FALLESGON AUTHOR PHOTO

A Place for Waste

Growing nonprofit

Spokane Zero Waste

aims to reduce waste, from textiles to food containers

BY CARRIE SHRIVER

Every year the city of Spokane produces about 30,000 tons of textile waste: threadbare T-shirts, worn-out bed sheets, shrunken sweaters and much more.

What’s not donated to thrift stores (even there, only a fraction finds a new home) but gets tossed in the garbage can is either incinerated at the Waste to Energy plant or trucked to a landfill. Many of these textiles, however — even those pieces that may seem destined for disposal — might have a second life as mittens, bags or something else.

Spokane Zero Waste, a nonprofit founded in 2023, is working to educate the community on different ways to reimagine these discarded textiles. It’s part of the nonprofit’s broader mission to reduce the region’s waste footprint while ensuring the stuff that is tossed out goes to the right stream, whether that’s compost, recycling or, as a last resort, the landfill or incinerator.

“It’s the primary problem of our lifetime,” says Elyse Hochstadt, executive director of Spokane Zero Waste. “We have to figure out how to stop making waste.”

Among the organization’s many programs is Project Woven, which collects textiles for upcycling while also helping local refugee women find employment in their new community.

Project Woven launched last summer, and currently has two participants who are Afghan refugees. Both born and raised in Afghanistan, the 27-year-old mothers each have six children, and their husbands worked with the U.S. military before its evacuation in 2021, after which they were forced to flee.

“I first met up with an Afghan refugee to help her with the language,” says Pam Davies, a volunteer with Spokane Zero Waste. “I brought my sewing machine and some material. We talked about different [sewing] terms, and she copied a tote bag without any direction from me.”

Davies’ sewing and language lessons with the Afghan seamstress happened to coincide with Spokane Zero Waste’s application for a grant from NextCycle Washington, Hochstadt says.

along with donated materials. Its two employees have so far made mittens, aprons, meditation pillows and purses.

Another recent project involved upcycling vinyl banners and billboards used during past exhibits at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The vinyl was made into totes, bags and pouches, now sold at the MAC’s gift shop.

Project Woven’s two Afghan seamstresses have sold more than half of the nearly 300 pieces they’ve made so far at local church bazaars and the monthly 33 Artists Market.

Spokane Zero Waste organizes other textile reuse programs like the monthly Mend-It Cafe, which offers chances for people to bring wellworn clothing in need of repair. Volunteers are on hand to help extend the life of such pieces, keeping them out of the waste stream.

The nonprofit has also hosted upcycle fashion labs for middle and high school students.

Eliminating waste of all kinds is Spokane Zero Waste’s mission.

“The capacity of our incinerator [at the] Waste to Energy plant is 800 tons a day, and we start to exceed that limit as we get into the event season,” Hochstadt says.

The team at Spokane Zero Waste understands that determining what belongs in residential garbage, recycling or compost bins is sometimes difficult, so they launched a Waste Ambassadors program to help people decipher what goes where.

Volunteer waste ambassadors are now attending large local events, like Bloomsday and the Expo ’74 50th Anniversary kickoff. Wearing green upcycled aprons made by Woven’s employees, the ambassadors set up disposal stations, ready to assist people with trash.

SPOKANE

ZERO WASTE

spokanezerowaste.org

Instagram/Facebook: @spokanezerowaste

A collaboration between the Washington State Department of Commerce and the state’s Department of Ecology, the grants are intended to support the circular economy, a system focused on reusing materials for sustainable living.

“We thought we could use some of the funding to try and figure out if it was viable to develop a handicraft line using upcycled textiles,” Hochstadt says.

Project Woven currently partners with Global Neighborhood Thrift & Vintage and Spokane Art Salvage to acquire textiles for its projects,

“We’d love to support all the events everywhere, but we are a small organization trying to tackle a big problem,” Hochstadt says. “We engage a lot in what has become known as wishcycling. Wishcycling ends up becoming trash because if you have too many contaminants in a bin of recyclables, it can’t be cleaned. It just ends up going to trash. The waste ambassadors are there to help minimize contamination.”

Hochstadt plans to present the nonprofit’s observations, including the total weight of all refuse collected through its waste ambassador program, to Spokane City Council in hopes of developing city policies to help eliminate waste.

“[We’re] trying to kindly negotiate a different relationship between people and the waste they make,” Hochstadt says, “[so] that we really understand that this relationship with waste is detrimental to our own well-being.” n

The Ways of the Northwest

ARTS & CULTURE

The Folklife Festival had a rough start but became one of the top attractions at Expo ’74

BY BILL YOUNGS

Bob Glatzer, head of Expo ’74’s Folklife Festival had a problem. The Smithsonian Institution was planning to sponsor the exhibit, but they sent two experts to Spokane who wrote a discouraging report. “They were terrible snobs,” Glatzer remembered. “They came out here, spent $30,000 in 30 days, and they reported back that there was no folklife in the Northwest!”

Glatzer had worked on projects for the Smithsonian before moving to Spokane, and fortunately he had a good reputation with the institution. Consequently the Smithsonian decided to give him and the Northwest a second chance. The institution hired Mack McCormick, who had run a folklife program for Montreal’s Expo ’67.

McCormick helped Glatzer identify authentic folklife. He explained that many apparent folk singers or craftsmen were not “authentic.” They might have learned their craft, for example, at a local community college. The trick was to find the genuine article. With a team of well-trained field workers, they scoured the region, signing up individuals and groups for Expo.

McCormick, for example, located members of a Doukhobor community in Canada. They belonged to a traditional religious sect from Russian roots. McCormick’s only regret was that they were not 100% pure. Mixed in with traditional songs in their musical repertoire was a Russian translation of the American anthem “Shenandoah.” Despite — or more likely because of — their rigor, McCormick, Glatzer and their field workers managed to gather a remarkable collection of Folklife performers.

Visiting the Folklife exhibit on the fairgrounds, you could have your fortune told by a gypsy, pan gold with a miner, or stand beside a Union Pacific engine

and caboose and learn about trains from railroad men. McCormick regretted that the engine could not be steamed up on the site and blow its whistle.

One of the most crowd-pleasing features of the Folklife Festival was the logging show. Lumberjacks would compete in logrolling — the loser got wet — and climbing tall poles — the winner was the first to ring a bell at the top of the pole. Sometimes one of the professional loggers would be all set to climb, and this supposedly drunk spectator would say, “I can do that. I’m better than you.” And he’d start up, and he’d do this whole drunk act, and he’d get half way up and look down and panic.

The clown was not authentic, but pretty much everything else at the Folklife Festival was.

Bill Youngs is an EWU history professor and author of the definitive history of Expo ’74, The Fair and the Falls — now out in an updated 2024 edition.

Expo’s Counterculture Camp

The Youth International Party (“Yippies”) had their own plans for Expo ’74. Members of a small counterculture movement in Spokane, they had their own coffeehouse (the “EMF”), newspaper and a $20-per-month office. They decided to create a counterfair with its own environmental message.

Surprisingly, they were able to persuade the Spokane City Council to set aside a tract of land at the confluence of Latah Creek and the Spokane River. One council member objected, saying “there’s going to be plenty of sex down there.” In response, Police Chief Wayne Hendren answered wisely: “That could occur wherever you have people.”

The arrangement was this: The Yippies could welcome campers from across the country — as many as 700 at a time came, some Yippies, some not. No disruptions of Expo, no hard drugs, no needles, no drug sales. Nude sunbathing and nude swimming, OK. Discrete marijuana use, OK.

Spokane Yippie leader Rik Smith recalled: “Everybody had their own encampments, but you might be sitting in an encampment and somebody would just drop by and sit by your fire and say hello. Lots of people played guitars and did ‘street acts’ like juggling and miming. It was very mellow.”

(BILL YOUNGS)

Real Idaho miners showed visitors to the fair how to pan for gold. They’d seed a few real nuggets here and there to add to the excitement. NORTHWEST MUSEUM OF ARTS AND CULTURE IMAGE

Hitting the Right Notes

Mike Kobluk was delighted when fair president King Cole invited him to join his “little band of merry men.” Kobluk would become the fair’s “director of visual and performing arts.”

He had been a founding member of the Chad Mitchell Trio, formed at Gonzaga and grown to national fame. The Trio performed several times at Carnegie Hall. When one of its members retired, the group added a young singer named John Denver. (Stay tuned!)

Kobluk’s first job for Expo was to line up entertainment on the grounds. In all, about 1,200 amateur groups came to Spokane. But what about marquee performers for a world’s fair? Many prospects had

JOIN THE CLUB!

never heard of Spokane or Expo ’74.

Then on June 14, 1973, an envelope arrived at Expo headquarters that completely changed the situation. It held a contract signed by Liberace for six performances at the fair over the Fourth of July week. With that, a dam broke, according to Kobluk. Eventually many famed entertainers would come to Expo, including Roger Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Hope, Harry Belafonte and Lawrence Welk.

And what about Mike Kobluk’s old friend, John Denver? His agent was disdainful until Kobluk wrote Denver directly.

John Denver performed at Expo. (BILL YOUNGS)

50TH CELEBRATION

POW-WOW AT THE FALLS

May 25-26 | Spokane Convention Center

SIGNATURE EVENT PRESENTED BY WASHINGTON TRUST BANK, NONSTOP LOCAL KHQ, GARCO CONSTRUCTION, THE CITY OF SPOKANE, SPOKANE COUNTY, SPOKANE TRIBE OF INDIANS, THE KALISPEL TRIBE OF INDIANS, NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO, COEUR D’ALENE TRIBE, THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE COLVILLE RESERVATION, AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY CENTER, ELK SOUP, RED NATIONS, AVISTA, SPOKANE FALLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE, INNOVIA FOUNDATION, THE NATIVE PROJECT, EMPIRE HEALTH FOUNDATION.

Mark your calendar for the Expo ’74 Celebration Powwow at The Falls, featuring master of ceremonies Ruben Little Head and showcasing the region’s tribal culture for two full days. Planners say it will be one of the largest powwows in the area in a very long time, and will have awardwinning drummers, tribal members wearing traditional regalia, tribal cuisine and cultural exhibits, in hopes of providing an immersive educational experience.

PICKLEFEST ’24

SIGNATURE EVENT

May 29-June 2 | Riverfront Park Pavilion | 11 am-4 pm A pickleball jamboree and tournament celebrating the history and future of pickleball in Spokane — presented by the Spokane Pickleball Club and the City of Spokane Parks & Recreation, and powered by Selkirk Sport’s Pro S1 Pickleball. A five-day ‘popup’ pickleball event in and around the Pavilion leads to the weekend tournament ($45 entry fee) — a three-day public jamboree with opportunities for anyone to play, learn and celebrate pickleball. More details available on pickleheads.com and at PickleballBrackets.com/picklefest24.

EXPO ’74 50TH ANNIVERSARY

By supporting the free programs throughout the Expo 50 celebration, your membership gives you access to exclusive benefits through July 4, including a commemorative coin and discounts at popular spots like Riverfront Spokane, The MAC and other local shops, restaurants and bars. Also check out Corporate Club ’74. One donation gets 25 individual memberships for your company, each with all the same discounts — and access to a special bonus event! Scan either QR code to learn more about the benefits. Join the celebration today!

MARKING 50 YEARS Every week in the Inlander through the end of June, look for these Expo 50 pages, where Bill Youngs will guide you through the improbable story of the 1974 World’s Fair.

THANK YOU TO OUR SIGNATURE SPONSORS!

COMMUNITY STAGE & VENDOR VILLAGE

May 25 | Riverfront Park Lilac Bowl | 11 am-4 pm

SIGNATURE EVENT PRESENTED BY WASHINGTON TRUST BANK | NONSTOP LOCAL KHQ | GARCO CONSTRUCTION | MULTICARE

Experience a fusion of dance, performing arts, inspiring talks and performances from a diverse range of community talents. Enjoy international cuisine, memorabilia, and historic and interactive activities. The stage will be adjacent to the Vendor Village, featuring a variety of local vendors, artisans and handcrafters. 11 am: Native Voices; 11:45 am: Community School Theater Group performing Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing; 1 pm: Tri Cities Steel Band; 2:30 pm: Heat Speak.

