Ask a Spokanite what “getting outside” means to them, and you’ll get a wide range of answers: Going on hike to see the first buttercups of spring. Taking the dog for a walk after dinner. Riding a Lime Scooter at Riverfront Park. Letting the kids run and climb at a playground.

A common thread in these activities is that they all can happen at, and because of, the Spokane County parks system and its 100-plus parks. Our parks are places we can enjoy Spokane’s beautiful natural environment, even if our preferred forms of outdoor play are very different.

It was an appreciation of this diversity and commonality that led Gene Fitzpatrick, president of Spokane City Credit Union, to invent The Great Spokane Parks Challenge. In the challenge, participants pledge to visit 24 Spokane parks in celebration of the Spokane Parks Foundation’s 70th birthday.

The challenge is free and open to all, and Fitzpatrick hopes that participants will explore and appreciate Spokane parks, or even find a new park they didn’t know existed.

For the first 70 people who complete the challenge, SCCU offers the prize of a day pack and a donation of $150 to the Spokane Parks Foundation, with the goal of $10,500 total donations. They will also donate $50 for the first 70 people who complete half the challenge, visiting 12 parks.

Spokane Parks Foundation, which supports parks and related activities throughout Spokane County and its municipalities, is thrilled with the collaboration. Executive Director Terri Fortner’s wish for the Great Spokane Parks Challenge is that it will encourage people to renew their connection to Spokane parks.

“So many people have a favorite park, or special memories of parks they have visited,” she says. “And I hope the challenge creates an additional sense of ownership, a reminder that all the parks you might visit are our parks, our public lands.”

SCCU has a longstanding relationship with Spokane Parks Foundation, one of its preferred community charities. The credit union has devised creative, community-focused programs like the Great Spokane Parks Challenge to make giving back to the community a regular part of how they do business.

The Great Spokane Parks Challenge is running now, and SCCU invites everyone to join. (You don’t have to bank at the credit union to participate.) Completing the challenge requires a visit to 24 parks, and the submission of a selfie or location photo at sccu.net to document the visit. As of press time for this article, 163 people were signed up, and 17 people had already finished!

Julia Rowe, one of the earliest finishers, is particularly enthusiastic. She, her sister, and her friend visited 24 parks by March, and they are now on a mission to visit all 102 parks before the challenge ends on October 7, 2022. As a transplant to Spokane, she finds the challenge is helping her get to know the city better. She has particularly enjoyed discovering curiosities like Browns Park’s surfboard-themed climbing wall. But, she says, “The best part is the donation, of course. The more you see all the different parks, the more you understand it’s important to support them.”

During the pandemic, parks became a haven like never before, letting friends and families gather while feeling safer outside. Now, as spring arrives, and we hope for a change of seasons on many fronts, it’s the perfect time for community members to rekindle a special relationship with Spokane parks for all the different ways that we enjoy the outdoors. 

If you are interested in joining the Great Spokane Parks Challenge to benefit the Spokane Parks Foundation, go to sccu.net/parks-challenge/ to learn more and sign up.

Find stories about Spokane parks in the OTO archives.

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On a classically perfect Inland Northwest fall day, a day where all the trees seemed lit from within and the light loved everything it touched, my kids and I logged off our various devices, rubbed our bloodshot eyes, and respectively pedaled/ran the few miles to Spokane’s Lincoln Park. We love how this park—with its scabs of basalt erupting from grassy wildflower meadows; its turtles, ducks, red-winged blackbirds, and resident blue heron; its car-less paved loop on which a smattering of runners, walkers and emerging bike riders can usually be found—feels like such a refuge for animals of all species, including our own.

And it was a refuge. After a long day of online learning for my 2nd and 5th graders, after jumping between technology assists and my own online work, after many days of smoke-filled skies and an AQI reading stubbornly hovering in the “hazardous” zone, among the many difficult days of a difficult year in a difficult season, my spirit felt puny and weak, as it has often felt and will feel again.

On the other side of the park, where views of the city stretch out into greener valleys and hills, I saw this young ponderosa pine growing sideways out of a sheer rock cliff. It was a young tree, but not that young, and that we had in common. Other things, too: We were holding on, the tree and me, and it seemed tenuous—improbable, even, but we knew how strong our foothold was. We knew our root, wedged, was also held in turn by something strong.

So much will have happened between the time I am writing this and the time this essay runs. And yet, with any luck, the world will be here. The earth, strained as it is, will still try to self-regulate into the winter months. Nights will be long; the sun will feel far away when it shows itself. I’ll hope for snow, just as I’ve done every year since I was a kid. I’ll keep trying to write into the unknown, trying to think about how we keep holding on, keep turning our faces toward the sun—even as so much of what feels unknowable, or doomed, or terrifying, demands and consumes our energies.

