GROWTH IN THE YARD
How Washington prison greenspaces are helping incarcerated people
By Eliza Billingham
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Despite the many conveniences of technology, all the podcasts and music streaming and wireless headphones and endless entertainment, any time I’m gardening, I prefer the company of my own thoughts. Just the soil, the sun, the plants and me. Getting my hands dirty while nurturing the delicate plants in my vegetable garden and flower beds, I’m able to let go of my worries as nature calms my soul.
Experts have long known the myriad benefits of being outside, surrounded by nature. So it makes sense that at Airway Heights Corrections Center, a SUSTAINABLE GARDENING program for the incarcerated is helping many prisoners rehabilitate and prepare for eventual reentry into society. In the stark prison yard, colorful flowers burst from a seemingly inhospitable landscape and a vegetable garden nourishes with thousands of pounds of produce, all grown with organic compost. Although the program’s participants caused irreparable harm to their victims, the hope after their terms have been served is that they leave changed, thanks to plenty of reflection, rehabilitation and lots of time spent out in the dirt.
— CHEY SCOTT, Editor
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HOW DO YOU INCORPORATE NATURE INTO YOUR LIFE?
HENRY KELM
I incorporate nature into my daily life by taking barefoot walks, which basically gives me this sixth sense of, well, not sixth sense, but this new sense of feeling the ground below my feet, really earthing me and connecting me to nature.
GARRIN HERTEL
Well, a good walk. It’s always good for my mental health. That’s probably the main thing I do. And being a musician, I’m gigging outdoors today, so there’s that. But I think the main thing I do is probably just go for a walk, like a good walk.
DAVID LARSEN
I do a lot of outdoor activities. I spend a lot of time getting to nature. My idea of a weekend off is getting out and experiencing as much as I can, with lots of green space around my house because asphalt is just not something I’m interested in being around all that much.
DENNIS DELLWO
I’m a strong believer in using nature and walking among the life of the world to bring peace to my mind and just enjoy life. I’ve got a nice place in our back and front yard that has more natural vegetation, and I’m just listening to a book while I’m walking around, picking up leaves, arranging the garden and the other growths.
NOAH OTT
In wintertime, I like to hit the mountains and the slopes. I snowboard and ski, so that’s my nature outlet for the year. In the summertime, I like to hit the lakes. I’m just a pretty chill dude, just kind of swimming around and jumping in.
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It was during the time when our new neighbors were clearing the forest beneath their second home, and I was lamenting the loss of habitat for Dark-eyed juncos and chipmunk and hiding places for newborn fawns, that the first call came. The thought of displacement, of losing one’s sanctuary, weighed heavily on my mind.
Level two evacuation order.
I hadn’t even known there was a fire near my mother’s home, 1,600 miles away in Northern Colorado. I called her, and she answered crying, “We have to leave.” “Not yet,” I told her. “You only have to get ready.” I told her it was like before, in 2020 when the Cameron Peak Fire caused an evacuation. The first in her 60 years of living be-
neath Horsetooth Mountain on a stretch of land once an alfalfa field and before that meadow. My father picked the area because he knew it would be a safe place to raise their family. Above the river, outside of the forest that flanked the scrappy hillsides to the east and west. I hung up the phone and in less than an hour the second call came.
Level one evacuation. The text from the intermountain emergency alert read, “Go.”
“My legs won’t work,” my mom said. I imagined her standing in her kitchen. The kitchen I grew up in. Where I made Shrinky Dinks in the oven, where my dad lifted and sat me on the countertop laminated with something like stars, a counter I sat on licking beaters or watching eggs boil for Easter coloring. I tried to explain to my mom that it was just so firefighters wouldn’t worry about people while protecting their homes. They could focus on the fire. The house, a place her husband of nearly 60 years, my dad — now gone
Wildfires keep coming too close to home across the West, like the 2020 El Dorado fire in California. ADOBE STOCK
for over a dozen — wouldn’t have believed could burn.
I have a picture of my mom, dad, sister and me wrestling in the living room that I keep on my desk. A pile of us laughing. The house holding all of this, laughing, it seemed, with us. The doors and windows open and uncurtained, wide-eyed like a grandmother pulling a family to her lap. Though complex like any relationship, the house was an entity that provided sanctuary, safety.
“I don’t want to go,” my mother said, and it was as if she were speaking for our home, and I recall her sitting beside her mom, my grandmother, on the morning she died, and I imagined myself in the future struggling with a similar goodbye.
Iwrite because it is how I escape the loneliness of this home of my body. My mind. I write because it is how I connect to others. Seek solace, wisdom. So I wrote on social media that I was afraid for my mom. That she was being evacuated. And friends in the area said, “Send her here.” To their homes. They would take her in, pull her into the lap of their family. And so she went. I imagine her last minutes. Locking the door. Stacking the clean dishes by the sink. Knowing that whatever she put in the car didn’t matter. Driving away knowing that what was left behind could never be replaced. Would, essentially, die.
“…perhaps
our greatest work lies not just in mourning what is lost, but in building
a place for grief to reside.”
I updated friends. At least your Mom is safe. That’s all that matters, one friend wrote and a few others agreed. My cursor hovered over the thumbs up icon, thankful for the empathetic words, but also uncertain. I closed my eyes and could see that squat little house. White when I was brought there. Blue throughout my teens. Now a bright yellow with red trim, my mother finding joy in applying mood to her home. It looked so alone against the smoke-filled sky. My mom wanted to stay and protect it. I told her to leave the sprinklers on. A futile gesture perhaps, but also a loving one.
In the last few years, I have seen pictures of friends’ homes turned to ash. I have listened to them talk about that death. Not what was lost within the home, though that mattered too, but that home being a body that held memories, that was cared for and adorned. It was a safe place when one was scared, a sacred friend filled with one’s deepest secrets, an entity that held and had life. Yes, my friends were safe, but still, in a sense, they lost a member of the family. A profound loss.
Many things can be true at once, and none need to be ranked in value. The fire that did not burn my childhood home was started by humans. Many are not. My mother is back home and canning peaches where she has canned peaches for 60 years. Other friends wander thrift stores looking for gifts for a home that is as unfamiliar as a new lover, widowed as they now are. House widowed.
I am writing this to say, in the kindest way, that in these times, “at least” — however well-intentioned — can feel perfunctory. Loss is loss. Be it house, mother, or the spirea that used to be home to the juncos that came to my feeder.
As we witness the fragility of our world, perhaps our greatest work lies not just in mourning what is lost, but in building a place for grief to reside. It lies in understanding life is more than human life — more than actual hearts beating — but the natural habitats and homes we build, and in tending to those places with the same care we give to our own beating hearts. n
CMarie Fuhrman is the author of Salmon Weather: Writing from the Land of No Return (forthcoming), Camped Beneath the Dam, and co-editor of two anthologies, Cascadia Field Guide and Native Voices: Indigenous Poetry, Craft, and Conversations. Fuhrman is the associate director of the graduate program in creative writing at Western Colorado University. She resides in West Central Idaho.
ELECTION 2024
Chemical Campaign
Will Spokane County Commissioner Al French’s last election also be his toughest?
BY NATE SANFORD
It’s a beautiful late summer afternoon and Republican Spokane County Commissioner Al French is sitting on a bench outside the Spokane County Courthouse. He’s thinking about his legacy.
With 22 years in elected office — eight as a Spokane City Council member and 14 as a county commissioner — French, 73, is one of the region’s longest-serving elected officials. He’s also arguably one of its most powerful. He sits on numerous boards and commissions and has reshaped parts of the county.
This year will be French’s last election.
“With the last couple things I need to get taken care of, I will have done what I set out to do here,” French says, gazing at the Spokane County campus that’s become his second home. “And then we’ll quietly go off into the horizon.”
If Molly Marshall has her way, French’s retirement may come earlier than he hopes.
Democrats like Marshall, 55, have been trying and failing to unseat French for years. But some on the left are hopeful this election will be different. French recently became tangled in a recall effort tied to his handling of chemical contamination in West Plains drinking water, and
Marshall, a retired Air National Guard member, believes voters are ready for a change.
“What really made me decide to run was the PFAS cover-up,” Marshall says. “When you do something like that that affects public health and livelihood, it’s clear there needs to be new leadership.”
PFAS is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a family of so-called “forever chemicals” that have been linked to heart disease, cancer and other health issues in humans. Many private and public water wells in the West Plains are contaminated with the chemicals due to their use in firefighting foam at Spokane International Airport and Fairchild Air Force Base. Some residents blame French, a longtime member of the airport board, for not alerting people to the problem and taking steps to address it when he started to become aware of it in 2017.
The contamination has become a defining issue in this year’s election — a chemical shadow that threatens to cloud French’s legacy in the county’s District 5, which covers Airway Heights, Medical Lake, Cheney, the West Plains and other parts of western Spokane County.
French has strongly denied any wrongdoing in his handling of the response to PFAS contamination. He describes
the recall effort as a “far-left political ploy.” The recall wouldn’t happen until after the November election.
“Things that I did, I did either under the advice of legal counsel or in compliance with the existing contracts and agreements,” French says. “So I’m comfortable there’s no merit to this.”
POISON IN THE WATER
In 2017, members of the Spokane International Airport board, which French is and was a member of, started becoming aware that firefighting foam used in safety training at the airport contained PFAS that seeped into the groundwater in the West Plains and Airway Heights.
Fairchild Air Force Base, which is several miles west of the airport, tested for and discovered PFAS contamination from its airfield earlier that year. Those results were announced publicly, and residents who lived near Fairchild were given free testing for their private wells to see if they were contaminated.