EXPO ’74 HISTORIC WALKING TOURS

May 25 | Visit Spokane Information Center | 10 am

A captivating two-hour, guided walking tour of Expo history through Riverfront Park. Tours depart from the Visit Spokane Visitor Information Center. Also on June 1, 8, 15 and 22.

For the full schedule of Expo 50th events, head to Expo50Spokane.com

Some of the voices of Expo.

INDIVIDUAL

CORPORATE

HEALTH

BIG FARMA

Naturopathic doctor Casey Carr hosts three farm-to-table dinners

to encourage rooted thinking about food as medicine

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Imagine chatting with your primary care physician and discussing two options for treatment: Take a pill, or eat a hamburger. Which would you choose?

Casey Carr, a licensed naturopathic doctor in Coeur d’Alene, isn’t out to take down pharmaceuticals. She is, however, trying to offer her patients a wide range of wellness tools before reaching for the prescription pad. To Carr, one of the best medicines to protect and heal our bodies is something we put in it every day: food.

“When given the right sort of ingredients and foundation, the human body does have a self-healing capacity,” Carr says. “I’m trying to encourage that through a variety of means.”

To that end, Carr is co-hosting three farm-to-table events this summer with local growers and ranchers for a series she calls “Food as Farmacy.” It’s an effort to discuss how soil, food and farming practices impact not just the earth, but our own physical and mental health. In addition to dinner, each evening includes an educational component and lots of time to chat with the star of the meal: the farmer.

“Most farm-to-table meals, it’s all about the food,” Carr says. “I mean, yeah, it’s great food of course. But the farmer is often missing. [After] having worked alongside so many passionate farmers, they need to be at the center of this conversation because they’re also contributing to human health, like a doctor, just in a different way.”

The first Food as Farmacy event is being held at Quillisascut Farm in Rice, Washington, on June 1 for $70 a seat. In addition to a meal sourced completely from the farm, 15 attendees learn cheesemaking with farmer and artisan cheesemaker Lora Lea Misterly and take home their very own, freshly made goat chevre.

The second event is a family-friendly burger night at Castle Rock Ranch in Kingston, Idaho, on June 29. As many as 150 attendees are welcome to come learn about ranchers Albert Walsh and Jordan Shay’s regenerative cattle herd and feast on some tasty hamburgers between homemade buns. Adult tickets cost $40, kids under 12 get in for half that price, and kids under 6 eat free.

The last event of the season is at the new Genesis Mountain Farm near Sandpoint. Take a tour of an aqua-

Carr

ponic greenhouse that can feed hundreds all year-round, and learn about low-waste Italian salumi making from Seattle chef Seamus Platt. The high-end feast costs $160 per person and can seat about 50 people.

“I think it’s a big draw for people coming out here to be able to talk to the people who actually manage the land and manage the animals,” Shay at Castle Rock says. “Our hope is that people who are coming out to eat with us or spend time with us, they’re not necessarily just coming for a meal. They’re coming in for an experience — they want to learn something or see how what we do is different.”

Carr always knew she wanted to be a doctor. As a child, she experienced multiple family members die early, mostly from cancer. As a teenager, her aunt was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Lora Lea Misterly at Quillisascut Farm. ELIZA BILLINGHAM PHOTOS

Casey

“She did all the conventional things — chemo, radiation, surgery,” Carr says. “But she was the first in my family I saw who also changed her diet. She and her husband both totally overhauled their diet. I saw how her health and the health of her husband really changed. That was what first opened my eyes to the ‘food as medicine’ concept in a very generic way. To see it firsthand — see it extend her life and her quality of life — was really pretty amazing.”

Her study of medicine and nutritional sciences first took her to Cornell University, and then a four-month internship on a farm in Tuscany.

“I learned more about food and food as medicine in my four months there than I did in my four years at Cornell,” she says. “It was so eye opening, and it really just ignited this awareness in me of the difference between nutrition and nourishment. Both are very important. But we often forget the nourishment piece in our current food system.”

To Carr, nourishment is more than inputting calories — it’s putting good things into your body to protect from illness later on, or checking how stressed you are at a meal to understand how that affects digestion, or feeding your body what it needs to regulate hormones or fight an infection. Nutrient-dense foods come from nutrient-dense soils, which is why Carr thinks farmers are so important for health.

“There’s a difference between a carrot that comes out of the ground from organic soil that’s had compost on it versus one that you get at a grocery store in February in Washington state,” she says. “The type of medicine I’m practicing came from that recognition of ‘Oh, what we eat three times a day is medicine that we take, whether we think of it that way or not.’ [I try to be] careful about food shaming, but just really try to get people to think about ‘where’s your food coming from,’ and a little bit more about quality versus quantity.”

Carr encourages her patients to view food as an empowerment tool, a way to take their health into their own hands every day. No one’s perfect, she’s quick to add. Plus, she’s more than aware that healthy food is often the most expensive food in the U.S. But, as she puts it, chronic disease is expensive, too.

The three Food as Farmacy events are a way for Carr to invite the larger community into deeper thinking about the interconnectedness of soil, animal, plant and human health.

“It’s a mix between all those things,” she says, “my passion for food, medicine, farming and the farmers who pretty much make it all happen.” n

Visit foodasfarmacy.com for ticket sales, location details, and other information.

Farming up Fun

Farmers market season is here!

COMPILED

BY

MADISON

PEARSON

MONDAY

Hillyard Farmers Market 3-6 pm, late June to late Oct. Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook St., Spokane. hillyardfarmersmarket.org

TUESDAY

Fairwood Farmers Market 3-7 pm, mid-May to early Oct. Fairwood Shopping Center, 319 W. Hastings Rd., Spokane. fairwoodfarmersmarket.org

Moscow Tuesday Market 4-7 pm, early June to mid-Oct. Latah County Fairgrounds, 1021 Harold St. fb.com/tuesdaycommunitymarket

WEDNESDAY

5th Street Farmers Market 4-7 pm, midMay to late Sept. Fifth and Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene. cdadowntown.com

Moonshine Artisan Night Market 5:308:30 pm, late May to late Aug. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford Dr., Spokane. commellini.com

Kendall Yards Night Market 5-8 pm, late May to mid-Oct. West Summit Parkway between Cedar and Adams Alley, Spokane. kendallnightmarket.org

Kootenai Farmers Market 4-7 pm, midMay to late Sept. Riverstone, 2151 N. Main St., Coeur d’Alene. kootenaifarmersmarkets.org

Millwood Farmers Market 3-7 pm, late May to early Oct. Millwood City Park, 9103 E. Frederick Ave. farmersmarket.millwoodnow.org

N.E.W. Farmers Market 9 am-1 pm, May to late Oct. 121 E. Astor St., Colville. newfarmersmarket.org

River City Market 5-8 pm, mid-July to midAug. The Landing, 305 N. Spokane St., Post Falls. fb.com/rivercitymarketandmusic

Sandpoint Farmers Market 3-5:30 pm, early May to mid-Oct. Farmin Park, Third and Main. sandpointfarmersmarket.com

Spokane Farmers Market 8 am-1 pm, midJune to late Oct. Coeur d’Alene Park, Fourth and Chestnut St. spokanefarmersmarket.org

THURSDAY

Perry Street Thursday Market 3-7 pm, May to Oct. Perry and Tenth, Spokane. thursdaymarket.org

FRIDAY

Athol Farmers Market 2-6 pm, May to late Sept. 30230 Second St. atholfarmersmarketidaho.com

Chewelah Farmers Market 11 am-3:30 pm, mid-May to mid-Oct. Chewelah City Park. chewelahfarmersmarket.com

Emerson-Garfield Farmers Market 3-7 pm,

June to late Sept. IEL Adult Education Center, 2310 N. Monroe St., Spokane. market.emersongarfield.org

The Wavy Bunch Night Market & Street Fair Second Friday from 5-9 pm, mid-June to Oct. Catalyst Building, 508 E Riverside Ave., Spokane. thewavybunch.com

Spokane Valley Farmers Market 4-8 pm, June to late-Sept. CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Place. spokanevalleyfarmersmarket.org

SATURDAY

Airway Heights Summer Market Second Saturday from 10 am-2 pm, April to Sept. The Hub, 12703 W. 14th Ave. fb.com/AirwayHeightsSummerMarket

Bonners Ferry Farmers Market 8 am-1 pm, late April to early Oct. Highway 95 and Kootenai St. bonnersferryfarmersmarket.org

The Deer Park Market First Saturday from 9 am-3 pm, May to early Oct. Perrins Field, 14 Arnim Ave. thedeerparkmarket.com

Kootenai Farmers Market 9 am-1:30 pm, mid-May to late Oct. Highway 95 and Prairie, Hayden. kootenaifarmersmarkets.org

Liberty Lake Farmers Market 9 am-1 pm, mid-May to mid-Oct. Town Square Park, 1421 N. Meadowwood Ln. llfarmersmarket.com

Medical Lake Farmers Market First/third Saturday 9 am-1 pm, June to early Oct. Lake St. between Jefferson and Lefevre streets. instagram.com/ medicallakefarmersmarket

Moscow Farmers Market 8 am-1 pm, May to Oct. Friendship Square, Fourth and Main. fb.com/ MoscowFarmersMarket

N.E.W. Farmers Market 9 am-1 pm, May to Oct. 121 E. Astor St., Colville. newfarmersmarket.org

Newport Farmers Market 9 am-1 pm, early May to Oct. 236 S. Union Ave. Facebook: Newport Farmers Market

Rathdrum Farmers Market 9 am-2 pm, late April to Sept. Rathdrum Lions Club, 16114 N. Meyer Rd. fb.com/rathdrumcraftandfarmersmarket

Sandpoint Farmers Market 9 am-1 pm, early May to mid-Oct. Farmin Park, Third and Main. sandpointfarmersmarket.com

Spokane Farmers Market 8 am-1 pm, mid-May to late Oct. Coeur d’Alene Park, Fourth and Chestnut St. spokanefarmersmarket.org

SUNDAY

Clayton Farmers Market 11 am-4 pm, June to Sept. (except during county fair). Clayton Fairgrounds, 4616 Wallbridge Rd. Facebook: Clayton Farmers Market and Small Farm Animals n

Quillisascut goats create healthy soil and cheese.

LESLIE DOUGLAS PHOTO

ALSO OPENING

BABES

Broad City’s Ilana Glazer co-writes and stars in this comedy about an out-ofher-depth, yassified NYC woman who gets pregnant after a one-night stand and decides to have the baby — with help from her also yassified mother-oftwo BFF — despite the father being out of the picture. Rated R

EVIL DOES NOT EXIST

Japanese director/writer Ryûsuke Hamaguchi follows up the Oscar-winning Drive My Car with this environmental drama about a rural widower dealing with developers who want to create a glamping site that would disturb the land’s delicate ecosystem. Not rated At the Magic Lantern

SIGHT

An inspirational drama from Angel Studios, Sight tells the true life story of Ming Wang, a Chinese immigrant who came to the United States and became a pioneering eye surgeon. Rated PG-13

Anya Taylor-Joy keeps the Mad Max franchise revving in high gear.

REVIEW

WITNESS HER

George Miller’s Furiosa is a thrilling companion to Fury Road with a career-best performance by Anya Taylor-Joy

BY CHASE HUTCHINSON

If you consider yourself at all a believer in how movies can be art, you’ll remember where you were when the unparalleled cinematic masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road hurtled its way into theaters in 2015. With kinetic action and gorgeous visuals, it was a modern epic that rips the air right from your lungs. Revisiting it, one can only remain in awe of how amazing it looks and feels. It’s a film that still has the power to punch you right in the chest just as it did the first time, demanding its pound of flesh and then some.

Nearly a decade later comes Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. It’s a prequel that could not be more different in pacing and scope, serving as a fascinating accompaniment to Fury Road while still standing on its own. Questions over which is better will certainly rage through the wasteland, with it being hard to say this new entry surpasses its predecessor, but that is a less interesting discussion to have than how they work together. Furiosa is a film that compliments everything Miller was doing in Fury Road, deepening our relationship to the character and adding texture to the desolate world he has now spent decades building. Spanning years as we follow the iconic Furiosa from her abduction to finding a way to survive a constantly perilous existence so that she can escape back home, it’s about her life at the end of the world.

