Discover five Inland Northwest ghost towns where the past still eerily echoes Page 26
ore than three years ago I first visited the remnants of Burke, Idaho.
It was a bright, warm August afternoon when we headed north out of Wallace, winding through a narrow canyon where residences are sandwiched between the highway and steep mountains. While I was raised in a similar rural setting, something about this place just felt different. Unwelcoming and even foreboding. I was probably projecting the kind of emotions I thought an abandoned place should make me feel, but there were many signs, from a bouquet of wilting flowers left by another visitor to a truck that pulled over after passing us. It was time to leave. Burke is one of the Pacific Northwest’s most famous GHOST TOWNS
It’s featured in this week’s cover section alongside a handful of other abandoned places for a series we’ve been planning for months now to land in a rare Oct. 31 edition of the Inlander. There’s something slightly spooky, after all, about a place that’s been lost to time, slowly crumbling into dust.
— CHEY SCOTT, Editor
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HAVE YOU EVER HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE?
GAIL WHITE
After my dad had passed away, I was in my classroom and I was looking out the window watching the kids at recess. I know [my dad] gave me a hug. I could smell him when he hugged me. I don’t know if that’s paranormal or just missing my dad, but it was sweet.
KELSEY SCHILLING
Yes, I was in the catacombs in Paris, and they send you through in groups. The group behind us was kind of [far] back and my family had gone onto the street — it was at the very end — so I was in this hallway on my own, and there was definitely someone standing behind me. I looked behind me; I thought the group had caught up behind me. Not a soul. I left soon after.
CAITLYN BRISTLIN
I pulled an all-nighter at the old Montana State Prison, and we were in the women’s ward. We were told that the women ghosts liked men, and so my boyfriend was with me, and we sent him into a cell alone. As soon as he went back there, I felt a pull on my arm, and I was like, “Somebody touched me!”
NATHAN JENNINGS
I have had times where I felt like I have, but it wasn’t for sure. It was a long time ago and there were drugs involved. We were actually out doing the cemetery thing, and there were things going on that we didn’t feel like should’ve been going on… We actually heard people literally talking, but there was no one else there with us, so that’s creepy.
No.
You’re the owner of Halloween Express — what do you
CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR 10/25/24,
BY
CRAIG WALTER
Finding the Middle
Washington state has a proud tradition of bipartisan governance, but will today’s political climate push it farther to the left?
BY BILL BRYANT
imposed on employers, and public safety deteriorated. Next week’s election will tell us whether voters are OK with all that. Or whether they choose change.
On Tuesday, we will learn what kind of state we want to live in, and about who we are. That’s because elections are about more than choosing between candidates.
Shasti Conrad, the chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, told me in an email that “this election is about choice — choices about our bodies, choices about fidelity to our democracy and choices about the future of our planet.”
The way I see it, the choices we make next week will reveal two important things. The first is whether voters like where Washington state is headed.
In the last years of Democratic control, the size of state government has more than doubled, new payroll withdrawals were imposed on workers, new services were extended to disadvantaged communities, property taxes went up, utility costs rose, more money was spent on school teacher and administrative salaries, new regulations were
If the Democratic candidate for governor, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, wins, it will tell legislators that Washington voters are comfortable with state government expanding, assuming new responsibilities and imposing new taxes.
If the Republican, former King County Sheriff and former Congressman Dave Reichert, wins, it will shoot a flare into the sky signaling that after 40 years of Democratic governors, voters want Washington to move in a different direction.
So when you’re choosing which candidate you want to be governor, understand you’re also sending a message about whether you like the direction that our state’s taking.
Ditto that for many of the initiatives on the ballot.
Under Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, Washington passed new regulations, standards and taxes aimed at reducing carbon emissions, raising public awareness about climate change, and help-
Dan Evans, a Republican, was governor of Washington from 1965-77. WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVE PHOTO Jay Inslee, a Democrat, will finish 12 years in the same job in a couple months. HANDOUT PHOTO
ing some communities adapt to the new climate.
Some Republicans believed the state was spending the new carbon tax money on new government jobs, rather than on reducing carbon emissions. Hundreds of thousands of voters agreed, and they petitioned the Legislature to end the climate programs and taxes. The Legislature decided to let the people choose. So, on Tuesday, choose.
Voting Yes on Initiative 2117 tells lawmakers you don’t want to spend more on gas and heating oil, and that you want to eliminate many of the state’s climate programs. Voting No on Initiative 2117 tells legislators to stay the course on climate change.
Voting Yes on Initiative 2066 tells legislators you want natural gas to remain available. Voting No makes it clear you want Washington to transition away from natural gas.
The race for commissioner of public lands, which might be one of the tighter races, will also send a signal about how we want to manage climate-related choices.
Democratic candidate Dave Upthegrove supports preserving certain public acreage of old forests. Republican candidate Jaime Herrera Beutler argues we need to selectively log those forests, because if we don’t, they will burn. Of course, if they burn, the carbon they’ve sequestered will be released into the atmosphere. So, in this race, of course voters will be choosing who they want to be our next commissioner of public lands, but their choice will also send a message to legislators and the new governor about how we want our forests managed in an era of climate change and wildfire.
I started out by saying that next week we’ll learn two things about ourselves. The first is whether we think our state is moving in the right or wrong direction.
The second thing we will learn is who we’ve become.
By this time next week, we’ll know whether Washington remains a state that leans Democratic but can still vote for thoughtful Republican leaders and proposals. There aren’t too many states like that left.
Across the nation, states have become darker red Republican or deeper blue Democratic. If next Tuesday we learn that Washington voters are comfortable with new taxes, support the state’s approach to climate change and will only elect Democrats to statewide office, then we’ll know Washington has succumbed to the same partisan tribalism that has roped and tied all but a few states.
James Walsh, Washington’s Republican Party chair, doesn’t think that’s what we’re going to see on Tuesday. He believes that the state has been dominated by “left-wing extremism” and that “people want a return to the middle — politically, culturally and personally.”
Very soon, we’ll see if he’s right.
If after Tuesday’s votes are counted, both Republicans and Democrats were elected to statewide offices, and some initiatives passed while others failed, then we’ll know Washington has maintained its independent streak.
I hope that’s what we learn. Washington’s K-12 school system, its community college system, many of its parks and foundational environmental initiatives, were built when Republicans and Democrats worked together. There are a lot of people who believe that sort of political cooperation is history, but I don’t want to believe that. We accomplish the biggest, most bulletproof and enduring change when we build coalitions with people from both parties.
Doing that requires open-minded, independent voters who will vote for both Republicans and Democrats, and who choose policies based on principles, not partisan politics.
Next week, we’ll learn what Washington voters want, but the biggest takeaway could be learning whether less partisan, independent voters still exist in Washington. n
Bill Bryant, who served on the Seattle Port Commission from 2008-16, ran against Jay Inslee as the Republican nominee in the 2016 governor’s race. He lives in Winthrop, Washington.
RUNGE’S
HOMELESSNESS
Getting Off TRAC
Spokane’s largest homeless shelter is closing. There aren’t enough places for its clients to go.
BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM
Bonnie McCoy has been living at the Trent Resource and Assistance Center, or TRAC, for two years. The 68-year-old came to Spokane to live near her son but has been waiting for a home of her own.
“I’ve been following him around from place to place since my husband died about six years ago,” McCoy says. “I lived in Richland for two years and had an apartment there. Section Eight had housing. But when I came here, there wasn’t anything immediately available, and this was the only place, so I’ve been staying here.”
McCoy has a cowboy hat and a wheelchair she calls Silver Scout, after the two horses in The Lone Ranger. She also finally has an apartment lined up. Her move-in date is Nov. 1. It’s pretty good timing, because TRAC is set to close on Oct. 31.
On Friday, Oct. 25, there were about 60 people staying at the warehouse-turned-homeless shelter, which the city has been paying for since September 2022. TRAC can host at least 250 people, but the focus for the past few months has been getting the number of guests down to zero before it shuts for good.
Not everyone will transition into housing like McCoy.
Dallas “Pandora” Whitt has also been at TRAC for two years. Whitt met fellow shelter guest Dawn Pavie about a year ago, and the two started dating.
TRAC was originally intended as an emergency shelter, but Pavie and Whitt say it’s become their home. So far, they haven’t found anywhere elses to move into together. They might end up on the street again.
“Where the hell are we supposed to go?” Whitt asks.
When TRAC closes, Spokane’s homeless shelter system will lose hundreds of beds without being able to replace them.
TRAC is closing because there’s no more money for it, says Dawn Kinder, Spokane’s director of Neighborhood, Housing, and Human Services.
The city’s goal, which was announced by Mayor Lisa Brown this spring, is to move away from large warehousestyle shelters to a network of small shelters scattered throughout the city. The proposed network could be cheaper and hopefully would allow providers to give people more personalized attention and service recommendations.
City staff hoped they could create the network by the time TRAC closed. But as of this writing, there are only two city-funded scattered site shelters operating, with a total of 60 beds. They’re already full.
Temperatures are also dropping — on Oct. 24, the low dipped to 31 degrees. Per municipal code, the city is required to open emergency warming shelters when temperatures go below freezing.
With extremely limited funds, city officials and service providers are caught between two bad options: spend money they don’t have on emergency warming shelters that address an immediate need but perpetuate an unsustainable system, or spend time investing in a more sustainable system while, in the meantime, leaving people out in the cold.
STUCK IN A LEASE
There is no indoor plumbing at TRAC. The bathrooms and showers are outside, and you’re lucky if your shower is even lukewarm, Whitt says.
But since TRAC opened in September 2022, the city has spent over $16 million to keep it open. The lease that former Mayor Nadine Woodward’s administration signed with the building’s owner, Larry Stone, costs $28,000 a month.
“We still will be under this lease, unless Larry Stone changes his mind about that,” Brown says.
The lease extends for about three more years, the mayor says.
But the original contract the Woodward administration signed with Salvation Army, the shelter’s operator, went through the end of June this year. Kinder and her team renegotiated the contract to extend through the end of
Up to 30 people can sleep inside the Cedar Street shelter run by Jewels Helping Hands in Spokane. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO
“GETTING OFF TRAC,” CONTINUED...
October, but the city can’t afford anything more.
“We do not have the ability to support that investment long term,” Kinder says. “It was fully funded with one-time money.”
Kinder also says that large emergency shelters aren’t designed to be efficient paths out of homelessness.
“It’s designed as the crisis response arm of what happens when somebody finds themselves without a home. That’s not the permanent fix,” she says. “I think what we saw, especially in the prior administration, was just to put out enough shelter beds to kind of make it go away. … That did not translate into a ton of people being successfully housed and maintaining that housing. That translated to 400-plus people in a warehouse with no bathrooms.”
Long-term solutions include investments in transitional housing, rental subsidies, and behavioral and mental health services, Kinder says.
Still, the city is left paying for a big, empty building in the middle of a shelter crisis. What will they use it for?
“We don’t know yet,” Brown says. “I mean, it is possible that we utilize it for surge capacity. But again, you have to have an operator for that.”
Surge capacity is the term for extra shelter space opened only when the weather gets really cold or really hot. Some people don’t want to stay in shelters unless temperatures get extreme.
When the weather gets really cold, Brown says it’s possible the city could pay an operator and use TRAC as extra shelter space to help people avoid frostbite and other injuries.
Does that mean TRAC won’t actually close?
“The question is funding and [finding an] operator, and what we want it to be,” Brown says. “At this point, we still have entities coming forward that will potentially fit into the scattered site model. That’s the model we’re going with.”
SCATTERED SITES AND NAVIGATION
On North Cedar Street in the Garland District, the old New Apostolic Church has shiny pink paper bats decorating its north side. Sunflowers with heavy heads bend over a sign that reads “The Cedar Center by Jewels Helping Hands.”
The 30-person shelter in the empty church was piloted last winter. Overseen by Julie Garcia and her team, it provides beds, space for a CHAS community clinic, private rooms to meet with service providers, safe lockers for medicines, and a communal room for activities like arts and crafts.
“We’ve learned that 24-hour care is less impactful to the neighborhood,” Garcia says. “To keep people from
camping in the neighborhood, it’s just easier to keep them and care for them all day long.”
The Cedar Center doesn’t allow camping or drug use within a mile radius around its shelter. It also has a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am when residents have to be inside. It’s also specifically focused on serving people who are elderly or disabled. (Garcia doesn’t think it’s the best way to help people with mental health issues or substance use disorder.)
The Cedar Center is an example of a scattered site shelter that the city wants to see more of.
Brown’s team chose Empire Health Foundation to identify potential new scattered sites and to operate a navigation center to guide people who are homeless to the best place for them.
The navigation center is located in the Cannon Street shelter in Browne’s Addition. Empire Health has taken over operations from Revive Counseling Spokane. Revive piloted a navigation center at that same location for people relocating from Second Avenue and Division, which was designated an encampment in March.
Now, with Empire Health as the operator and Revive hired to continue working there as a subcontractor, the Cannon navigation center is supposed to take referrals from multiple homeless service providers, not just Revive. But so far, other providers are having trouble understanding what the navigation center does or how to get in touch.
“It’s always hard to get somebody at a shelter to answer a phone,” Kinder says. “Frankly, they are short-staffed, very busy places. So it is not surprising to me that some folks have tried calling and not gotten an immediate answer. I’m not thrilled by that, of course…[but] Revive and Zeke [Smith, president of Empire Health,] have been very responsive to that.”
Still, thanks to Revive’s work at Cannon, three people have moved from TRAC into the Cannon Shelter, where about a dozen people can sleep each night, and finally into transitional housing, says Kim Proffitt, Revive’s supervisor at TRAC. Revive would like to see more people moving through the system, but they’re limited by other constraints.
“There’s not a lot of places for people to go,” Proffitt says.
Kinder says Empire Health will announce a new scattered site location similar to the Cedar Center at the beginning of November. Hopefully, a handful of others will come online throughout the winter, opening up at least 100 new beds, Brown says.
But finding scattered shelter sites isn’t as simple as finding abandoned church buildings, Kinder says. By state law, good neighbor agreements have to be signed by community members who are willing to have a shelter near their homes before a site is selected.
Even if a neighborhood is willing, not many empty or partially used facilities are suitable for sheltering. A major issue is providing showers and sufficient plumbing. Old churches that were built mainly for Sunday morning congregations don’t typically have pipes that can withstand daily use. They almost never have built-in showers.
“We’ve had to replace the sewer system at Morning Star,” Garcia says, referring to the church that hosts Jewels Helping Hands’ second scattered shelter in Spokane’s Northwest neighborhood. “I mean, you have a service on Sunday, maybe [you’re open] a couple days during the week, and you have 10 to 15 people using the bathroom. [For shelters,] you need to have bathrooms accessible for 30 people all day long. No one’s systems can withstand that.”
INCLEMENT WEATHER SHELTERS
Finding, outfitting and opening scattered site shelters is taking more time than the city can keep TRAC open for. While the system changes, the safety nets in place for when the city needs emergency beds aren’t going to be able to catch very many people.
Under the city’s current budget, there is $250,000 to use for inclement weather shelters — another term for emergency beds opened when the weather is especially bad.
It’s up to the City Council to determine how that money is spent and to codify what “inclement weather” means. Under the current municipal code, the city is required to provide warming shelters when predicted lows are at or below freezing.
The city estimates that $250,000 could cover the cost for about 100 emergency beds for 35 nights, or 350 beds for 10 nights. These beds are supposed to be last resort fallbacks.
Spokane sees an average of more than 130 days with a low of 32 degrees or colder, according to research done by Nicolette Ocheltree, manager of housing and homelessness initiatives for the City Council, and Jackson Deese, legislative aide to Council member Zack Zappone.
Instead of paying for new pop-up warming shelters, the city is focusing on adding emergency beds in existing facilities to be as cost effective as possible. But no matter how you slice it, there are not enough beds currently to keep everyone warm this winter, Kinder says.
“Yes, the shelter beds are not being immediately or potentially ever replaced,” Kinder says. “[But] emergency shelter is not a solution…Even if we had the money, I don’t believe the smartest use of them would be in perpetuating a system that does not produce results. We’re pivoting, not to be inhumane, but to ensure that the long-term paths out of homelessness becomes real.” n
elizab@inlander.com
Sasquatch Pirates
Community Colleges of Spokane partner with Whitworth for admissions. Plus, Spokane could expand its bike network; and Mayor Brown finishes Cabinet hires.
BY INLANDER STAFF
Starting in fall 2025, some students who currently attend the Community Colleges of Spokane — Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College — will be guaranteed the chance to start studying at Whitworth University. This partnership between Whitworth and CCS will create a Guaranteed Admissions Program that promises students with a 3.4 or higher GPA a spot at the university and a scholarship of at least $25,000 per year. Students will need to be enrolled at either SCC or SFCC and making significant progress toward completing an associate’s degree before they can apply to the program. Plus, they’ll need to submit an admission application to Whitworth. “Partnerships like this help us fulfill our mission of offering all students an excellent education that transforms their lives and expands their opportunities,” CCS Chief of Staff & Strategy Lori Hunt said in an Oct. 25 news release. Additionally, this partnership allows the community colleges to submit official transcripts to Whitworth for free. (COLTON RASANEN)
ROLLING FORWARD
The city of Spokane is considering a proposal to develop a more connected urban mobility network by the end of 2027. City Planning Director Spencer Gardner presented the plan on Oct. 21 to the Public Infrastructure Environment & Sustainability Committee of the City Council. The project would create 27 miles of high-comfort bikeways on Spokane streets with lower vehicle traffic, connecting existing trails and making the network accessible for all ages and abilities. The project would leverage existing low-traffic infrastructure and connect with the existing Centennial Trail. It is estimated to cost $6 million over three years, but Gardner believes costs can be reduced through grants, wheelshare fees from Lime e-bike and scooter rentals, traffic impact fees, and external partnerships. “The hope is, again, that we’re leveraging those low-cost existing infrastructure, tying into our existing trail network and only making improvements where they’re needed to connect those disparate pieces of infrastructure,” Gardner told the committee. (VICTOR CORRAL MARTINEZ)
FULLY STOCKED CABINET
As announced on Wednesday, Oct. 23, Mayor Lisa Brown’s Cabinet is officially full, with no impact to the current budget. By filling vacant roles with internal promotions and trading the chief of staff position for a new director of transportation role, the mayor was able to fill out her team without adding new salaries to city spending. Alexander Scott, who was Brown’s chief of staff, will now be city administrator. This frees up interim City Administrator Garrett Jones to return to his original position as director of Parks and Recreation. Allison Adam was hired as human resources director, which allows former City Attorney Mike Ormsby, who was filling that role, to go back to retirement. Mike Sloon, who recently retired from the city’s IT director position, was replaced by Laz Martinez, who previously worked as IT manager for the Public Works department. Finally, instead of a chief of staff, the mayor will now be advised by a director of transportation and sustainability, Jon Snyder. Snyder was a City Council member from 2009 to 2015, then left Spokane for Olympia to be Gov. Jay Inslee’s senior policy adviser for outdoor recreation and economic development. (ELIZA BILLINGHAM) n
Scan for tickets & more ways to celebrate!
CCS mascot Skitch and Whitworth mascot Captain Patches have become buds. PHOTO COURTESY COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF SPOKANE
Lane Change
A narrower Sprague Avenue now connects Spokane Valley City Hall and Balfour Park
BY VICTOR CORRAL MARTINEZ
Spokane Valley has finished its nearly $4.6 million Sprague Avenue stormwater and multimodal project, which reduced the road from five to three lanes between North University Road and North Herald Road, where Balfour Park and Spokane Valley City Hall are located.
Road construction started in June and was completed in October. The work included many changes, such as incorporating traffic signals, bike lane improvements, a pedestrian mid-block crosswalk and a stormwater bio-infiltration system.
CRITICISM
said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop the project, I tried. Should have spent the money on more police.”
Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley says the main focus of the project was on stormwater improvements, which were funded through stormwater-specific grants.
“The biggest challenge is the citizens don’t understand because they’ve been fed some misinformation pretty consistently,” Haley says. “Most of the money used was actually stormwater money that could only be used for stormwater improvements.”
The half-mile stormwater project has received plenty of scrutiny and debate. Some residents have told the Spokane Valley City Council that the money would have been better spent on other needs, such as the city’s shortage of law enforcement officers or the fentanyl crisis.
The project’s most vocal critic has been City Council member Al Merkel, who voted against awarding a $3 million contract for the project to Spokane-based contractor Halme Construction in May.
The bid was about $600,000 cheaper than estimated by city engineers and covered construction elements such as stormwater upgrades, landscaping, pedestrian lights and infrastructure for future sidewalk lights.
Merkel has repeatedly criticized the project on the Nextdoor app. In one post on the site he
The Inlander used Nextdoor to ask Spokane Valley residents for their perspectives on the project.
“My stance is I’m very disappointed at our officials for putting money to a vanity project when we have a drug crisis, homeless needing shelter, police shortage and schools who can always use any extra money,” Spokane Valley resident Alana Higby tells the Inlander by email.
Higby’s sentiments were shared by many residents on Nextdoor, who felt the money could have been better spent.
Of the nearly $4.6 million price tag, nearly $1.38 million came from a Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund grant for sewer or stormwater projects to improve water quality; another $64,125 came from a Washington state Department of Ecology grant for stormwater improvement; and a $556,400 grant from the state Department of
Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley stands near a new crosswalk signal on the revamped Sprague Avenue by City Hall. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
Transportation paid for the pedestrian crossing. About half of the project was paid for from dedicated city funds (most grants require local matching funds).
UPGRADES
City Services Administrator Gloria Mantz has worked for Spokane Valley for 20 years in multiple jobs, including her start with the city as a stormwater engineer. She says the project offered the opportunity to address multiple issues simultaneously.
Mantz says the state Department of Ecology requires that dry wells that leak into the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer be pretreated. A dry well is a concrete cylinder that collects unwanted street-level runoff and stormwater.
“We have a lot of dry wells throughout the city that do not have any pretreatment,” Mantz says. “So we’ve been trying to tackle some of those main arterials where we have more trouble, more vehicles that travel the roadway, and so that’s more potential to contaminate the groundwater.”
New dry wells installed during the project utilize bioinfiltration swales, which are topped with vegetation and soil to filter stormwater of pollutants before it infiltrates deeper into the ground.
Mantz says narrowing the roadway to create “green spaces” was more practical and less expensive than maintaining the same number of lanes because of the costs associated with moving existing underground utility infrastructure and trees along the street.
It also solved other issues with pedestrian safety.
Mantz says there is plenty of pedestrian traffic along that stretch of Sprague because of the library, City Hall, Balfour Park and residential apartments nearby.
A 2022 study found that more than 60% of drivers exceeded the posted 35 mph speed limit on Sprague, with over 120 drivers exceeding 50 mph on a typical day.
The reduced lanes and the addition of a signalized pedestrian crosswalk from City Hall to Balfour Park will make it significantly safer and slow traffic. A new bus stop was also added in collaboration with the Spokane Transit Authority, a partnership Haley embraced.
“I’m very happy we have a lot of partnerships with the county, but we’re a contract city, so we’re used to partnerships and working with people that way,” Haley says. “Everything’s been positive that I’ve been able to see.”
A DOWNTOWN?
Spokane Valley currently doesn’t plan to build a designated downtown or pedestrian-friendly hub like the Garland District, Kendall Yards or downtown Spokane. However, Haley and Mantz both feel the area of the project has organic growth potential because many longtime residents regard it as a city hub.
“There was a lot of sentiment for this area because … there used to be a mall here, and this is where people concentrated, and this is the closest to a downtown that Spokane Valley has,” Mantz says.
Haley says the area is a focal point because of government services, businesses and residential density nearby. She believes there will be more foot traffic once Balfour Park is completed.
Haley says many residents have been pleasantly surprised by the project, and even more will enjoy the area’s safer access to public transportation.
“When they made Sprague one-way, it had a surfeit of lanes which encourages drivers to go faster,” Spokane Valley resident Julie Rosenoff tells the Inlander by email.
Rosenoff says the shorter pedestrian crossing makes it easier to visit the library. She hopes the project will revitalize the area and put Spokane Valley on the map.
Resident Diane Kipp’s 43-year-old son, Ryan, has autism and an intellectual disability but loves going to the public library. Before the project, she was worried about him making trips on his own.
“However, with the narrowing of the roadway and the crosswalk and stoplight directly between City Hall and the library, I am hopeful that Ryan will be able to resume his independent trips to the library, which will significantly impact his life as the library is his favorite place,” Kipp tells the Inlander n
CODY FRY
TUESDAY,
INLAND NORTHWEST
WINTER GUIDE
ON STANDS NOW
Ballot Bits
Here’s a roundup of last-minute election news as you prepare to turn in Nov. 5 ballots
BY INLANDER STAFF
On Monday, Oct. 28, the Washington Secretary of State’s Office reported that a “suspected incendiary device” was put in the Fisher’s Landing ballot drop box in Vancouver. The FBI responded, and the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections, reminded voters that they can track the status of their ballot at votewa.gov to make sure it is received and accepted.
If you realize your ballot has not been marked as received, voters can print out a replacement ballot or go to their local election office to get a replacement through Election Day.
“We take the safety of our election workers seriously and will not tolerate threats or acts of violence that seek to undermine the democratic process,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in an email to media outlets. “I strongly denounce any acts of terror that aim to disrupt lawful and fair elections in Washington state.” (SW)
CAMPAIGN FINANCE COMPLAINTS
Last week, Spokane County Commissioner Al French filed at least four complaints with Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission, the agency tasked with overseeing state campaign finance law.
French filed complaints against the groups that financially supported the failed recall attempt against him in late August, and another alleging that Spokane Fire Department officials used publicly funded resources to support his challenger, Molly Marshall.
“We have asked the PDC to deal with these in an expeditious fashion because [these groups] need to be held accountable,” French says. “The public oughta know who’s deceiving voters, because they deserve honesty.”
The first batch of complaints allege that multiple political action committees and organizations, including FUSE Washington, FUSE Votes, Washington Conservation Voters and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Greater Washington, made contributions to the Clean Water Accountability Coalition in excess of the state’s limit on contributions to county-level recall attempts.
French says that the PDC only allows contributions of $1,400 or less for these types of elections. PDC spokesperson Natalie Johnson says the limit is actually smaller: $1,200. Each of the groups in the complaint contributed $2,500 to $4,000, according to the Clean Water Accountability Coalition’s reports to the PDC.
Our requests for comment from Knoll Lowney, the coalition’s attorney, were not returned immediately on Oct. 28 and 29.
French’s other complaint relates to a 30-second advertisement about wildfire mitigation, in which Marshall appears with Spokane firefighters union President Randy Marler in front of city firetrucks and a fire station. French argues that constitutes the use of publicly funded resources to support a candidate for office.
Spokane Fire Chief Julie O’Berg responded to the complaint by urging the PDC to “rec-
Ballots are due on Nov. 5. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO
ognize that the City of Spokane and its Fire Department are not respondents in this complaint.” O’Berg argues that the only respondents should be Marler and the union.
“The city has little, if any, ability to control the activities of off-duty union officials engaged in union activities involving political speech,” O’Berg wrote to the PDC.
The complaints are still pending in the “assessment of facts” stage, but Johnson says state statute requires the commission to resolve a case or turn it into a formal investigation within 90 days of a complaint being filed. In this case, that deadline will be in late January. (CR)
DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Photographer Pennie Collinson filed a defamation lawsuit against Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris and Kootenai County on Oct. 21, alleging that Norris publicly and falsely accused her of taking pictures of child pornography in the library.
The alleged incident occurred in April, when Collinson attended the Kootenai County Republican Party primary election forum in Cataldo, where she worked as a photographer for Mike Bauer, who was another Republican candidate for sheriff. (Norris is currently running for reelection and won the most votes in the Republican primary.) Dozens of people were there and some filed declarations of what they heard Norris say about Collinson.
Collinson first filed a tort claim in July (a precursor to filing a lawsuit against a public entity or official). At the time, Norris issued a press release that was shared on the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, offering $10,000 for video proof of the incident and stating, “Ms. Collinson’s allegations are 100% false.”
After the lawsuit was filed last week, Norris posted a press release on his official Sheriff Bob Norris Facebook page stating that the lawsuit is “baseless” and warning residents to beware of fake news and election lies.
“The claims are 100% false and are nothing more than local-level lawfare to create doubt and uncertainty regarding my character and reputation,” Norris stated in the press release.
Collinson’s lawsuit says she is dealing with pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, and a slew of anxiety-related issues. She is asking for $10,000 or more and for Kootenai County to remove and stop posting defamatory content about her. (VCM)
PROPOSITION 1 UPDATES
It’s decision time for Spokane’s community safety sales tax, or Proposition 1, which would increase the local sales tax by 0.1%, or 10 cents per $100 purchase in the city. If passed, revenue would fund investments in public safety.
Recently, after Mayor Lisa Brown’s office clarified how the revenue generated by the tax would be used, more downtown business owners agreed to support it. The Downtown Spokane Partnership is the latest business organization to endorse the proposition.
In an announcement last week, the Downtown Spokane Partnership said its support is based on the city’s “pledges to prioritize additional new police officers downtown, and clarification from Spokane City Council to establish a dedicated Community Safety Fund to provide additional transparency and an automatic mechanism to sunset the tax on December 31, 2035.”
The mayor has promised that some of the new revenue designated for the police department would go toward reinstituting the neighborhood resource officer program. That program would place at least seven new police officers outside of the downtown core.
But according to the city’s communications director, Erin Hut, other revenue could go toward maintaining the Crisis Outreach, Response and Engagement, or CORE program, a 30-day pilot that has added six police officers downtown in recent weeks.
Other revenue from the tax would be designated to the fire department, municipal court and Office of the Police Ombuds.
Proposition 1 was supported by the Spokane City Council in a 5-2 vote, and was previously endorsed by the Spokane Business Association. Greater Spokane Incorporated is officially neutral on the tax. (EB) n
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is just the beginning.
The Coaching Circle of Life
Former Gonzaga head coach Dan Monson returns to the PNW sidelines to lead Eastern Washington University
BY SETH SOMMERFELD
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t go home again.
Dan Monson is back coaching college basketball in the Inland Northwest. Twenty-five years ago, as head coach of a little Jesuit school in Spokane that most of the country couldn’t even properly pronounce, Monson presided over Gonzaga’s improbable 1999 Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament. That squad served as the igniting spark that launched the Bulldogs to eventual hoops powerhouse status. And while the Bulldogs haven’t missed a single NCAA Tournament since, Monson’s career has taken a more winding path.
A Spokane native who grew up watching his dad Don (a Northwest coaching icon in his own right) on the sidelines, Monson left GU after that first improbable tournament success to coach at the University of Minnesota in the Big 10’s power conference. While he
rehabbed the Golden Gophers’ culture after his predecessors’ academic scandals and took his team to an NCAA Tournament, he didn’t find the consistent winning ways the school wanted.
Next in 2007 he went to Long Beach State University for 17 seasons. Despite consistently posting winning conference records in the Big West, the school informed him this March before the Big West Tournament that he’d be fired once the season finished.
But then a funny thing happened. His team rallied around their soon-to-be-departed coach and just kept winning.
Monson once again became a beloved figure in college basketball as LBSU won the Big West Tournament, providing the coach with another magical tournament moment and a matchup against one of his former Gonzaga assistants, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd. While
LBSU wasn’t able to find any more Cinderella magic in the NCAAs, they’d given Monson a grand farewell from Long Beach.
Then an ideal new job opened up. When Eastern Washington head coach David Riley took his talents to Washington State (along with four of his starters), the Eagles swooped in and brought the 63-year-old Monson back to the Inland Northwest.
The Eagles aren’t expected to be contenders for the Big Sky title this year (EWU was picked 9th in the preseason Big Sky Coaches Poll) after extreme roster turnover that’s become the norm in the era of Name, Image, Likeness and open transfer portal rules. Only six players return for EWU (including zero starters) and the rest of the roster has been filled out with transfers hungry to get minutes (including players from LBSU, Arizona State, Nevada, another hooping Stockton son, Sam, and Monson’s own son, Maddox). But despite the challenges the job presents, Monson seems incredibly at peace being back home where his friends and family can watch him continue to keep EWU’s winning basketball culture going.
Before the new college hoops season tips off, we headed to Cheney to talk to Monson about the outlook for the Eagles, his friendship with Mark Few, and lessons learned from a long and winding coaching career. (For an extended version of this interview, head to Inlander.com.)
INLANDER: When you were announced as the new coach at Eastern, I know a lot of folks around here felt like it was a perfect fit. What made EWU a good fit for you at his point in your coaching career?
MONSON: Well, it’s kind of a throwback to me, personally, to be back. But it’s also a throwback coaching
EWU junior transfer Elijah Thomas. PHOTOS COURTESY OF EWU ATHLETICS
EASTERN WASHINGTON MEN
There is some serious upheaval in Cheney. For the first time since 2011, the Eagles have moved away from the Jim Hayford coaching tree. After two in-house hires with Shantay Legans and David Riley, both of whom have since moved on to bigger jobs, Eastern went out and hired Dan Monson after 17 years at Long Beach State.
While the Eagles left their nest to hire Monson, they didn’t exactly stray all that far. Monson got his start just down the road at Gonzaga, where he led the Bulldogs to their Cinderella Elite Eight run in 1999.
Monson will have a rebuilding project on his hands in Cheney as the only returning upperclassmen on the roster are junior guards Nic McClain and Tyler Powell, who played a combined two games last season. Beyond those two, Seattle product Mason Williams enters his sophomore year after appearing in 16 of Eastern’s 32 games last year. EWU has been a consistent factor in the Big Sky Conference for a decade, and the Eagles have won the regular season title in each of the past two seasons. Considering the roster turnover, a three-peat will be hard to ask for but that’s okay (the respective preseason Big Sky media and coaches polls project EWU to finish sixth and ninth). Eastern feels like it has found its guy in Monson, even if fans might need to be a bit patient this season. (WM)
GAME TO WATCH: JAN. 4 VS. MONTANA STATE
wise. We’re not a big NIL school, we’re not a big portal school. We’re just doing it the way that I’m comfortable doing it: developing players and giving kids an opportunity to come earn a degree and hopefully a skill set to go make money — but promising nothing on the front end. It’s fun to be in that kind of environment.
Eastern Washington now has a pretty established tradition of being able to win in the Big Sky and compete for the conference’s NCAA Tournament bid. What do you think about this place makes that kind of program success possible?
I think that’s the biggest key. When you said, “Why did you take this job?” That was one of the huge [factors].
I’m here, my wife is here, all four of the grandparents are in their late 80s/early 90s, and we’re able to all live together here. And to be able to be here for their last years was huge, personally.
But professionally, I looked at this job 25 years ago when I was an assistant at Gonzaga, and it didn’t have any tradition or really any culture. You have to give a lot of credit to [Jim] Hayford and [Shantay] Legans and Riley.
I didn’t have any starters left, but I had a great winning culture. The six kids that stayed here that had the work ethic and mindset that winning is what we do here. I got here in April, and guys were in here 7 in the morning every day getting shots up and they’re here until noon. Four or five hours worth of work every day is gonna make you better.
From the 1999 Elite Eight team at Gonzaga to last year’s tournament run with Long Beach, you’ve coached some really special squads that have defied expectations. How do essences like those infuse themselves each season that you coach? Well, I think that’s what drives you. I’ve never used drugs, but I would think the NCAA Tournament is probably a natural high
...continued on next page
EWU Head Coach Dan Monson
LOCAL TEAM PREVIEWS
Scouting the Inland Northwest’s college hoops programs for the 2024-25 season
WASHINGTON STATE MEN
It’s a new era for Washington State basketball. What was once a Power 5 program is now not. This was a Pac-12 program — and last year it sure felt like one with an NCAA Tournament run — even if it didn’t look like one for many recent years. But the next couple seasons, it will be a West Coast Conference team. Speaking frankly, Wazzu fits in pretty well in this league. WSU was often a cellardweller in the Pac-12, but in the WCC it should be middle of the pack at worst. The Cougars were picked to finish fifth in the 11-team league in the preseason poll.
It’s up to new head coach David Riley — who led Eastern Washington to back-to-back regular season Big Sky titles — to outperform that.
Along with Riley are four transfers from Eastern Washington — Cedric Coward, Ethan Price, Dane Erikstrup and LeJuan Watts — who will add some semblance of continuity to an otherwise overhauled roster. There is only one returning scorer from the team that won a game in the NCAA Tournament last season, sophomore Isaiah Watts, who averaged just 3.7 points per game. Otherwise, it’s basically a whole new batch of Cougs. Wazzu will be the new kids on the block in the WCC, and the roster reflects that. There is potential on the Palouse, but more uncertainty than anything. (WM)
GAME TO WATCH: DEC. 18 AT WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON STATE WOMEN
After three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Cougars took a big, injury-plagued step back last season. But the momentum returns for head coach Kamie Ethridge, who had increased Wazzu’s win total in each of her first five seasons prior to last year.
Moving from the Pac-12 into the WCC, the Cougars were picked to finish second in their new league and landed two players on the preseason all-conference team — senior guard Tara Wallack (10.5 points per game last season) and sophomore guard Eleonora Villa
BY WILL MAUPIN AND SETH SOMMERFELD
(12.9 points per game). There is certainly belief in the talent down on the Palouse.
It looks to be a Northwest battle for the WCC this season, with the Cougars coming just one point behind top-placed Gonzaga in the preseason poll — one of four teams (along with the Zags, Portland and fellow Pac-12 rival/new arrival Oregon State) to receive first-place votes. Without a Leger-Walker sister on the roster for the first time in years, things will look a lot different for Wazzu in 2024-25, but Ethridge’s track record brings more than enough hope for a successful season. (WM)
GAME TO WATCH: JAN. 11 VS. GONZAGA
EWU WOMEN
Coming off their most successful season in recent memory, the Eagles are looking at a significant rebuilding effort in the fourth year under head coach Joddie Gleason. EWU ran through the Big Sky a season ago to a 29-6 record and 16-2 mark in conference play. The Eagles made the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history and first since 1987.
There will not be many familiar faces returning from that team, however, as Alexis Pettis (4.2 points per game) is the leading returning scorer after ranking seventh on the team a season ago. This upheaval has led to a lack of belief in the team around the Big Sky. Eastern came in seventh in the league’s preseason media poll and eighth among the coaches.
Of the 16 players on the roster this season, eight are new to the program including three transfers who will need to make an immediate impact — keep an eye on Seattle U graduate transfer and Central Valley product Peyton Howard in the backcourt — and five freshmen who could provide a foundation for the future. Eastern went from nine wins in Gleason’s first season to 19 in year two and then 29 a season ago. It would be hard to expect that upward trajectory to continue in season four. (WM)
GAME TO WATCH: MARCH 3 VS. MONTANA
“THE COACHING CIRCLE OF LIFE,” CONTINUED...
euphoria that comes close to that.
That’s one of the big things, again, that drove me to this program. They’ve never won a game in the tournament. They’ve gotten there, but to be able to win a game in the tournament here would be a great thing in my legacy — to have taken four teams to the NCAA Tournament. There’s only a handful of people in the world that have ever done that with four teams, and I would like to join that group. I started by taking Gonzaga to their first win in the tournament — their first three wins. I would like to try to end my career in the same area with the same results.
Do you talk about the arc of your career with your assistant coaches? Because you had so much success those two years at Gonzaga you might’ve felt like, ‘Oh, I’ll just be winning all the time.’ And you’ve built winning cultures at multiple schools, but it hasn’t always been that seemingly easy.