Part of what connects us to one another is the undeniable fact that everything we love, we will lose. Life, the seasons, this beautiful, perfect planet—even now they are slipping, ever so slightly from our hold. If you are reading this, breathe in. Can you feel how the air nourishes and invigorates you? Can you feel it caress your skin? Is the sun still in the sky? Is your heart in your body? Go on. Go on. No matter how toxic the air, the trees are working to make it clean. We must reserve some love for them. We must love the trees as much as we fear, as much as we rage, as much as we fight or feel numb. Do not grow numb to the trees.

I see that I am writing this to my future self. I am trying to send myself a message from the past. Sometimes writing is like that. Hello, you. It’s me. I’m stuck in this moment—it is sometimes happy and often overwhelming—and I go for walks looking for portals. Have I found one in “Last Page” today? Time will tell. In time, I will pass from where I am now to where I am now. Epochs will come and go. Balances will be disturbed, reset, evolve. Sometimes, when I feel so panicked about all that we have wrought, I close my eyes and telescope out—see, in my mind’s eye, the earth as a small, lovely marble swirling among stars. What happens here is everything. What happens here is a butterfly’s wingbeat in the whole wide universe. Imperceptible but not inconsequential. As we know.

Watching that spindly sideways young pine tree sway slightly in the afternoon breeze, its stars of needles extended like jazz hands, like possibility, like ‘help’ and ‘yes’ and everything an open hand comes to symbolize, it’s tender shoot reaching for sun and its commitment to hold on, to grow, to grow, to grow—I felt a kinship. I felt like, I think I can try a little harder. Let’s keep trying. Let’s keep trying.

Ellen Welcker is the author of the poetry collections “Ram Hands” and “The Botanical Garden,” and coordinates The Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry. She is an all-seasons fan of the outdoors, whose interests include running, Nordic skiing, and backpacking.

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What becomes of an ice ribbon when spring hits? Find out downtown Spokane, where Riverfront Park’s Ice Ribbon has transitioned to its spring and summer mode: Skate Ribbon, open for daily wheel use during all open park hours (5 a.m. to midnight). The best part? If you bring your own wheels, it’s free. Pack along those personal roller skates, in-line skates, skateboards, and non-motorized scooters. Balance bikes are welcome for the toddler/preschooler set, but bikes with pedals are not allowed. All wheels in use at the ribbon must be clean and in good repair, with proper safety brakes, and helmets are required for all participants. For those who’d like to rent skate gear, rentals are $6.50 an hour for skate rentals, and $8.50 an hour for scooter rentals. Helmets and safety gear can be borrowed free of charge. Rental hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Don’t know how to skate? Free skate lessons are available for all ages (only caveat: kids must be able to walk), taught by Lilac City Roller Derby. Check out the city’s website for details and times.

Workout Classes

The park is also offering series of free workout classes; jazzercise was offered through April and May, giving those for whom roller skating brought back memories of school skate nights a chance to further channel the ‘80s (or experience them for the first time). In June, tote along your yoga mat and come for “River Flow Yoga”; these classes, sponsored by Athleta, meet Saturday mornings from 9-10 a.m. on the new Howard Street South Channel Bridge, right next to the newly-renovated carrousel.

New and Improved Sky Ride

Another fun new Riverfront Park offering for spring and summer? Taking the sky ride—which already offers stellar views of downtown and the Spokane River—to a new level. “This year we’re kicking off Friday Night Flights, packaging local beer and wine flights with the sky ride,” says Amy Lindsey, Riverfront Park programming manager. For the most impressive river views, make plans to check out the sky ride sooner than later; spring melt means more epic waterfall action. These evenings will be accompanied by live entertainment, “which adds an element of fun for moms and dads and park tourists,” says Lindsey. Upcoming Friday Night Flight dates are June 1 and 15 from 5-8 p.m. 

Food Trucks and Music

Also kicking off in Riverfront Park this summer is “Riverfront Eats,” a weekly food truck and music series, which Lindsey says is intended to draw downtown employees, residents, and visitors outside to enjoy a local lunch outdoors. “A portion of the proceeds will benefit free and low-cost community programming,” she adds. Upcoming dates are set for Tuesdays, June 5, 12, and 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Magic, Crafts, & Games

And for more family-friendly fun, check out “Magical Mondays with Cecil the Magician,” scheduled for June 4 and June 25 at 4 p.m. (bonus: hot dogs are just $1 at the Sky Ribbon Café on Mondays) and “Sunday Fundays” at the Ribbon, with crafts, inflatables, and sidewalk games happening regularly on Sunday afternoons from 1-3 p.m.

Lindsey hints that there are more surprise activities yet to be announced for the summer. For the latest on dates, times, and new happenings, go to my.spokanecity.org/riverfrontpark or follow “Spokane Riverfront Park” on Facebook. //

Sarah Hauge is a writer and editor who lives in Spokane with her husband and two daughters and is currently training for a summer half marathon or two. She wrote about the best Inland Northwest bike trails in the May issue. 