Previously played with a perfect sense of poise and pain by Charlize Theron, we now see Furiosa in her

younger years. Split into various parts, she is first played by relative newcomer Alyla Browne, then by Anya Taylor-Joy. While each has big shoes to fill, they more than rise to the occasion. Browne embodies a youthful bravery that is soon broken into pieces as Furiosa endures immense loss and suffering. By the time Taylor-Joy takes over, she has built walls between herself and the rest of the cruel world that surrounds her. She speaks very little, often surveying scenes with a necessary wariness and caution. This isn’t a problem as Taylor-Joy is a uniquely expressive actor, embodying everything from sadness to eventual rage and determination with just her eyes saying more than anything else. While nobody could ever replace Theron, it’s smart casting and the best performance Taylor-Joy has given to date.

There are some other great performances, including a delightfully chaotic one from Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, who shakes off the Marvel malaise with aplomb to play the new antagonist Dr. Dementus.

thrilling battle on the road that launches into the sky, all the action remains impeccably constructed.

It’s just about as exciting as Fury Road with distinct emotional heft, drawing out unexpected moments of poignancy as we see Furiosa navigate the constantlyshifting hellscape she has been dragged into. She also forms a passionate connection with a fellow road warrior in Praetorian Jack (played by the always terrific Tom Burke of The Souvenir), which gives the film a beating, bloody heart. Even with some iffy effects, their relationship and the film itself crackles with such electricity that it still bowls you over.

However, the driving force is deeply personal for Furiosa, as she desperately wants to return to the small remaining sliver of utopia left in the world — The Green Place. That may be her only salvation.

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

Directed by George Miller Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne

That said, this is all Miller’s show. Compared to his previous film before this, the often interesting though ultimately lackluster Three Thousand Years of Longing, Furiosa is a truly spectacular return to form. All these years later, he hasn’t missed a step. From a tense early chase sequence on motorcycles through the desert to a

Furiosa is a film about someone willing to do whatever they need to survive to fight another day, forging a new identity in the gates of hell and paying dearly for it. As this all unfolds, it becomes a magnificent tapestry of violence and redemption that — while incomplete until seeing Fury Road again (which you’ll want to anyway right after) — is still absolutely brilliant to behold. To paraphrase one of the closing lines, Miller more than has it in him to make it epic. What a glorious film and character Furiosa is to witness. n

Garfield, Inc.

The Garfield Movie treats the beloved comics cat as little more than a marketing tool

BY JOSH BELL

Everyone knows that Garfield loves lasagna and hates Mondays. But did you ever wonder why? Probably not, but The Garfield Movie answers the question anyway, as part of its mission of adding unnecessary emotional baggage to the beloved comic-strip cat. The sarcastic orange tabby has become an American institution since debuting in creator Jim Davis’ syndicated newspaper strip nearly 50 years ago, and The Garfield Movie is little more than the latest brand extension for a character whose primary purpose seems to be merchandising and corporate sponsorship.

sneaks into an Italian restaurant where he discovers the wonders of lasagna and meets his new human owner Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult).

THE GARFIELD MOVIE

Rated PG

Directed by Mark Dindal

The purpose is on full display in the egregious product placement throughout The Garfield Movie, which is crammed with company logos, no matter how poorly they fit into the animated world. The Garfield Movie combines modern computer animation with character design that evokes Davis’ comic strips, but for the most part the visual style is bright and generic, and that extends to the writing and voice performances as well.

Starring Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham

Jon is a central figure in the Garfield comic strip and other adaptations, but he’s mostly an afterthought here, as Garfield and Jon’s pet dog, Odie, are abducted by sinister Persian cat Jinx (Hannah Waddingham) as part of her elaborate revenge scheme against Vic. Jinx demands that Vic, Garfield and Odie steal a delivery truck full of milk from a heavily fortified dairy, and much of The Garfield Movie is an extended riff on Mission: Impossible, complete with Ving Rhames doing a variation on his franchise role. Here, he’s Otto, a morose bull who’s been exiled from the dairy and longs to reunite with his beloved cow companion, Ethel.

Garfield has been adapted to movies and TV numerous times, most notably in the late ’80s/ early ’90s animated series Garfield and Friends and a pair of ’00s live-action movies. Lorenzo Music defined Garfield’s onscreen personality with his deadpan delivery on Garfield and Friends, while Bill Murray continued that understated (or, less generously, bored) approach with his voice work as the CGI cat in the live-action films. Here, Chris Pratt voices Garfield in a bland tone that’s largely indistinguishable from his voice performances as Mario in The Super Mario Brothers Movie or Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie

While Garfield is known for his laziness and indifference, The Garfield Movie sends him on a grand quest, reuniting him with his long-lost father to undertake a dangerous rescue mission. A prologue establishes the previously unexplored back story of Garfield’s parentage, showing Garfield as a kitten being abandoned in an alley by his father Vic (Samuel L. Jackson). Garfield

What does all of this have to do with Garfield devouring lasagna and despising Mondays? Pretty much nothing, and while The Garfield Movie is a passable animated adventure at times, it turns a sardonic, misanthropic character into a generic cartoon hero, complete with a parental reconciliation arc.

Director Mark Dindal is best known for 2000’s The Emperor’s New Groove Garfield is his first filmmaking effort in nearly 20 years, and he demonstrates brief flashes of the slapstick absurdity that made his Disney cult classic such a delight. Those moments are far too fleeting to carry the film, as they’re outweighed by the tired obligations of contemporary Hollywood animation, from the parade of celebrity voices to the closing dance party.

Garfield may be more of a symbol than a character at this point, but that means he’s malleable enough to fit into a variety of styles. The Garfield Movie could have used his name recognition for something fresh and original, as Dindal previously did with the Disney brand. Instead, it falls back on the familiar, propped up by in-movie advertising and hollow lessons for kids with short attention spans. n

The Garfield Movie isn’t as bad as Mondays or as good as a lasagna feast.

Memorial Weekend Moshing

The inaugural Punk Palouse Fest looks to help cultivate the Inland Northwest DIY music scene

BY ELISSA BALL

Like most do-it-yourself endeavors, the first Punk Palouse Fest — sprouting up on Moscow’s main drag Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 — started with a spark of curiosity.

Last summer, Moscow resident and independent poppunk musician Alicia Gladman returned to the Palouse after visiting old friends in Tennessee and Canada and attending their scrappy, fun shows and began to wonder, “Wouldn’t it be cool if these [musicians] that I go out and see elsewhere could come here?”

As a former Tennessean, Gladman imagined creating a music festival in the vein of Do Ya Hear We Fest, a noted weekend punk fest in Chattanooga. Suspecting that Moscow’s “super hospitable” micro scene that “turns out for arts events” would support such a festival, Gladman voiced her daydream to two local pals, Hannah Smith and Chris Proctor, who erupted with enthusiasm and took action.

DIY, of course, isn’t about doing everything yourself. A clunkier yet more accurate acronym might be DIWSFYF&C: Do It With Support From Your Friends & Community.

In November 2023, the trio of friends created an Instagram account (@punkpalouse) and announced: “We like punk, we like riot grrrl, and we’re looking for bands to come play in our lil town next May.”

They chose Memorial Day weekend for its sleepy sweet spot on the Palouse calendar, just as out-of-town acts gas up their vans for summer tours. “We’ll just have a little pop punk takeover of the downtown Moscow area,” jokes Gladman.

Word soon spread and bands near and far submitted

tracks. “We had a sound in mind,” says Gladman, who, while appreciative of the townie metal and hard rock acts that fill local bills, admits the Moscow-Pullman region doesn’t “have the poppy, melodic, twinklier, post-punk, dancier stuff” that she fell in love with in her early 20s. The kind of punk where “irreverence” and attitude are valued more than being “virtuosic at an instrument.”

Eventually Punk Palouse Fest chose 16 bands that embody those DIY punk vibes. The crew wanted to highlight local and regional acts like long-standing Moscow band Ideomotor, young Pullman punks Induce Psychosis, and Gladman’s own group, the Himbos. The fest’s final lineup also features bands from Boise, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, B.C., and yes, Spokane. The Globs, a self-described “punk E Street Band” from Sacramento, will travel the farthest for PPF.

Two downtown music venues, Mikey’s Gyros and John’s Alley Tavern, stepped up to host the four official fest shows as well as three winter fundraiser shows to help cover fest expenses and pay touring bands. Moscow’s boutique Monarch Motel also offered lodging for three bands. Indeed, it takes a village to DIY.

Mikey’s and John’s Alley are basically on the same block and both wheelchair accessible. The early shows (5-8 pm) at John’s Alley are 21+, while the late shows (8-11 pm) at Mikey’s are all-ages.

Psychic Death, one of two bands repping Spokane at Punk Palouse, is a hardcore punk three-piece quite familiar with DIY’s “try it” spirit and the pathaltering power of a stellar show.

Though lead singer/drummer Audrey Gore had

played in a few bands (surf, pop-punk, emo) while growing up in Coeur d’Alene, the now-26-year-old doubted it was possible to have a band where she could play drums as fast as she wanted and sing at the same time. But catching a hot set by Seattle harcore band Regional Justice Center at the Big Dipper in 2021 shifted something in her.

“Seeing Ian the vocalist play drums and go hard as hell while doing vocals” got Gore thinking “OK, I could do that.” So she started Psychic Death.

Good thing for that push, because when Gore’s behind her kit now — belting out lyrics she wrote and drumming at breakneck speed — she’s as quick and fierce as a bobcat. One of Spokane’s heaviest hitters. She shares Psychic Death duties with guitarist Jon Montana and bassist Jeff Glinski, himself a longtime Spokane DIY booker and player of small shows.

“DIY is at the heart of what we do,” says Gore. “We make our own stuff. I love the process. I spent three hours at the copy store to cut the J cards [for cassettes],” she tells me when we meet up at Berserk, where we came to watch her bandmate Glinski play in Lipsick, the other Spokane-based group headed to Punk Palouse.

As Psychic Death gears up for a Midwest tour and tape release of Psychic Death III this July, Lipsick is at a very different point in its band life cycle.

Lipsick’s late set on Saturday at Mikey’s will be the group’s farewell show. That’s because lead singer Judy Davis is moving to Olympia to study printmaking. “I love making music, but I love printmaking more,” Davis tells me when I crash the post-punk

Spokane’s Lipsick says goodbye as part of the first Punk Palouse Fest. ADAM DARLING PHOTO

quartet’s penultimate practice at guitarist James Hunt’s home.

Davis’ passion for print art (and DIY) is evident in the fresh batch of Lipsick T-shirts that she silk-screened and tie-dyed herself in time for the band’s last Spokane show at Berserk on May 9.

Anyone who’s been to a Lipsick show knows Judy’s stage presence is at once commanding and vulnerable — quite literally, as she frequently performs topless, usually to a front row of mostly women who hold space for her raw power. She’s undoubtedly in charge. And she got an early start.

Davis plunged into punk at age 17 when she and some high school friends slapped together a band called the Clap and entered the (now long-gone) Cafe Solé’s 2004 Worst Band Competition, a ruse of an event meant to encourage youth to start bands.

The results? “We won,” says Davis. Although the Clap played about 10 shows before dissolving, the thrill of performing with trusted pals unlocked a door in Davis: “I went on to start a whole weird life with James, Nat [Mooter], Jeff,” her longtime pals whom Davis handpicked for Lipsick in 2018.

The band played its first show in early 2019 opening for Shannon & the Clams and self-released one tape, I Only Make Love, in 2022.

“All our songs are collaborative,” says Hunt, who also played with Davis in the dancy, electroclash group Yokohama Hooks nearly two decades ago. Drummer Glinski adds, “We all kinda surprised ourselves with what [Lipsick’s sound] turned out to be, what came out of us,” which was more emotionally raw than he expected.

Though Davis considers herself “too moody” to play most out-of-town shows, she looks forward to Punk Palouse. “It should be really fun, and I feel like that’s how this band should end,” to balance “our damaged, depressing” songs. Glinski credits the intensity of those songs and Lipsick’s live sets with helping the bandmates process — together as friends — traumatic personal events they endured throughout their band’s five-year run.

In an Instagram post published May 13, bassist Nat Mooter reflects on the end of Lipsick while emphasizing DIY’s interdependent “DIWSFYF&C” reality. To anyone still hesitant to play in a band, Mooter writes:

“I hope… you realize how easy it is to get started. You don’t have to be good, you just have to be consistent. People will help you. We would never have been a band if Patty and Tim [owners of Neato Burrito/Baby Bar] didn’t open their practice space to us. They didn’t want rent, they said just make sure there’s beer in the fridge.”