The results of later tests conducted at the airport, however, were not announced publicly. Nor were they disclosed to any regulatory agencies.
Residents who live nearby only started to learn about the June 2017 testing last year, when a citizen obtained the results through a records request and gave them to the Department of Ecology, which promptly added the airport to the state’s list of contaminated sites.
In late August, a newly formed group called the “Clean Water Accountability Coalition” filed recall charges against French, alleging that he had worked to keep PFAS contamination in the West Plains quiet to protect the airport’s economic interests. French strongly denies this, and questions why other airport board members haven’t faced
The mood was celebratory when Molly Marshall, a county commission candidate, met with the Spokane County Young Democrats after the primary election. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO
“CHEMICAL CAMPAIGN,” CONTINUED...
similar criticism.
“Pure politics,” he says of the recall. “It’s unfortunate. I mean, I won the primary by a substantial margin, and my opponent and her supporters are desperate now.”
French beat Marshall by 2.4 percentage points.
The recall effort is being led by West Plains residents, Washington Conservation Action and Fuse Washington, a progressive political organization. Both organizations involved have endorsed Marshall.
For her part, Marshall says she only learned about the recall when a reporter called her for a comment after it was announced at a news conference.
Marshall hasn’t run for office before, but she’s spent years organizing neighbors in the Grandview/Thorpe area while advocating for sustainable growth. She says she’s hoping to recall French the old-fashioned way — by defeating him at the ballot box. But if she loses the election, and the recall ends up going to voters, she says she’d support it.
“I just want to focus on the positive and hope for the best, but I do support what they’re doing,” Marshall says. “Because there’s been a grave injustice to these folks.”
The recall charges will soon go before a Superior Court judge, who will evaluate if the allegations are significant enough to go to voters. French says he’s hired an attorney and is confident the judge will toss out “this recall petition nonsense.”
FLIPPING THE COMMISSION
In the past, voters were represented by three county commissioners who ran in district-specific primary elections and countywide general elections. For more than a decade, all three commissioners were Republicans.
But in 2021, state lawmakers added two seats to the commission. Redistricting split Spokane County into five districts: two solidly red, two solidly blue, and French’s District 5 became more mixed. All elections are now decided only by voters in each district.
French pushed back on the change. He claims his district was deliberately targeted to become more favorable to Democrats. Currently the commission has three Republicans and two Democrats who are frequently outvoted.
Marshall says she was “so surprised” when the primary results showed her just 736 votes behind French.
“I’m a no-name, and here we have a 14-year — but really 22-year — career politician,” Marshall says. “And I didn’t lose by that many votes. I’d call it a win.”
French says he isn’t worried. “My voters always vote late… we’re much more targeted for the general,” he says.
Jim Hedemark, a political consultant who has worked on campaigns for Democrats and Republicans in Spokane County, thinks French is on track to win. Marshall may feel like she’s within striking distance because of the primary results, but Hedemark says voter demographics in the 5th District indicate that French still has an advantage.
“Does Al have to work to win this election? Of course he does,” Hedemark says. “I wouldn’t discount the fervor and the excitement that there is from Molly’s campaign, but again, history would tend to lean towards the conservative candidate.”
(Hedemark adds that the recall attempt is a “goofy machination” and an “exercise in the impossible.”)
Jeff Beaulac, a data specialist who has worked on progressive campaigns in the Spokane area, thinks the race is a “true toss-up.”
Republicans still have an advantage in the 5th District, but there’s “a lot of negativity on Al” over the PFAS controversy, he says, and Marshall is running an energetic campaign. In order to win, he thinks Marshall will have to gain votes from people who previously supported Donald Trump.
“It’s probably going to come down to within a couple hundred votes,” Beaulac says.
GROWTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Pollution isn’t the only issue separating Marshall and French.
Marshall is the co-founder of Citizen Action for Latah Valley, which has advocated for a development moratorium in the Latah Valley area because of concerns about a lack of infrastructure and wildfire danger. French has been to a few of the group’s meetings, but Marshall argues that the commissioner “never offered solutions, only pointed fingers.”
Marshall says the sprawl problems that have
Spokane County Commissioner Al French, a Marine Corps veteran, says “Maybe that’s part of the fight in me.” ERICK DOXEY PHOTO
troubled Latah Valley are starting to appear in other parts of the county, and that French hasn’t done enough to plan for smart growth. Wildfire risk management is a major part of her platform, and she’s concerned about a lack of transportation infrastructure in many areas.
“We’re building these multifamily homes in areas that don’t have these kinds of services, it doesn’t quite make sense,” Marshall says.
French is opposed to building moratoriums. He argues that they worsen the housing shortage and economic development while not actually addressing the problem. He’s proposed addressing the lack of egress and adequate road infrastructure in the Latah area through a tax-increment financing district.
“New construction brings sales tax revenue, it brings property tax revenue that helps drive government services without having to increase your taxes,” French says, noting that he has pledged not to raise property taxes if reelected. “Why is she standing in the way of progress?”
French boasts about his endorsements from law enforcement groups and attacks his opponent’s lack of experience in elected office.
“I’ve led the effort to bring 6,500 new jobs to the West Plains, over $3 billion in new construction,” French says. “I’m working to continue to build infrastructure to try to get ahead of growth, as opposed to reacting to growth.”
CLEAN WATER
Earlier this year, French proposed a plan to address PFAS contamination by piping in clean water from the Spokane River to West Plains residents. He says it’s one of his top priorities for his last term.
Critics have expressed skepticism over the feasibility of the project, but French says he’s confident it will happen by next summer. He says the Kalispel Tribe has already said they’re “ready to move forward,” and that he’s hoping to time the laying of new pipe with a planned repair project on existing water lines near Fairchild.
“Now that we’re aware of the problem, we’re working to find a solution,” French says, adding that the pandemic “created a bit of a delay.”
Marshall’s PFAS plan involves creating a “PFAS victims fund,” joining a class-action lawsuit against PFAS manufacturers, hiring a toxicology expert and assembling a task force.
“Let’s get some money flowing to those people to get them some help, because they’ve been waiting for seven years. It’s too long,” Marshall says.
French argues that the county is already doing many of those things and that other elements of Marshall’s plan aren’t feasible.
The recall charges highlight 2021 documents that show French blocking a vote to accept a Department of Ecology grant that would have funded PFAS testing. Spokane County’s environmental services manager had pushed for the grant and told independent journalist Timothy Connor last year that he felt the project was killed in order to hide the airport’s connection to the PFAS issue.
French says he stopped the grant from moving forward because he felt it would create a conflict of interest given the county’s financial stake in the airport. He also felt that Ecology “was looking at the county to do Ecology’s job.”
When asked if there’s anything he wishes he handled differently, French says he wishes he had been “much more forceful about having Ecology do their job” when the county passed on the grant opportunity.
“I think the one thing, in hindsight, I would have been much more vocal about is [telling] Ecology ‘this is your money, this is your authority, you have the resources to make this happen, do it,’” French says. “If there’s anything I regret, I regret the fact that I was not more vocal about that.”
French’s priorities for his final term include bringing more aerospace manufacturing to Spokane County and working on the county’s 20-year comprehensive plan update in 2026.
“Hopefully the voters that have kept me in office will continue to hang in there with me,” French says. “At least for one more term, and then I’ll go quietly.”
nates@inlander.com
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Merkel On The Record
Spokane Valley concludes its investigation into City Council member Al Merkel’s use of a personal Nextdoor account for city business
BY VICTOR CORRAL MARTINEZ
In June, Spokane Valley City Council member Jessica Yaeger filed a complaint against fellow Council member Al Merkel, alleging that he violated Washington’s public records law and the city’s social media policy.
The city hired Seattle attorney Rebecca Dean to investigate the matter shortly after the complaint. Last week, Dean provided the city with a report concluding that “some” of the posts Merkel made on his personal Nextdoor social media account “are more likely than not” public records that aren’t currently retained by the city.
The Sept. 3 report also found that Merkel refused to cooperate with the city’s request to produce the Nextdoor posts, which probably violated the state’s Public Records Act.
Additionally, the report concluded that Merkel violated the City of Spokane Valley’s social media policy for council members, which can be found in a governance manual that was updated in December.
The city’s governance manual states that personal and campaign social media accounts should use a personal email, not one related to the city. Additionally, personal social media
accounts require a disclaimer, and posts about the conduct of city government or related to the performance of the office should not be made on personal accounts.
Merkel’s Nextdoor posts often include summaries of City Council debates and his personal commentary criticizing the actions of other council members. Sometimes he conducts polls about actions he should take as a council member and refers people to his government email account.
Yaeger and Merkel were elected on Nov. 3, 2023, and received training for newly elected officials from the Association of Washington Cities. Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb says that new council members also receive an orientation before their first day of office and additional training afterward.
“We provide annual training to council members on open government laws, including the Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act,” Lamb says. “Our city attorney also provided that training early in the year after they were in office.”
The city’s governance manual provides a pathway for council members to engage with their
Spokane Valley City Council member Al Merkel vocally opposes changes to Sprague Avenue, including on his Nextdoor account. PHOTO COURTESY AL MERKEL, SCREENTSHOT FROM CITY INVESTIGATION
constituents through social media. The policy requires them to use Pagefreezer, a software that can archive online conversations and social media activity on official accounts to comply with Freedom of Information Act requirements and the Public Records Act.
However, Merkel doesn’t think he should have to use the software for his personal Nextdoor account, which he says is tied to his campaign email, and can’t be connected to a different email.
“There’s not a way to change that in Nextdoor,” Merkel says.