[Feature photo: “Photo courtesy of Downtown Spokane Partnership from the 2017 Numerica Summer Workout Series”]

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A.M. Cannon Park – West Central

Located at the intersection of Maxwell Ave and Elm, this 8-acre park has something for everyone – softball fields, tennis courts, horseshoe pits and playground equipment. Picnic tables and restrooms are also available, and during the summer the aquatic center is a great choice for families.

Coeur d’Alene Park – Browne’s Addition

As the city’s oldest park, the 10-acre grassy expanse and historic replica gazebo exudes a charming ambience. In addition to a playground and splash pad, there are restrooms, picnic tables, and courts for tennis and basketball. People throwing Frisbees or lounging on blankets while picnicking or reading books are common on sunny days. The playground’s old-school equipment, like the teeter-totter (aka see-saw) and metal slide, will delight both kids and adults.

Cowley Park – Sacred Heart Medical Complex

Located on the north, shaded side of Sacred Heart, this 2-acre park offers quaint, historic charm and simple amenities – a playground (recently updated), restrooms and picnic tables. A spring-fed stream still runs through the park, as it did when it was the site of Reverend Henry T. Cowley’s family home after he arrived in Spokane in 1874. Before that, it was a Spokane Indian tribal winter camp, according to Spokanehistorical.org. Spokane’s first public school was also established here, though none of the original buildings remain. Take time to admire the more than 100-year-old maple, ash and sycamore trees – all planted by Cowley.

Liberty Park – East Central

Before the construction of I-90 divided this park in the 1960s, it was one of the city’s treasured leisure destinations. Throughout its 22-acres, you’ll find fields and courts for softball, tennis and basketball, horseshoes, playground equipment, picnic tables, restrooms, and a city aquatic center. Another great feature is the Ben Burr Trail, a recently-paved community trail that heads one mile southeast to Underhill Park (2910 E. Hartson Ave.), a 19-acre neighborhood mini-park. Here you’ll find a splash pad, playground, and lots of grassy fields and sports courts. In the future, Liberty Park will be easier to access by bike from downtown, thanks to a lower portion of the Ben Burr Trail that will connect with the Centennial Trail.

Mission Park – Logan Neighborhood

Located off the Centennial Trail east of downtown, this 13.33-acre park along the Spokane River offers a variety of recreation options: splash pad and playground for children, tennis courts, softball/baseball field, horseshoes, and swimming at the city’s aquatic center.

Olmsted Brothers Green – Kendall Yards/West Central

This neighborhood park, created by Greenstone Corporation, is conveniently located off the Centennial Trail west of Kendall Yards’ business district. It’s both a great destination and cycling rest-stop with playground equipment, water fountains, and grassy field.

Polly Judd Park – South Hill

This 5.61-acre neighborhood mini-park overlooks Latah Creek and the BNSF railroad line. Features include a covered shelter with picnic tables, restrooms, playground equipment, loop trail that includes multi-level WorldTrail® fitness course stations along the way, and a large grassy natural area and trails along the bluff for exploration.

Wentel Grant Park – Latah Creek/Vinegar Flats

At 10.57 acres, this neighborhood mini-park nestled along Latah Creek is accessible via Inland Empire Way, which is a shared roadway for bikes and vehicles. Playground equipment, basketball, and a softball/baseball field are the activity options (restrooms also available). // (Amy Silbernagel McCaffree)

Bike Safety Tips

Before heading out with your kids on bikes, make sure all riders have helmets and that you and your children know how to ride safely. These tips from Stickman Knows, Spokane’s first comprehensive bike, pedestrian, and motorist safety awareness campaign, are a good place to start:

• Obey all regulatory signs and traffic lights.
• Never ride against traffic.
• Be predictable! Use hand signals to tell motorists what you intend to do.
• Ride in a straight line to the right of traffic (on two-way streets) and a little more than a car-door width away from parked cars.
• Always wear a helmet and never ride with headphones.
• Use lights and reflectors at night and when visibility is poor.
• Don’t pass on the right. Motorists may not look for or see a bicycle passing on the right.
• Dress for the weather. Dress in layers so you can adjust to the temperature and always wear bright clothing.
• Keep your bike in good repair. Check brakes and tires regularly.
• Learn more at Stickmanknows.org. // (OTM)

[Feature Photo by Amy McCaffree]

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Citizens wanting to help plan the new BMX Park at Joe Albi stadium are invited to meet with Mike Aho of Spokane Parks and Rec on Tuesday, October 21, at 7PM at the Shadle Starbucks on Wellesley. Come give input on this cool new bike facility. For more info contact Aho at maho@spokanecity.org. Or read my editorial on the BMX park this month.

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