People kind of scratch their heads when I say this, but the run in 1999 was probably my biggest regret of my career and it’s also the biggest highlight.
But it’s the biggest regret because I didn’t realize
IDAHO MEN
In his second year at the helm, there are reasons to be hopeful about what head coach Alex Pribble is building in Moscow. It’s always difficult to pull a program up from being the doormat of a small major conference, but there’s more intriguing talent on this year’s Vandals squad than there’s been in years.
Leading the way is senior forward Julius Mims. After stuffing the stat sheet as Idaho’s best defender (Big Sky All-Defensive Team) and most-efficient offensive weapon (11.1 points per game on 63.3% shooting), Mims was tapped to the Preseason AllConference team. Newcomers via the transfer portal include CdA’s Kolton Mitchell coming over from Idaho State and former Gonzaga Prep standout Jayden Stevens returning closer to home after two seasons at Oregon State.
Preseason polls don’t project the Vandals to be Big Sky contenders (ranked seventh and ninth by the coaches and media), but having a talent like Mims anchoring things gives Idaho a shot in most any Big Sky contest. And as the Idaho football team has showcased, turning things around on the Palouse is possible. (SS) GAME TO WATCH: JAN. 4 VS. MONTANA
IDAHO WOMEN
Next time an old head complains about college players moving around too much, maybe remind them that Idaho head coach Carrie Eighmey bailed on the Vandals for a different situation after one losing season. Taking her place is Arthur Moreira, the first Brazilian Division I head basketball coach.
It will be a rebuilding process for the new man in charge, as the UI roster boasts 11 new players for 2024-25. Of all the new faces, the biggest get for Moreira might be guard Kelbie Washington, a former four-star recruit and transfer from Oklahoma who proved she can play at a big-time level when she made the All-Big 12 Freshman Team in 2022 before having to medically redshirt last season. Washington’s incoming backcourt compatriots include some international flair with Serbian Anja Bukvic and Ana Pinheiro from Portugal.
While the team isn’t expected to compete for the Big Sky title (picked seventh and eighth in the preseason coaches and media
how special it was. I didn’t really soak it up like I did last year when I went to the NCAA Tournament. I soaked up every moment of that knowing it was my last year at Long Beach. Whereas in ’99, I just thought that was the norm.
And guess what? It has been for them, but it hasn’t been for me. [laughs]
Yeah, I imagine it’s probably a little weird with a lot of people kind of treating you like (original drummer) Pete Best with The Beatles. Like you were there, but things went to a whole nother level as soon as you left. But you don’t strike me as someone who has regrets about that.
Nobody can ever take away that I was there at the beginning of it. I’ve certainly been a Zag fan. I watch every game. I talk to Mark [Few] after almost every game. It’s great. We live [near each other] now. We’re back. We don’t live together like we did for 12 years, but we’re probably closer than our wives want us to be right now. [Laughs]
People are like, “Don’t you regret going to Minnesota?” I’m like, “No. I don’t.” At the time it was the best
Dan Monson made the cover of the Inlander back in 1999, just before his Zags went on the Cinderella run that started it all.
polls), the hope is that the Vandals can find some stability under Moreria in order to build a base for the future. (SS) GAME TO WATCH: JAN. 18 VS. EASTERN WASHINGTON
WHITWORTH MEN
Continuity is the name of the game in north Spokane where Whitworth has a roster loaded with upperclassmen. Super senior Jake Holtz is back to lead the way after earning second team All-Northwest Conference honors and averaging 16.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Joining Holtz are two other seniors and eight juniors, which will make the Pirates one of the oldest teams around.
It’s not just continuity, but quality as well. Whitworth went 20-9 last season and advanced to the second round of the DIII NCAA Tournament. The Pirates have been perennial contenders in the NWC and regular participants in DIII tourney. They may be overshadowed by the crosstown Bulldogs, but don’t sleep on the Pirates’ basketball pedigree. (WM) GAME TO WATCH: JAN. 21 VS. WHITMAN
WHITWORTH WOMEN
The Pirates enter a serious rebuilding season in 2024-25, which was to be expected considering last year’s roster included five seniors. This year, there are no seniors on the roster, three juniors, two sophomores and seven freshmen. Overall, the team returns just three letterwinners: juniors Mya Bair and Keely Maves, and sophomore Ashlyn Neilsen.
While this young squad might not be ready to bring the Pirates to their first winning season since 2019-20, there is plenty of reason for local excitement on the roster. All but one player hails from Washington, including three from the immediate Spokane area.
Freshman Rylee Darnold was twice named Lakeside High School’s team MVP. Fellow freshman Juju Jeross is coming off a 16-point-per-game senior year at University High School that saw her land second team All-GSL honors. Prior to her time at Everett Community College, junior Ella Curry spent four seasons as a varsity player at Reardan. (WM) GAME TO WATCH: DEC. 13 VS. MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR
decision for me and my family, and I really think for my marriage and for my kids, it was the best move. It made me and Darcy go to a place where — you know, all my friends were here, all her friends were here — it made us go back and have to rely on each other. It strengthened our marriage. We had four kids in Minnesota. I think we would have been totally different.
I think it made me a better coach — because I had a lot more adversity — and just a better person. It was a humbling experience.
So what are your goals heading into this season?
My goal is always to win. I think we’ve got a long ways to go to be realistically able to win the Big Sky Championship, but we’re gonna try to take that long road, and we’re gonna try to get there. I’m lucky. Like my wife said, “Who else picks up a career at 62 years old and moves across the country to go start all over again?” I guess I do. And I’m pretty thrilled to be able to get to do that.
It’s a tough profession, and I’ve been so blessed to be in three places in 40 years. I mean, who gets to say that? I was 12 years at Gonzaga and eight years at Minnesota and 17 there. So that’s 37 years in three places. And then basically, back to where I started. And that’s the circle of life. n
Idaho Vandals senior Jennifer Aadland UI ATHLETICS PHOTO
COUNTDOWN TO TIPOFF
GONZAGA MEN
The Gonzaga men have reloaded for the 2024-25 season, while the women have some departures to deal with
BY SETH SOMMERFELD
In an age when continuity feels like a foreign concept in college basketball, as almost 2,000 players put their name into the transfer portal this offseason, the 202425 Gonzaga men’s basketball team is an extreme outlier. After making the Sweet 16 in March with a core seven-man rotation, the Bulldogs return a whopping six of those key guys.
First team All-West Coast Conference leaders Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike are back, as are two fellow senior starters (Nolan Hickman and Ben Gregg) and two high-upside sophomore bench contributors (Braden Huff and Dusty Stromer). While they might’ve taken until February to really start really gelling last season, once this group found its stride, the wins came in droves. The lone rotational loss for GU was Anton Watson, but there appears to be an excess of incoming talent to help fill that void.
Coach Mark Few tapped into the transfer portal in a big way this offseason, starting things off by scooping up perhaps the most dynamic player in the WCC last year: former Pepperdine star senior and NBA-
caliber talent Michael Ajayi, who led the conference in scoring last year (17.2 ppg) while finishing second in rebounding (9.9 ppg). The Zags’ backcourt depth also received a huge shot in the arm with the addition of grad transfer Khalif Battle from Arkansas. The aggressive attacking guard averaged 29.6 points per game during the Razorbacks’ final seven games last year while ranking in the top 10 in free throw shooting in the entire country. Thanks to the continuity and potential impact arrivals, Gonzaga enters the season ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll and once again has its sights on finally bringing a national championship to Spokane. Also as per usual, the Zags have lined up an incredibly tough nonconference schedule, which includes UConn, Baylor, Kentucky, UCLA, San Diego State, and a trip to the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (and that’s before getting to the added challenge of Washington State and Oregon State temporarily entering the WCC to boost the conference slate).
In an era of constant flux, could consistency be the factor that finally gets Gonzaga over the top? (SS)
Newcomer Ismaila Diagne, a native of Senegal, at Kraziness in the Kennel earlier this month. ERICK DOXEY PHOTOS
GONZAGA WOMEN
While the Gonzaga men bring back most of their squad from last season, the situation is much different for GU women. After having the most loaded senior class in program history in 2023-24, there are a lot of holes to fill for the Bulldogs. Thankfully, their best player decided to spend another year in Spokane.
After spending the summer playing for the Canadian National Team at the Olympics, reigning Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year winner Yvonne Ejim returns to anchor the Zags as one of the most dangerous inside scoring options in the country. And while having an All-American caliber player helps raise the floor, the roster certainly isn’t devoid of talent. After winning WCC Sixth Woman of the Year last season, Dutch forward Maud Huijbens’ efficient scoring acumen landed her on the All-WCC Preseason Team for 2024-25.
There will be a lot of guard minutes to fill with the departure of the Truong twins and Brynna Maxwell. Junior guard Bree Salenbein is the only backcourt Bulldog to see any significant playing time last season, so head coach Lisa Fortier brought in reinforcements via international talents in the transfer portal. Portuguese standout Ines Bettencourt has the potential to make an immediate impact after coming over from the powerhouse UConn, while Fortier was able to make a WCC coup by landing Aussie grad transfer Tayla Dalton.
Proving this is a program that doesn’t rebuild but reloads, the Zags are still projected as the favorites to win the WCC even with the roster turnover and the quality Washington State and Oregon State programs entering the conference. But considering Fortier has decided to coach this season while actively battling breast cancer, she’s not going to be shaken by any on-court challenges. (SS)
GAME TO WATCH: NOV. 10 AT STANFORD
Vote Fennessy this fall!
Yvonne Ejim is back for another season.
They Got Rhythm
Featuring pieces by 20th and 21st century composers, Spokane Symphony’s next Masterworks concert is jazzy, rhythmic and uniquely American
BY E.J. IANNELLI
The first time that pianist Sara Davis Buechner felt what she calls “the real spiritual power” of George Gershwin’s music, she was 23 and building a reputation for virtuoso playing on the international concert circuit.
After one successful performance at a major piano competition, she was staying in Brussels with a host family, an older couple who had a habit of listening to the radio during dinner. One evening, the couple excitedly tuned in to a performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue
“It was a Bulgarian pianist who was playing with the Belgian Radio Orchestra,” Buechner recalls, and I thought, ‘Well, gee, that’ll be bizarre or terrible or something.’ At that point in my life I had not really played a note of Gershwin. I had grown up with this kind of standard thinking that, you know, you’re a classical pianist, you don’t play Gershwin.”
But when the piece burst into its fittingly rhapsodic conclusion, she started to cry “like crazy.”
“I was blubbering. My friend came over and consoled me: ‘What’s the matter?’ And I said, ‘I’m so, so homesick.’”
That Gershwin’s music could trigger such a profound longing for her native country and her then-hometown of New York might not seem so unusual. Woody Allen chose Rhapsody in Blue’s fluttering, soaring clarinet intro to set the mood for the very first scenes and opening narration of his 1979 film Manhattan, and for decades United Airlines — much to Buechner’s irritation — has used the piece to evoke a sense of jazzy, jet-setting dynamism in its advertisements and preflight videos.
“The genius was that he was able to distill in the music the sounds of the metropolis that he loved so much, a very American feeling. And from that moment,
I dedicated a large part of myself to learning as much Gershwin as I could,” Buechner says.
The very next year, she won the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition with Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F.
“It was the first time anyone had ever played it in that competition. And it was also the last, because after I won the contest, they removed it from the repertoire list. There were people out there who thought that it was wrong to win a competition by not playing Beethoven or Rachmaninoff or something.”
The prejudices of the classical music world, and indeed in all human endeavors, are unfortunately not lost on Buechner. Gershwin, whose music she has since championed through two albums and countless concert programs, is just one example. And perhaps a secondary one at that. More significantly, during Buechner’s gender transition in the late 1990s, the heady upward trajectory that she had experienced as David Buechner quickly began to stall.
As she wrote in a 2015 piece titled “Transgender Today” in the New York Times, changing her outward appearance to mirror her inner self “came at heavy cost to a busy concert schedule that shrank to nothing, a New York conservatory position that was taken away, and a mantle of respect in the United States that vanished.” She moved to Canada, where she found the personal freedom and professional acceptance that was not yet forthcoming in America.
Although broader changes in attitudes haven’t nearly been as swift, comprehensive or sustained as she might hope, Buechner did return to the U.S. and set down roots in Philadelphia. Growing acceptance led to university
faculty positions and performance opportunities as well as a new status as an LGBTQ+ spokesperson.
This weekend, amid a longer string of concert dates that will bring her to New York, the American Southwest and Japan, she performs Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Spokane Symphony under Morihiko Nakahara’s baton. And she has a very strong mind regarding how it ought to be played.
“In the space of two weeks, [Gershwin] turned this out a couple of pages a day at his kitchen table. And the first part of the piece that he started to write down was right towards the end, this kind of stretto thing with furious repeated notes, which he took the rhythm from the sound of subway trains.”
Then, Buchner explains, he added “a musical tribute to metropolitan madness, as he called it,” which captured the emotional wallop of seeing “skyscrapers going up in Manhattan... zeppelins and biplanes, player pianos and the radio.”
“You have to think of all those elements that Gershwin himself put into it as a composer. I mean, it’s incredible genius. And it’ll never happen again. It’s like The Rite of Spring or The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. So when I talk about conveying that to an audience, well, I guess I’m mostly thinking about making sure that it’s really exciting. It has to be played quickly.”
Rhapsody in Blue is just one part of this Masterworks concert program that concentrates exclusively on the work of American composers, two of whom are still active. As a possible sign of the classical music community’s increasing eagerness to challenge some of its lingering taboos, several pieces besides the Gershwin draw inspiration from jazz and beyond.
The “Celebration Overture” that kicks off the concert debuted as recently as 2022 and was composed by the orchestra’s own Greg Yasinitsky, a contemporary saxophonist known for his work with Clark Terry, David Sanborn and the Jazz Education Network All Stars Big Band. Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Concertino Cusqueño” weaves together an ancient Peruvian religious tune with a motif from Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto.
Harking back to the last century, American masters like John Adams and Leonard Bernstein are represented through The Chairman Dances and Fancy Free, respectively.
The percussive Adams piece imagines People’s Republic of China founder Mao Zedong and his wife dancing a foxtrot together. Fancy Free is a ballet that Bernstein co-created with choreographer Jerome Robbins about sailors on shore leave in New York City during World War II. The suite’s prologue, “Big Stuff,” was originally written for jazz legend Billie Holiday.
Nakahara says that the common thread among all five works is a unique incorporation of rhythm.
“Bernstein had a knack for writing catchy tunes. West Side Story is very indicative of that. But also he was very witty when it comes to rhythm. His music grooves in an interesting way,” he says.
“But, really, the whole program showcases how inventive, appealing and diverse ‘American classical music’ is. Even though we sometimes tend to mentally separate popular music versus classical music, there’s always some kind of connection between classical composers and the popular music and culture of their time, reaching back to Mozart and Brahms and so on, right? When we look at 20th-century and 21st-century American music, that’s no exception.” n
Masterworks 3: An American Celebration • Sat, Nov. 2 at 7:30 pm and Sun, Nov. 3 at 3 pm • $21-$72 • The Fox Theater • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. foxtheaterspokane.org • 509-624-1200
Pianist Sara Davis Buechner has always loved Gershwin.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FOX THEATER
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Capture the Flag
Gen Heywood’s photography exhibition at Gonzaga University Urban Art Center explores the potency of two American icons
BY CARRIE SCOZZARO
It’s a scary time of year, but not because of Halloween. Looming large in our collective consciousness is Election Day, Nov. 5, which this year is especially fraught, regardless of your party affiliation. Democracy on the ballot, Americans polarized like never before — we’ve all heard the rhetoric.
Is there anything we can agree on?
The flag, says photographer Gen Heywood, whose exhibition “The Pledge of Allegiance” runs through Nov. 30 at Gonzaga University’s Urban Art Center in downtown Spokane.
The flag and the Pledge of Allegiance are “two icons all of us hold as ours,” she adds.
Heywood’s series of 12 black-and-white photographs is modest in size, yet hugely powerful. She juxtaposes local imagery involving the American flag, some of them overt but others deliberately ambiguous, against a word or several words from the Pledge of Allegiance.
A particularly ironic image is of Colville/Arrow Lakes artist Virgil “Smoker” Marchand’s steel sculpture of a tribal warrior atop a horse lifting up a peace pipe. A tattered flag flies behind the sculpture, which is located at the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Warrior Veterans Memorial and Memorial Park. Heywood titled her photo “Justice.”
“For Which It Stands” is a somber image: a small flag poked in the ground among gravestones at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake, while “One Nation” is poignant in a different way. It shows a brown-skinned woman in an elaborately embroidered headscarf at a citizenship swearing-in ceremony. She is framed by a flag on the left and a U.S. marshal on her right, in between her and the judge presiding over the proceedings, suggesting authoritarian power — the uniform, the gun, the macho man in mirror sunglasses — but also the commitment to ensuring newly minted citizens are safeguarded.
The marshal was actually there to protect the judge, Heywood says, but multiple interpretations are not only possible but welcomed.
“Art has a chance, if we give it a chance, to help us reach beyond communication and words,” Heywood says. Using photography to promote reflection and communication is an extension of her ministry, says Heywood, who has served as pastor of Veradale United Church of Christ since 2014.
“We’re a very diverse group, where ‘all’ really means all,” Heywood says. “Not only are you welcome here, you are welcome to be honest here and honest about who you
are and where you are on your spiritual journey.”
Heywood often pairs her photographs with the hymns sung at Veradale United Church of Christ.
“Putting the hymns with the images that are local, that describe what is being sung in the hymns just adds a deeper reflection to what we’re talking about,” says Heywood, who has also freelanced for The Fig Tree newspaper and still contributes to the nonprofit Spokane Faith and Values (FĀVS News).
Heywood’s reverence for the flag and her interest in photography both date to childhood.
“It must have been Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom or the Disney nature shows that made it so that I wanted to do photography,” says Heywood, whose first camera was a Kodak Instamatic.
“The important part of a camera like that is you really have to think before you take the picture because you only
got 12 or 24 images that you can take,” Heywood says.
While Heywood fine-tuned her compositional skills as a child, she also learned respect for the flag, both as a public school student and at home. Her father, an Air Force veteran and later a police officer, installed a flagpole in front of the family residence and taught his children flag etiquette.
Enshrined into law in 1943, the U.S. Flag Code notes that the flag should never “be used as wearing apparel, bedding or drapery” and damaged flags should be disposed of properly.
A weather-beaten flag is precisely what inspired “The Pledge of Allegiance” series, Heywood says.
For an image she titled, “Indivisible,” Heywood captured an unassuming little flag, the kind you might get at a parade or buy in a convenience store, attached to a dowel and zip-tied to a post.
It’s severely battered, “but the union is solid,” Hey-
“Justice” contrasts the Stars and Stripes with this sculpture by Colville/Arrow Lakes artist Virgil “Smoker” Marchand. PHOTOS COURTESY GEN HEYWOOD
wood says, using the formal name for the dark blue field and nine rows of white stars that represent the not-always United States of America.
Her first idea for the series was an exhibit around the words, “Can this be mended?” She now envisions “The Pledge of Allegiance” as a traveling exhibit, perhaps including attendees’ responses to the imagery.
Heywood has been working with Gonzaga University Professor Kristine F. Hoover, a past director of the Gonzaga Center for the Study of Hate, where in 2023, Heywood spoke about the work of faith leaders and leaders of conscience using the arts to break through societal divisions in the Pacific Northwest, she says.
“And I think about that for our nation,” she adds. “How can we mend our relationships, and mend our civility, and mend our union?” n
The Pledge of Allegiance • Through Nov. 30; open Fri 4-7 pm and Sat 10 am-3 pm
• Free • Gonzaga University Urban Arts Center • 125 S. Stevens St. gonzaga.edu/gonzaga-university-urban-arts-center
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Session begins 6 PM 1 PM
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FRI Regular Session – Go Nutz 4 Bingo Drawings
SAT Matinee Session
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FRI Regular Session
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Another photo from Heywood’s “Pledge of Allegiance” series.