Lamb says he’s proud of the city’s ability to abide by state open government laws and remain accountable through transparency. He hopes that council members will follow the policy moving forward.
“We are hopeful that Council member Merkel will abide by the policy and state law,” Lamb says. “There is a means for him to communicate with his constituents under the policy and the city to be able to comply with the Public Records Act, and we hope he’s able and willing to do that and reduce unnecessary legal and financial risk to the city.”
Merkel says he has used the Nextdoor app since before he was elected to the City Council and sees it as a valuable tool for communicating with his constituents. He says people who comment and post must disclose their residency to the app, making it clear where they live.
“What’s really nice about that is when you’re having conversations with people online, you know whether they’re Valley residents or not Valley residents,” Merkel says. “That’s not the case on something like Facebook.”
Constituents prefer using popular apps like Nextdoor, Merkel argues. He says that the whole investigation was “political theater” and just a “farce” costing the city and taxpayers money by hiring a “high-priced” Seattle lawyer to attack him.
However, Council member Yaeger points out that she is in the same political party as Merkel. She reiterates that Merkel, like every member of the City Council, has a responsibility to follow the policy.
“You’re supposed to follow the rules set forth and the laws of the state of Washington and follow the governance manual,” Yaeger says. “This is nothing personal against him.”
Merkel says the report was simply the opinion of a third-party attorney and that using the word “likely” doesn’t meet the constitutional standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
“This is an opinion based on some consultant just giving their opinion,” Merkel says. “My lawyer has a different opinion, but this is not how the legal system works.”
Council member Yaeger says it’s easy to review the manual and determine whether you’re complying with the oath of office as an elected official.
“In December of 2023, the council passed Appendix H, and we took our oath of office knowing what the governance manual said,” Yaeger says.
In a somewhat related U.S. Supreme Court decision in March, Lindke v. Freed, a two-part test was created to determine if social media posts by a government official are personal in nature, and whether that official can delete comments from other users without violating the First Amendment. First, it must be determined whether the official had the authority to speak on the government’s behalf and was purported to do so on a social media account. Second, it must be determined if the official stated an intent to exercise their authority. Both components must be met before finding them in violation.
The court also said that if a public official includes “a disclaimer (e.g., ‘the views expressed are strictly my own’), he would be entitled to a heavy (though not irrebuttable) presumption that all of the posts on his page were personal.”
Merkel’s posts sometimes include a disclaimer noting that “nothing in this post is meant to reflect the view of the city or the council as a whole.” At times he specifically asks for feedback to take to the council before a vote.
Merkel has until Sept. 13 to submit an appeal to the hearing examiner. After an appeal, the council may take further action, such as a verbal reprimand, public censure or removal from committees. n victorc@inlander.com
JESS WALTER
SPOKANE SYMPHONY
AN EVENING WITH SATURDAY SEPT 21 7:30PM AND THE
Music from Pearl Jam, Gershwin, Elvis Costello, Smashing Pumpkins and more brings excerpts and stories from best-selling author Jess Walter to life. Come see the Spokane Symphony provide the soundtrack to Jess Walter’s iconic books as he reads aloud his favorite scenes in this unique story-telling experience.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Roses AND
Incarcerated individual Roy weeds around the carrots in a garden at Airway Heights Corrections Center.
Rehab
Nature-focused programs at Airway Heights Corrections Center improve prisoner health while providing food for the community
STORY BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM
PHOTOS BY YOUNG KWAK
When male prisoners look into the courtyard of Airway Heights Corrections Center from their concrete housing units, they can see correctional officers in full black uniforms standing outside a small metal guardhouse.
They can also see hundreds of zinnias, petunias, roses and honeybees.
“The biggest thing about all of this is that it starts from nothing,” says Kelly, an incarcerated man in a bright orange cap who’s also the head gardener of two communal flower beds.
“In the last year, we’ve gone from flat hardpan and weeds — to this,” he says, motioning to one garden, which now holds over 600 square feet of near-impenetrable blossoms.
(Kelly and the other incarcerated men quoted in this story will be referenced by their first names only to avoid retraumatizing their victims, and also at the advice of prison rehabilitation experts. There is no way to erase the harm done, including murder and child abuse. But experts stress the importance of avoiding fixating on people’s crimes, to allow for a viable path toward rehabilitation.)
Smaller flower beds were started about three years ago and have been expanding every year since.
Four other men in the state prison are preparing nearby ground for another addition. Hardened soil will need to be amended with plenty of compost. That compost will come from a handful of other incarcerated gardeners participating in the prison’s sustainability program, who take grass clippings from the yard and food scraps from the commissary and convert them into nutrient-dense, all-natural fertilizer.
“You can use all of the material that we usually throw away,” Kelly says. “You take all of that stuff and you work it, and you can turn it into rich, beautiful soil that produces this type of flowering.”
In 2003, an organization called the Sustainability in Prisons Project, or SPP, emerged from Evergreen State College in Olympia. The project’s goal was to bring science and conservation education to the 12 state prisons across Washington. SPP has since been welcomed into each facility, including Airway Heights Corrections Center, a medium and minimum security prison for more than 2,200 men.
Across the state, SPP projects vary, including rearing endangered butterflies, rehabilitating turtles, teaching water conservation techniques and training rescue dogs.
Other sustainability programs at the Airway Heights prison include forestry and firewood donation programs, plus recycling
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE
and refurbishing computers. But the pillars are their food and flower gardens, as is the case at most prisons in the state.
“There tends to be space. There tends to be broad interest among the staff,” says Kelli Bush, the co-director of SPP statewide. “Many folks have some experience with gardening, whether they’re incarcerated people or staff.”
The gardens at Airway Heights Corrections Center are experimental grounds not only for composting and conservation techniques, but for understanding how greenspace, access to nature, and science education can impact mental health, recidivism rates, and rehabilitation in prison.
Can limited access to the outdoors, even while locked up, promote healing? What spaces are helpful in rehabilitating someone for the “outside” world? Can gardening transform behavior enough that an incarcerated person is more likely to reenter society as a healthier version of themself and not reoffend?
“We don’t ever want to forget that many of the folks who are incarcerated have caused some really serious harm,” Bush says. “[But] if it were going to work to simply make conditions miserable for people, if that were going to deter them and make them less likely to cause harm, then that model would have worked a long time ago and we wouldn’t have the rates of incarceration that we have.”
Studying recidivism rates is difficult, she says, because the chance of reoffending is affected by many different factors, including social circles, having a place to stay, drug use and employment opportunities. According to a 2018
study by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, five out of six state prisoners are rearrested within nine years of their release.
Bush says the kind of education that SPP provides has the potential to reduce the likelihood of reoffending by 43%. Researchers in the U.K. have shown that more greenspace correlates with less violence in prisons, plus greater staff retention.
But the most important number, in Bush’s mind, is even larger.
“About 96% of people who are incarcerated are going to be released,” she says. “Who do we want as our neighbors? If we don’t create a healthy environment where people can reflect, heal, change, grow, transform, then they’re coming back out to be our neighbors, potentially in worse condition. I don’t want that. I want folks that come out in better condition. I want folks that have reflected and done some healing.”
GROWING GARDENS
“Morning,” Patrick Strand greets two incarcerated men in gray T-shirts as he strolls through the Airway Heights prison courtyard in a polo and sporty sunglasses.
“Good morning,” they both respond, each making eye contact with the guard. Strand makes a point to say hello to everyone he walks past. He has worked at Airway Heights Corrections Center for a decade, but two years ago he took on the role of sustainability specialist. He’s one of the first dedicated prison sustainability officers in the state.
Part of his job is coordinating the work in the courtyard flower gardens and the greenhouse in the
back of the compound, where all the plant starts are raised and the compost is made. He hires the men who get to participate, noting he chooses team members who have some experience growing and can “play well with others.”
In addition to his administrative tasks, Strand helps pull weeds, gives advice on carbon and nitrogen ratios for compost, and offers tips on which flowers like to grow next to other flowers.
“I do get my hands dirty out there,” he says. “I believe in leading by example. If I told a bunch of people to pull weeds, I should probably pull some, too. But again, it’s not my job. I need to remember my role. But I can’t help it. I’m a farm kid myself.”
On the way to the produce garden, Strand stops by one of the “unit gardens,” small flower beds in front of each dwelling unit that are designed and cared for by some of the men who live inside. He chats with a man pulling dead blooms off purple petunias.
“When you prune your roses, will you let me know so I can propagate them?” Strand asks.
Through a set of guarded doors and behind the laundry facility, there’s a greenhouse with dozens of propagated rose stems already. The ones that survive will help fill in new or expanding flower beds early next spring.
The greenhouse is in the corner of a 2-acre field that’s filled with a couple dozen rows of onions, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, spinach, kale, carrots, turnips, radishes, cucumbers, strawberries and melons.
Ten men are responsible for the produce garden, and they’re allowed to work out here under minimal
“ROSES AND REHAB,” CONTINUED...
Incarcerated men in the sustainability program maintain beehives at Airway Heights Corrections Center.
supervision all day, five days a week during the growing season. They grow thousands of pounds of produce, most of which is donated to the Women’s and Children’s Free Restaurant and Community Kitchen in Spokane.
The team is also in charge of three beehives and six vermiculture bins. They gather honey from the bees, and use the worms to help turn waste from kitchen scraps back into fertile soil. Because fertilizer, pesticides and large tools are not allowed due to security risks, all the food is grown with compost, a few hand tools, and a healthy population of pollinators.