The obvious goal of Punk Palouse is to be able to do it again next year, assuming the weekend goes well. However, organizer Gladman confesses she has a secret agenda for this inaugural fest: She hopes attendees get so inspired by what they see and hear in Moscow that they form bands of their own.

“Go out and try it,” insists Gladman. “You don’t have to be an expert. You don’t need permission. Get out there and express yourself.”

Perhaps some of those yet-to-be-formed bands might take the stage at next year’s Punk Palouse Festival.

Gladman promises those on the verge of taking a bold musical leap, “We’ll support you and stand in the front row and scream” like her friends did for her early DIY bands. As she puts it, “I wanna pass that feeling on.” n

Punk Palouse Fest • Fri, May 24 and Sat, May 25 at 5 and 8 pm • 21+ (early), All ages (late) • $12 door, $40 festival pass • John’s Alley Tavern, 114 E. Sixth St. and Mikey’s Greek Gyros, 527 S. Main St., Moscow • instagram.com/punkpalouse

Unlock the treasures hidden within our storage units! More than 30 of our valued customers will be opening their storage unit doors to showcase a wide variety of items at unbeatable prices. Join us for a fun day of savings and surprises!

June 8

9am - 3pm

EDM KASKADE

HIP-HOP FINESSE2TYMES

Thursday, 5/23

J ADELO’S PIZZA, PASTA & PINTS, Brassless Chaps

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, KOSH

J BOOMERS CLASSIC ROCK BAR, Just Plain Darin

J THE CHAMELEON, The Wildwoods, Jake Rozier

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Thursday Night Jam

CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Portugal. The Man, J MCCRACKEN’S PUB AND BBQ, Mike McCafferty

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Hip-Hop Night

ZOLA, The Rub, Jacob Roundtree

Friday, 5/24

AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Dallas Kay

J THE BIG DIPPER, Palettes, Pulling 4 Victory

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Eternal Jones

THE CHAMELEON, The Get Down Vol. 1: Freaky Fred, DJ Felon, DJ Exodus, Kosmos The Afronaut

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Max Daniels and Soulful Brothers

CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Just Plain Darin

IOLITE LOUNGE, Ben Vogel

IRON HORSE (CDA), Heather King Band

J J MIKEY’S GYROS & JOHN’S ALLEY TAVERN, Punk Palouse Fest

MILLIE’S, Pastiche

MOOSE LOUNGE, Loose Gazoonz

MULLIGAN’S BAR & GRILLE, Son of Brad

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Bruiser

NYNE BAR & BISTRO, Jenny Don’t and The Spurs, Silver Treason

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Bright Moments

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO, Laketown Sound

SPOKANE VALLEY EAGLES, Stagecoach West

TERRA BLANCA WINERY, Jan Harrison, Barry Aiken, Roxy McDaniel

ZOLA, Jason Lucas ZOLA, Ron Greene Trio

Saturday, 5/25

J THE BIG DIPPER, Digress, Shade Apollo, Xstitch, 97ares, Taki. Taki, St4tik

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Eternal Jones

THE CHAMELEON, Afro Sounds Night with DJ Pilate

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Sapphire

CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Just Plain Darin

COEUR D’ALENE CELLARS, Son of Brad

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Illenium, Kaskade, Blanke, KREAM, HVDES, Fairlane, Cinema Kid

IRON HORSE (CDA), Heather King Band

J J MIKEY’S GYROS & JOHN’S ALLEY TAVERN, Punk Palouse Fest

MILLIE’S, Pastiche

MOOSE LOUNGE, Loose Gazoonz

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Bruiser

Maybe you were introduced to his electronic dance music this year when Kaskade became the first in-game DJ to play during the Super Bowl. Or maybe you’ve been listening to him for years, following along as he rose to popularity at the same time as Skrillex and Deadmau5 (“I remember” one of the pair’s first hits way back in 2009… long before they teamed up under the name Kx5). No matter how you came across his music, you’ll get a chance to see Kaskade as the special guest on Saturday at Illenium’s Memorial Day weekend show at the Gorge. Who knows, Kaskade’s Fire & Ice albums throughout the years might just be the perfect prelude for Illenium’s stellar ember-inspired visual displays.

— SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

Illenium, Kaskade, Blanke, Kream, Hvdes, Fairlane, Cinema Kid • Sat, May 25 at 4 pm • $84-$192 • All ages • Gorge Amphitheatre • 754 Silica Rd. NW, George • livenation.com

Memphis rapper Finesse2Tymes isn’t one of those MCs who talks a big game about being hard but hasn’t lived that life. The 31-year-old has done two stints in prison totaling nearly 10 years for robbery and illegal firearm possession. But he’s making the most of his time now that he’s out of the slammer. He’s blown up thanks to his deep voice that hits with the aggressive force of a Mike Tyson body blow on tracks like “Back End” and “Nobody.” His hard-edged flow isn’t for those who like their hip-hop to be a bit more sugarcoated, but Finesse2Tymes doesn’t front.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

Finesse2Tymes, RJMrLA, Saviii3rd • Sun, May 26 at 8 pm • $70-$115 • All Ages • Knitting Factory • 919 W. Sprague Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Tom Catmull

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

J SIRINYA’S THAI RESTAURANT, Nate Ostrander

SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO, Sonic Groove

SPOKANE VALLEY EAGLES, Sharky and the Fins ZOLA, Blake Braley

Sunday, 5/26

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Spare Parts

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Illenium, Two Friends, Ghengar, Level Up, BIJOU, Midnight Kids, PAWS

HOGFISH, Open Mic

IRON HORSE (CDA), Branded Heart

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Finesse2Tymes, RJMrLA, Savii 3rd MILLIE’S, Pastiche

MOOSE LOUNGE, Mike McCafferty

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Bruiser

J SOUTH HILL GRILL, Just Plain Darin ZOLA, Red Hot Kitten Stompers

Monday, 5/27

EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night Blues Jam with John Firshi

RAZZLE’S BAR & GRILL, Carson Rhodes

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night

Tuesday, 5/28

OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Ron Greene

J = THE INLANDER RECOMMENDS THIS SHOW

SHOW

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Sean Bostrum

J THE JUNKYARD DRINKS & EATS, Steve Starkey

Wednesday, 5/29

THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Land of Voices

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Red Room Lounge Jam

J TIMBERS ROADHOUSE, Cary Beare Presents

J ZEEKS PIZZA, Dallas Kay

Coming Up ...

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Lyle Morse, May 30, 5:30 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, MST, Sick Pay Holiday, Snacks At Midnight, May 30, 7:30 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Kaivon, May 30, 8 pm.

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ken Carson, Irontom, May 31, 7 pm.

KROC CENTER, Elaina DeJong, May 31, 7 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Those Damn Kids, Crusty Mustard, Xenoplasm, Bent Outta Shape, May 31, 7:30 pm.

J THE CHAMELEON, Jason Perry: Flavor Factory Album Release Show with Evergreen Afrodub Orchestra, May 31, 8 pm.

J J BRICK WEST BREWING CO., Brick Fest, June 1, 2-10 pm.

J HAMILTON STUDIO, Prizmatica, June 1, 6-8 pm.

J THE CHAMELEON, Nothing Shameful: Never Be the Same Album Release Show with Everyone Loves A Villain, Burn Mona Lisa, Thirty Seven, T-100, June 1, 7 pm.

J EICHARDT’S PUB, Heat Speak, June 1, 7-10 pm.

J REPUBLIC BREWING CO., Hannah Jackson, Kunda! Marimba, June 1, 7-10 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, The Scoffs, Proleterror, The Dilrods, Absent Cardinal, June 1, 7:30 pm.

J J KNITTING FACTORY, The Wallflowers, June 1, 8 pm.

SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO, Soul Proprietor, June 1, 8-11 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Trash Casket, Violent Abuse, KURB, Puddy Knife, June 2, 8 pm..

J THE DISTRICT BAR, Wild Pink, June 2, 9 pm.

J J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Daryl Hall, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Charlie Sexton, June 4, 7 pm.

J BING CROSBY THEATER, Buckethead, June 4, 7:30 pm.

THE CHAMELEON, Seaside Tryst, Zara, Saxtoother, June 6, 8 pm.

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Taking Back Sunday, Citizen, June 6, 8 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, The Pink Socks, The Emergency Exit, Eep-Oop!, June 7, 7 pm.

MUSIC | VENUES

219 LOUNGE • 219 N. First Ave., Sandpoint • 208-263-5673

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS • 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-927-9463

BABY BAR • 827 W. First Ave. • 509-847-1234

BARRISTER WINERY • 1213 W. Railroad Ave. • 509-465-3591

BEE’S KNEES WHISKY BAR • 1324 W. Lancaster Rd.., Hayden • 208-758-0558

BERSERK • 125 S. Stevens St. • 509-315-5101

THE BIG DIPPER • 171 S. Washington St. • 509-863-8098

BIGFOOT PUB • 9115 N. Division St. • 509-467-9638

BING CROSBY THEATER • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-227-7638

BLACK DIAMOND • 9614 E. Sprague Ave. • 509891-8357

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL • 116 S. Best Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-891-8995

BOOMERS CLASSIC ROCK BAR • 18219 E. Appleway Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-368-9847

BUCER’S COFFEEHOUSE PUB • 201 S. Main St., Moscow • 208-596-0887

THE BULL HEAD • 10211 S. Electric St., Four Lakes • 509-838-9717

CHAN’S RED DRAGON • 1406 W. Third Ave. • 509-838-6688

THE CHAMELEON • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd.

CHECKERBOARD • 1716 E. Sprague Ave. • 509-443-4767

COEUR D’ALENE CASINO • 37914 S. Nukwalqw St., Worley • 800-523-2464

COEUR D’ALENE CELLARS • 3890 N. Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-2336

CRUISERS BAR & GRILL • 6105 W Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-446-7154

CURLEY’S HAUSER JUNCTION • 26433 W. Hwy. 53, Post Falls • 208-773-5816

THE DISTRICT BAR • 916 W. 1st Ave. • 509-244-3279

EICHARDT’S PUB • 212 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-263-4005

FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • 509-279-7000

FOX THEATER • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-624-1200

IRON HORSE • 407 E. Sherman, Coeur d’Alene • 208-667-7314

IRON HORSE BAR & GRILL • 11105 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-926-8411

JOHN’S ALLEY • 114 E. Sixth St., Moscow • 208-883-7662

KNITTING FACTORY • 911 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-244-3279

MARYHILL WINERY • 1303 W. Summit Pkwy. • 509-443-3832

MILLIE’S • 28441 Hwy 57, Priest Lake • 208-443-0510

MOOSE LOUNGE • 401 E. Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-7901

NASHVILLE NORTH • 6361 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-457-9128

NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights • 877-871-6772

NYNE BAR & BISTRO • 232 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-474-1621

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY • 301 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-265-8545

POST FALLS BREWING CO. • 112 N. Spokane St., Post Falls • 208-773-7301

RAZZLE’S BAR & GRILL • 10325 N. Government Way, Hayden • 208-635-5874

RED ROOM LOUNGE • 521 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-7613

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR • 718 W. Riverside Ave. • 509-822-7938

SEASONS OF COEUR D’ALENE • 1004 S. Perry St. • 208-664-8008

SPOKANE ARENA • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • 509-279-7000

SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO • 14300 US-2, Airway Heights • 877-786-9467

SOUTH PERRY LANTERN • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-473-9098

STORMIN’ NORMAN’S SHIPFACED SALOON • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-862-4852

TRANCHE • 705 Berney Dr., Wall Walla • 509-526-3500

ZOLA • 22 W. Main Ave. • 509-624-2416

COMMUNITY WOW-ING THE CROWD

As celebrations of Expo ’74’s 50th anniversary continue, events honoring specific aspects of the fair are happening nearly every weekend. This powwow at the Spokane Convention Center recognizes the fair’s Tribal Pillar, the involvement of the tribes in Expo ’74 and the Native American culture that’s existed in our region for centuries. The powwow consists of four grand entries, one at noon and another at 6 pm, on both Saturday and Sunday. As with all powwows, dancers will be dressed in vibrant, traditional regalia while performing various special dances, drumming and sharing their culture with the community.