GHOST TOWNS GHOST TOWNS
Long Gone and Almost Forgotten
As early settlers flocked to the American West to extract the land’s rich resources, small towns spread across the landscape. Pre-automobile, residents of these newly inhabited places needed amenities like stores, schools, doctors, churches, train depots and more.
But when those natural resources — timber, ore, water — eventually dried up, people left. Buildings and other evidence of human habitation slowly crumbled back into the ground, dying a slow death at nature’s hand.
Here in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, not many “ghost towns” with structures still standing exist, which was the top criteria for the places featured in this collection. While we discovered many other fascinating ghost towns across the Pacific Northwest, we also limited our coverage to places no more than a three-hour drive from Spokane.
We reported these stories by visiting each place in person, as well as scouring the archives of the Spokane Public Library’s Northwest Room. A couple of the towns featured were much easier to research than others. Burke, for example, was richly photographed and documented. Others proved more challenging.
If you decide, after reading this issue, to visit any of these places yourself, remember to be respectful. Areas surrounding these former towns are actually still inhabited, giving less credence to the “ghost town” categorization. Some sites are on private property. (Trespassing is not only illegal but potentially dangerous!)
Feel free to take plenty of photos, but don’t leave any trace you were there, as a proper ghost should do.
— CHEY SCOTT, Inlander Editor
ESTABLISHED: 1887
DECLINE: Burke’s last mine, the Hecla Star, closed in 1991. There are still numerous occupied residences through Burke Canyon.
LOCATION: Shoshone County, Idaho
DISTANCE FROM SPOKANE: 87 miles; 1.5 hours
STRUCTURES REMAINING: Multiple large structures at the Star Mine and a handful of brick buildings along the highway.
ABOVE: Burke, Idaho, in 1892.
SPOKANE PUBLIC LIBRARY PHOTO
LEFT: Empty mine buildings, a few former stores and splintered railroad ties are all that’s left today.
Burke, Idaho
Wedged between mountains, the Silver Valley mine town’s history of rich resources still echoes down the canyon
BY CHEY SCOTT
Crammed in a narrow canyon of North Idaho’s Silver Valley, in perhaps one of the most inconvenient but also beautiful places for a hub of human habitation, are the rusted remains of a once-lively mountain mine town.
Among the most famous ghost towns of the Inland Northwest, Burke has long attracted seekers of fortune, adventure and even the supernatural. Rich deposits of silver and lead were first discovered there in the 1880s, spurring a rapid boom of mining and development, the remnants of which still linger in decay.
Looming on the steep east slope of Burke Canyon is the most striking reminder of its reputation as one of the Silver Valley’s richest mining hubs. The towering, deteriorating buildings of brick, concrete and sheet metal, some connected by covered catwalks, were once the site of the Hecla Star Mine, which closed in 1991. Behind a tall chain link fence topped with barbed wire is the place where thousands of miners once embarked deep underground to undertake the arduous and unforgiving physical labor of hardrock mining.
The canyon was once home to three mines operating simultaneously, the Hecla (later named Hecla Star), Tiger-Poorman and Hercules. It’s from these rich deposits that many of Spokane’s wealthiest early families — Campbell, Clark, Finch, Hutton and Paulsen — made their fortunes.
While several residences along the winding canyon road are still occupied, a lone two-story wooden house collapsing on a forested hill can be spotted from the road near the Star Mine’s south end. Farther down the extremely narrow road once shared by trains, cars, wagons and pedestrians (Burke’s Tiger Hotel even famously straddled the railroad tracks) are a few more boarded-up buildings. These crumbling, singlestory brick structures are all that remains of what once was the Morrow Retail Store, its painted signage barely perceptible, and a post office. A steep, rocky hillside behind is still pierced by the rotting splinters of wooden railroad ties.
In its heyday, Burke was abuzz with activity.
A wealth of historic photos depict a town filled with shops and homes, a stately multistory school, a baseball field, and even a public swimming pool built by Hecla Mining Company for area families to enjoy.
By the late 1940s, as described in The Silver Valley (Images of America), a book compiled by the Historic Wallace Preservation Society, Burke had at least eight bars, plus separate clothing stores for men and women, barber and beauty shops, a grocer, churches, a theater, and several restaurants.
As with countless towns in the American West, however, Burke was also familiar with tragedy and unrest.
In 1892, labor tensions came to a head due to pay disputes and several area mines’ hiring of replacement workers during a union strike. During a gunfight down the canyon from Burke at the Frisco mine and mill, after union miners discovered a spy in their ranks, a box of dynamite exploded and killed six. Tensions boiled up again in 1899, and this time the Bunker Hill Mine in Wardner was targeted. A train set out from Burke, picking up more union miners and loads of dynamite along the way before detonating their payload at the mine. The U.S. military responded to both incidents.
Deadly avalanches, fires and floods also plagued Burke over the years, destroying buildings, homes, and taking lives.
According to U.S. Census records, the town’s population peaked at about 1,400 in 1910, yet steadily declined in the decades to follow. By 1990, only 15 residents were counted. While more recent census data doesn’t specifically list Burke’s population, the canyon north of Wallace is still sparsely inhabited even if the town itself is no more.
An eerie emptiness is palpable in the long shadows of the mountains and abandoned mine site. Aside from a glimpse at its faded past, some visitors to Burke seek a brush with the supernatural.
Spokane-based paranormal investigator Amanda Paulson (she’s on all social media platforms as prettyfnspooky) has been to the storied canyon numerous times.
“In terms of the paranormal, there is absolutely stuff going on out there,” Paulson says of the whole area around Burke and nearby Wallace. “I do think there are a lot of different phenomena happening out there. But I also feel extremely protective of it. But being online, when I’m protective of something I want to actually put eyes on it, and have a lot of other people care about it, too, because I think we can protect resources like that.” n
Editor’s Note: A four-year project by the Environmental Protection Agency to remove heavy metals-contaminated soil from the Hecla Star Mine complex is currently underway (estimated completion is late 2026) and access to Burke is limited. Potential visitors are asked to be mindful of ongoing work, including increased truck traffic, along the narrow canyon road during the construction season (May-Nov.). An EPA spokesperson says efforts are being made to minimize impacts to the historic structures while achieving cleanup goals.
ESTABLISHED: 1889
DECLINE: Govan’s school closed in 1942, about 15 years after fire destroyed much of the town’s business district and began its decline. As of 2019, it had three residents.
LOCATION: Lincoln County, Washington
DISTANCE FROM SPOKANE: 65 miles; 1.5 hours
ORIGINAL STRUCTURES REMAINING: The dilapidated Govan Schoolhouse
Govan, Washington
A railroad put this Lincoln County community on the map, but a 1927 fire set its demise in motion
BY COLTON RASANEN
I’ve driven past many dilapidated buildings in my life. Houses wilting from weather wear. Barns bursting at the seams. Garages that are one blow from caving in.
Though I’ve noticed them often, I’ve never taken the time to think of the history of these run-down places. That will likely change after visiting Govan, a tiny ghost town in northeast Lincoln County.
The most recognizable and only remaining evidence that a town ever existed there is a schoolhouse skeleton, easily spotted while driving along North Govan Road between School House Road and East Bruce Road.
The small building is entirely made of wood that’s slowly rotting from decades of rain and wind, transforming its once-tiled roof into an “openconcept” ceiling. Rust-colored splotches are all that’s left of the once bright red exterior. The steeple bell tower topping the entranceway collapsed sometime in the last decade, making me wonder how much longer before the deteriorating building crumples into a pile of wood.
After visiting Govan, I now think back to all those buildings I’ve seen and wonder what history they represent, too.
Like many towns throughout the Pacific Northwest, Govan sprung to life as a railroad stopover between what’s now Wilbur and Almira. After the Central Washington Railway was built in 1889, the depot was named for railroad construction engineer R. B. Govan. A post office was
Based on its current state, the Govan Schoolhouse probably doesn’t have many more years left. ERICK DOXEY PHOTOS
established at Govan that same year, however, the town wouldn’t see any significant action for another year until the construction business Wood, Larsen & Company chose to build its headquarters there due to the area’s natural resources.
According to Lincoln County: A Lasting Legacy, a 1988 history written by Donald E. Walter, “The discovery of a large sandbank in the area in the autumn of 1890 created a boomtown atmosphere as a crew of workmen, complete with steam shovel, extracted sand for the railroad construction.”
Shortly before the turn of the century, Govan experienced plenty of change. The post office moved in 1898 into a general merchandise store owned by Almon J. Smith, also the town’s first postmaster. That year Govan also grew from just a railroad depot to a small town with a handful of merchants and 76 residents, Walter reports. For the next decade it continued to expand thanks to its role as a railroad grain shipping hub. By 1909, its population hit 115.
“Listed as part of the community were the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, one grain elevator and several warehouses, two general stores, two hardware stores, a drug store, saloon, hotel and public school,” Walter writes.
Area children began to attend the two-teacher Govan School after it was built in 1905. The school closed in 1942, however, when Govan was consolidated with the Wilbur School District.
Though much of the ghost town’s history revolves around its rapid growth and decline, Govan is also infamous for multiple unsolved murders. In 1902, the town’s judge J.A. Lewis and his wife, Penelope, were slain with an ax. At the time, The Wilbur Register called it the “most brutal crime ever committed in this county.”
Then in 1903, less than four months later, a masked gunman entered the Govan Saloon and killed a man. Though a suspect was arrested and tried for the crime but never convicted, according to Lincoln County: A Lasting Legacy.
Four decades later, a former mail carrier, Lillie L. Lesnett was murdered at her farm in 1941. Lesnett’s son also disappeared around the time of the murder, and in 1948 his skeleton was identified a mile south of the farm.
Govan’s population decline began in the late 1920s after a large fire ripped through the town, leaving behind only the school, two warehouses, a garage and a handful of homes.
“Fires in 1904 and 1909 had destroyed individual Govan homes and businesses, but a major blaze in 1927 nearly wiped out the town’s business district,” Walter writes. “Four warehouses, one grain elevator, the Northern Pacific depot, stores, the post office, the hotel, a church, homes, and three freight cars loaded with wheat were burned.”
In total, the damage was estimated at about $100,000 (about $1.81 million today). The grain elevator and warehouses were rebuilt, but many businesses that burned down did not reopen.
After the construction of U.S. Route 2 in 1933 bypassed the town, the Govan General Store, which housed the post office, was the only retail business left in town by 1940. It shuttered in 1967 when mail service was transferred to Wilbur. By 1987, only six homes in Govan were occupied.
Today, all that’s left of the Lincoln County ghost town are a few inhabited and uninhabited buildings, the dilapidated, yet picturesque schoolhouse, and a history of grisly, unsolved murders. n
Not much remains inside the Govan Schoolhouse, either.
GHOST TOWNS GHOST TOWNS
Elberton, Washington
This picturesque Palouse town thrived from agriculture and timber, but died out as nearby resources did
BY AZARIA PODPLESKY
Idon’t realize it until I’m standing at the base of the steps of the United Brethren Church in Elberton, but I’ve made the hourlong drive from Spokane to the Whitman County ghost town on a Sunday.
I can’t help then but visualize what an average Sunday would have looked like in the town’s heyday. I picture children running around the church grounds, full of energy after sitting through a service. Maybe they jumped on the crunchy yellow leaves or, in summer, perhaps they slipped off their church shoes before dipping their toes in the nearby Palouse River.
The adults likely mingled after service, perhaps discussing the three-day Elberton Picnic, which was held annually from 1893 to 1924. The event was said to rival county fairs and featured “dancing, horse racing, balloon ascension, baseball playing and outdoor sports of various kinds,” according to “The History of Elberton” by Weiber Leid and Guy Irwin, included in the 1957 book The History of Colfax, Washington by Taber Lafollette.
I think about the sermons shared, the songs sung, the prayers whispered in the church week after week while walking around the building, which also doubled as the town’s school. Were the windows not all boarded up, I wouldn’t have been surprised if people started leaving the still-sturdy building as I wander around.
Prior to the town’s existence, the site of what would become Elberton was already known to those in the area because of the water-powered sawmill built by Giles D. Wilbur in the 1870s.
The following decade saw a rail line through the valley built by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co., which connected the area to Portland, Spokane, Walla Walla and Coeur d’Alene. Some time after the rail line’s completion, the future town site was acquired from the government by a man named C.D. Wilbur. The land eventually ended up in the hands of S.M. Wait, who named the town after his deceased son, Elbert, in 1886.
Wait surveyed the town into streets and lots, and, according to Leid and Irwin’s account, “before long a village sprung up… near the spot where the bones of deceased aborigones [sic] were wont to be laid to rest.”
By the 1890s, fruit trees were planted in Elberton as a major crop source. A fruit drier belonging to W.K. Allen — at the time it was believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, able to handle 1,800 bushels per day — brought more interest to the town.
At its peak, Elberton included the United Brethren Church, two general merchandise stores, a drug store, hardware store, two blacksmith shops, a wagon shop, meat market, hotel and bar, two livery stables, a flouring mill and post office. By the new century, more than 400 people called the town home.
In the following years, however, Elberton started to decline. Wilbur’s sawmill moved to Idaho after all the nearby timber was cut. The city experienced a fire in 1908 and severe flooding in 1910.
The 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression put two more nails in the town’s coffin, and Elberton was practically a ghost town in the 1950s. Its remaining residents voted to disincorporate in 1966, and, as of 2022, it’s said about 15 people still live in the area.
Just past the old church, a trail leads to an abandoned train trestle that traverses the river. I’m sure more than a few brave souls have crept over the rotting logs to the other side, but standing at its edge, still firmly supported by solid ground, is enough for me.
It’s a peaceful place, and with the sun shining and the river flowing, it’s easy to see why people were attracted to Elberton.
As Leid and Irwin wrote, “Its location is beautiful and picturesque, it being surrounded by gently sloping hills, covered originally in pine and fir trees, giving it a peculiar charm.” n
ABOVE: The United Brethern Church has been empty for years. AZARIA PODPLESKY PHOTO
Cloverland, Washington
The only original building left in this briefly booming orchard town in Asotin County is its well-preserved garage
BY AZARIA PODPLESKY
Though a sign on Washington State Route 129 points you in the right direction, driving the nearly 12 miles along Cloverland Road to arrive at the Cloverland Garage in Asotin County can make you feel like you’re, well, chasing ghosts.
I drive past acre after acre of farmland, yet see no tractors, trucks or people working — just the land. No one is behind me, and I don’t see a single car traveling in the opposite direction.
Surely this can’t be right, I think. Imagine my surprise, then, when I finally arrive at the garage and see signs of life.
ESTABLISHED: 1902
ing. As I walk toward the garage to take photos, a man who lives across the road says goodbye to his dogs before getting into his truck and driving away. He waves to me while passing, likely trying both to be friendly and to make sure I’m not up to something.
DECLINE: Peaked in 1910, but still home to a handful of residents
LOCATION: Asotin County, Washington
DISTANCE FROM SPOKANE: 128 miles; 2.5 hours
ORIGINAL STRUCTURES REMAINING: Cloverland Garage
A group of children are playing near the tiny Pioneer Baptist Church, a short walk from the historic garage build-
The garage is the last remnant of the town’s beginnings more than a century ago.
Cloverland was platted March 11, 1902, by the Asotin Land and Irrigation Company’s president, George H. Kester, and secretary Jackson O’Keefe. Prior to Cloverland though, the area was simply known as Lake when settlers selected homesites there in the mid-1880s.
In Cloverland’s first year, between 600 and 700 acres were purchased and used for apple orchards.
The 122-year-old Cloverland Garage is on the National Register of Historic Places. AZARIA PODPLESKY PHOTO
“Something like twenty houses have gone up, with one store and hall and a splendid school house in addition,” describes a 1906 account in An Illustrated History of Southeastern Washington including Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin Counties, published by the Western Historical Publishing Company.
The garage was originally built by brothers Benjamin and Henry Howard, who called it Howard’s Hall. A glance at a 1986 National Register of Historic Places application for the garage reveals its varied history.
The building hosted a few dances in January 1903 before being sold and turned into a general store called Florance and Company. Its owner, Edward Florance, and his family lived in the second-story apartment above.
The building soon became the town’s post office, and in 1904, the area’s first telephone service shared the space. The next year, James Florance teamed up with Jack Morrow to establish Florance and Morrow, a general mercantile.
Soon after, in 1906, An Illustrated History of Southeastern Washington predicted “considerable future advancement” for the Cloverland area based on its “great activity” and “enterprises.”
In 1910, William Gute bought the store. Like Edward Florance, Gute and his family lived upstairs. Although competition between the town’s two stores cut into his profits, Gute sponsored dances, live music and community parties in the space, which became known as Gute’s Hall.
On the garage’s historic registry application, prepared by thenproperty owner Juanita Walter Therrell, it’s estimated that Cloverland’s population peaked in 1910, when the census showed 400 residents.
“The settlement era was coming to an end; the thousands and thousands of fruit trees had hit bedrock destroying the dream of [Asotin County secretary] Jackson O’Keefe,” the application states. “Only the settlers able to purchase larger amounts of land were able to sustain a living.”
Still, there was life left in Cloverland thanks to the arrival of the automobile. Resident Fred Walter had earned a diploma from the Hillcrest Automobile Driving School in San Diego, “certifying that he was capable of operating and caring for any automobile.”
In 1918, Walter bought Gute’s Hall and transformed it into Cloverland Garage, where he offered a gas pump and ordered and serviced vehicles for people. When business at the garage had slowed, the second-story apartment was used for five winters in the 1930s to house mothers and their school-age children who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to reach the area’s school in the snow.
Almost a century later, the garage is still cared for. Nearly all the windows remain intact, and a peek inside a front window reveals a clean, simple room with empty shelves and a long counter that stretches from one end of the room to the other.
Cloverland may not be the promising town it was over a century ago, but the Cloverland Garage, as ever, remains part of this tiny rural community. n
More Lonely Locales
There are dozens more ghost towns across the Pacific Northwest, including these four nearby spots
BY CHEY SCOTT
Hanford and White Bluffs, Washington
To make way for Hanford Nuclear Site’s construction in 1943, about 1,500 residents in and around the towns of Hanford and White Bluffs along the Columbia River were forced out of their homes. One of few remnants of pre-WWII life there is Hanford High School, now little more than a concrete shell. Free, seasonal tours of the historic area are offered through the U.S. Department of Energy and include stops at the old school and a handful of other buildings. Learn more at tours.hanford.gov/historictours.
Molson, Washington
Near the U.S.-Canadian border and more than four hours from Spokane, Molson still boasts plenty of historic buildings from its heyday as a mining outpost. Serving as sort of an open-air museum, the town’s bank, a homesteader cabin, general store and old schoolhouse (now a museum) are still being preserved as windows to the past.
Bodie, Washington
About 30 miles southeast of Molson, Bodie is another remnant of the mining industry’s boom and bust; it was originally established by gold prospectors. Several deteriorating wooden structures still litter the landscape, including a two-story former school and log cabin.