The vegetable rows are far from the prison’s intercom, which blares announcements over the courtyard every five to 15 minutes, the noise reverberating off the smooth concrete surfaces with a distinctly dystopian echo. But here among the tomatoes and turnips, you can’t hear it. On the other side of the fence, you can see a new neighborhood.
“I could be out here all day,” says Josh, the vegetable garden lead, who has been serving time for more than 15 years. He first started working with plants eight years ago through an SPP environmental literacy program called Roots of Success.
“I mean, we get paid almost $150 a month to be out here,” he says, “but I easily could do this for free.”
Roy, the newest member of the team who’s been working since April, says it’s almost possible to forget that you’re in prison while you’re out here.
“Inside is a completely different world compared to here, from the inmate population to the general energy,” Roy says. “Out here, you get to interact with the ground and the air outside. You’re planning stuff, and you get to have a little more control, where everything in there is very ordered and very scheduled and very, very much the same.”
Josh, who is in recovery from substance use, is also a certified peer-to-peer counselor. The way he talks about gardening is strikingly similar to the way he talks about recovery.
“A person might typically think that I don’t have a lot of ability to make changes in my life. But here, I can feel like I have a sense of agency, I can do things, I can take action, and I can see changes happen,” Josh says. “It’s just a microcosm. If any of us take that same mindset into just trying to be better people, to see that the little choices that we make on a day-to-day basis — even though there’s a lot of hard work involved, but it’s all something we’re doing together, not just by myself as an individual — then we could see those positive changes happening over a period of time.”
PATHS FORWARD
Washington state prisons are far from the only correctional institutions to incorporate plants into daily life. One of the most famous examples is the GreenHouse on Rikers Island, which started more than 30 years ago and is one of the oldest therapeutic horticulture programs in the country. It’s run by the Horticultural Society of New York, in New York City’s largest jail.
The Hort, as the society calls itself, doesn’t set out to make jail an ideal place to be. But it aims to offer stability and emotional management tools for people in constant flux at Rikers while they await their trial.
Over half the people on the island are diagnosed with a mental health disorder that often co-occurs with drug abuse. The volatility of their stay in jail can make things worse instead of encouraging rehabilitation. (New Yorkers have voted to close Rikers Island by 2026 due to concerns about human rights violations.)
Close to 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonpartisan think tank.
Anywhere from 65% to 80% of incarcerated people deal with addiction, while 30% to 40% struggle with mental health issues, says Marc Stern, an associate professor of health systems and population health at the University of Washington and the former assistant secretary for health care at the state Department of Corrections.
But studying the effect of greenspace on the mental health and behavior of the incarcerated population to rigorous scientific standards is difficult.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
“ROSES
AND REHAB,” CONTINUED...
The National Science Foundation requires academic studies to create a control group — that is, a group of people who don’t have access to the treatment — in order to accurately measure the difference in those who do receive treatment. Studies also typically require participants to be randomly assigned to treatment or control groups.
geography at England’s University of Birmingham, is finding new ways to study the effect of greenspace on prison populations.
By mapping and measuring the amount of greenspace across multiple prisons in England and Wales, Moran and her team found that “prisons with a higher percentage of greenspace have significantly lower levels of self-harm, violence and staff absence.” They were able to control for various prison population characteristics.
Dinin Out
But participation in SPP gardening programs like the one in Airway Heights, which has to be applied to and earned, is anything but random.
“We can’t see a path forward where we compromise our values and mandate that you must garden even if you’re not interested in gardening, or you must work with butterflies if you’re not interested in that,” Bush says. “It’s tough to find the true comparison group, because you’d essentially have to say ‘You get access to nothing during your incarceration.’ That feels unethical, right?”
Stern suggests that perhaps prison research should explore the effect prison spaces have on the people who work there. It might be an easier population to study academically, and anything that decreases stress on staff and reduces guard turnover rates is beneficial to both populations, he says.
“The healthier and more normal these spaces are, the better they are for everybody,” Stern says. “Prison health is a public health issue.”
Jim Parker has worked at Airway Heights Corrections Center since 1997. He’s now the facilities manager of the prison. He says staff members also take advantage of the conservation programs.
“Staff will volunteer to help us with different gardens,” he says. “When you’re staff that works here, one of the things that you have to do is guard your personal life. So you always look for common ground that you can discuss that doesn’t reveal too much personal information but provides something that humans can interact on. I think that the plants provide that.”
Dominique Moran, a professor in carceral
Similar conclusions have been drawn for non-prison populations. A 2002 study from the University of Illinois found that a view of greenspace from a window alone can help inner city girls concentrate on tests and have better impulse control.
A 2022 study across universities, including research by University of Washington’s Gregory Bratman, found that childhood neighborhood greenspace was positively associated with emotional intelligence among college students with low-income backgrounds.
However, access to nature is so often associated with other factors, like wealth and family support, that researchers are still trying to tease out how much credit Mother Nature can get.
Scott Frakes retired as the deputy director of prisons for the Washington Department of Corrections in 2015. He then served as director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services until 2022. Now, he owns a consulting firm that assesses and advises on new prisons nationwide.
Frakes is committed to pushing for greenspace, which provides a more natural environment as well as opportunities for nurture-focused programs like gardening.
“If you give someone responsibility for a living thing, it usually improves their behavior,” he says.
His clients are usually receptive, he says, but the biggest pushback is money.
Bush, however, says that gardening and conservation programs are relatively low cost, and
Sustainability Specialist Patrick Strand, left, and Facilities Manager Jim Parker speak with program participant Roy about tomatoes.
“If you give someone responsibility for a living thing, it usually improves their behavior. ”
much less expensive than having someone return to prison. If a prison composts its own waste into fertilizer and uses conservative watering techniques, expenses for gardening are usually limited to buying seeds and paying very small salaries.
“Incarceration is costly — anywhere between $63,000 and $67,000 a year per person,” she says. “So it’s very cost effective, when you think of it that way, to invest in education to prevent that return.”
Airway Heights Corrections Center is actually one of the least expensive prisons in the state, with an annual cost per person of just over $51,000 in 2022. Part of that, Frakes says, is because of the energy efficiency designed into the facility, including the composting efforts. The grounds were also designed to allow a minimal number of staff to operate them safely.
TRANSPLANTING
The flowers in Kelly’s flower beds can only be 3 to 4 feet tall, so guards can always see everything across the grounds. For the same safety reasons, there can’t be any trees in the courtyard.
Josh, Roy and the other men who work in the vegetable gardens are allowed to eat whatever fresh produce they’d like during their shifts, but they’re strictly forbidden from bringing any of it inside to others.
On Tuesdays, however, they donate some of their harvest to the commissary for everyone to enjoy. By Thursday, there will be plenty more to send to the Women’s and Children’s pantry. Last year, they donated more than 2,000 pounds of fresh food.
“That was actually a small donation,” Strand says. “We had all those wildfires. If I have wildfires, I can’t bring incarcerated [men] out because of the air quality. So the garden just gets kind of neglected.”
It’s not been neglected this year. The tomatoes are bearing so much fruit they’re tugging down the ropes meant to support them. Tomato cages or chicken wire aren’t allowed in the prison.
Strand and his team have also perfected their compost recipe, carefully timing ratios, temperatures and turnings. With their undivided attention, they’re able to turn grass clippings and wood chips into black gold in just two weeks, a process that could take a lazier gardener over a year.
Airway’s correctional center was one of the first prisons to have a beekeeping program, which started at the end of 2017. Their colonies almost died off during the COVID pandemic, but two of three hives are back on track, with the third slowly getting healthier.
Josh approaches the smaller, slower colony without any protective gear. He lifts the lid of the box, which is handpainted with pictures and a reminder to “Save the Bees,” to check for predatory yellow jackets. He’s not very worried about the honeybees themselves.
“My experience is the bees just being really docile, as long as we’re not being super reckless with handling them,” he says. “It seems like there’s not really much to worry about.”
Some honeybees eventually make their way to Kelly in the courtyard flower gardens, which also get visited by the occasional hummingbird or bumblebee.
“These are my favorite little guys,” Kelly says, petting a fuzzy black and yellow pollinator. “They’re very gentle, and they’re so beautiful. I let them climb on me. They get caught in my beard sometimes.”
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Airway’s prison is getting ready to implement a new conservation program in 2025. The plan is to have men in the greenhouse nurture sagebrush starts that will get transplanted in Central Washington in order to reestablish habitat for the endangered sage grouse.
It will be another way for the men incarcerated here to have a positive impact on those around them, both inside and outside the prison walls.
“If you think about it, being incarcerated means that you have a debt to society to serve,” says Joe, who’s in charge of growing pumpkins that are donated to schools and children’s hospitals in the area. “When you can do something in here that positively impacts the disadvantaged out there, you feel that connection to society — that you can achieve success regardless and despite your past circumstances, your past mistakes.”
Even if these men don’t become professional landscapers or farmers upon release, Josh says that the
skills he’s learned growing vegetables may be more transferable than the job training he might get in other programs.
“I was able to work as a clerk for workforce development, where they were doing classes for reentry skills and job-seeking skills,” Josh says. “One of the things that I learned helping write resumes for other people is that even though a lot of the skills that I get from the work that I do in here aren’t hard skills that directly translate to the community, there’s a lot of soft skills that, to me, come to matter more in the long run.”
If he’s really good at something when he gets out of prison, but after getting a job he doesn’t get along with others, doesn’t communicate well, and doesn’t show up on time or take pride in his work, then it’s not likely to work out, Josh says.