— MADISON PEARSON

Expo ’74 50th Celebration PowWow at the Falls • Sat, May 25 and Sun, May 26; daily at noon and 6 pm • Free • Spokane Convention Center • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • expo50spokane.com

FILM NORTH BY NORTHWEST IDAHO

Film director Alfred Hitchcock is known as one of the most influential figures in cinema. His suspenseful films, innovative camera shots and interpretations of the human condition have captured the interest of moviegoers for decades, and the 2020s are no different. Moscow’s Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre continues its Hitchcock Fest with three of the director’s films: Vertigo (May 23), Psycho (May 29) and The Birds (June 5). Vertigo centers on a former police detective obsessing over a woman he’s hired to trail. Psycho laid the foundation for the modern-day horror genre and follows an on-the-run secretary who checks into a remote hotel run by a strange man. The Birds creates a monster out of the everyday bird as random bird attacks bombard a small California town. All three feature different aspects of Hitchcock’s signature style.

—

LUCY KLEBECK

Hitchcock Fest • May 23, May 29 and June 5, Wednesdays at 7 pm

• All ages • $8-$5 • Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre • 508 S. Main St., Moscow • kenworthy.org

THEATER SING IT, SEUSS!

Join Spokane’s Christian Youth Theater for the whimsical, magical musical that is Seussical. The jazzy, snazzy show features Dr. Seuss’ beloved story about Horton the elephant, his giant ears and the Whos who are relying on Horton to save the speck of dust that is their tiny planet. In the Seuss universe, anything’s possible — giant tail feathers, rude kangaroos and fish in McElligot’s pool. Glitzy costumes and rainbow sets bring childhood to life whether you’re a theater kid at heart or not. The classic show brings together two of the stage’s truest maxims — there are no small parts, only small actors, and a person’s a person no matter how small.

— ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Seussical • May 24-June 2; Fri-Sat at 7 pm and Sat-Sun at 3 pm • $18-$20 • Bing Crosby Theater • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • cytspokane.org • 509-227-7638

GET LISTED!

Submit events online at Inlander.com/getlisted or email relevant details to getlisted@inlander.com. We need the details one week prior to our publication date.

SPORTS PICKLER’S PARADISE

Celebrate the past, present and future of pickleball here in Spokane with 2024’s Picklefest, a five-day pickleball extravaganza. The event features pickleball opportunities for everyone, from the inexperienced to the obsessive. Starting May 29 is a jamboree with opportunities for drop-in play, organized play, lessons and exhibitions. Playing is free, but donations are suggested to support the Spokane Pickleball Club, a local nonprofit dedicated to growing the sport in Spokane. May 30 sees the start of a pickleball tournament, sectioned into age divisions and skill levels with prizes from local pickleball brand Selkirk Sport awarded to the top three places. Sign-ups for the tournament have closed, but spectating is free.

— LUCY KLEBECK

Picklefest ’24 • May 29-June 2, times vary • Free, donations suggested • The Pavilion • 574 N. Howard St. • picklefest.spokanepickleball.club

BENEFIT SUSTENANCE & STORYTELLING

For five years, Feast World Kitchen has been giving former refugee and immigrant families a place to share their culture’s culinary traditions. Now in celebration of those years, the organization is holding a fundraiser dedicated to sharing the stories of the chefs who have shared their food. Attendees will enjoy a three-course meal in addition to a handful of cocktails, mocktails, beer and wine. Additionally, former longtime Spokesman-Review food writer Adriana Janovich will be sharing insider insight into her new book, Unique Eats & Eateries of Spokane. Plus, ticketholders receive a signed copy of Janovich’s book. Tickets are nearly sold out, so get them soon because your stomachs and your minds won’t want to miss this.

— COLTON RASANEN

The Stories Behind the Food: Feast Family Dinner & Fundraiser • Wed, May 29 at 6 pm • $50-$90 • Woman’s Club of Spokane • 1428 W. Ninth Ave. • feastworldkitchen.org • 509-608-1313

I SAW YOU

CRAFT STORE CONVO You were working, I was shopping (and being difficult) we got to talking about a band on your shirt. want to keep chatting? hit me with the band, and the day if you remember it. k8standard@ outlook.com

ED RN To the ED triage RN that made me giggle as I was treated for a diabetic situation... You were not my direct nurse, but I clocked no ring as you assisted. You had kind eyes, a long beard, and teal scrubs. I didn’t want to cross professional boundaries but found you nice on the eyes and generally a kind plus funny individual as I was in a precarious place. You may not be single but if you are, I need to shoot my shot! I hope you see this or possibly a coworker could inform you that someone would like to get to know you better! I wish you the best on the rollercoaster!

CHEERS

BACHCON 2024 Sparks were flying and many hearts were unified at this year’s first annual BachCon event. Our souls were mixed together and cemented into an everlasting vortex. Thank you to the president, hosts, and organizers for creating the most sought-after event in history. Never could I have imagined the positive impact on my aura from a weekend of shared laughter, love, and ending of the leap year curse. Thank you to the Lovas for bringing all of our heart beams together, we love you!

PORTA POTTY SAVE “Timber from Timber Treats at Spokane Garden Expo, thank you is not enough for jumping in and helping me fish my little boy out. Lesson’s learned – go in with him next time.Thank you for no judgment but helping hands and advice.

- The not thinking mom “

SAFE STREETS ADVOCATES <3 Cheers to all the people calling for the city to take action and implement design changes, which make public streets and roads safe for ALL people, not just those old enough and wealthy enough to own a car. Groups like Spokane Reimagined and individuals speaking up for the safety of Spokane residents walking and cycling deserve recognition, keep up the good work!! And if YOU want safer streets, write to your council representatives or use Open Forum on Monday nights!

SANITY SAVED Thanks, Dean. That book has restored my sanity and balance. “It’s Not You” has shed clear, bright light on the truth that those with N.P.D. cannot change. It’s their personality. The horror they spread within families, workplaces, relationships and communities is so real, and not fixable. For the mental health professionals espousing the vulnerability journey a la Brenee Brown, you might wanna dive into the work of Ramani and Carter and know that you are coddling, and cultivating crops of tyrannical “toddlers” by not addressing the group dynamics/systems in which they believe they reign. They don’t change, yet they are encouraged in workplaces, therapy sessions, and gaslighting sessions to continue merrily on their ways, blaming those around them. Get out of their lives and paths, and know, they do not change.

JEERS

TO STOP OR NOT TO STOP As a person not from here, and who comes from a part of the country where people have enough common sense to look out for themselves and not cause an accident, it has been a bit confusing understanding WA’s pedestrian laws simply by talking to people (or reading the Jeers). A person wanting to get the full context of the law should really read the entire section on pedestrians (it’s not that long). RCW 46.61.235 says that cars must stop for peds who are crossing at an intersection, whether it is a marked or unmarked crosswalk. However, if the ped is standing in a random place on a curb, as we so often see people doing in Spokane, the ped must yield to traffic (RCW

46.61.240). Things are complicated by those certain types of peds (specifically, the closer you get to downtown Spokane) who pay no attention to anything AT ALL and act randomly and impulsively... which is why RCW 46.61.245 exists, to paraphrase, “don’t run anyone over and honk at them if necessary.”

REALLY, STOP STOPPING Re: stop stopping. I am going to hazard a guess the person citing the RCW 123456 hasn’t done much bike riding on the South Hill; if they had, they’d see for themself what a dangerous and chaotic practice this is. South Hill drivers, bless their hearts, will bring traffic to a complete standstill on busy arterials like 29th even if nowhere near a crosswalk. You expect me to ride out in front of both lanes of stopped traffic and trust that nobody runs me over? Dont be annoyed when I wave you on and cross into traffic, just like I was a car, who you would not feel obligated to stop for. Please stop stopping for bikes not in crosswalks.

RELAXING! JK! SHUTUP!!!! Ahhhh...off to work in the yard in peace. =D NOPE! Have family & friends over this weekend to BBQ?! =D NOPE! You have to listen to my small and huge dogs bark NONSTOP for HOURS on end at every and anything! =D EVEN after I’m home, I’m gonna allow them to hurt your ears & annoy EVERYONE for at LEAST two blocks around us. Quietly saying, “Oh hushhhhh” :) I don’t want to bring noise ordinance on anyone and it’s not always the dog’s fault, but the owner! YOU are RUDE for making the whole neighborhood listen to your jerk for HOURS! PLZ FOR THE LOVE OF GOD KEEP YER DOGS QUIET! AT LEAST AFTER AN HOUR! Sincerely, can’t wait to move

I’M WITH YOU! Cheers to Coeur D’ Alene residents again... Nobody holds their children accountable anymore. They throw trash into the lakes, on the streets, and even in parking lots. Yet, their parents or

the people who are raising them, don’t say anything or teach them right from wrong! Saddening and heartfelt for sure!

WHERE’S THE CAMERA? I don’t understand why the city of Spokane doesn’t automatically install surveillance cameras around all Pride crosswalk murals in the city? Every single time one of these is

a license plate on their car. It’s amazing that they get away with it. The apartment complexes along Upriver Drive are filled with cars with expired tabs that drive down city streets every day. Perhaps an expensive ticket would help discourage this behavior. For those who don’t pay the ticket and purchase new tabs, impound the car, auction it off, and sell it to the highest

painted, some lowlife comes along and defaces it by pouring paint over the top of it, doing multiple burnouts to leave tire marks all over it, pouring paint thinner on it, or to now using some kind of accelerant and lighting it on fire. Why can’t we catch these criminals in the act? These criminals need to be prosecuted!

IRRESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERS Jeers to the people who walk their dogs off-leash. A few years ago, our dog was attacked by two off-leash dogs in our neighborhood in Coeur d’Alene. Since then, he has been terrified and reacts negatively to dogs that approach him without a leash. Just this week, we encountered four such incidents in our neighborhood, on the Centennial Trail, and in Riverstone. Recently on the Centennial Trail, an off-leash dog chased my dog around my son’s legs, entangling our leash around him. Each time the owners said, “He/she is friendly,” without considering that other dog might be scared or less friendly. It is the law in Coeur d’Alene that dogs must be on a leash. Please follow the law to ensure the safety of all dogs and their owners.

RE: DEADBEAT CITY You mention a lot of different problems with the city of Spokane. Perhaps we could start very, very, very small and work toward larger issues. The very smallest of these is penalizine people for not paying for legal plates/tabs. I see this all over this city, and it’s just amazing to me. Having lived in other cities most of my life, I’ve not seen this level of illegality anywhere. Frequently, I pull up in back of cars at stop lights and they don’t even have

bidder. Use the proceeds to do something for those who do keep their cars legal, like improve the streets. Spokane: near nature. Near illegal license plates.

ROLLING

COAL AT REGAL

ELEMENTARY

You really put me in my place. How dare anyone else use the shoulder of a public street, right? After all, your tabs covered a whole 13% of the cost of it. That’s more than enough to cover all the wear you generate, isn’t it? That 50% from federal funds and the rest from local property tax? That means nothing to a rugged individualist like yourself. We’re all just glad we get to pay for roads so momma’s baby can play tonka and be a dick for no reason. Hey, way to show those little kids, too. They’re definitely going to remember that you’re a big, tough man. n

EVENTS | CALENDAR BENEFIT

THE STORIES BEHIND THE FOOD A fundraiser for Feast World Kitchen with drinks, a three-course meal and storytelling from the chefs who made the food. May 29, 6 pm. $50-$90. Woman’s Club of Spokane, 1428 W. Ninth. feastworldkitchen.org (509-838-5667)

MANE EVENT FUNDRAISER DINNER A fundraiser for 2BU Youth Ranch with a catered meal, no-host bar, live and silent auctions, raffles and speakers. June 1, 5-9 pm. $75. Mirabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan Rd. 2buyouthranch.org

DONUT DASH A fund run for children with developmental delays and disabilities. June 1. $20-$40. Joya Child & Family Development, 1016 N. Superior. joya.org

GREAT STRIDES WALK A 3-mile fundraiser walk for cystic fibrosis. June 1, 10 am. By donation. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. fightcf.cff.org

PARADE OF PAWS A 1- to 2-mile pledge walk to raise funds for Spokane Humane Society. Registration includes a T-shirt, swag bag, a fundraising page and event entry. June 1, 9 am-noon. $20-$30. Spokane Humane Society, 6607 N. Havana St. spokanehumanesociety.org

COMEDY

BEFORE IT’S IN THEATRES The Blue Door Theatre Players improvise upcoming movies before they arrive in theaters. May 24, 7:30-9 pm. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar St. bluedoortheatre.org

IMPROV COMEDY SHOW A series of improvised sketches created from audience suggestions. May 24, 7-8:30 pm.