Fishtrap, Washington
Just 30 miles west of Spokane, many outdoor enthusiasts today know Fishtrap as the home of the Fishtrap Recreation Area. The 9,000acre public site, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, boasts plentiful wildlife and scenery as part of Eastern Washington’s Channeled Scablands. One remnant of Fishtrap’s old days is the abandoned Folsom farmstead site. At its peak around the start of the 20th century, the town once counted a post office, train station and resort. It was named for the nearby Fishtrap Lake, where the region’s Indigenous people frequently harvested fish. n
Shown here circa 1910, Cloverland once flourished as an orchard town. WASHINGTON RURAL HERITAGE / ASOTIN COUNTY MUSEUM PHOTO
Hanford High School in 1925. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The old Folsom Farm at Fishtrap. BLM PHOTO
GHOST TOWNS GHOST TOWNS
Sherman, Washington
Tucked amid rolling fields is the well-kept remnant of a town that began to decline shortly after its founding in the 1880s
BY COLTON RASANEN
ESTABLISHED: 1888
DECLINE: Beginning in 1905, when the Sherman post office closed
LOCATION: Lincoln County, Washington
DISTANCE FROM SPOKANE: 56 miles; 1.3 hours
ORIGINAL STRUCTURES REMAINING: A well-maintained church and cemetery
It’s a sunny Monday as I drive out to Sherman, one of Lincoln County’s few ghost towns. I head west on U.S. Route 2 from Spokane for about an hour before reaching the small town of Creston. After passing through its core, I take a right on North Mt. View Road.
Almost immediately my car begins to leave a continuous plume of dust in my wake, and eventually the pavement turns to gravel. I continue on the hilly road for about 10 minutes, when I finally reach Sherman. The only signs a town once stood here are a well-preserved church and a cemetery.
Once I make it up the long driveway to the church, I’m met with a stark white structure that looks almost as if divine intervention has protected it from the seasons. The building’s exterior is peppered with arched windows, including one above the entryway filled with stained glass in the primary colors.
The cemetery, which was founded in 1892, is directly behind the church. A long chain-link fence surrounds the relatively small patch of green grass and its thriving trees that sit quietly among the surrounding miles of yellow and gold agricultural land. There have to be at least 100 plots in the cemetery, and each has been lovingly cared for over the years by a caretaker from the Sherman Cemetery Association, despite the rust-colored stains on many of the oldest headstones.
In 1880 people began to settle in this area and continued to do so for nearly a decade before establishing the town. At the time it was platted by George Sherman in August 1888, the town had only three streets: Douglas, Lincoln and Sherman.
George Sherman, who, like many of the town’s first inhabitants, migrated from Virginia, also served as the first postmaster, according to An Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country, a huge historical book by Arthur P. Rose and Richard F. Steele.
“For fourteen years, he was the obliging and popular postmaster and in addition to these duties continued to improve his farm and handle his merchandise,” Rose and Steele wrote. “He is now one of the wealthy men and has the confidence and good will of all.”
At the time, Sherman only had a post office, blacksmith shop and a few residences. Later it added shops, a sawmill, church and cemetery, and a schoolhouse. The town began to decline less than two decades after it was platted when the post office closed in 1905. Rural postal delivery began in Wilbur, so service in Sherman was discontinued.
Though the town eventually faded away, the Sherman Presbyterian Church hasn’t been forgotten. Complete with a conical steeple, the building is coated in what looks like a fresh coat of bright white paint. An original stairway entrance remains, but a newer wheelchair ramp is also affixed to the building as further evidence it’s still used by the surrounding community.
Some of the adjacent Sherman Cemetery’s plots are even yet to be occupied. Among the ornate headstones are those pre-engraved with only a name and birth date, but no date of death. Small American flags and all types of faux flowers scattered throughout the graveyard rustle in the breeze. A Memorial Day celebration is still held here every year.
Some of the oldest graves are a reminder that Sherman boomed during a time when infant mortality was nearly 10 times higher than today. Flanking mother Annie Robertson’s headstone, which notes her death in 1910, are her two sons: Archie David, who died in his first year, and Wesley, who died less than a month after his birth.
While a few other graves for infants and toddlers are scattered throughout the cemetery, many memorialize those who experienced long, full lives in and around this Eastern Washington ghost town. Their memories, like the few other remnants of Sherman, remain today thanks to those who continue taking the time to preserve the past. n
The Sherman Presbyterian Church is still used today. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO
Curry, Por Favor
Indicana brings Indian-Mexican fusion to South Perry
BY DORA SCOTT
On a recent sunny October day, a couple strolling through Spokane’s South Perry District suddenly stops. They’ve happened upon the grand opening of the neighborhood’s much-anticipated new restaurant, Indicana. The man reads the menu posted outside, calling out to his partner, “I’ll meet you there!” while she walks on ahead to their original destination.
Like many, he’s intrigued by Indicana’s uncommon pairing of Indian and Mexican cuisine.
Indicana is the brainchild of Noreen Hiskey, who last ran the local pop-up food vendor Inland Curry, and Chip Overstreet, Spiceology’s former CEO. Plans for the restaurant began forming nearly two years ago while Hiskey
was running Inland Curry’s Thursday pop-up meals out of Feast World Kitchen in downtown Spokane.
“My husband was one of the influences, when he first came to India,” Hiskey says while explaining Indicana’s Indian-Mexican fusion concept.
“He would take the paratha [Indian flatbread] … and he would lay it in burrito-style and just wrap it up, whereas all of us were just scooping it up,” she says.
To make her home country’s flavors more accessible for others, Hiskey added the taco-inspired dish to Inland Curry’s menu. Her husband’s unintentional food hack was a big hit.
“My family, we loved her food because she wasn’t
just relying on those six or eight traditional British-Indian foods,” her business partner Overstreet says, also mentioning chicken butter masala and the lamb saag as examples of Northern Indian cuisine that a Western palate is more familiar with.
“She was always exploring the different regions of India and bringing different types of food every week. My whole family loved it… except for my son,” Overstreet says. “My youngest, he would complain bitterly on Thursdays because he would just prefer to eat burgers and pasta.”
One Thursday, however, Hiskey packed Overstreet and his son something special to try. At first glance, it looked like two tacos, but on further inspection it was tender pork vindaloo sandwiched between paratha.
Overstreet’s picky son didn’t leave a single bite behind.
“‘Why do you suddenly love this?’” Overstreet recalls asking his child. “It was pretty clear. The food was presented in a familiar form, and it got my brain spinning.”
“Nobody in the U.S. has done it,” he continues, noting that the only other restaurant similar to Indicana he’s discovered is in Mexico City.
Indicana’s banana leaf-wrapped salmon served with coconut stew and sticky rice. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
While she ran Inland Curry as a pop-up for four years, Hiskey had always wanted to start her own full-service restaurant. So when Overstreet approached her with the business idea, they immediately started putting their plan into action.
Going from pop-ups and catering to running her own brick-and-mortar spot, Hiskey had to carefully consider the restaurant’s ambience along with the long list of other things that come with starting a small business.
When looking at photos of India and Mexico for design references, sometimes it was hard for her to distinguish the two. Both countries embrace vibrant colors and use similar patterns and textures. Indicana balances the two distinct cultures with colorful cushions, woven wall art and rattanstyle light fixtures.
“We didn’t want to try and overdo it,” Overstreet says. “We wanted it to be simple and let the food do the talking.”
And, boy, it has a lot to say. Indicana’s fusion doesn’t simply come from form, but highlights the flavors of both countries in creative ways.
Since moving from India to the United States 15 years ago, Hiskey says Mexican food has been one of her go-tos.
“I think I eat Mexican cuisine the most since I moved here because it’s the most familiar,” she says. “I like the foods, I like the braises, I like the spice, and I like the salsa.”
She began learning more about Mexican cuisine from other chefs, her friend’s abuela, and a plethora of cookbooks. As she discovered, the flavor profiles and ingredients used in Indian and Mexican cuisine are also very similar, partly due to their colonial history.
When people consider India’s history of colonization, they may think of the British Empire. However, Hiskey says Portugal colonized parts of India for centuries starting in 1505, and introduced ingredients like chili peppers.
After months of testing recipes in her home kitchen with Overstreet, family, friends and other culinary professionals giving feedback, Hiskey says she finally settled on the menu for Indicana.
“Lunch is much more casual,” says Overstreet, highlighting the tacos ($4) that are served on naan or corn tortillas and hold pork vindaloo, two masala varieties, or crispy cauliflower battered in a chili-garlic sauce with ginger.
“Then, dinner is more elevated. It’s entrées. It’s banana leaf-wrapped salmon that’s out of this world,” he adds.
The salmon ($36) is his and Hiskey’s favorite dish. Salmon is marinated in Yucatán-style flavors, wrapped in banana leaves, charred on the grill and served with South Indian coconut stew and savory coconut sticky rice.
The cultural blending extends to Indicana’s drink and dessert menus. One nonalcoholic option is the chai ginger soda ($5), with house-made chai and topped with ginger ale and fresh mint.
Other cocktails bring the heat, like the spicy mango margarita ($12) featuring front-of-house manager Jeffrey Kaune’s special habanero tincture.
For the dessert, Hiskey enlisted the help of her friend and local chef Ricky Webster, who helped develop the recipes for Indicana’s chai tres leches ($8) and the flourless Mexican chocolate torte ($10). The lassi panna cotta ($7) from Inland Curry’s old menu shows how fusion can be flexible by throwing other cultures into the mix.
On top of balancing two distinct yet complementary cuisines, Indicana’s menu is inclusive of various diets, offering gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options like the sweet potato enchiladas ($24) topped with a vegan butter masala.
“The goal with creating this menu was always to have something for everyone, so you can come as a group and everyone has a dish that is special and is not just a side,” Hiskey says.
Overstreet summarizes Indicana’s unique fusion experience: “Different things resonate with different people. What is most exciting is when people leave they say, ‘I have to come back because there is so much more.’” n
Indicana owners Noreen Hiskey, left, and Chip Overstreet.
TASTINGS EVERY WEEKEND
11/1 Vino!’s Club Wines 11/8 Guardian Cellars 11/15 Wines for ThanksGiving Dinner
SATURDAY
11/2 Rhone Wines 11/9 American Bubbles 11/16 South African Wines Stags’ Leap Winery
TUES • NOV. 5
SMALL PLATES EVENT AT HOUSE OF BRUNCH
WED • NOV. 6
WINE CLASS AT VINO!
Emma in Paris
Emma Rue’s in downtown Spokane switches to evening hours and Euro-inspired cafe plates
BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM
To most Americans, a cafe is a morning spot with a muffin or donut and an extra large drip coffee or oversized latte. But in Rome or Paris or Budapest, a cafe is a bunch of tables on the sidewalk with a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine and a cigarette.
Emma Rue’s is vying to bring that Old World-style cafe right here to downtown Spokane. (But without the cigarette, OK?)
The popular green velvet lounge that used to be a coffee shop by day and cocktail bar by night officially nixed its morning hours in August. It’s now a nightlife-only joint. Owner Aaron Hein also developed a food menu with the help of local chefs in the area to complement the robust cocktail menu.
The changes help make an evening at the bar more complete — now, you can listen to live jazz, grab a drink and snag dinner all in one place. The shift also distinguishes Emma
Rue’s from its next door neighbor, People’s Waffle, which will now be exclusively in charge of the morning rush.
Food has been part of the vision for Emma Rue’s ever since it opened back in 2021, Hein says. While the restaurant scene slowly recovered from COVID, Hein had to temporarily shift his business model to make ends meet.
But now, he’s bringing the vision back with a vengeance. In an epic season two comeback, the French fries — or, excusezmoi, pomme frites ($9) — are already satisfying the OG fans that fell in love with them on the original Emma Rue’s menu.
But now, more divas are entering the scene. There’s a Mediterranean hummus plate ($12), a prosciutto and brie flatbread ($14), and a duo of duck confit tacos ($15) to keep everyone interested.
And of course, no dinner would be
complete without something sweet. Don’t let the missing pastry case fool you — in-house desserts will be very much available and ready to mingle. Coming soon, there will be a smokin’ creme brulee, a scrumptious pot de creme and a sassy New York cheesecake, which is Hein’s total favorite.
The menu reboot is completely glutenfree, thanks to a shared kitchen with GF-friendly People’s Waffle, but you would never know it. Hein is a self-professed foodie who would never serve anything but gossipworthy dishes.
The espresso machine will still, however, keep its spot on the bar, so you can order an espresso or espresso martini at any point in the evening. Heck, you could even order an after-dinner cappuccino, if you don’t mind deeply offending Italians. This can still be the Wild West if you want it to be.
The focused hours and new food menu give Emma Rue’s a new identity as a onestop spot for all your night out needs.
“The music is low and the chairs are comfy,” Hein says. “Our space is all about building comfort, community and creativity.” n
Emma Rue’s • 17 S. Howard St. • Open Tue-Sat 3 pm-midnight • emmarues.com • 509-703-7389
Emma Rue’s now serves a full food menu alongside its beautiful cocktails. PHOTOS COURTESY AARON HEIN / EMMA RUE’S
ALSO OPENING
FOOD AND COUNTRY
Acclaimed food writer Ruth Reichl drives this documentary, which examines the corporate practices that make running farms, ranches and restaurants economically untenable, as well as what can be done to keep our food system from collapsing. Rated PG At the Magic Lantern
SINGHAM AGAIN
This over-the-top Hindi action blockbuster (the third in the franchise centered on the titular supercop) finds Singham aided by a team of young ace cops as he mirrors the Hinduism epics of the Ramayana while attempting to save his kidnapped wife from terrorists. Not rated
This Is Not My Beautiful House
Here boxes the often AI Tom Hanks and Robin Wright into a shallow corner with no way out
BY CHASE HUTCHINSON
There is a story about how Tom Hanks once fired actor and comedian Connor Ratliff from a small role in the HBO show Band of Brothers for having “dead eyes.” It was something Ratliff turned into a podcast series that culminated in him speaking with Hanks himself. Though the Hollywood icon couldn’t fully remember the firing, the two had a candid chat. One can only wish that Hanks, once concerned about even a small part having dead eyes, had the vision to see what a mawkish misfire of a film Here would be. He might have stopped the AI nightmare before it started. Instead, now the dead eyes are on the other face.
Here, from Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis, is a film that attempts to adapt the more ambitious graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire and loses all its subtle power in the process. It has the same framing device, placing us in one corner of the universe over thousands of years with the main focus being when it’s a house, only to force it into a contrived, conventional story. Where McGuire captured snapshots on a vast canvas that came together into something more unexpectedly profound, Zemeckis merely locks his camera down and makes the rest of the film superficially static along with it. Rather than thrive within the constraints as the graphic
novel did, this adaptation just boxes itself in with its trite characters and a painfully cloying score.
At the center of this is Richard (Hanks), a talented artist who is only one of several to inhabit the Pennsylvania home. His mother, played by a committed Kelly Reilly (of Zemeckis’ last good film Flight), and father, played by an out-of-his-depth Paul Bettany, both have their own struggles as neither ever seems happy with the path they’ve taken. Still, Richard soon falls in love with his high school girlfriend Margaret, played by the always reliable Robin Wright to complete the Forrest Gump reunion, and life begins to quickly unfold before the two AI approximations of teenagers. This takes the form of frames emerging into each other, at times gradually and at others forcefully, as we bounce around through time itself. The film looks in on lovers making inventions, families drifting apart, and the house repeatedly passing hands, leaving a sense that all of the decisions we make are ones that countless others have made before.
Here
Rated PG-13
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly
We come to see joy, pain, regret and loss crashing into each other even while remaining stuck in a singular place. It’s an approach with real promise, even recalling
something like the far superior film The Tree of Life at moments, but Zemeckis is so caught up in the technology of digital de-aging that too much feels stiff. Using AI-assisted technology in a failed attempt to make Hanks and Wright play their characters throughout the film from when they are teenagers onward, the filmmaker robs what should be emotional moments of any impact, reducing it all to feeling like a garish nightmare. Whenever they come in close to the camera or are meant to be emoting, it all takes a plunge so far down the uncanny valley it’s remarkable the whole film doesn’t go to pieces before our eyes. Even when Zemeckis eventually lets the actors be actors, freeing them of the layers of AI he hides them under, we see the multitude of other problems. The changes made from the source material, the biggest surrounding a new family living in the present day and a general pulling back from the future, make sense on paper in order to focus the story, though leave much to be desired in execution. Where McGuire’s sweeping story was more experimental, Zemeckis somehow makes his film both thematically didactic and emotionally underdeveloped. The ideas are there to be molded, though this is not the work with the dexterity to do so. It has such a fundamental lack of ambition that it can’t ever consistently capitalize on the potential of the unique formal approach. Even as it’s a film whose heart may be in the right place, there is just no getting past the dead eyes that betray Here’s complete and utter lack of soul. n
The digital age morphing in Here always feels off.
A Pig in Slop
Grating family comedy Hitpig! is an animated abomination
BY JOSH BELL
Seemingly once or twice a month, an animated movie with a suspiciously impressive voice cast, questionable production values and virtually no marketing opens in a shockingly large number of theaters, only to be gone just as quietly within a week or two. The latest example of this phenomenon is Hitpig!, an abysmal animated comedy very loosely adapted from the 2008 children’s book Pete & Pickles by Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed.
Breathed is credited with the story, but the screenplay comes from Riverdance: The Animated Adventure writers Dave Rosenbaum and Tyler Werrin, and it’s not clear how Breathed’s involvement changed over the decade that the movie spent in various stages of development. Somewhere along the line, Pete the pig morphed into Hitpig (Jason Sudeikis), a leather jacket-clad “pet bounty
confusing rules of Hitpig!’s reality, since the story is a tedious, poorly paced mess, which careens around the world but never goes anywhere. It takes its time getting to the central setup, when Hitpig is hired by a Las Vegas performer known as the Leapin’ Lord (Rainn Wilson) to recapture Pickles, the star of his upcoming show. By that time, Hitpig has already retrieved a radioactive polecat (RuPaul) who escaped from a nuclear power plant and a surly koala (Hannah Gadsby) whom Letícia liberated from a petting zoo.
It’s inevitable that Hitpig and Pickles will become friends and that Hitpig will realize the error of his ways and help Pickles return to her family rather than bring her back to the megalomaniacal Leapin’ Lord. Both characters are so annoying that it’s hard to care about their connection, though, and Pickles in particular is almost willfully stupid, constantly sowing chaos and destruction with blissful ignorance.
There’s a surprising amount of apparent animal death in this cheerfully idiotic movie, but the filmmakers never engage with anything approaching emotional depth, and the glib, recycled humor is at odds with the theoretically serious subject matter. It’s hard to imagine Sudeikis, a talented comedic performer and writer, delivering any of Hitpig’s horrifically unfunny lines without cringing, although perhaps looking at his bank balance made it easier.
hunter” who travels the world in a high-tech rocket-powered van and hunts down escaped animals for money.
Rated PG
Pickles (Lilly Singh) is still an elephant, although she’s now one of Hitpig’s targets, after she’s been rescued from a Las Vegas show by animal-rights activist Letícia dos Anjos (Brazilian pop star Anitta). The mechanics of the movie’s world are never properly defined, so there’s no explanation for why Hitpig wears human clothes and essentially functions as part of human society, while animals like Pickles are kept in captivity and behave more like regular animals. Hitpig can talk to humans, but Pickles can’t — except when she sometimes can, just like the other animals that Hitpig and Letícia fight over.
Hitpig!
Directed by David Feiss & Cinzia Angelini
Starring Jason Sudeikis, Lilly Singh, Rainn Wilson
There are terrible animal-related puns (Hitpig calls his martial-arts move a “pork chop” and references “lipstick on a pig” when he has to disguise himself in drag), random pop culture references (“Say hello to my little friends,” Letícia inexplicably says when introducing her animal companions), and some uncomfortably mean-spirited fat jokes about the Leapin’ Lord. This is the kind of movie that has a polecat deliver a nuclear fart and then say “Exsqueeze me” like the coolest fourth-grader during recess in 1993. Breathed is also credited with character design, but Hitpig!’s aesthetic is atrociously garish, and Hitpig himself looks disturbingly like a haggard middle-aged man, with crow’s feet, bushy eyebrows and bags under his eyes. Production company Aniventure is brazen enough to put its own logo on in-universe cartoon series Super Rooster, but no one should be proud of what has been achieved here.