“So although this might not be something that directly translates into a specific kind of job that I do out
in the community, I look at it in terms of developing the same kind of transferable skills,” Josh says. “Self-management skills, being able to communicate with people, working well on a team, managing goals, working with setbacks, and problem solving — all of these different things that I think I can bring with me into different kinds of jobs.”
Roy’s stay won’t be as long as Josh’s, but for the next few months he’s here, he says the garden is where he feels most restored.
“This is a blessing to be out here,” Roy says. “It’s very much relaxed and warm. It’s hard in there sometimes. So to get away from it all — there’s not the crowd, there’s not the massive CO presence — we get just each other and this place to dig our hands in the dirt and let all that bad energy go.” n
elizab@inlander.com
“ROSES AND REHAB,” CONTINUED...
Kelly, another incarcerated program participant, holds a pampas plume at Airway Heights Corrections Center.
An Emotional Merry-Go-Round
Spokane Civic Theatre is staging a musical that’s both famous and infamous for the wartsand-all romance at its center
BY E.J. IANNELLI
When the creative duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had to follow the immense success of their first musical collaboration, Oklahoma!, they went with the obvious choice: a turn-of-the-century Hungarian play about an inarticulate, impetuous carnival barker who mistreats his girlfriend, commits suicide during a botched robbery and later makes a posthumous attempt at redemption with mixed results.
Their source play, Ferenc Molnár’s Liliom, wasn’t as niche as it might sound. It had been translated into English and successfully staged on Broadway a good two decades before Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it into Carousel in 1945. Orson Welles had brought Liliom to radio as recently as 1939. That was followed by a Broadway revival starring Burgess Meredith and Ingrid Bergman one year later.
Nevertheless, Liliom’s flawed characters and ambivalent ending aren’t the sort of material that audiences might associate with the musicals that helped define Broadway’s Golden Age. And that departure from convention actually marked a turning point for the entire genre. Today, it’s widely accepted that Carousel forged a path for musicals that explored tragedy and evoked conflicting emotions.
Jean Hardie, who’s directing a new production of Carousel for the Spokane Civic Theatre, sees a clear trajectory from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s second joint musical to later cultural landmarks like West Side Story
“In 1945, musicals tended to still be quite fluffy and happy. Oklahoma! had broken the mold a little bit with the structure of letting the music and the dance integrate with the story,” Hardie says. “But they took that even further with Carousel. The story is very serious and has a lot of dark edginess to it that was kind of revolutionary in its time.”
Though it did soften Liliom’s ending slightly for the Broadway stage, the show’s dark edginess certainly didn’t alienate audiences of that era.
Aided by its second-act ballet and emotionally nuanced numbers like “If I Loved You,” the song that underpins the famous “bench scene” courting between carny Billy Bigelow and millworker Julie Jordan, Carousel’s debut run was an all-around hit. The musical soon joined shows like Oklahoma! and Kiss Me, Kate in the lofty constellation of theatrical darlings.
Robby French plays Billy Bigelow in the Civic’s Carousel MARLEE ANDREWS PHOTO
Yet one aspect of Carousel has given both directors and audiences pause over the decades. At various points, Billy, its antihero, raises his hand to both his wife and daughter. What’s more, those female characters don’t treat these acts like an unforgivable transgression. Instead, in a gesture that could be seen as trivializing domestic violence, they frame it as a misguided expression of his love.
From the standpoint of the actor tasked with playing him, creating a sympathetic character out of Billy Bigelow — a man who quibbles over the distinction between beating and hitting his partner — can be something of an uphill battle.
“I think it’s definitely one of the biggest things that drew me to want to do this show,” says Robby French, who’s returning to the Civic stage for the first time in 11 years. He stars as Billy in this production opposite Karlin Marie Kahler as Julie.
“It’s not a comfortable thing to talk about or portray on stage. Everything [Billy] does in the play, even after he dies, isn’t super likable. The challenge that I strive to achieve every time we rehearse this is to create that empathy by the end. And that’s hard. But I’m always trying to find the things that I can really push myself and learn from.”
The music is no cakewalk, either. Among the many wellknown and even trendsetting numbers in Carousel’s songbook is “Soliloquy,” the operatic act one closer that will see French singing solo for close to eight minutes.
“I think we have come through to a time where we can look at what happens in the show and we can try to understand where these characters are coming from.”
Hardie agrees that the show’s complexities are part of its appeal to her as director. For Carousel’s story to work, it’s essential for the actors to capture the tenderness as well as the toughness in Billy and Julie’s fraught relationship.
“She’s not a victim, she’s not a doormat. She stands up to him gently, and that is difficult for him to deal with. He doesn’t always behave correctly, but we also get to see that they do love each other. They are just people who are so protective of their feelings and so afraid to let them out fully,” Hardie says.
“I think we have come through to a time where we can look at what happens in the show and we can try to understand where these characters are coming from... while not advocating in any way for relationships to follow that mold.”
Roughly midway through its second act, Carousel introduces a supernatural element to help Billy along his redemptive arc. From his magical vantage in the afterlife he can see the lasting damage that his behavior has caused, particularly to his daughter Louise, played in this production by Hailey Stroh.
But, just as in Liliom, Billy’s desire to make things right doesn’t mean that he will instinctively know how to do it.
French and Hardie maintain that, ultimately, Carousel is less about Billy’s narrow quest to find redemption and more about Julie and Louise’s much bigger ability to grant forgiveness. The audience is invited to share in this feeling through the show’s uplifting finale, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which French says “helps create that emotional connect.”
“That moment is extremely sentimental, and there’s no way around it,” Hardie says. “It’s a piece that you almost can’t not cry while you hear it.” n
Carousel • Fri, Sept. 13 through Sun, Oct. 13; Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm (also Sat, Sept. 14 and Oct. 12 at 2 pm) • $15-$41 • Spokane Civic Theatre • 1020 N. Howard St. • spokanecivictheatre.com • 509-325-2507
Anniversary SALE
October 17-19
Norse Code
‘Let’s
Vike It,’ an immersive and hands-on Viking-themed festival, comes to Newport’s City Park
BY CASSANDRA BENSON
If you’re like me and the extent of your Norse history comes from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, then you might benefit from attending Let’s Vike It, the region’s first Viking-themed festival.
called the Fregna Tjald, which means “history canopy” in Norse. Equipped with artifacts used from the 700s to 1100s, the tent puts daily life for the Norse people on display through textiles, jewelry, items used for personal hygiene and more.
Visitors can experience many other demonstrations during the one-day festival, such as how beekeeping was done in the Viking Age and how blacksmiths created weapons and armor. The Pend Oreille Noxious Weed Control Board is also teaching how Vikings and medieval people used plants for medicinal and other purposes. Thompson hopes sessions like these help visitors gain a more holistic understanding of the Norse people as they wander through the fair’s recreated Viking village.
Thompson explains that the Vikings were not a race, but an occupation. She and other fair organizers hope to dispel the common assumption that Vikings were only pillageobsessed barbarians.
“Yes, that was a part of it,” she says. “But they were not the only people during that time engaged in warfare. They have been portrayed as barbarians, but if you look at who they really were, they wanted to establish more land to farm and grow crops for their family. Their roots are very family-oriented.”
Like the Vikings themselves, the event is also family-oriented, with many activities for children like a shield-making class. Kids can learn what shields were used for and how they were made.
Bringing Norse legacies to life through engaging exhibits and hands-on history, the fair aims to showcase a more realistic depiction of the oft-mythologized Viking Age, spanning from about 800 to 1050.
Kari Thompson, who also goes by the Old Norse name Hrafn Songr, is the founder and coordinator for Let’s Vike It and a member of Aasveig, a local nonprofit of experimental historians with a passion for all things Norse and educating others through “living history” demonstrations.
“We wanted to create a fair that was going to be educational and fun,” Thompson says. “A safe environment for people to go to but also to be historically correct.”
For those less-versed in the intricacies of immersive festivals like Renaissance fairs, Thompson says Let’s Vike It differs because of its focus and commitment to education and historical accuracy, whereas a typical Renn fair may be less concerned with period facts.
“There’s a lot of fairs out there, this one is geared more towards the educational aspect of who the Viking people were and what they did,” she says. “There’s more things for people to do, hands-on, where they’re actually going to learn something. We’re excited about bringing history to life in a very different way.”
Among those immersive attractions is a traveling museum tent
Besides its museum-like attractions, the event offers Viking Age games, and a plethora of vendors selling clothing, jewelry and handmade crafts like wood-burned items. Fighters will demonstrate Viking combat, and many will be dressed up in traditional Norse clothing.
Thompson emphasizes the fair’s goal is to present Norse and Viking history in a fresh and engaging way. Attention to detail and a chance to explore the complexities of Viking and Norse culture make the event unique. And while the fair is not explicitly spiritual, there will be an incorporation of Norse spirituality.
“We’re opening our festival with a traditional Nordic blessing, and we will be closing the fair with a traditional Nordic closing that sends everybody off with blessings and safe travels,” she says.
“We’re gearing this towards the way people lived during that time, what was important to people during that time. We want everybody to have the feel of who these people were and how they lived.”
Thompson hopes Let’s Vike It becomes an annual event, uniting the community through a passion for learning and history.
“You can put the world on hold for a couple of hours, and you can step into a time where things were very different and different things mattered.”
Let’s
Let’s Vike It takes you back to the Viking years of 800-1050. PHOTOS COURTESY OF KARI THOMPSON
OPENING
Brew Where You’re Planted
Indaba opens new flagship shop and roastery on North Monroe, which will be its final new brick-and-mortar location
BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM
From a crack in the sidewalk, a coffee plant struggles up towards the sun. A giant coffee plant, that is.