$10. Harding Family Center, 411 N. 15th St. levitytheatre.com (208-494-2008)

KRISTIN KEY Key is a queer comedian who uses song and true stories in her comedy. May 24, 6:30 & 9:15 pm and May 25, 6 & 8:45 pm. $20-$35. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)

SAFARI The Blue Door Theatre’s version of Whose Line with short skits based on audience suggestions. Every Saturday at 7:30 pm. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar. bluedoortheatre.com

NEW TALENT TUESDAYS Watch comedians of all skill levels work out jokes together. Tuesdays at 7 pm (doors at 6 pm). Free. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

MATTHEW BROUSSARD Broussard has been featured on Comedy Central and Conan. May 30, 7 pm, May 31 and June 1, 7 & 9:45 pm. $20-$25. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)

ROAST OF WEIRD SCIENCE Three comedians roast Weird Science and put it on trial. The audience decides if the movie is canceled or safe. Wear a bra on your head for a free goodie bag. May 31, 7:30 pm. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. garlandtheater.org (509-327-1050)

COMMUNITY

AVISTA WATER POWER WALKING

TOUR A walking tour using your smartphone. Using a series of QR codes and interpretive signs, learn about the history and integrated water power system. Daily hrough July 4. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. expo50spokane.com

IT HAPPENED HERE: EXPO ’74 FIFTY YEARS LATER This 50th anniversary exhibition revisits the historical roots of Expo ’74’s legacy. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Jan. 26. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

MOORE-TURNER HERITAGE GARDENS

SELF-GUIDED TOURS A guided tour of the gardens, restored in 2007 to look as they did when in use in 1915. Learn about the discovery, the restoration and the two influential families of early Spokane. Tue-Sun from 9 am-3 pm through Sep. 21. Free. Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens, 507 W. Seventh. heritage-gardens.org

SEARCHING FOR TRENT ALLEY: ASIAN AMERICAN FOOTPRINTS IN DOWNTOWN SPOKANE This exhibit celebrates and honors the history and legacy of Asian/Asian Americans in Spokane. MonThu from 9 am-7 pm, Fri-Sat from 10 am-5 pm and Sun from 12-4 pm through June 2. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5336)

SESAME STREET LIVE!: SAY HELLO Sing and dance along with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and more friends from Sesame Street. May 23, 6 pm. $30$70. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. firstinterstatecenter.org (509-279-7000)

EXPO ’74 50TH CELEBRATION POWWOW AT THE FALLS This pow-wow features traditional dance, drumming music and regalia. May 25-26, times vary. Free. Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. expo50spokane.com

HOPE FOR CREATION: SPIRITUALITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CARE A discussion exploring the spirituality borne from

the Earth and how tending of the Earth relates to faith. May 29, 7-9:30 pm. Free. St. John’s Cathedral, 127 E. 12th Ave. stjohns-cathedral.org (484-919-4782)

MEND-IT CAFE CLOTHING SWAP & PLANT

SALE Sewists repair various textiles and make alterations. This event includes a clothing swap and veggie start plant sale benefitting the SFCC Environmental Club. May 29, 1-3 pm. Free. Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Whistalks. spokanezerowaste.org

MOONSHINE ARTISAN NIGHT MARKET & MOONLIT MOVIES A market featuring local makers, food vendors and more. The market is followed by an outdoor movie. May 29 from 5:30-11 pm. Movie begins at dusk. Free. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford Dr. commellini.com

SPOKANE VALLEY CONNECT An annual resource fair with a focus on families and individuals in need. Onsite services include a food and clothing back, haircuts, showers, medical screenings and more. May 30, 12-4 pm. Free. Opportunity Presbyterian Church, 202 N. Pines Rd. spokaneconnect.org (509-893-8416)

AI ADVANTAGE WORKSHOP A two-day workshop aimed at providing business owners with AI tools to aid in their operations. May 30, 8 am-3 pm and May 31, 8 am-3 pm. $499. Catalyst Building, 601 E. Riverside Ave. greaterspokane.org

PK-12 EDUCATION CAREER FAIR Connect with large, small, urban, and rural school districts across northeast Washington that are hiring. May 31, 9 am-1 pm. Free. ESD 101, 4202 S. Regal. esd101.net

MINUTEMAN PRESS OPEN HOUSE A customer appreciation open house at Minuteman’s Spokane Valley location featuring giveaways. May 31, 10 am-2

pm. Free. Minuteman Press, 10020 E. Montgomery. minutemanpress.com

COEUR D’ALENE GEM & MINERAL SHOW This event features a selection of gems, minerals, fossils and jewelry. June 1, 9 am-5 pm and June 2, 10 am-4 pm. $5. Kootenai County Fairgrounds, 4056 N. Government. northidahomineralclub.org

THE FARM CHICKS VINTAGE & HANDMADE FAIR A vintage, antiques and handmade market featuring 300 booths filled with curated goods. June 1, 9 am-6 pm and June 2, 9 am-4 pm. $10. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. thefarmchicks.com

FRIENDS OF MANITO SPRING PLANT

SALE Browse a wide selection of house plants, shrubs, grasses, home decor items and more. June 1, 8 am-3 pm. Free. Manito Park, 1800 S. Grand Blvd. thefriendsofmanito.org (509-456-8038)

LILAC CITY COMICON The 2024 con features over 300 booths to browse, buy comics and related products, as well as special guests and panels. June 1-2, Sat 10 am-6 pm, Sun 10 am-4 pm. $13-$35. Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls. lilaccitycon.com

PEERS EMPOWER PEERS CONFERENCE

A leadership conference featuring workshops, discussions around mental health and substance abuse recovery resource tables. June 1, 10 am-3:30 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. peersempowerpeers.com

PRIDE IN THE PARK A Pride month celebration featuring vendors, community resources and music. June 1, 10 am-3 pm. Free. Coeur d’Alene City Park, 415 W. Mullan Rd. nipridealliance.com ...continued on page 43

FILM

EXPO ‘74: FILMS FROM THE VAULT A selection of recently digitized film footage from the 1974 World’s Fair hosted in Spokane. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm. through Sep. 8. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)

HITCHCOCK FEST: VERTIGO A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed. May 23, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

FARMERS MARKET CARTOONS A selection of kid-friendly animated shorts. Drop in anytime during the Moscow Farmers Market. May 18-Aug. 31, Sat from 8 am-noon. Free. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS A slapstick epic about a frostbitten battle between Jean Kayak and diabolical beavers who stand between him and survival. May 25, 4 pm and May 26, 7 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

TRAINSPOTTING Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends. May 25, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

THE EMPIRE STRIKES PALESTINE: A FILM FESTIVAL A film festival showcasing the multifaceted realities of the Israeli occupation in Palestine through a curated selection of documentaries and narratives. May 26-June 16, Sun from 4-6 pm. Free. Magic Lantern Theatre, 25 W. Main Ave. facebook.com/share/ms7DVHD16pvYfF5c/ (509-209-2383)

THE TASTE OF THINGS: The story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin the fine gourmet chef she has been working for over the last 20 years. May 26, 4-6 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory. May 27, 1-3 & 6-8 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

MOSCOW FILM SOCIETY: ALL THAT JAZZ A semi-autobiographical tale written and directed by Bob Fosse. May 28, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

HITCHCOCK FEST: PSYCHO A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer’s client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother. May 29, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

CINEMA CLASSICS: GASLIGHT Ten years after her aunt was murdered in their London home, a woman returns from Italy to resume residence with her new husband. His interest in the home rises from a secret that may require driving his wife insane. May 31, 2-4 pm. $6. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

FOOD & DRINK

BRING YOUR OWN VINYL NIGHT Bring your own vinyl to spin while sipping on craft cocktails and listening to music.

Thursdays from 3-10 pm. The Boneyard - Side Hustle Syrups, 17905 E. Appleway Ave, Ste A. sidehustlesyrups.com

THAI COOKING: PAD THAI Suwanee

Lennon teaches how to make authentic pad thai. May 23, 5:45-8:15 pm. $65. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)

STEAK 101 Chef Al teaches attendees how to make a steak, from seasoning to slicing. May 24, 5-7 pm. $100. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (1-509-328-3335)

EXPO 50TH ANNIVERSARY GUIDED

WALKING FOOD TOUR Explore iconic landmarks and try samples of food from Spokane’s culinary scene. May 25, 1-4 pm. $70. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. wanderspokane.com

COOKING 101: COMBINATION COOKING

METHODS Chef Curtis walks attendees through the basic steps of braising, stewing and fricassee. May 27, 5:15-8:15 pm. $95. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com

RIVERFRONT EATS A food festival featuring local food vendors and live music. Tue from 11 am-2 pm through Aug. 20. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. riverfrontspokane.org (509-625-6600)

GREAT STARTUP BAKEOFF Young entrepreneurs are tasked with planning, marketing and creating their own culinary masterpieces to be showcased and sold at the Baked Goods Market. May 31June 1; Fri from 5-7:30 pm, Sat from 7:30 am-6 pm. Market on June 2 from 10:30 am-4 pm. $50. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. greatstartupbakeoff.com

HISTORICAL TOUR & SUPPER CLUB

A guided historical tour about tales of bootlegging and mischief in North Spokane. The tour culminates in an Italianstyle dinner. May 31, 5-8:30 pm and June 1, 5-9:30 pm. $85. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford. commelliniestate.com

FOOD AS FARMACY Learn how food, farming, health and medicine are connected in a farm-to-table experience that includes learning how to make chèvre goat cheese, a farm-to-table lunch and a tour of the farm. Hosted by naturopathic physician, Dr. Casey Carr. June 1, 11:30 am-4:30 pm. $70. Quillisascut Farm, 2409 Pleasant Valley Rd, Rice. foodasfarmacy.com/quillisascut (509-738-2011)

FRENCH COOKING WITH FRANCINE

CHOUGH Chef Chough demonstrates authentic French recipes and gives each participant her cookbook: Bricks in a Pebble Sauce. June 2, 12-2:30 pm. $115. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)

MUSIC

CARL REY, TRUCK MILLS The musicians perform traditional blues, country, ragtime and jazz music. May 25, 7-9 pm. $12$15. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St., Newport. createarts.org (509-447-9277)

NORTHWEST BACH FEST: THE AMERICAN SONGBOOK A program in honor of Memorial Day featuring Kerry Wilkerson, Mark Irchai and Zuill Bailey. May 25, 7 pm and May 26, 3 pm. $10-$35. Barrister Winery, 1213 W. Railroad Ave. nwbachfest.com (509-465-3591)

SPOKANE TAIKO DRUM PERFORMANCE The local Japanese-style drumming group performs and then invites attendees to try out the drums. May 25, 11 am. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org

PAUL TAYLOR: Taylor improvises on the piano. May 29, 5-7 pm. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar St. powine.com

ANIMATED JAZZ! The band, made up of musicians from the Inland Northwest, infuses familiar melodies with the sophistication of jazz. May 31, 8-10 pm. $15-$18. J Bones Musicland, 2204 E. Mallon Ave. jbonesmusicland.com (509-863-5574)

COME FLY WITH ME An acapella jazz concert performed by the Lilac City Voices Barbershop Chorus and the EWU Collegians Vocal Jazz ensemble. June 1, 7-9 pm. $10-$20. Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Whistalks Way. lilaccityvoices.org (509-994-3016)

SOUL JAZZ UNDER THE STARS A jazz organ sextet featuring Brent Edstrom, Greg Yasinitsky and David Larsen perform works by Booker T as well as originals. June 1, 5:30-7:30 pm. $20. The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center, 405 N. William St. thejacklincenter.org (208-457-8950)

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

KEEPING THE WATER WE GET: STRATEGIES FOR A THRIVING SPOKANE Learn how to have your lawn and trees thrive during drought and save money on watering at the same time. May 23, 2-3:30 pm. Free. Spokane Conservation District, 210 N. Havana St. soilsmartsoilwise.com