There’s far too much room to contemplate the
Running a little over 70 minutes before closing credits, Hitpig! feels like a money-laundering operation designed solely to fool overworked parents who’ve already taken their kids to see The Wild Robot and can’t wait a few more weeks for Moana 2. Just like the voice cast, the soundtrack is suspiciously packed with hits, opening with Steppenwolf’s classic “Born to Be Wild.” Never has that overused anthem of raucous rebellion been less accurately applied. n
Hosted by the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society
Presented by Richard Sola
Join us for the story of immigrants who came to Spokane in the early 1900s where they created vibrant neighborhoods that have long since disappeared.
This pig is far from a “hit,” and more something else that rhymes...
NOTHING’S
HEAVY METAL ESSAY
On W.A.S.P. and what it means to be a shock rock band in 2024
BY TAYLOR WARING
I’m watching a pale, androgynous figure gyrate on an oversized, grainy tube TV in 1998. They, along with several white-masked figures, are dancing in front of the same building I know from the first season of Power Rangers. It’s the building from which the floating-headed, space alien guru Zordon commands his army of child soldiers against his immortal space witch enemy, Rita Repulsa. My dad flips the channel away from MTV2, explaining that this Manson guy was just another musician trying to make a career out of pissing parents off.
A few years later, watching VH1, I’m introduced to W.A.S.P. in a similar manner. My dad and I again have a similar, though mildly more nuanced, conversation about shock rock. I won’t think about W.A.S.P. again for close to two decades. The world was already changing after we watched something like a televised national beheading on 9/11: A new age of perpetual shock was being born, screeching into the world like a saw-bladed codpiece through pleather.
“I Wanna Be Somebody, Be Somebody Soon” Rearing its ugly head from the vile womb that was the early ’80s LA hard rock scene, W.A.S.P. emerged in 1982. While the band partook in all the required gender-bending, glam rock accoutrements, the group set itself apart by its edgier subject matter, heavier riffs and wild stage antics. While bands like Motley Crüe and Poison veered hard into the pop-friendly “glam” side of things, W.A.S.P. dove headfirst into shock rock with lust, male power fantasies and a bunch of raw meat in hand.
At the time, Alice Cooper had already been shocking the masses for a decade with his on-stage beheadings and rejections of authority with tracks like “18” and “School’s Out.” David Bowie, for his part, had been challenging gender norms with queer anthems like “Rebel Rebel” and “John, I’m Only Dancing.” Earlier than both of
banding in the early 1990s, the Karen crew clearly lost the war. The artists in their crosshairs were far from harmed. The “Filthy 15” included many of the most prominent artists of the time, ranging from pop icons like Madonna and Prince to black metal pioneers Venom and Mercyful Fate — artists whose legacies far outlived the short, sad life of the PMRC. The ghosts of PMRC may still be sending shivers down our spines — “heretical” forms of personal expression or critique of our white AngloSaxon Protestant culture will always be under attack — but that’s a different hornet’s nest to kick on another day.
“The Torture Never Stops” Electroconvulsive therapy, or shock treatment, is used to treat all sorts of mental illnesses, mostly depressive disorders. A shock of around 100 volts is administered to the patient’s head. The effects are similar to general anesthesia, creating a sort of numbness, and there’s another common side effect, too: retrograde amnesia. The shock erases information that occurs before the event and during it. It’s part of what makes the procedure so effective; this compounds when shocks are administered repeatedly.
Isn’t this how so many of us view the last 20 years of history? A series of suc-
heavy, less extreme, more palatable for the masses. The only true shocks he’s provided in recent memory come via reading the litany of assault allegations leveled against him. As Manson began to fade, so too did shock rock as a virile genre.
“She’s a Lesbo-Nympho Maniac”
Jumping ahead 20 years to 2020, we now have popular songs like Cardi B’s “WAP,” which one might argue is in the tradition of shock — at least as the PMRC might define it. It certainly sent Ben Shapiro into a tizzy with its references to basic female anatomy and autonomy.
SHOCKING
them, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins released tracks like “I Put a Spell on You,” a violent-sounding love song filled with guttural screams that could be thought of as the first head to roll in the genre.
While the base chemicals — cultural critique, horrorleaning theatrics, and heavy music — formed the DNA of shock rock, W.A.S.P. was a new beast. Blending these elements, W.A.S.P. roared onto the national scene with the release of “Animal (F— Like a Beast)” in 1984. Led by frontman Blackie Lawless the band’s live show pushed the limits at the time. Blackie notoriously threw raw meat into the crowd and performatively tortured a naked woman on stage — an act so scandalous it earned the band death threats.
“Animal (F— Like a Beast)” raised the hairs of Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) procensorship crew, earning a place on its “Filthy 15” — a list of tracks that got parental panties in a bunch… which also provided young’uns a place to start if they were looking for music sure to piss off their parents.
While the PMRC won the battle to get Parental Advisory labels on “objectionable” albums before dis-
cessive shocks that have left us relatively numb, blurred together into a vague sense of disorientation and desensitization. We can’t even seem to agree on where we are morally, politically, economically, much less how exactly we got here. Twenty-plus years of shock treatment to the collective unconscious will do that.
“Cause Dead Boys are Martyrs That Live on Forever” Marilyn Manson was, in my estimation, the last great shock rock artist. His industrial-meets-nu-metal strain of shock rock was as indebted to the genre’s history as it was prescient of so many current cultural battles. The mental health crisis and our cultural overmedication. The transgender movement and rejection of established gender norms. Our dependence on technology for dopamine distribution. School shootings.
In many ways, this character — Marilyn Manson — performed by Brian Warner, metaphorically died on 9/11, too. When he released his follow-up to his 2000 post-Columbine album, Holy(Wood), The Golden Age of Grotesque, he did so with a subtle rebrand. Far less shocking, he appeared in a retro, 1920s get-up. The music was less
“WAP” stirred some pots and was a hot topic track for a minute, but a pro-sex feminist anthem isn’t anything we haven’t heard before. Nine of the “Filthy 15” were scrutinized by the PMRC for “sex,” and the majority of those (five) were by female artists. This is to say, they were particularly concerned about policing notions of female sexual empowerment.
To those culture warriors’ absolute displeasure, Chappell Roan has risen to superstardom this year. Glamorous and theatrical, Roan incorporates elements of drag culture, casually sings about receiving oral sex on pop hits, and criticizes hetero-patriarchy in a way that probably makes JD Vance queasy. Maybe sick, even.
But probably not shocked. I don’t even think my grandmother, who made my Dad scratch “Shout at the Devil” off his vinyl with a key, would really be shocked by any of this anymore. Unlike most things these days, shock is one thing in overabundant supply and insufficient demand.
“Never Gonna Quit Before My Time”
By the time I was born, W.A.S.P, led by the gradual moral awakening of Blackie Lawless, had already moved on from trying to shock the world. Death threats will do that to you. I wouldn’t rediscover them until a few years ago, neck deep in curating a heavy metal playlist for lifting weights. The ridiculous, tongue-cheek lyrics definitely drew me in — they’re good for a quick chuckle — but it was the musicianship that kept bringing me back. With his unique, quasi-feral inflection, Lawless was one of the more interesting singers of the time. He brought a certain edge that made Vince Neil and Bret Michaels look like, well, Vince Neil and Bret Michaels. And that’s not to mention the mean-manned twin guitar package that was Chris Holmes and Randy Piper. Blackie Lawless is still leading the pack. While he probably won’t be slinging any raw meat into the crowd, I have it on good authority that there will still be plenty of heavy metal. W.A.S.P. may no longer be so shocking — nothing seems to be in 2024 — but the band is still rocking. All you need to do is bring your own meat. n
W.A.S.P., Armored Saint • Sat, Nov. 2 at 7 pm • $40 • All ages • Knitting Factory • 919 W. Sprague Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com
If you’ve ever been to an EDM show, you know it’s already basically a costume party for adults. The glitter. The wigs. Oftentimes, the outfits are NSFW. As with Halloween, it’s a chance to be someone else — or perhaps a truer version of yourself. With Halloween falling on a Thursday this year, the weekend after is offering the perfect marriage of both with Hallowz Tide, a show where you can rock those unique outfits and dance the night away to dazzling lights. Expect a mix of melodic female vocals and dubstep from the headlining set by Adventure Club, but before that you’ll get some groovy saxophone vibes from SoDown and some heavy bass to get the headbanging going from Bear Grillz.
— SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL
Hallowz Tide: Adventure Club, Bear Grillz, SoDown • Sat, Nov. 2 at 8 pm • $50-$99 • All Ages • The Podium • 511 W. Joe Albi Way • thepodiumusa.com
ORCHESTRAL AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER
Thursday, 10/31
BABY BAR, DJ CA$E THE CHAMELEON, Beyond the Grave Gothic Rave: Eben, Dave Small, Zoozy, IAMTOPP CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds THE DISTRICT BAR, BabyJake, Will Swinton
J J PLACEHOLDER STUDIO, Murder on Third: Vika & The Velvets, The Bed Heads, Tristan Hart Pierce, Timeworm
J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin
J WESTWOOD BREWING CO., Open Mic Night ZOLA, The NIght Mayors
Friday, 11/1
BING CROSBY THEATER, Joanne Shaw Taylor
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Pastiche THE CHAMELEON, Queer-O-Ween
CHAN’S RED DRAGON, Eternal Jones
CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Jason Lucas THE DISTRICT BAR, Dopapod GARDEN PARTY, Storme
J THE GRAIN SHED, Haywire
IRON GOAT BREWING CO., Son of Brad
IRON HORSE (CDA), Gigawatt
JOHN’S ALLEY, Rock with Lyric: General Mojos
J KNITTING FACTORY, Enter Shikari, You Me at Six, Yours Truly MOOSE LOUNGE, Fast Forward MOOSE LOUNGE (NORTH), RCA & The Radicals NIGHT OWL, DJ F3LON
J PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, A.P. Collective RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs
THE RIDLER PIANO BAR, Just Plain Darin
SPOKANE EAGLES LODGE, The Black Jack Band
SPOKANE TRIBE RESORT & CASINO, Soul Proprietor and Austin Carruthers
SPOKANE VALLEY EAGLES, Stagecoach West
ZOLA, The Rub, Silver Smile
Saturday, 11/2
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Pastiche
CHALICE BREWING CO., Son of Brad THE CHAMELEON, Supa Dupa Fly: Halloween Edition
CHAN’S RED DRAGON, DA Blue Notes
CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Jason Lucas
J CREATE ARTS CENTER, Bridges Home
J THE GRAIN SHED, Cedar Compher: Concert & Release Party
INLAND CIDER MILL, Starlite Motel
IRON HORSE (CDA), Gigawatt
JOHN’S ALLEY, Rock with Lyric: No Soap Radio, The Kristie Project
Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the best animated TV shows ever created. Between its incredible world-building, compelling characters and gorgeous animation, the show is virtually perfect. The only thing that could make it better? A live orchestral performance composed and arranged by the show’s original music composer, Jeremy Zuckerman, obviously. The concert featuring a mix of Eastern and Western traditional instruments is accompanied by a two-hour recap of the most memorable moments in the show’s three-season run. Plus, the showing includes original dialogue and sound effects from the TV show, so the orchestra can seamlessly synchronize its sound with each scene.
— COLTON RASANEN
Avatar: The Last Airbender in Concert • Wed, Nov. 6 at 7 pm • $30-$85 • All Ages • First Interstate Center for the Arts • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • firstinterstatecenter.org
J J KNITTING FACTORY, W.A.S.P., Death Angel, Unto Others
J MIKEY’S GYROS, Smokey Brights, The Widow Cameron MOOSE LOUNGE, Fast Forward
MOOSE LOUNGE (NORTH), RCA & The Radicals
NIGHT OWL, Priestess
J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Morris Day and The Time with Sheila E.
J PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, The Cole Show RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs
J HAMILTON STUDIO, Pearl Django, Hot Club of Spokane HOGFISH, Open Mic
J SOUTH HILL GRILL, Just Plain Darin
J J SPOKANE FALLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE MUSIC DEPARTMENT, Catharsis, Glass Bead Orchestra ZOLA, Sugar Bear Dinner Party
Monday, 11/4
EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night Blues Jam with John Firshi
RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night
J THE BULLET BAR, Open Mic Night
J THE FOX THEATER, The Black Jacket Symphony Presents: Elton John’s Madman Across the Water
Tuesday,
11/5
BLACK LODGE BREWING, Open Mic Night: The Artist Stage THE BUNKER BAR, Wiebe Jammin’ SWING LOUNGE, Swing Lounge Live Music Tuesdays ZOLA, The Zola All Star Jam, David Jeter
Wednesday, 11/6
J THE BIG DIPPER, Hippie Death Cult, Kadabra, Hayes Noble THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic RED ROOM LOUNGE, Red Room Lounge Jam
It was just two years ago that Come From Away was last in Spokane as part of the Best of Broadway series. Now the nationally touring production is making a multiday return to give audiences another chance to see it. Set in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when flights were diverted or grounded, this uplifting musical focuses on the hospitality of a small Newfoundland town that welcomed 38 plane loads of stranded passengers. Uniquely, the music in this show borrows from the local Celtic-infused music traditions and taps into the feeling of a folk jam session. The 12-strong cast also plays a wide range of characters.
— E.J. IANNELLI
Come From Away • Fri, Nov. 1 at 7:30 pm, Sat, Nov. 2 at 2 and 7:30 pm and Sun, Nov. 3 at 1 pm • $30-$110 • First Interstate Center for the Arts • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • broadwayspokane.com
THEATER LEFTY LOOSEY
Nearly 20 years before theatergoers were eagerly waiting for Godot, they were anxiously waiting for Lefty, a union leader who suddenly goes missing before a big labor strike meeting. Told through a series of revelatory vignettes, this tense 1935 drama by celebrated playwright Clifford Odets — his first — was inspired by a 40-day strike of New York City cab drivers. The individual scenes build one another to paint a larger picture of the lopsided and often sinister dynamics of wealth, power and privilege. Sara Goff directs, and veteran actor Ricardo Ibarra-Rivera guest stars alongside EWU students.
— E.J. IANNELLI
Waiting for Lefty • Nov. 1-5; times vary • $5-$10 • Eastern Washington University Theatre Building • 701-835 Washington St., Cheney • ewu.edu/theatre
VISUAL ARTS A JOLLY TIME
The Inland Northwest hosts a plethora of art markets each year. Each has its own niche and serves a different demographic, but if we’re talking about lasting power, Spokane Art School’s Yuletide is in the top tier, having been around for over 40 years. The annual market features over 25 local and regional artists selling their art and handmade goods like ceramics, jewelry, paintings, clothing and much more. Artists include Sheila Evans, Linnea Tobias, Gay Waldman, T Kurtz and more. It’s the perfect place to find thoughtful holiday gifts while supporting local artists who dedicate their lives to making incredible art.
— MADISON PEARSON
Yuletide • Nov. 1-2; Fri from 10 am-8 pm, Sat from 10 am-6 pm • Free admission • Spokane Art School • 503 E. Second Ave. • spokaneartschool.net
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FOOD FLOATIN’ IN FALL
Want to take your love for autumn food to a new level? Try eating the finedining versions of seasonal comfort foods on a boat: a cruise across Lake Coeur d’Alene surrounded by scenic views of the changing leaves, tranquil waters and maybe the occasional osprey flying overhead while in search of their own meal. Lake Coeur d’Alene Cruises’ Fall Harvest Dinner cruises are just around the bend. Entrée options feature beef bourguignon or chicken cordon bleu, with a variety of side dishes such as an autumn harvest salad, sweet potato salad and a white chocolate pumpkin brownie, to name a few. For those that fear the brisk, autumn weather, cruise boats have heated indoor seating and other amenities to make for an enjoyable experience. But be sure to look up from your food or take a turn around the decks to catch the spectacular views.
— DORA SCOTT
Fall Harvest Dinner Cruises • Nov. 1-10; Fri-Sun from 5-7 pm • $62-$72; kids under 5 free • Coeur d’Alene Resort Boardwalk Marina • 115 S. Second St., Coeur d’Alene • cdacruises.com
PERFORMANCE MAGIC MAYHEM
Poof! Just like magic, Confusium is now on your radar of upcoming local events! Featuring self-proclaimed “thrillusionist” David DaVinci and his internationally esteemed bird act costarring a dove, this “prolific performance of prestidigitators and perfecters of the profound” is a spectacle that aims to dazzle and confuse. With an unlikely cast of six local legends of illusion that also includes Cameron Brow, Quentin Scott, Lam Chan, Cecil Lewis and Nathan Lee, Confusium appears in the Bing Crosby Theater for one night, only to disappear right before your eyes. Be sure not to blink, or you might miss it.
MOZZ RUN ...for Bruschetta. - T.- I haven’t received your post card from Italy... As you stated: “The mail takes quite a while.” I’ll consider that Spring ‘23 card, not in transit. I do hope you got the October birthday card, and the graduation card/gift, also in “the mail.” I know you’ve been wandering, but it should be at base camp. (Also delivered, 2023.) If you have ?s, your brother has m’number. Stay free!! That’s a priceless reality. Happy Birthday, again!!
CORN-FUSED Like a maze, isn’t it? You think it’s true that everyone else is to blame, as you’ve been told. Have you seen the light? Look up. Navigate out. He doesn’t “love” you; you just have a better schedule, and you don’t question him with your concerns. Trust your intuition. Especially when you don’t have “proof.” The gaslighter’s game is for gaslighters. Have you discovered the cheatin’ yet? (You greatly resemble the hook-ups “on the road.” Hotel hotties, baby!!) That was necessary for the game to work. You’re a number. A roll of the dice. The house always wins. Always. It’s designed that way. Be smarter. He thinks he’s a fox.
RE: TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE I’m still hoping and waiting for you. Heart full of love and wanting to be in your arms. TB
FOR A ROSE Roses don’t bloom forever. their petals fall off one by one and they can be stripped down to twigs by the wind. But
it’s sometimes even necessary to clip them down to stubs. But spring does come, and after the cold winter passes they can bloom more beautiful and brighter than they were before. They are resilient, strong, and they move at their own pace. You have lost parts of you that you will never get back, but it’s not like losing a leg. Be patient with yourself, spring is coming. - your Black Room Boy
NEW VAPE SHOP IN TOWN? The local Subway down the street closed down and the building space became a vape shop. That is the most Spokane thing ever.
MIRAGE AT OASIS?? Saturday afternoon, Oasis on Indiana. Me picking up my daughter from blowout for her senior pictures. You at the check-in desk and on the phone. Dark hair, glasses, beautiful! Met eyes a couple times or was that just me? I’d like to learn more!
THE FORCES BETWEEN US I miss you like the sun misses the moon. In the same orbit yet can never see each other. A year-and-a-half later and I see you everywhere. Little reminders of the time my soul danced with yours through the torment of this cruel world. White space ships and big bang theory remind me of how stellar my world was with you.
YOU SAW ME
IN THE COLD Alla! Thank you for your kindness. You saw me freezing and warmed me before I knew how cold I really was. It was Wednesday morning and I’ve been thinking of your sweet gesture all day. I loved it. I wish I could express how nice it felt to be touched without any expectations of returning the favor... how invited it was and how astonished I was at how I welcomed your touch. Thank you again. It was so nice to meet you. I will always remember your kindness.
CHEERS
WONDERING WANDERER “Where was she?” you, Willy, mused at Willie. Backstage! Guesting 10 shows, no surprise. You know her “work” isn’t work. Noted as some of the loveliest in that storied career of his, and hers. She’ll carry that torch, and a true rhythm. Solidified, and she doesn’t even care to be anywhere but the shade. It’s MUCH cooler...and cooler, there. Keep
searching; you may discover the mystery. It’s not a diminished 7th.
PUG WAVE To the pug who was wildly waving hello to me from the backseat of an SUV at an intersection on Maxwell: Hello! You made my day and I died laughing. I know a human was helping, but it is your deal. So puggin’ awesome!