It’s a coffee plant that muralist Daniel Lopez painted across the north wall of the newest — and last — Indaba Coffee location on North Monroe Street.
Indaba gave Lopez his first job in Spokane over a decade ago. Now, he’s leaving his mark on what his old boss Bobby Enslow says will be the final brick and mortar location he’ll ever open.
“I just turned 40 last December, so it makes you reevaluate what the next 40 years are gonna be focused on,” Enslow says.
After he opened his first shop on West Broadway Avenue in 2009, Enslow opened eight other locations in 15 years. Four of them are still open, including Indaba’s popular spots in downtown Spokane and Kendall Yards. But the “financial, spiritual and emotional burden” of expanding physical locations got to be too exhausting, Enslow says. Not to mention that it cut against his core conviction to build hyperlocal gathering places for
neighborhoods.
The newest spot in the North Monroe Business District, which Enslow affectionately calls the “world headquarters” of Indaba, is now the brand’s central hub, just a few blocks from Enslow’s own home. The Monroe location has been open daily from 6 am to 6 pm for weeks now, but an all-day grand opening party is set for Saturday, Sept. 21.
The spacious coffee shop gives Apple store vibes, and it’s where guests can try Indaba’s most select roasts and food items like bagel sandwiches and pastries from West Central’s Made with Love Bakery. It’s also the new home of all the company’s roasting operations, which Enslow relocated from Spokane Valley.
But in his next chapter of life, Enslow plans to transition from coffee connoisseur to coffee consultant. The new flagship location will provide space for baristas to take Enslow’s new certification program or for entrepreneurs to participate in workshops focused on opening coffee shops in their own neighborhoods.
“For me, it’s entering into the season of life now where I’m really paying it forward and utilizing my 15 years of experience to empower other people,” Enslow says. “I still very much believe in the mission of coffee shops and the vital importance of having community spaces. Through Indaba’s history of growth and retraction, it’s taught me that being a smaller operation allows you to have more of an impact on the community. You can scale the product, but you can’t necessarily scale the community impact.”
If this is the last location Enslow is going to open, he’s gonna throw one hell of a last hurrah. The grand opening party is essentially an all-day extravaganza. The party gets going early — like 6 am early. (This is a coffee shop, after all.)
The first hundred customers of the day get a free swag bag. But if you like to sleep in, stop by anytime from 9 am to noon to check out live music, a petting zoo, family-friendly games and tours of the roastery.
Owner Bobby Enslow inside Indaba’s new North Monroe location, which offers a full coffee and food menu plus a barista training space. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS
Throughout the afternoon, you can snag your favorite Indaba classics featuring housemade lemon vanilla or lavender syrups or the ever-popular butterscotch latte with from-scratch butterscotch syrup.
“The secret way to have it is to ask the barista to add a little black salt,” Enslow says. “It takes it from A to A+.”
In the evening, Indaba Monroe will invite any and all baristas — experienced or aspiring — to join a latte art competition. Indaba has hosted plenty of latte art competitions before, but this is the first one ever to encourage sabotage, Enslow says.
“We’re gonna allow spectators to actually sabotage the competitors, if they pay cash,” Enslow says. “It’s five bucks to sabotage a competitor. Then we’re gonna give the competitors three lifelines that they can only use once each, and they have to spend $10 to use a lifeline.”
Ways to sabotage competitors include forcing them to wear beer goggles or making them pour with their nondominant hand. The winners of the competition will win plenty more cash than they’re allowed to spend, and all proceeds from the competition will go to Peak 7 Adventures, a faith-based outdoors outfitter that takes disadvantaged kids on leadership-building trips like rafting, climbing or backpacking.
Indaba’s new location is also the latest addition to North Monroe, which is one of the newest hot spots for growth in the city. Millenium Northwest, which has also developed land in Kendall Yards and is working on a project in the Garland District, recently completed a four-story, multifamily housing building on the same block as the coffee shop.
This stretch of arterial road north of downtown Spokane has also been improved by neighborhood-minded entrepreneurs like Dave Musser of Bellwether Brewing, Enslow says, and by the city’s street renovations. In 2018, the city narrowed North Monroe from two lanes to one lane in each direction between Northwest Boulevard and Garland.
“By narrowing it, they actually widened it, because predevelopment, you couldn’t even park without the danger of your mirror getting hit,” Enslow says. “But I think having the center lane and having more comfortable spacing for parallel parking, all of these businesses here are flourishing… So the exciting thing about this location is that we’re moving into a neighborhood that is already on the rise.”
Indaba is opening its doors as its neighbor, Prohibition Gastropub, is closing. Social media posts from the restaurant said that parking issues were hurting business too much. But Indaba has a large parking lot behind it, as well as street parking.
And despite its being relatively close to other Indaba locations, Enslow says he sees new people from the Emerson-Garfield neighborhood walking into his shop every day.
“That’s the power of a third space coffee shop, a community coffee shop, right?” he says. “Now you have all these neighbors that are meeting neighbors.”
As Enslow sets off to empower other people to create similar third spaces in their communities, he’s inspired by collaborations like the beer brewing certificate at Whitworth. Could Indaba partner with local colleges for coffee or entrepreneurship certificates? Could it help level up baristas and make Spokane as much of a coffee destination as Seattle?
Enslow would argue it is already.
“I will go and visit Seattle — all the shops close at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and all the coffee is still way over-roasted,” he says. “I’ll have people that come over here and be like, ‘Man, Spokane is really spoiled when it comes to coffee.’”
Right now, the sky’s the limit for Enslow and his crew. They’re reaching up toward the sun, but keeping their roots firmly planted.
“Allowing local owners to create their own communities and expression — it’s just so beautiful,” Enslow says. “Empathy cannot exist without a sense of place.” n
Indaba Flagship Roastery Grand Opening • Sat, Sept. 21 from 6 am-9 pm • Indaba Coffee • 2020 N. Monroe St. • indabacoffee.com • 509-514-2639
ALSO OPENING
THE KILLER’S GAME
A professional assassin (Dave Bautista) puts a bounty on himself after he learns he has terminal cancer. When it turns out to be a false diagnosis, he must fight off an array of bounty hunters in order to survive. Rated R
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
The desert war epic considered to be one of the greatest films ever gets an old school 4k rerelease that includes the overture, entr’acte, exit music and an intermission. Rated PG At the Magic Lantern
SPEAK NO EVIL
A remake of the heralded 2022 Danish film of the same name, this psychological thriller finds a vacationing couple and their daughter in peril after being invited to an idyllic countryside estate by a charming family who might not be what they seem. Rated R
USHER: RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS
For those who wanted more after the singer’s Super Bowl halftime show, you can now see Usher “live” on the big screen via this concert film shot during his residency at the La Seine Musicale in Paris last year. Not rated Sept. 12-15
is
FESTIVAL ROUNDUP
A Cinematic Postcard from Canada
A recap of the best films we saw at Toronto International Film Festival to prep you for prestige movie season
BY CHASE HUTCHINSON
In an extremely slow week for notable new releases, all eyes turn to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). One of the premiere festivals on the globe, TIFF always showcases what there is to look forward to in theaters in the weeks and months ahead. Thus, when setting out to recap the best of the TIFF, one ends up writing what also serves as a fantastic fall preview of what you should be looking out for soon in cinemas. From a thrilling yet incisive dramedy about a street-smart stripper fighting for survival a harsh world to a pair of darkly comedic dramas all built around messy characters (one of which includes a certain former Spokane-born actress) and more, there was something for everyone at TIFF 2024.
ANORA
Sean Baker’s Anora is one of the most frequently astounding, consistently hilarious, and subtly insightful films of the year with a breakout performance for the ages from Mikey Madison. As the titular Anora, she guides us through this story of a struggling stripper in Brooklyn. Her fortunes initially seem like they may change for the better when she marries the son of a Russian oligarch, only for things to fall completely apart. It’s a film that’s sharp as hell, cutting you with each line of dialogue just as it steadily becomes about solidarity, or the lack of it, in a world where the deck is stacked against you.
It’s Baker’s best film yet — which is really saying
something considering he made Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket — and a truly stunning showcase for Madison. In every single scene, she’s in complete command even as her character is not. Though it has a tragic inevitability to it, the tension Baker squeezes out of every moment makes it thrilling from its focused start all the way to its fantastic finish. It’s a film that warms the soul just as it brings it all crashing down, ending with the reality that we all must go back out into the cold again. Releasing in theaters on Oct. 18.
CONCLAVE
What a wonderful film the confined, darkly humorous
The Ralph Fiennes-led religous drama Conclave
already generating Oscar buzz.
and masterfully confident Conclave is. This confidence comes from the precise direction by Edward Berger and the excellent dialogue from writer Peter Straughan (who adapts the novel of the same name by Robert Harris), though that all is carried with grace by a neverbetter Ralph Fiennes in reserved, yet still rare, form. Centered on the struggles of Fiennes’ Cardinal Lawrence who must oversee the selection of a new Pope after the current one dies, it’s a film that’s primarily characters talking in rooms though is completely enrapturing in every meticulously framed shot by cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine. It’s a story about power, politics, faith and oh so much more that is best experienced with a crowd so that you can get swept up in all the many surprises that it has in store for you. Instead of 12 Angry Men, it’s 12 Angry Popes. And when all the cards are laid out on the table, Conclave takes the church for a spin that settles into being something more quietly radical in the final act. It’s certain to be either the very best or the absolute worst film to see around election time. Releasing in theaters in November.