THINNING AND PRUNING FIELD DAY

Help thin and prune the trees in Moscow to redue fire risk, improve access and more. May 24, 8:30 am-4 pm. $20. Latah County Fairgrounds, 1021 Harold St. bit. ly/extformarketplace

MAKE A PERENNIAL CONTAINER Learn which perennials do well in containers and how to pair them for the best impact. May 25, 2-3 pm. $10. Ritters Garden & Gift, 10120 N. Division St. 4ritter.com

SPOKANE VELOCITY VS. GREENVILLE

TRIUMPH SC This game is a League One cup competition. May 25, 6 pm. $21-$41. One Spokane Stadium, 501 W. Gardner Ave. spokanevelocityfc.com

BRICK WEST RUN CLUB Run starts and ends at Brick West and changes routes each week. Every Tuesday at 6 pm. Free. Brick West Brewing Co., 1318 W. First Ave. bit.ly/brick-run (509-279-2982)

YOGA FITNESS This course promotes individual fitness and mind-body health through strength and stretching movements, flexibility and breathing exercises and relaxation techniques. Mon-Wed from 9:30-10:30 am and 4:30-6 pm through June 5. $33-$48. Spokane Community College (Colville), 985 S. Elm St. campusce.net/spokaneactii

YOGA WITH BRENDA ST. JOHN A gentle approach to yoga that adapts postures to meet individual needs. Mon from 10:30 am-noon and 1-2:30 pm through June 10. $41. Aaron Huff Memorial Cultural Center, 214 E. Main. campusce.net/spokaneactii

BRICK WEST RUN CLUB: Run starts and ends at Brick West and changes routes every week. Every Tuesday at 6 pm. Tues., 6-7 pm through Nov. 26. Free. Brick West Brewing Co., 1318 W. First Ave. bit. ly/brick-run (509-279-2982)

SPOKANE INDIANS VS. EVERETT

AQUASOX Promotions during this sixgame series include Mystery Jersey Giveaway (May 29), Doris the Mascot’s Birthday Extravaganza (May 30), Dinosaur Night (May 31), Youth Sports Day (May 2) and more. May 28-31 at 6:35 pm, June 1,

5:09 pm and June 2, 1:05 pm. Avista Stadium, 602 N. Havana. milb.com/spokane

PICKLEFEST A pickleball jamboree and tournament celebrating the history and future of pickleball in Spokane. May 29June 2; times vary. May 29-June 2. $45$65. Pavilion at Riverfront, 574 N. Howard St. picklefest.spokanepickleball.club

PRACTICAL CENTERING YOGA Experience the benefits of yoga and pilates movements through these weekly exercise sessions led by instructor Larkin Barnett. Every Wednesday from 1:30-2:30 pm. $18-$20. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)

ILLER CREEK HIKE Docent Andrea Chatburn leads a five-mile loop hike consisting of views of the Washington Palouse and the Selkirks. May 31, 8-11:30 am. Free. Iller Creek Conservation Area, East Holman Rd. and Rockcrest Lane. stjohnscathedral.org (484-919-4782)

GIRLS ON THE RUN SPOKANE CELEBRATORY 5K A family-friendly, noncompetitive 5K through Riverside Memorial Park. June 1, 9 am. $30. Riverside Memorial Park, 211 N. Government Way. gotrspokane.org/5k (920-474-6875)

NATIONAL TRAILS DAY: DISHMAN HILLS LAND CONSERVANCY Washington naturalists lead hikes through Camp Caro and stop along the way to teach about plants, ecology and natural phenomena. June 1, 10 am-2 pm. Free. Camp Caro, 698 S. Sargent Rd. dishmanhills.org

ALL ABOUT SPRING BLOOMING TREES

Learn when to use early blooming trees like dogwoods in your landscape. Learn how to prune them, care for them and get them established. June 1, 2-3 pm. $10. Ritters Garden & Gift, 10120 N. Division St. 4ritter.com (509 467-5258)

SLAVIN CONSERVATION AREA HIKE Docent Andrea Chatburn leads a gentle 3.8 mile loop hike. June 1, 8-11 am. Free. James T. Slavin Conservation Area, 12900 S. Keeney Rd. stjohns-cathedral.org

THEATER & DANCE

CATS The Jellicle Cats come out to play on one special night of the year. One by one they tell their stories to Old Deuteronomy who must choose one of the Cats to ascend to The Heaviside Layer. WedSat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm through June. (Sat, May 25 and June 15 performances at 2 pm.) $20-$40. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard. spokanecivictheatre.com

FOURTH FRIDAY CONTRA DANCE All of the dances are taught and called by Susan Dankovich. The event features live music from Reel Friends. No experience is required. Fourth Friday of every month from 7-10 pm. $6. Sinto Activity Center, 1124 W. Sinto Ave. sintocenter.org

SEUSSICAL Horton the Elephant tries to convince the other animals in the jungle of the existence of The Whos. May 24June 2; Fri-Sat 2 at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 3 pm. $18-$20. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com

LEGALLY BLONDE Elle Woods’ life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Warner dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law. Determined to get him back, Elle ingeniously charms her way into the prestigious law school. May 24-June 2; Fri-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $25. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. panida.org

TARZAN Tarzan, raised by gorillas in West Africa, meets Jane, a young English naturalist, and falls in love, unknowing that Jane’s entourage plans to kill the gorillas. Fri at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm through June 2. $12-$16. Spokane Children’s Theatre, 2727 N. Madelia. spokanechildrenstheatre.org (509-328-4886)

FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIAL TANGO A fundamentals-focused class for improving tango movement and connection. Experience required. Drop-ins welcome. No partner needed. Every Tuesday from 6:45-8:30 pm. $17-$20. Sinto Activity Center, 1124 W. Sinto Ave. fb.com/ events/447904090938300

INTRO TO SOCIAL TANGO A progressive class aimed at learning prerequisite skills for new and nearly new tango dancers. Preregister by emailing Matt Doval at matt@tangomind.com. Tue from 5:406:40 pm through June 25. $62-$72. Sinto Activity Center, 1124 W. Sinto Ave. fb.com/events/960859888572712

SPOKANE YOUTH BALLET: THE SEASONS AND PETER PAN Special guest dancers Antonio Rosario, Elizabeth Booth and Harris Kahler join students of the Academy of Dance for The Seasons and to debut Phaedra Jarrett’s Peter Pan. May 31, 3-5:15 pm. $15-$25. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague. foxtheaterspokane.org

ARGENTINE MILONGA Dance the Argentine tango surrounded by dancers of all levels. A light snack potluck is included. First Saturday of each month from 7-10 pm. $5. Sinto Activity Center, 1124 W. Sinto Ave. sintocenter.org

VISUAL ARTS

1924: SOVEREIGNTY, LEADERSHIP AND THE INDIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT This exhibition commemorates the 100-year anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act and centers on photographs of early local tribal leadership. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Feb. 2. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

AREN’T WE ALL.... 2024 BFA SENIOR EXHIBITION A show featuring the work of graduating seniors enrolled in EWU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Program. Participating artists include: Carly Ellis, Perennial “Renn” Francis, Amanda Frost and more. Mon-Fri from 9 am-6 pm through June 7. Free. EWU Gallery of Art, 140 Art Building. ewu.edu/cahss/gallery

ART & WINE PAIR WELL TOGETHER Members from the Evergreen Art Association exhibit their artwork. Tue-Sat from 12-8 pm through May 30. Free. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar. powine.com

ART DETECTIVES: CASE OF THE MISSING SUNFLOWERS Find the flowers and make the painting right again through clues, riddles and using art to solve this mystery. Ages 6-14. May 23, 5 pm. Free. Indian Trail Library, 4909 W. Barnes Rd. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5300)

JIEMEI LIN: INSIDIOUS: THOSE TINY THINGS An exhibition of paintings, prints and installations offering an exploration of the moments that shape our lives and the harm that can result from societal pressures. Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm through May 25. Free. Terrain Gallery, 628 N. Monroe St. terrainspokane.com

BEYOND HOPE: KIENHOLZ AND THE INLAND NORTHWEST EXHIBITION This exhibition delves into the artistic journey of American artist Edward Kienholz and

his wife, Nancy Kienholz, in the small town of Hope, Idaho. Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm through June 29. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson. museum.wsu.edu

CHRISTY BRANSON: UNEARTHED

New encaustic paintings by local artist Christy Branson. Daily from 12-6 pm through May 31, 12-6 pm. Free. Barrister Winery, 1213 W. Railroad Ave. christybranson.com

DRAWING FUNDAMENTALS CLASS

Artist Marlene Laurich leads students in line, shape, form and space drawing techniques. Fridays from 3-4:30 pm. Free. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org (509-447-9277)

MARY CARUSO & ERIC SANCHEZ

Geometric paintings by Eric Sanchez and watercolor painting by Mary Caruso. Thu-Sat from 11 am-7 pm through May 31. Free. Avenue West Gallery, 907 W. Boone Ave. avenuewestgallery.com

BEVIE LABRIE Art by the local artist and art therapist. Tue-Fri from 3-8 pm, Sat-Sun from noon-7 pm through June 30. Free. For the Love of God Brewing, 2617 W. Northwest Blvd. fortheloveofgodbrewing.com

FRANK S. MATSURA: NATIVE AMERICAN PORTRAITS FROM A NORTHWEST BORDERLAND

This show features images from the studio archive of Washington-based Japanese photographer Frank Sakae Matsura which explore Indigenous representation through an artistic lens. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through June 9. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First. northwestmuseum.org

HAROLD BALAZS: LEAVING MARKS

This exhibition celebrates Balazs’ regional impact through 30 new additions to the museum’s permanent collection. The show focuses on Balazs’ later woks in sculpture, drawing and enamel. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through June 3. $8-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

HIGHER GROUND: AN EXHIBITION OF ART, EPHEMERA AND FORM Artwork and archival material from across the Palouse that speaks to the history of queer experience in the area. Located in the MASC Gallery at WSU. MonFri from 8:30 am-4:30 pm through Oct. 31. Free. Washington State University, 2000 NE Stadium libraries.wsu.edu

JEFF WEIR: GO WEST The Coeur d’Alene artist brings life and feeling to ideas of days gone by in his oil-oncanvas paintings of regional wildlife and figures. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through June 30. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

MARK MOORE: EARTH TONES Ceramic artist Mark Moore showcases functional ceramic pieces with a focus on planters. Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm through May 31. Free. Trackside Studio, 115 S. Adams St. tracksidestudio.net

MASTER OF FINE ARTS THESIS EXHIBITION Works by MFA candidates Mozi Jones and Reika Okuhara, honed through years of study, exploring visual narratives and conceptual pieces. Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm through June 29. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson Rd. museum.wsu.edu

MEET YOUR MAKER Meet the artists behind all of the items in From Here. Daily from 11 am-6 pm. See website for

artist schedule. Free. From Here, 808 W. Main Ave. fromherespokane.com

MEGAN MARTENS-HAWORTH: THE INTERLUDE The artistexplores the relationships between humanity and the animal kingdom through various artistic mediums. Mon-Fri from 10 am-5 pm through May 31. Free. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave. spokaneartschool.net

CHERYLEE DUNCAN: THREADSCAPES Duncan uses scrap fabric from other projects for mixed media paintings. Daily from 11 am-7 pm through May 30. Free. Pottery Place Plus, 203 N. Washington. potteryplaceplus.com

NANCY ROTHWELL: LEAVES TALK This exhibit shows how the palette and content of paintings can change dramatically once an artist moves from western to eastern Washington. Mon-Fri from 10 am-6 pm, Sat from 10 am-2 pm through Aug. 31. Free. Colfax Library, 102 S. Main St. cowhitlib.org

PLAYTIME: THEN AND NOW An outdoor art exhibition illustrating the universality of play throughout culture and time held in conjunction with the Expo ’74 50th anniversary celebration. Daily during park hours through May 30. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. friendsofmmofra.org

LITTLE SPOKANE RIVER ARTIST STUDIO TOUR PREVIEW SHOW A preview of the work featured in the upcoming Little Spokane River Artists Studio Tour. Daily from 11 am-7 pm through May 25. Free. Liberty Building, 203 N. Washington St. spokanelibertybuilding.com

RIVER RIDGE ASSOCIATION OF FINE ARTS EXPO ‘74 SHOW Expo ‘74-themed art created by members of the River Ridge Association of Fine Arts. Daily from 7 am-7 pm through May 31, 7 am-7 pm. Free. Indaba Coffee Roasters, 518 W. Riverside Ave. rrafaofspokane.com

SUBVERSIVE INTENT: SELECTIONS FROM THE COLLECTION EXHIBITION This show features rarely displayed artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, spanning from historical pieces by Hogarth and Goya to contemporary works by Holzer and Shimomura. Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm through June 29. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson Rd. museum.wsu.edu

SUPAR VERITATEM: BEYOND REALISM A compilation of personal and individual expressions of the artists’ dreams, imaginations, inspirations and visions. Featured artists include Beth Ann Rimmelspacher, Theresa Henson and more. Thu-Sun from 10 am-6 pm through May 26. Free. Dahmen Barn, 419 N. Park Way. artisanbarn.org

PAINT THE RAINBOW: BEGINNER’S COLOR THEORY Using primarily watercolors, Andi Keating helps students learn to mix whatever color they wish using limited color palettes. Age 11+. Pre-registration is required. May 26, 11:30 am-1 pm. $34. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net (509-325-1500)

HEARTISTRY: ARTISTIC WELLBEING A relaxed and inspiring environment for self-discovery. Participate in basic artistic concepts and activities or respond to a mindfulness prompt. Every Tuesday from 3-5 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. sparkcentral.org ...continued on page 46

Living Well in the Inland Northwest

May/June Issue ON STANDS NOW!