THANKS! A few days ago I left my cellphone on a slot machine at a local casino. I was quite distressed when I realized I didn’t
CIVILITY Thank you to John Hagney for his column “The Road Back to Civility.” As a child I was taught that name-calling is mean, disrespectful, and shows a lack of class. Yet here we are, having a presidential candidate being called a “ho” by supposed adults on bumper stickers, flags, and yard signs. Almost daily I see a sign saying F* Biden or F* Inslee. While I am grateful for our rights as Americans to say what we want, do we need to reduce ourselves to publicly displaying such vulgarity? Some people are trying to raise children to be
have it and headed to the Lost and Found. Some wonderful person had found it and turned it in. A BIG cheer to that kind person! Thank you so much.
ANNIVERSARY PAID FORWARD? HayJs in the Valley, 10/24 ... You apparently heard waitresses saying it was our anniversary, paid our tab and left. Wow! We thank you 54 times ... (Will you be there next year? :) )
DIFFERENCES IN FOUNDING DOCUMENTS
The Constitution is a technical document, like a user’s manual for self-governance, while the Declaration of Independence is a philosophical document for human rights. Ancient Greek philosophy influenced much of Western culture with the belief that selfdiscipline is a basic requirement to self-rule and from that comes individual freedom, (political and economic). To extend individual freedom to self-governance requires sovereignty. Sovereignty is hierarchy or a “chain of command” and it has power over any territory or state. Since anarchism is a stateless society, then social transformation takes place during cultural assimilation.
YOU ARE NOT AN AMERICAN IDIOT The oligarchs are trying to trick you. Are you going to fall for that? You are not an American Idiot. Your vote belongs to you, do not let the troll farms and plutocrats buy it.
kind and well mannered. Such name calling does not lend itself to a society where people treat one another with a basic level of respect and decency.
JEERS
CAMPAIGN COVERAGE When I heard Lester Holt report election news on the Monday night, 10/21/24 newscast, I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Now I ask how can any America-loving citizen support a repulsive, unstable & inhumane creature as is Trump. His lewd & insulting remarks about Arnold Palmer, a revered American & one of the world’s best golfers was sickening. Yes you say “it’s the economy” & that is selfishly why you support him. I want all of you to know, that no matter who is in office, the economy will not be decided by “them.” But how our wonderful nation & its values are looked upon by other nations in the world is of the utmost importance. Don’t keep “your head in the sand.” Don’t act ignorantly. “He” doesn’t care about you. Trump’s outlandish lies & extreme accusations are meant to draw you in because he thinks you are ignorant & will applaud him.
RE: NORTH SOUTH CORRIDOR WASTE OF MONEY Never fear! The North-South corridor
will definitely be beneficial to Spokane: As soon as the construction fences are down, its bridges will be pulling double-duty as some of the city’s most affordable housing.
“MAKING ABORTION ACCESSIBLE AGAIN...” I will never understand the left’s obsession with abortion as an election-year appeal to women. It’s not a commodity to be marketed or an outcome to be celebrated; after all, as Mother Teresa said, “Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three-quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.” Let’s be honest, by far most abortions done by Planned Parenthood (and not just in Spokane), whether medically performed or drug-induced, are elective in nature. And there are thousands of childless couples who would gladly adopt these precious babies if they were given the chance to live. Compassion dictates that the options should not be limited to an absolute ban without lifesaving exceptions vs. on-demand with no restrictions right up to birth; yet that is what some political candidates would have you believe. But no one walks away from a terminated pregnancy unaffected, maybe not immediately, but irrevocably changed for life. Don’t believe the lies. It is not an easy “choice.”
EWU More than 6,400 racial covenants discovered on properties in Spokane, well done, Eastern, for stoking the flames of racial division over a non-issue that’s been illegal for 60+ years. I had no idea the U.S. had a history of racial discrimination until you published this groundbreaking research/journalism. Truly a productive use of time and resources. Meanwhile, people are busy drafting legislation that will require biological females to share locker rooms and compete in sports against biological males. n
NOTE:
EVENTS | CALENDAR BENEFIT
MOSCOW CONTEMPORARY: HALLOWEEN PARTY A Halloween dance party with a costume contest. Proceeds benefit Moscow Contemporary. Oct. 31, 8-11:59 pm. $10. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)
DREAM BEYOND AUCTION A fundraiser benefitting Life Services featuring a silent auction, a coursed meal and entertainment. Nov. 1, 4:30-8 pm. $125. Davenport Grand Hotel, 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. lifeservices.org
2024 ARTIST SHOWCASE Artists either bring a partially completed work, or begin from scratch, and as the evening progresses they work on their pieces, giving attendees the opportunity to visit one-on-one and ask questions while they work. Benefits Spokane Valley Arts Council. Nov. 2, 5 pm. $75. CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Pl. spokanevalleyarts.org
3RD ANNUAL BAZAAR A vendor market featuring crafters, artists and bakers. All proceeds help equip the new Gathering Place. Lunch is available for purchase. Nov. 2, 9 am-3 pm. Free. Colbert Presbyterian Church, 4211 E. Colbert Rd. colbertpres.org (509-220-0840)
ILLUMINATE: A DANCE GALA An evening of dance performances and fundraising supporting Vytal Movement Dance. Nov. 2, 6-10 pm. $75. Vytal Movement Dance Space, 7 S. Howard St, Ste. 200. vytalmovement.org/gala24
SPOKEN RIVER Listen to local writers share their stories inspired by the Spokane River. Proceeds from ticket sales and auction items benefit Spokane Riverkeeper. Nov. 7, 5:30 pm. $70-$85. Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls. spokaneriverkeeper.org
COMEDY
CONFUSIUM Featuring Spokane native David DaVinci and the bird act that won him the title of International Champion of Magic; along with legendary locals Cameron Brow, Quentin Scott, Nathan Lee, Lam Chan and Cecil Lewis. Nov. 2, 7-9 pm. $26-$45. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague. bingcrosbytheater.com
DYNAMIC BANTER Stand-up comedian Mike Falzone and internet personality Steve Zaragoza perform together. Nov. 3, 7 pm. $15-$20. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)
OPENLY MIC: A QUEER COMEDY OPEN
MIC Stand-up comedy open mic with a queer sensibility. Sign-up at 7 pm. First, third and fifth Wednesday of each month from 8-9:30 pm. Free. The Q Lounge, 228 W. Sprague Ave. instagram.com/openlymic
CRAIG SHOEMAKER Craig Shoemaker is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, writer and producer, and was named Comedian of the Year at The American Comedy Awards. Nov. 7, 7 pm. $20. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com
FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY JOKE JOKE
JOKE A comedy experience combining stand-up, live sketches and more. This month features Monica Nevi, Jes Anderson and Addai-Gezchii Greillo. Hosted by Josiah Carlson. Nov. 7, 7:30-9 pm. $15. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. garlandtheater.org (509-413-1048)
EDDIE IZZARD Eddie Izzard is an actor, comedian, multi-marathon runner and political activist with a career spanning 35 years. Nov. 10, 7-9 pm. $45-$115. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls. firstinterstatecenter.org
TANYALEE DAVIS Tanyalee rose to comedic prominence on TikTok through comedy videos. Nov. 10, 7 pm. $20-$25. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com
COMMUNITY
BITCH ‘N’ STITCH Grab your crochet, knitting, embroidery, weaving, cross stitch, felting, looming, macrame, friendship bracelets and craft casually in the company of others. Every second and last Thursday at 6:30 pm. Free. Lunarium, 1925 N. Monroe St. facebook. com/Lunarium.Spokane
HAUNTED CONSERVATORY TRICK OR TREAT Take a tour through time in the eerie historic atmosphere of the Haunted Conservatory. Enjoy mysterious music performances and watch out for “ghosts.” Oct. 31, 4:30-6 pm. Free. Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, 110 Main St. sandpointconservatory.org
TERROR ON SIERRA HAUNTED HOUSE
A haunted yard walkthrough. Children under 16 must have an adult accompany them. Oct. 25-31, daily from 7-9 pm. $5. Terror on Sierra, 619 E. Sierra Ave. horrormediaproductions.com
IT HAPPENED HERE: EXPO ‘74 FIFTY YEARS LATER This 50th anniversary exhibition revisits the historical roots of Expo ’74’s legacy through recognizable elements with museum artifacts and ar-
chival materials. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Jan. 26. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
QUEER YOUTH TRICK OR TREAT HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL A trunk or treat with carnival games by local organizations, a mummy wrapping contest and storytime with LGBTQ+ community members. Adults must be accompanied by a minor. Oct. 31, 4:30-8 pm. Free. Corbin Senior Center, 827 W. Cleveland Ave. spokanepride.org
THE HAUNT ON BOARDWALK A haunted house featuring figures like Michael Myers, Jason, Freddy, Leatherface, clowns, hillbillies and more. Ages 5+. Oct. 10-31, Thu-Sun from 6-10 pm. Oct. 31, 6-10 pm. $10. WW Establishment, 5978 Washington Hwy 291.
DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION A two-day celebration of Latin culture and art featuring culturally inspired art and entertainment as well as tattoo and piercing specials all day. Nov. 1-2, 11 am10 pm. Free. Heartbreaker Tattoo & Artist Co-op, 830 W. Sprague Ave. heartbreakerspokane.com (509-990-7234)
SCARYWOOD HAUNTED NIGHTS
Scarywood is full of haunted attractions and roaming monsters, including 10 scare zones and the chance to ride most of Silverwood’s rides in the dark. FriSat from 7 pm-midnight through Nov. 2. $54-$62. Silverwood Theme Park, 27843 U.S. 95. scarywoodhaunt.com
WISHING TREE BOOKS FIVE YEAR
ANNIVERSARY Celebrate with a story time featuring local author and illustrator Blake Hellman and Steven Henry, plus a discount on purchases. Nov. 2, 10 am-5 pm. Free. Wishing Tree Books, 1410 E. 11th. wishingtreebookstore.com
DAY OF THE DEAD: A CELEBRATION
OF LIFE A celebration of Día de Los Muertos featuring various activities and festivities for all ages including colorful offerings (ofrendas), face painting and piñatas, a Catrina contest, dead bread, local food, craft vendors and a Hispanic Business Expo. Nov. 2, 1-8 pm. Free. hbpaofspokane.org (509-557-0566)
HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR A fair with unique handmade gifts, decor and foods. Nov. 2, 9 am-3 pm. Free. Trailhead Event Center. postfalls.gov/special-event (208-773-0539)
PALOUSE FALL CRAFT FAIR A fair featuring handmade and vintage goods by local artisans. Nov. 2, 9 am-3 pm. Free. Palouse Community Center, 220 E. Main St. palousecommunitycenter.org
Recreational res.
Learn before you burn...
Recreational res include open re pits, chimneas and other devices that burn charcoal, dry rewood, or manufactured logs and pellets.
The re must:
• Not exceed 3’ x 2’ in size.
• Not be used for disposal purposes.
• Not cause a nuisance to your neighbors.
• Be attended at all times.
Wood-fueled res must be 25’ from structures and other combustibles. Most outdoor res are restricted during the re danger season.
WHERE DID THEY LIVE?: DISCOVERING EARLY SPOKANE’S LOST IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORHOODS Learn the story of immigrants who came to Spokane in the early 1900s where they created vibrant neighborhoods that have long since disappeared. Presented by Richard Sola. Nov. 2, 12:30-3 pm. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-981-2759)
THE 7TH ANNUAL NW-CMA AWARDS SHOW Regional and local talent is recognized and 20 bands and artists perform. Nov. 3, 6-10 pm. $30. Spokane Tribe Resort & Casino, 14300 W. SR Highway 2. nw-cma.com
MAKE YOUR OWN PENDLETON MOCCASINS A six-hour hands on workshop led by a Coeur d’Alene Tribal member. Learn how to make your own moccasins using provided materials. Nov. 3, 1-7 pm. $100. Coeur d’Alene Casino, 37914 S. Nukwalqw. cdacasino.com
FORGE II: SHAPING ASIAN AMERICAN WELLBEING Hosted by Asians for Collective Liberation in Spokane, this event focuses on mental health topics including attachment, interracial relationships, transracial adoption and ADHD. Nov. 7, 5-8 pm. Free. Gonzaga University Hemmingson Center, 702 E. Desmet Ave. bit. ly/forge-nov2024 (509-990-4938)
AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTOS: HOLIDAY CRINGE EDITION Create cringetastic photos that capture wonderfully awkward memories. Bring your holiday sweaters and best “worst” outfits for a hilariously wince-inducing and jolly time. All ages. Registration required. Nov. 8, 4-5:30 pm and Nov. 9, 2-5:30 pm. Free. Spokane Valley Library, 22 N. Herald Rd. scld.org (509-893-8400)
MONSTER JAM Monster truck drivers and their 12,000-pound trucks tear up the dirt in competitions of speed and skill. Nov. 8-10; Fri-Sat at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 1 pm. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanearena.com
REBEL JUNK HOLIDAY MARKET An array of unique vintage and handcrafted items for the holiday season from over 100 vendor booths. Nov. 8-9; Fri from 5:30-8 pm, Sat from 10 am-4 pm. $10$15. Kootenai County Fairgrounds, 4056 N. Government Way. bio.site/rebeljunk SPOKANE PRIDE’S MURDER MYSTERY
Set on a 1980s movie set, “dress to impress” and join a live studio audience. Dinner provided includes a bar. Nov. 8, 5-8 pm and Nov. 10, 11 am-3 pm. $35. Corbin Senior Center, 827 W. Cleveland Ave. spokanepride.org (509-760-4676)
EVENTS | CALENDAR
FILM
SEAHAWKS GAMES SCREENINGS
Watch the Seahawks play on the big screen, all season. Nov. 3, 1:25 pm. Free. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. garlandtheater.org (509-327-1050)
SUBMERGE DANCE FILM FESTIVAL Set against stunning backdrops, this festival showcases an eclectic mix of dance films that celebrate movement, creativity and the power of storytelling. A Q&A with Ripple Dance Co. artistic directors follows. Nov. 7, 6:30-8 pm. $15. Magic Lantern Theatre, 25 W. Main Ave. rippledance.com
SENSORY RELAXED MOVIE SCREENINGS Screenings of various movies showing with slightly brighter lights, lowered volume and designated areas to move around, dance, walk or sit during the movie. Second Tuesdays (PG 13) at 6:30 pm, second Saturdays (all ages) at 11:30 am. $5. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. garlandtheater.org
STAGE TO SCREEN: PRIMA FACIE Tessa has worked her way up to be a criminal defense barrister at the top of her game. However, an unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where patriarchal power, burden of proof and morals diverge. Nov. 10, 2-4 pm. $20. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com (509-227-7638)
FOOD & DRINK
REDRUM A Stephen King-themed pop up bar with themed drinks, eats and decor. Oct. 31-Nov. 2, daily at 5 pm. $10. Servante, 221 N. Division St. servantespokane.com
COOKING CLASS: BLACK PEPPER GN -
OCCHI A hands-on cooking class with instruction on how to make black pepper gnocchi with pumpkin and sage. Nov. 1-2, 6 pm. $85. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford Dr. commellini.com
FALL HARVEST DINNER CRUISES A two-hour cruise featuring a seasonal dinner. Nov. 1-3 and 8-10 at 5 pm. $60-$70. The Coeur d’Alene Resort, 115 S. Second. cdacruises.com
FRUIT SALE Local orchard produce. See website for up-to-date list of varieties. Fri from noon-6 pm, Sat from 10 am-4 pm through Nov. 16. WSU Horticulture Center, 1452 Johnson Road. go.wsu.edu/fruit (509-335-6700)
BOTTOMLESS(ISH) MIMOSA BRUNCH
SERIES A six-week buffet brunch with various breakfast and lunch items. Every Sunday at 10 am and noon through Nov. 24. $25. Fête - A Nectar Co, 120 N. Stevens St. nectarcateringandevents.com
FALL VEGGIE AND GUILTLESS CREAM
SOUPS In this plant-based entertainment style class, learn how to use innovative techniques and ingredients to create rich and creamy soups without any dairy. Nov. 6, 5:45-8:15 pm. $85. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com
FALL COOKIE DECORATING Jamie Roberts teaches how to create six different designs. Nov. 7, 5:45-8:15 pm. $85. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com
WORLD COOKING: AFGHAN FOOD Chef Arzoo Arian demonstrates the preparation of a traditional Afghan dish in an online presentation. Nov. 8, 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. scld.org
MUSIC
CANDLELIGHT: A HAUNTED EVENING OF HALLOWEEN CLASSICS An orchestra performs Halloween classics surrounded by hundreds of candles. The program features songs such as “Thriller,” “The Addams Family Theme” and “Time Warp.” Oct. 31, 6:30 & 8:30 pm. $33-$62. Riverside Place, 1108 W. Riverside Ave. feverup.com (509-747-1200)
TUBAWEEN An evening of spooky, low brass music and storytelling featuring showcase performances by student soloists and ensembles. Musicians are in costume as they play and entertain with their spine-chilling tunes. Oct. 31, 7:30 pm. By donation. University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall, 1012 S. Deakin St. uidaho.edu/music
GABE LAPANO Lapano plays Sinatra, Crosby and more on the piano. Fridays from 6-9 pm through Dec. 28. Churchill’s Steakhouse, 165 S. Post St. churchillssteakhouse.com
AN EVENING FOR FRIENDS A concert benefiting Project id: Identity Beyond Disability featuring Brad Corrigan, lead singer and songwriter of the band Dispatch and Tim Snider, master violinist. Nov. 2, 6-9 pm. $45. Montvale Event Center, 1019 W. First. Ave. CorriganConcert. givesmart.com (509-475-1881)
GISELLE HILLYER & CHRISTIANO RO -
DRIGUES A faculty recital featuring Giselle Hillyer and Christiano Rodrigues on violin and viola. The concert features Karen Ngyuen as a collaborative pianist. Nov. 2, 7:30 pm. University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall, 1012 S. Deakin St. uidaho.edu/music (208-885-6231)
TERELL STAFFORD The award-winning Whitworth Jazz Ensemble performs with international jazz star and grammy-nominated trumpeter Terell Stafford, Nov. 2, 7:30 pm. $22. Whitworth Cowles Auditorium, 300 W. Hawthorne Ave. whitworth. edu/jazz-stafford (509-777-3280)
SPOKANE SYMPHONY MASTERWORKS
3: AN AMERICAN CELEBRATION Conductor Morihiko Nakahara returns with a program of all-American music including “Rhapsody in Blue” and the “Celebration Overture” of local composer Greg Yasinitsky. Nov. 2, 7:30 pm and Nov. 3, 3 pm. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanesymphony.org
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER IN CONCERT An opportunity for fans of Avatar the Last Airbender to watch clips from the series on the big screen while a live orchestra performs music from the show. Nov. 6, 7 pm. $30-$85. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. firstinterstatecenter.org
THE MUSIC OF HENRY MANCINI Saxophonist David Larsen performs with renowned flugelhorn soloist Dmitri Matheny to present the music of Henry Mancini. The program includes a number of favorites like Moonriver, the Pink Panther and many more. Nov. 6, 7 pm. $28. The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center, 405 N. William St. thejacklincenter.org
UNIT SOUZOU: CONSTANT STATE OF OTHERNESS An expressive blend of Taiko drumming and Japanese folk dance. Nov. 8, 7-9:30 pm. $10-$25. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. artinsandpoint.org
SPOKANE SYMPHONY POPS 2: CODY FRY The Spokane Symphony performs alongside former American Idol contestant Cody Fry. Nov. 9, 7:30 pm. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanesymphony.org (509-624-1200)
HYMN FESTIVAL A festival celebrating music of faith with Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church, guest organist Ethan Haman and conductor Derrick Parker. Nov. 10, 3-4:30 pm. Free. First Presbyterian Church of Spokane, 318 S. Cedar St. spokaneago.org/hymn-festival
SPOKANE STRING QUARTET: HAYDN, BRAHMS & SCHUMANN This program featuring guest pianist YunJung Park includes sonatas by Joseph Haydn and Johannes Brahms and a piano quartet by Robert Schumann. Nov. 10. $20-$25. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. foxtheaterspokane.org (509-624-1200)