EDEN
When the world around you is a bleak one, always make sure to go to an island that you’ve never been to in order to find a supposed philosopher with the key to surviving the chaos. At least, that’s the premise of Ron Howard’s Eden, a film which is broadly based on a true story that’s still quite silly and sinister in all the right ways. Set in 1929 on an uninhabited island in the Galápagos archipelago that is now home to a collection of vastly different groups, its standout is a spectacular Sydney Sweeney as the seemingly unassuming Margret who becomes the center of the whole experience where everyone is at each other’s throats. There are others who give much bigger performances, but she is Eden’s beating heart. Even when the film writ large is not as great when she fades into the background, she ensures it always gets back on the right path as all of the characters may soon be marching toward a grim death of their own creation. Expected to release in theaters in the fall.
THE LIFE OF CHUCK
There’s a good chance that you’re more familiar with writer/director Mike Flanagan for his horror works like the magnificent series Midnight Mass or the intriguing yet still flawed Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep. The Life of Chuck couldn’t be more different in tone, structure and execution, despite being another film that adapts King (a novella, in this case). Playing out in three acts in reverse order back through the life of the titular Chuck, briefly played by Tom Hiddleston who dances off the Marvel baggage that’s been weighing him down for far too long, it’s all about confronting the end of everything. Yes, while not a horror film, this is a film about death. However, just as importantly, it’s also about life and the precious moments we have. This could sound maudlin, but Flanagan, much like King, has always had an earnest humanist core to his art that becomes something uniquely beautiful here. It’s the best film
I saw at the festival, as it rips your heart out and then holds it up to the dwindling light of the galaxy, observing its rough edges just as it turns inward to ponder the mind. It’s moving, mirthful and magnificent. Expected to release in theaters in the fall
THE SUBSTANCE
The best horror film of TIFF and the festival season as a whole, writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is more than a little blunt, though that doesn’t stop it from blowing the doors off any expectations you have for it. Starring the delightful duo of Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, it follows two different versions of the same woman who is trying to reclaim her fame after being fired from her exercise show by her sexist boss for being too old. The doubling comes after she tries out a product called “the substance” that gives her far more than she could have bargained for. That mainly involves her body coming apart at the seams as she doesn’t follow the instructions for how this is supposed to go, pushing things further and further.
Fargeat, who previously made the stylish action horror film Revenge, makes this all into a tragicomedy with many high highs and just as many low lows. It’s a film that’s more than bound to be a bit divisive as it grapples with the unfair standards put upon women, the impact this has on labor, and what it takes to be happy, but with all the blood it throws at the screen, you’d expect nothing less. Just make sure to bring umbrellas for when it all comes raining down on the viewer before landing one final fittingly painful punchline. Releasing in theaters on Sept. 18.
WE LIVE IN TIME
While you might be most aware of this film due to the hilarious image that was going around of a merry-go-round with the most ridiculous looking horse you’ve ever seen upstaging charming stars Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, it’s actually a quite terrific little dramedy. Following Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh) as they fall in love and then go through a much more complicated life, its nonlinear construction serves to bring into focus the unexpected ways our life’s choices can echo through time. As we see, there is tragedy that awaits in the future for the couple that we know is coming and they don’t.
It’s simple, but effective, maintaining a clarity of vision throughout that is distinctly unsentimental. Though there will be plenty of familiar emotional beats if you’ve seen any romantic movie ever, it always finds new ways to recontextualize and reflect on them. This includes one of the most unexpected yet oddly poetic birth scenes ever put to film, that ends up being about the everyday people who support us. It’s never as cheesy as this sounds as both Pugh and Garfield give layered, often appropriately messy performances, painting a portrait that’s heartfelt, honest and, in the end, humble. Releasing in theaters in October. n
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield deliver in the time-spanning love story, We Live in Time
LOUD AND PROUD
The Spokane-centric musical festival Volume returns after five-year hiatus
BY AZARIA PODPLESKY
“It was always absolute madness.”
Singer-songwriter Karli Fairbanks says this as she looks back at her previous Volume performances, remembering the wild energy she received from the crowds. It was because, she thinks, people would wait all year for Volume to check out all the local bands they had heard about but not yet seen.
“It’s like all these people who have been on the peripheral of the local music scene decide to show up and participate,” she says. “You get these really enthusiastic crowds.”
After a five-year, COVID-induced hiatus, Volume, the Inlander-founded music festival celebrating local, regional and national bands, is back, taking over the town on Friday and Saturday with 100 bands on 10 stages.
Volume first took shape through a concert at the Knitting Factory in 2010 featuring the Inlander’s “Bands to Watch”: Matthew Winters, Space Opera 77, Jaeda, Ze Krau and FAUS.
There was no Volume the next year, but the fest returned in 2012, bringing 39 bands to six venues. By 2016, Volume had reached 100 bands across 10 stages. The 2019 Volume would, unbeknownst to all, be the last for a while because of COVID.
Though a media partner, the Inlander is not running
the festival anymore. That task belongs to local talent buyer Ryker and Brayton Dawson of HaveUHeard!?, along with The Great PNW owner and creative director Joel Barbour.
Ryker and Barbour reached out to the Inlander on about reviving Volume. The timing wasn’t right when Ryker first showed interest; things aligned when Barbour asked and the pair teamed up to bring Volume back.
Ryker is grateful for the block party-type festivals available in Spokane, but those only highlight one street, they say. Volume, on the other hand, is a downtown celebration.
“This is so collaborative and so inclusive of the entire downtown community,” Ryker says. “What was being missed, more than anything, is the collaboration between all of the people, the venues, the press, the music, the fans, all of it coming together in one moment. That’s what Volume really brings. It’s almost like a big music reunion. ‘Let’s all get together for one weekend of the year, and just party.’”
When it came to building this year’s lineup, diversity and inclusivity were the main goals. Ryker and Fairbanks, who was on the booking team, wanted a blend of genres, of course, but also a mix of identities among performers on stage, which would hopefully lead to a mix of identities among audience members.
“We are looking for a diaspora of art,” Ryker says. “We are looking for a range of art, and we want to make sure different cultures and communities are represented. That’s always the first filter. The second filter is we want to make sure it feels very local. It’s a celebration of local music, but then beyond that, it’s a celebration of regional music with a tad bit of national touch.”
“When you go to a festival, you want to see stuff that’s exciting and upbeat and something different,” Fairbanks says. “Keeping a mix has always been the history of Volume, and we wanted to push that even further.”
Visually, Barbour simply wanted to let everyone know Volume was back with bright colors and a fun play on the peace sign (“V for Volume”) that he brought to the posters and banners for the 2019 festival. He also wanted the look of the festival to match its inviting nature. The tagline, after all, is “A music festival for all.”
“As we’re bringing it back, we don’t really want to overcomplicate things,” he says. “We’re excited to bring the biggest music festival in Spokane back downtown. This is a big, pivotal year. This is a building-block year.”
Fairbanks echoed the building-block sentiment, saying Volume, and live music in general, could use a lot of community support. She says it’s the drum she’s been beating her entire adult life.
“You have to show up to shows,” she says. “If no one’s at shows, shows stop happening. If you want a festival, you have to show up to the festival and help us build it back from being gone for five years and the next year can be even bigger. We’re all in it together. We all have to show up.”
From left: Enumclaw, Vika & the Velvets, Jang the Goon, Smokey Brights and Heat Speak are all ready to rock Volume.
VOLUME NEED-TO-KNOWS
DATES
Fri, Sept. 13 & Sat, Sept. 14 with music starting at 5 pm
LINEUP & SCHEDULE
To see the full schedule of acts, visit volumespokane.com.
TICKETS
Buy tickets in advance at volumespokane.com and pick up your wristbands at one of the three ticket offices; or just stop in at a ticket office and purchase directly there.
A two-day general admission pass is $65.
A single-day festival pass runs $45.
VIP passes are $130, and include parking, Volume merch, access to the VIP lounge and a secret in-festival VIP event.
A single venue, one-night-only ticket is $15.
TICKET PICKUP
Pre-purchased festival wristbands can be picked up Sept. 12 at the Chameleon (an extra $5 gets you into a PRE-VOLUME PARTY, featuring Vika & the Velvets, the Bed Heads, T.S the Solution, YP and Weepwave). Passes can be picked up during Volume at one of three ticket offices: the Washington Cracker Building; Saranac Commons; and the old Pistole Boardshop building next to Red Room Lounge. Ticket offices open at 4 pm Friday and Saturday; also check out The Great PNW Volume merch tent at the Washington Cracker Building.
VENUES
The Big Dipper, 171 S. Washington St.
The Chameleon, 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. (Thursday only/separate ticket)
The District Bar, 916 W. First Ave. (Friday only)
Mootsy’s, 406 W. Sprague Ave.
nYne Bar and Bistro, 232 W. Sprague Ave.
Q Lounge, 228 W. Sprague Ave.
Red Room Lounge, 521 W. Sprague Ave.
Saranac Commons, 19 W. Main Ave.
(The fest’s only free and only all-ages venue.)
Washington Cracker Building, 304 W. Pacific Ave. Zola, 22 W. Main Ave.
THE BURGER YOUR MOMMA WARNED YOU ABOUT
the classic
SPOKANE VALLEY
Broadway & Sullivan HAYDEN Prairie Shopping Center killerburger.com
Wednesday, October 9th, 2024 8:30 am - 2:00 pm
CenterPlace Regional Event Center 2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley, WA 99216
Cost: Free - Breakfast included with registration
To register please visit our event website: www.eventleaf.com/e/2024CGConference
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: JOY LOVERDE
Best-selling Author of Who Will Take Care of Me When I’m Old? and The Complete Eldercare Planner: Where to Start, Questions to Ask, How to Find Help, 4th Edition, Joy Loverde is recognized as one of the leading experts on successful aging and family caregiving.