Pick up your copy at area grocery stores and Inlander stand locations

For information on advertising in the next edition, contact: advertising@inlander.com

The empire strikes palestine a film festival

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMERICAN MIND (May 26) THE SETTLERS (June 2)

GAZA FIGHTS FOR FREEDOM W/ DIRECTOR ABBY MARTIN (June 9) BOYCOTT (June 16)

SUNDAY FILMS 4-6PM

The Magic Lantern 25 W. MAIN AVE

FOR MORE INFO: INFO@INWCLP.COM

Canines and Cannabis

A Spokane neighborhood has seen an increase in canine cannabis exposure — here’s what dog owners should know

BY WILL MAUPIN

In mid-April, photos of signs posted in the AudubonDownriver neighborhood were added to Spokane’s Reddit page (r/Spokane), warning that dogs had ingested cannabis in the area and needed veterinary hospitalization.

While I was unable to determine a cause behind the alleged THC overdoses, or the posting of the signs, it’s worth looking into what pet owners should be aware of. THC poisoning is a legitimate risk for pets, regardless of whether or not their owners consume cannabis.

Dogs are especially at risk of THC poisoning because studies have shown that their endocannabinoid receptors

— the part of the brain that absorbs the effect-producing chemicals of cannabis — far outnumber those in human brains.

Which is to say that smaller amounts of cannabis than would affect humans can have outsized impacts on dogs.

The other risk is that dogs will eat anything, even human feces. As disgusting as it may be, active THC can exist in human feces, effectively rendering it an edible for dogs. Fortunately, cannabis poisoning is not lethal when it comes to dogs or cats, or humans.

If a dog eats a joint, an edible or THC-tainted feces, the dog can be significantly affected by the THC content.

They may vomit, become uncoordinated, have dilated pupils, get tremors, or be unable to control their bladders. The good news is, the THC will not be fatal.

According to research published by the National Institutes of Health in 2013, the “minimum lethal oral dose for dogs for THC is more than 3 grams per kilogram” of body weight. For comparison, the average lethal dose of cocaine in mice — there aren’t many studies of dogs and drugs — is 95.1 milligrams per kilogram. That is a difference of nearly 3,000 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

That said, cannabis poisoning in dogs can be a serious issue, especially if your dog gets into your stash of edibles. Edibles meant for humans typically contain between about 3 milligrams and 100 milligrams of THC. They also often contain chocolate or other substances that are truly toxic to dogs.

If you think your dog has consumed cannabis, whether it is plain flower or a chocolate edible, the best course of action is to head to an animal hospital. Cannabis is legal in Washington, and vets will not concern themselves with how your dog consumed cannabis. Their main goal will be to treat your dog.

“Regardless of how your dog’s marijuana ingestion occurs, you should always seek veterinary advice,” the American Kennel Club says. n

Dogs have reportedly been exposed to cannabis in the Audubon-Downriver area. WILL MAUPIN PHOTO

GREEN ZONE

BE AWARE: Marijuana is legal for adults 21 and older under Washington State law (e.g., RCW 69.50, RCW 69.51A, HB0001 Initiative 502 and Senate Bill 5052). State law does not preempt federal law; possessing, using, distributing and selling marijuana remains illegal under federal law. In Washington state, consuming marijuana in public, driving while under the influence of marijuana and transporting marijuana across state lines are all illegal. Marijuana has intoxicating effects; there may be health risks associated with its consumption, and it may be habit-forming. It can also impair concentration, coordination and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. Keep out of reach of children. For more information, consult the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board at www.liq.wa.gov.

NOTE TO READERS

Be aware of the differences in the law between Idaho and Washington. It is illegal to possess, sell or transport cannabis in the State of Idaho. Possessing up to an ounce is a misdemeanor and can get you a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine; more than three ounces is a felony that can carry a five-year sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.

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FEATURED VENDOR FRIDAY

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SELFCARE SATURDAY

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SNACK SUNDAY 20% Off Edibles & Drinkables

VENDOR DAYS EVERY FRIDAY

OPEN STUDIO Stop by The Hive to see what current Artists-In-Residence are up to, and tour the building. Every Wednesday from 4-7 pm. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague Ave. spokanelibrary.org

SPINNERS WORKSHOP Bring your spinning wheel or current projects to work on. Every Wednesday from 10 am-12 pm. . Free. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org (509-447-9277)

TOTS MESSY ART A messy art class meant for children ages 7 and under. Guardian must be present for the entire class. Every Wednesday from 11 am-1 pm. Free. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org (509-447-9277)

ARTFEST Spokane’s largest juried art and fine craft fair featuring fine art and craft vendors. May 31-June 1; Fri from noon-8 pm, Sat from 10 am-9 pm and Sun from 10 am-5 pm. $5. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. artfestspokane.co

Free. First Presbyterian Church of Spokane, 318 S. Cedar. spokanefpc.org

WRITE TOGETHER A COMMUNITY WRITING SESSION Bring your current writing project and prepare to write. Local novelist and Writing Education Specialist Sharma Shields writes alongside of you and provide prompts and advice if needed. May 24, 10 am-noon. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org

ROSANNE PARRY BOOK READING AND WRITING WORKSHOP Author Rosanne Parry reads her new nonfiction children’s book, The Wolf Effect. Following, the author talks about her middle reader’s series, A Voice in the Wilderness, and leads a writing workshop. May 25, 10:30 am1:30 pm. Free. Wishing Tree Books, 1410 E. 11th Ave. wishingtreebookstore.com

BETWEEN BORDERS: FOLKLIFE THROUGH THE COEUR D’ALENES An exhibition featuring folk and traditional artists from the region. June 1-30, WedSun, 11 am-6 pm. Free. Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman. theartspiritgallery.com

FEED ME, SPOKANE! Learn how to draw the Garbage Goat and write about his adventures. Work produced for this program has the option of being included in Spark Central’s 2024 book project. Grades 3-5. June 1, 11 am-noon. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org

AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: QUEER & WEIRD Discuss A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon at the May meeting. May 25, 6-7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main. auntiesbooks.com

CRAIG JOHNSON: FIRST FROST The author discusses the 20th novel in his Walt Longmire mystery series. May 28, 7 pm. $7-$53. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet Ave. spokesman. com/northwest-passages

TESSA HULLS FEEDING GHOSTS: Tessa Hulls and Sharma Shields discuss Hull’s new graphic memoir. May 28, 6-7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com

Sun-Thur 8am-10pm • Fri-Sat 8am-11pm | 2424 N. Monroe St • (509) 919-3470

WARNING: This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Cannabis can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults 21 and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

INLAND NORTHWEST JURIED LANDSCAPE ART EXHIBITION This juried display seeks to present the diversity and dynamism of contemporary artistic activity in the Inland Northwest while celebrating the relationship between art and the local landscape. June 1-Aug. 24; Mon-Sat from 10 am-4 pm.. Free. Jundt Art Museum, 200 E. Desmet Ave. gonzaga.edu/jundt (509-313-6843)

WORDS

DROP IN & WRITE Aspiring writers are invited to be a part of a supportive writers’ community. Bring works in progress to share, get inspired with creative prompts and spend some focused time writing. Thursdays from 5:30-7 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org

ECHOES OF EXPO Merging personal stories, historical insights and immersive soundscapes, this seven-episode series explores the World Fair’s lasting impact on urban renewal, environmental awakening, the complexities of progress and community dynamics in Spokane. Scan wayfinding signs to listen to each episode. Daily through July 7. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. expo50spokane.com

INTRODUCTION TO SELF-PUBLISHING

This two-hour class covers everything from producing a quality book to becoming a published author. Offered in-person and onlne. May 23, 6-8:30 pm. $8. Spokane Community College (Colville), 985 S. Elm St. campusce.net/spokaneactii

AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: MYSTERY/ THRILLER (VIRTUAL) Discuss The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz at the May meeting. Takes place on Zoom. May 23, 12-1 pm. Free. auntiesbooks.com

BARTON ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES One-on-one English language tutoring and conversation groups. Mon, Wed, Fri from 9-11:30 am. Register via email.

AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: AFTERNOON (VIRTUAL) Discuss A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway at the May meeting. Takes place on Zoom. May 28, 2-3 pm. Free. auntiesbooks.com

ADRIANA JANOVICH: UNIQUE EATS AND EATERIES OF SPOKANE Janovich signs copies of and discusses her new book detailing Spokane’s original eateries and the people who make them great. May 29, 6-8 pm. Free. Woman’s Club of Spokane, 1428 W. Ninth. instagram.com/ adrianajanovich

TERESA JANNSEN: THE WAYS OF WATER Set in the early 20th century Southwest, this coming-of-age novel is a testament to the meaning of family and the strength of the human spirit. May 30, 5-7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main. auntiesbooks.com

BROKEN MIC Spokane Poetry Slam’s longest-running, weekly open mic reading series. Wednesdays at 6:30 pm; signups at 6 pm. Free. Neato Burrito, 827 W. First Ave. bit.ly/2ZAbugD

TEEN WRITE CLUB Teen writers are invited to get feedback on their work and explore all things prose and poetry. Tuesdays from 5:30-7 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit. spark-central.org

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME PLAY & LEARN Share books, songs and fun. After storytime, spend some time in open play with learning activities. Every Wed from 10-11 am. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry St. spokanelibrary.org

HARMONY WRITERS GROUP A writing group focused on memoir and craft. Every other week on Thursday from 5:15-7 pm. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org

CAMPFIRE STORIES: EXPO EDITION Storytellers share tales about the astounding public spaces in the region along with celebrating the environmental legacy of Expo ‘74. June 1, 11 am-1 pm. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. landscouncil.org (509-625-6600) n

SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FORM SPOKANE

Estate of ROY ROBERTSON, Deceased.

The above Court

and 11.40.060. This bar is effective for claims against botli the Decedent’s probate and nonpro bate assets.

of

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SATURDAY,

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Get ready to make waves and roll in with big wins all summer long! May 25th kicks off with a 16’ Lowe Fish & Ski Boat Grand Prize, followed by a 2024 Chevy Colorado Trail Boss Grand Prize on June 29th, and then on July 27th, the 2024 Chevy Colorado Trail Boss winner and the 16’ Lowe Fish & Ski Boat winner will steal the show! All giveaways start at 7 PM.

Prize images are for illustrative purposes and may differ from the actual product.

SUNDAY, MAY 26TH & MONDAY, MAY 27TH | 3 PM

Cruise into Memorial weekend with big winnings! Mark your calendar for May 26th and 27th at 3 PM – we’re giving away 7.5 million points each day!

15 Winners of 500,000 Points on Each Giveaway Date! SPECIAL SESSION MONDAY, MAY 27 TH | 4 PM Sales 1 PM | Start 4 PM

Session types and hours are subject to change on holidays and during other special event celebrations. Please see the Bingo venue for more details.