SPORTS & OUTDOORS
OPEN PLAY PICKLEBALL Play pickleball at the HUB. Every week Mon-Thu from 10 am-noon or 1-3 pm. $5.50-$7. HUB Sports Center, 19619 E. Cataldo Ave. hubsportscenter.org (509-927-0602)
MT. SPOKANE JOB FAIR Learn about positions at Mt. Spokane and apply inperson. Nov. 2, 8 am-noon. Free. Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, 29500 N. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. mtspokane.com
PRAY FOR SNOW CONCERT Celebrate the start of snow sports season with a concert featuring Ghost Power and coheadliners Space Band and Warp Detour. Ages 21+. Nov. 2, 6-10 pm. $20. Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort, 7500 Mission Ridge Rd. missionridge.com
RWA: PROVING GROUNDS Watch Spokane’s best up-and-coming wrestlers battle it out to prove they have what it takes to make it big. Nov. 2, 7-9:30 pm. $10-$25. West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt. RogueAttractions.com
SPOKANE CHIEFS VS. KELOWNA ROCKETS Regular season game. Promotional schedule: TicketsWest Player Magnet Giveaway. Nov. 5, 7:05 pm. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanechiefs. com (509-279-7000)
SNOW & POWERSPORTS EXPO A wintersports expo featuring new and used snowmobiles, ATVs, clothing, parts and accessories. Plus, peruse local vendors and participate in swap meets. Nov. 9, 9 am-5 pm. $10. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. Spokanewinterknights.com (509-951-0420)
THEATER & DANCE
THE ADDAMS FAMILY: A NEW MUSICAL Wednesday Addams has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man. Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Gomez Addams must keep a secret from his wife, Morticia. Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm through Nov. 3. $6-$26. Hartung Theater, 625 Stadium Dr. uidaho.com/ theatre (208-885-6111)
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE Dr. Stockmann discovers that the water in the Norwegian town has been contaminated, he reports it to the authorities. But Stockmann’s good deed has the potential to ruin the town’s reputation as a popular spa destination. Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm through Nov. 3. $15-$29. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard St. spokanecivictheatre.com
COME FROM AWAY A true story about 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed
them. Nov. 1-3; Fri-Sun at 7:30 pm, Fri also at 2 pm and Sun also at 1 pm. $30$110. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. broadwayspokane.com (509-279-7000)
BEYOND THE VEIL: A HAUNTED CABARET A cabaret performance that weaves together dance, burlesque, drag, acrobatics and aerial arts. Each member of the ensemble embodies a different ghostly persona. Ages 21+. Nov. 1, 9 pmmidnight. $25-$50. Berserk, 125 S. Stevens St. thevaudevillains.com
WAITING FOR LEFTY A play consisting of seven vignettes framed around the meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike. Nov. 1-5; Fri, Sat and Mon at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm, Wed at 5 pm. Eastern Washington University, 526 Fifth St. ewu.edu/theatre (509-259-2241)
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Shakespeare’s classic comedy featuring characters who pursue love and develop schemes. Nov. 2, 7 pm. Pay what you can. Holy Names Music Center, 3910 W. Custer Dr. spokaneshakespearesociety.org
LATIN DANCE FUSION Learn Latinbased dance like the merengue, mambo, cha cha, salsa, samba and more. Sun from 4-5 pm through Dec. 16. 509 Collective, 2023 E. 29th Ave. 509collective.com
POTUS: READERS THEATER ENCORE
It’s just another day at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. when a White House PR nightmare spins into a legit sh*tshow. Seven brilliant women must risk life, liberty and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commanderin-chief out of trouble. Nov. 3, 6 pm. $20. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard. spokanecivictheatre.com
SCROOGE! THE MUSICAL Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of a Christmas Eve night after being visited by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Nov. 7-17; Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun at 1:30 pm. $30-$35. Regional Theatre of the Palouse, 122 N. Grand Ave. rtoptheatre.org
TARTUFFE Molière’s classic satire about a fraudulent, zealous intruder. Nov. 7-10; Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $14-$18. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet Ave. gonzaga.edu/theatre
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. $8-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
THE ART OF FOOD: FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF JORDAN D. SCHNITZER AND HIS FAMILY FOUNDATION A collection of work showcasing how prominent artists depict food beyond mere sustenance and how food connects us through shared experiences and societal issues. Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm through March 8. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson. museum.wsu.edu
BEN JOYCE: PLACES Abstract topographical art by Spokane-based artist Ben Joyce representing certain locales that have played major roles in his life. Mon-Sat from 10 am-4 pm through Jan. 4. Free. Jundt Art Museum, 200 E. Desmet Ave. gonzaga.edu/jundt
LORI ANN WALLIN Lori Wallin creates
art with natural fibers like wool, silk and cotton. Oct. 27-Nov. 30; daily from 11 am-7 pm. Free. Pottery Place Plus, 203 N. Washington St. potteryplaceplus.com
FRANKENSTEIN: PENETRATING THE SECRETS OF NATURE A traveling exhibition featuring anatomical drawings from the National Library of Medicine that may have inspired Mary Shelley when she wrote Frankenstein. Daily through Nov. 16. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/frankenstein
JOE FEDDERSEN: EARTH, WATER, SKY This exhibition showcases the breadth of Joe Feddersen’s 40-year career, including printmaking, glass, weaving and ceramics through over 100 works. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Jan. 5. $8-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
JULENE EWERT Julene Ewert creates vibrant, colorful art featuring flowers and the natural world. Mon-Fri from 8 am-5 pm through Jan. 3. Free. Moscow City Hall, 206 E. Third St. ci.moscow. id.us/230/Third-Street-Gallery
KIM LONG: ETHEREAL IMAGES OF OUR NATURAL WORLD Kim Long is a self-taught, full-time artist who creates highly detailed multimedia pieces that challenge perceptions of reality. Daily from 11 am-7 pm through Nov. 30. Free. Liberty Building, 203 N. Washington St. spokanelibertybuilding.com
PRINTMAKERS SHOW Prints by Jenn Ramsdell with additional work from the INK! Print Rally. Tue-Sat from 10 am-6 pm. through Nov. 2. Free. Emerge, 119 N. Second St. emergecda.com
SALLY MACHLIS & DELPHINE KEIM Sally Machlis and Delphine Keim address social, political and environmental issues through large mixed media-works on paper and installations. Mon-Thu from 10 am-4 pm, Fri from 10 am-2:30 pm through Nov. 1. Free. Boswell Corner Gallery at NIC, 1000 W. Garden Ave., Building 22. nic.edu/cornergallery
SARAH KNOBEL: WHAT REMAINS TRANSPARENT Through evocative imagery, artist Sarah Knobel crafts liminal spaces, inviting viewers to contemplate the enigmatic nature of everyday objects and our waste. Mon-Fri from 9 am-5 pm through Nov. 8. Free. EWU Gallery of Art, 140 Art Building. ewu.edu/cahss/gallery WOMAN, ARTIST, CATALYST: ART FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION
This exhibition of work from the MAC’s permanent collection showcases the quality and varied focus of leading female artists and art movements in the Inland and Pacific Northwest. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through March 9. $8$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
BEN MICKELSON Mickelson explores the changing Western landscape through watercolor paintings and mixed media collages. Appetizers and drinks provided. Nov. 1, 5-8 pm. Free. Uptic Studios, 402 E. Sprague Ave. upticcurated.com
BOB LLOYD: ART, SCIENCE OR FORENSICS This show invites participants to explore AI by breaking the fear barrier surrounding the medium. Fri from 1-5 pm, Sat from 1-4 pm or by appointment through Nov. 28. Free. Shotgun Studios, 1625 W. Water Ave. shotgunstudiosspokane.com (509-688-3757)
CAPPY BOND: LETTING GO Ceramics and other works by artist Cappy Bond inspired by the Japanese phrase Shu Ha Ri: learn the rules, break the rules, transcend the rules. Nov. 1-25, by appoint-
ment. Free. Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. kolva-sullivangallery.com
CHARLES AYARS & GLORIA FOX
Charles Ayars displays unique photo art and Gloria Fox displays watercolor paintings. Nov. 1-29, Thu-Sat from 11 am-4 pm. Free. Avenue West Gallery, 907 W. Boone. avenuewestgallery.com
COASTERS Artists and friends of Trackside create coasters that sell to benefit the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane. Coasters are $10 each. Nov. 1-29; Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm. Free admission. Trackside Studio, 115 S. Adams St. tracksidestudio.net
FIRST FRIDAY Art galleries and businesses across downtown Spokane and beyond host monthly receptions to showcase new art. Fri, Nov. 1 from 5-8 pm. downtownspokane.org/first-friday
MATT LOME: A LONG STORY SHORT
An exploration of whimsy and color through illustrative pastels. Nov. 1-29; Mon-Sat from 10 am-5 pm. Free. Pend Oreille Arts Council Gallery, 313 N. Second Ave. artinsandpoint.org
GEN HEYWOOD: THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE A solo exhibition featuring photographs by Gen Heywood, a Spokane-based photographer and artist. Fri from 4-7, Sat from 10 am-3 pm through Nov. 30. Free. Gonzaga University Urban Arts Center, 125 S. Stevens St. gonzaga.edu/gonzaga-universityurban-arts-center
HIROMI STRINGER: THE EXOTIC WEST: TIME TRAVELER UMEYAMA’S ACCIDENTAL OCCIDENTAL DISCOVERIES A solo exhibition by Hiromi Stringer featuring drawings and paintings that combine her Japanese heritage with her life in America. Fri from 4-7 pm, Sat from 10 am-3 pm through Nov. 9. Free. Gonzaga Urban Arts Center, 125 S. Stevens St. gonzaga.edu
JILL KYONG & AVA RUMMLER: ILLUMINATED This two-person show features physical lights and art focuses on the concept of light. Nov. 1-26, daily from 11 am-6 pm. Free. Entropy, 101 N. Stevens St. explodingstars.com
LUDMILA PAWLOWSKA: ICONS IN TRANSFORMATION This traveling exhibit includes contemporary work by internationally acclaimed abstract expressionist Ludmila Pawlowska along with traditional Russian icons on loan from the Vasilevsky Monastery. Wed from 10 am-2 pm, Fri from 4-7 pm and Sun from 1-4 pm through Nov. 6. Free. St. James Episcopal Church, 1410 NE. Stadium Way. stjamespullman.org
MERRI MINIS An art show featuring the work of 20 local artists offering a selection of small, affordable art items. Nov. 1, 4-5:30 pm and Nov. 2, 9 am-3 pm. Free. The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center, 405 N. William St. thejacklincenter.org
MIKE DECESARE DeCesare captures nature and human’s imprint on it through photos. Nov. 1-Dec. 31, Tue-Sat from 10 am-6 pm. Free. William Grant Gallery & Framing, 1188 W. Summit Pkwy. williamgrantgf.com
REINALDO GIL ZAMBRANO Prints by Spokane-based artist Reinaldo Gil Zambrano. Nov. 1-30; Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm. Free. Terrain Gallery, 628 N. Monroe St. terrainspokane.com
SPOKANE VALLEY ARTS COUNCIL
FRIDAY SOIREE This annual event features art auction previews, a presentation of awards, light bites, live music and more. Nov. 1, 5-8 pm. Free. CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N.
Discovery Pl. spokanevalleyarts.org
STAN MILLER PIANO & ART NIGHT
Stan Miller plays the piano and invites the public to check out his studio and artwork. Refreshments available. Nov. 1, 7-9 pm. Free. Stan Miller Gallery, 3138 E. 17th Ave. stanmiller.net
A COLLECTIVE OF MOONBEAMS: WE ALL SHINE ON A showcase of works by members of the New Moon Artist Collective. Nov. 1-30, Wed-Sat from 11 am-5 pm. Free. New Moon Art Gallery, 1326 E. Sprague Ave. manicmoonandmore.com (509-413-9101)
WONDER OF STRUCTURE: EXPLORATIONS OF SCIENCE, ARCHITECTURE AND ABSTRACTIONS A group exhibition featuring Seth Collier, Lynn Hanley, Laura Kaschmitter and Terra Hall. Nov. 1-Dec. 27, Mon-Fri from 8 am-5 pm. Free. Chase Gallery, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. spokanearts.org
YULETIDE The Spokane Art School’s annual holiday event featuring fine arts and crafts for sale by local and regional artists. Nov. 1-3; Fri from 10 am-9 pm, Sat from 10 am-6 pm and Sun from 10 am-3 pm. Free. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net (509-325-1500)
COLUMBIA PLATEAU BASKETRY BA-
SICS Participants dive into this intricate art by learning the twinning technique to craft a unique round root bag, commonly known as a Sally Bag. Led by Leanne Campbell. All supplies provided. Nov. 2, 10 am-4 pm. $100-$115. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First. northwestmuseum.org
POTTERY NIGHT: WHEEL THROWING EXPERIENCE A night for beginners to try out the pottery wheel. Clay, tools and instruction are provided. Nov. 2, 5:30-7:30 pm. $75. Urban Art Co-op, 3209 N. Monroe. urbanartcoop.org
SMALL WORKS EXHIBIT The gallery’s 29th annual small works exhibit featuring compact artworks that double as gifts for the holidays. Nov. 2-Dec. 29, Wed-Sun from 11 am-6 pm. Free. The Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman Ave. theartspiritgallery.com
SUMINAGASHI: THE JAPANESE ART OF FLOATING INK Learn suminagashi, a centuries-old paper marbling technique from Japan. Participants will be creating their own suminagashi pieces and learn how to do them at home. Nov. 2, 10-11:30 am. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague Ave. spokanelibrary.org
MULTI-DISCIPLINED A group show featuring the ArtsWA staff with pieces on view throughout the newly constructed Fine and Applied Arts Building on campus. Nov. 5-Dec. 5; Mon-Fri from 8:30 am-3:30 pm. Free. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, 3410 W. Whistalks Way, Bldg. 6. sfcc.spokane.edu (509-533-3710)
WHITWORTH FACULTY EXHIBIT An exhibit featuring artwork by Whitworth University faculty from the Art and Design department. Nov. 5-Jan. 24; MonFri from 10 am-4:30 pm, Sat from 10 am-2 pm. Free. Bryan Oliver Gallery, , 300 W. Hawthorne Ave. whitworth.edu
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. Hosted by local writers Jenny Davis and Hannah Engel. Thursdays
from 5:30-7 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org
PIVOT OPEN MIC: TRICK OR TREAT
An open mic with a theme of “trick or treat.” Participants are invited to tell a five minute story falling under the theme. Prize is awarded to best story. Oct. 31, 7-9 pm. By donation. Whistle Punk Brewing, 122 S. Monroe St. pivotspokane.com (509-315-4465)
3 MINUTE MIC Auntie’s Bookstore’s long-running first Friday poetry open mic continues, hosted by Chris Coppen. Readers may share up to three minutes’ worth of poetry. Nov. 1, 7-8:15 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com (509-838-0206)
AUTUMN STORYTIME A librarian reads a story that fuels imagination and teaches early literacy skills. The event ends with a craft activity. Every Friday at 9 am and 11 am. Ages 3-5. Free. Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. cdalibrary.org (208-769-2315)
GETTING STARTED ON YOUR NOVEL Writing Education Specialist Sharma Shields offers inspiration for starting a new novel. Bring your novel-in-progress to work on. Nov. 1, 1-3 pm. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org
POETRY BEFORE DARK EWU MFA students lead discussions about craft elements, style and form in poetry. Every Saturday from noon-2 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. sparkcentral.org (509-279-0299)
STORY AND CRAFT A read-aloud of a popular children’s book will be followed by an optional craft related to the story. Ages 3-7. Every Saturday from 11 amnoon. Cost of admission. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
WHAT IS A CHIEF? HOW NATIVE VALUES CAN TEACH RESILIENCE At the age of 55, John Halliday became legally blind. As a Muckleshoot Tribal member of Duwamish ancestry, Halliday says his Native American world view, cultural traditions and values have helped him overcome the challenges associated with losing his sight. Nov. 2, 2 pm. Free. Online, humanities.org
MOVIES AND DOLL HOUSES: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FEMININE Dr. Meredith Shimizu, Professor of Art History at Whitworth, delves into the significance of various art movements, key artists, and the art’s impact on society and history. Nov. 3. $10. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVELLA: A WRITING WORKSHOP Join novelist Alexis M. Smith for a six-part workshop that explores the craft of shorter novels. Nov. 5-Dec. 17, Tuesdays from 4-5:30 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org
SUMA SUBRAMANIAM: V. MALAR: GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME An illustrated chapter book about extended family and holiday traditions, kicking off a charming new series. RSVP online. Nov. 6, 6-7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main. auntiesbooks.com
MAX BRALLIER: THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, 13-year-old Jack has been living in his treehouse, but he’s no match against the scary monsters so he builds a team of fellow kids. Nov. 9, 3-4 pm. Free. Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com n
BUSINESS
Economic Impact
Newly released numbers highlight the trends behind Washington’s recreational cannabis market
BY WILL MAUPIN
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board recently released sales and tax data from fiscal 2024 — July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
These numbers help tell the story of Washington’s recreational cannabis market in a way that cannot be seen by simply visiting your local dispensary. Here are two key takeaways.
CONTRACTION CONTINUES
Fiscal 2024 marks the sixth consecutive year to see more than $1 billion in consumer spending on recreational cannabis in the state. But since peaking in fiscal 2021, sales numbers have been steadily declining.
In fiscal 2024, roughly $1.23 billion was spent by consumers on recreational cannabis in Washington, down $28.1 million from the previous year and nearly 17.9% from the peak of about $1.5 billion in fiscal 2021.
Data for Spokane County matches that trend. Fiscal 2024 saw more than $131 million spent on recreational cannabis in the county, down $3.4 million from the year before and 19.8% from the peak of $163.7 million in fiscal 2021.
Cannabis is still bringing in big bucks in border counties.
Since the peak, the state saw excise tax on those sales decrease by more than $99 million.
Experts believe the 2021 peak was in part connected to the coronavirus pandemic. Cannabis stores were allowed to stay open during the shutdown, and there wasn’t a whole lot to do, relative to normal times at least.
The downward trend could also be a sign that Washington, with a decade-old recreational market, could be settling into its proper size after years of expansion.
BORDER COUNTIES LEAD THE WAY
As has been the case since at least fiscal 2020, the four counties that share a border with Idaho — Pend Oreille, Spokane, Whitman and Asotin — far outpace the statewide average for cannabis spending per capita.
Using the most recent population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2023, Washington’s population sits at 7,812,880. Although only those who are over 21 can legally buy cannabis, if you were to split it out evenly, the fiscal 2024 spending on recreational cannabis comes out to $157.39 per Washingtonian.
Spokane County is once again well above that, with $238.20 spent per resident. Whitman County comes in at $229.94 spent per resident. Pend Oreille County recorded $422.08 per resident. Asotin County once again led the way at a whopping $585.46 per resident.
These numbers don’t mean people living in those four counties are out-smoking everyone else, but rather that sharing a border with a state like Idaho, one of the few where cannabis remains illegal both medically and recreationally, is big business. n
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.
DAILY DEALS
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 fiveyear sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.
Let’s Play BINGO! MONDAY NIGHTS
Southside Community Center Corner of Ray and 27th Ave 5:30pm to 8:00pm Doors Open at 4pm Prizes, Tasty Concessions, Full Bar!
Forms a line, to Lineker
60. Send a question
61. Humble response from an Alaskan peninsula? 64. Jeans brand 65. March Madness org.