For questions regarding the CG Conference please contact the Caregiver Support Program: 509-458-7450 Option 2
Crank the VOLUME
A guide to some of Volume 2024’s most exciting acts
BY INLANDER STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
With 100 artists performing over two nights, planning your Volume experience may feel daunting. Here are some acts to check out.
FRIDAY
AZARIAH
After a career drumming for others, alt-pop/R&B singer Azariah stepped into the spotlight with his 2023 EP Monologues. In an Instagram post celebrating the EP’s first birthday, Azariah called the five-song release “therapy through the biggest life transition [he’d] ever experienced. It was healing. It was hope. It was life.”
5:05 at Q Lounge (AZARIA PODPLESKY)
THE BED HEADS
Having just played their first show as a band at the tail end of 2023, The Bed Heads have since churned out two EPs over the past several months that scratch that early fall, indie-folk itch. The band’s latest EP, My Name is Nobody, boasts three songs based entirely on Homer’s Odyssey. It’s a must-listen for any lit-lovers, but frontman Landon Spencer’s soul-stirring lyrics are enough to get just about anyone aboard the SS Bed Heads.
6:20 at Zola (MADISON PEARSON)
PRETENDING WE’RE JUST LIKE THEM
Pretending is needed because Pretending We’re Just Like Them is not just like them (i.e., other Spokane bands) thanks to its unique, all-instrumental post-rock sound. 6:50 at Mootsy’s (CASSANDRA BENSON)
IMAGINE JAZZ
Imagine Jazz is a local nonprofit, founded by musician, composer and arts advocate Rachel Bade-McMurphy, which works to preserve the jazz legacy and bring jazz artists to Spokane for concerts and workshops. Just this year, Imagine Jazz has brought saxophonist and flutist Caroline Davis and the Tim Berne Trio to town. During Imagine Jazz’s Volume set though, local talent will shine. 7:20 at Zola (AP)
JENNY ANNE MANNAN
Every music festival needs a down-home, classic Southern belle on the lineup. And while Spokanite Jenny Anne Mannan isn’t from the South, she’s a close enough proxy, bringing bluegrass and country vibes to Volume. Her 2019 album Carnies & Cowboys delves into her childhood as a traveling bluegrass musician and her experiences as a woman in the country music world through the strum of a banjo and her sweet vocals. 7:20 at Nyne (MP)
HEAT SPEAK
Fans of the Dario Ré-led eclectic folk band Heat Speak have the Central Branch of the Spokane Public Library to thank for de bouquet ok, the group’s latest record, which was tracked at the library’s new studio. Note: Inside voices not required during Heat Speak’s set. 8:05 at Q Lounge (AP)
MARSHALL MCLEAN
There’s been a bit of radio silence from Spokane’s Marshall McLean since he released The House That We Built in March 2023, but Volume is bringing that to an end. On Instagram, the Americana singer/songwriter is teasing a full-band show with “an all-star cast of Spokane legends,” including Jenny Anne Mannan, Kipp Riley, Max Harnishfeger and Justin Landis. It’ll be a “Sorry for the delay” like no other. 8:20 at Nyne (AP)
It’s always a party when Spokane punk favs Itchy Kitty take the stage. ALICIA HAUFF PHOTO
SMOKEY BRIGHTS
There are few bands as committed to aesthetics as Smokey Brights. Sometimes they show up in matching tracksuits, other times you’ll find the group shining on stage in sequined ’fits. Fronted by husband and wife duo Kim West and Ryan Devlin, this Seattle rock band put on explosive live shows featuring a signature ’80s sound full of nostalgia and anthemic tunes. 8:20 at Zola (MP)
T.S THE SOLUTION
T.S The Solution delivers lyrical precision on buttery-smooth melodies with sharp beats that show maturity in his perspective on life and overcoming obstacles of poverty. Many rap purists are quick to hate on new hip-hop, but T.S lets you know why the kids are alright. His single “Comfort Zone” explains why he’s a student of classic hip-hop by rapping on a track that uses a sample often associated with rap legends like Jay-Z. 9:05 at Red Room (VICTOR CORRAL MARTINEZ)
SHOOK TWINS
For Sandpoint-born, Portland-based Katelyn and Laurie Shook, Volume is practically a hometown show. The sisters (and their signature golden egg) have been Inland Northwest favorites since their 2008 debut You Can Have the Rest thanks to the almost otherworldly connection the pair shares on stage, resulting in beautiful folk-pop harmonies. 9:20 at Nyne (AP)
VIKA & THE VELVETS
Featured in our “Artists to Watch” issue last month, Vika & The Velvets frontwoman Olivia Vika imbues the band’s entire discography with unique, bluesy vocals and a guitar tone that transports listeners back to the summer of ’69. The group just finished a mini-tour through California and Utah, so the sound should be sharp if you catch their Volume set and experience the band’s alluring smokey, sultry sonic qualities. 9:50 at Washington Cracker Building (MP)
JANG THE GOON
The Spokane hip-hop staple always puts on an absolutely raucous show, and that’s only been amplified with the hyped-up energy of tunes from his killer new punk rap EP, Goon Shii: Vol. 1 10:05 at The District Bar (SETH SOMMERFELD)
ENUMCLAW
The Tacoma indie rock outfit rose to prominence in February 2021 with the release of its first song “Fast N All” before having even played a live show due to the pandemic. Since then, they’ve continued to make buzzy waves thanks to singer/guitarist Aramis Johnson’s raw vocals, free-flowing lyrics and the late August release of the band’s second LP, Home in Another Life. 10:50 at Washington Cracker Building (MP)
ROOM 13
Despite what Volume’s socials might have you believe, recent Inlander “Artist to Watch” Room 13 does not play “hardcore glam pop.” Room 13 plays hardcore music. Period. Head to the pit if you want to confirm this for yourself. 10:50 at Mootsy’s (SS)
EXZAC CHANGE & MATISSE
Inlander readers voted ExZac Change & Matisse as the Best Rap Act in our 2024 Best Of issue for a reason. The hiphop duo’s smooth flow and effortless chemistry absolutely pops anytime they take the stage. 10:50 at Saranac Commons (SS)
ITCHY KITTY
If blissfully wild, shrieking punk songs about hairballs, milk, drinking gravy, strays, stolen pot pies, kinks and more aren’t enough to sell you on Itchy Kitty, maybe the fact that bands like Built to Spill and Sunny Day Real Estate love to take IK on tour might? If you somehow haven’t seen Spokane’s best band yet, stay up late and get your kitty fix. 11:20 at The Big Dipper (SS)
FLOATING WITCH’S HEAD
Like many of Boise’s best bands, the acid garage rockers of Floating Witch’s Head recently toured in support of Built to Spill. Recommended if you like hot peppers, pickles and parties. 11:50 at Mootsy’s (CB)
...continued on next page
Since 2012, No-Li Brewhouse, led by owners John and Cindy Bryant, has been building a strong beer culture in Spokane, pour by delicious pour. Along the way, they’ve looked for inspiration to keep on improving. No-Li has won a ridiculous number of international awards during that quest, but the Bryants say it always comes back to being inspired by the people of the Inland Northwest.
“We had a hard time getting going those rst four years,” John Bryant recalls. “We had to lean on the community to make it.”
Ever since, No-Li has made community support a pillar of all they do. But in recent years, they’ve also found inspiration all over the world (at least in those parts that make great beer), with team trips to Belgium,
The Inspiration
Ireland and Germany.
“It’s kind of like e Amazing Race: No-Li Edition,” Bryant laughs. “We tell everyone to pack light, and we do it all in six-and-a-half days.”
eir trip to Munich’s legendary Hofbrauhaus during Oktoberfest was a lightbulb moment. Not only did the team use the Hofbrauhaus as the design inspiration for their own Bier Hall, but they also knew they had to bring back to Spokane all they had witnessed — thousands of beer lovers celebrating the good life together.
And so, at those joyful tables half-a-world from Spokane, where the steins runneth over, NoLi Oktoberfest was born.
A Taste of Germany
Experience an authentic Oktoberfest right here in Spokane, at the No-Li Brewhouse from noon to 3 pm on Sept. 21 and 28. Already one of the city’s top events, taste just how good Spokane beer can be, as No-Li will be pouring two exclusive brews — a Simcoe Fresh Hop IPA and a German Lager. Your $20 ticket gets you an Alpine Feather Hat and a half-liter “das boot” to keep (each boot ll is an additional $8). ere’s a legit oompah band, a DJ spinning on the riverside patio, feats of strength and cash prizes for the most wunderbar costumes. Don’t forget to brush up on your German drinking toasts!
The No-Li team hunting for inspiration in Germany and Ireland. (Right) John and Cindy Bryant.
Annual Manual
“CRANK THE VOLUME,” CONTINUED...
SATURDAY
ASPEN KYE
Some performers like what they do, and some performers love what they do. Aspen Kye’s pure adoration and appreciation of music are apparent during her live performances. The local singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist blends neo-soul and folk into dazzling melodies reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s Mingus era. Kye’s soft vocals beg listeners to take a breath as she leads the way to enlightenment throughout her set. 6:20 at Zola (MP)
TIME BABY
The six-piece jazz fusion band Time Baby attained local notoriety when it won Spokane Public Radio’s inaugural Firehouse Sessions Song Contest in 2023. Now the band plans to ride that wave of moderate local fame as it takes the stage at Volume. 6:50 at Washington Cracker Building (COLTON RASANEN)
HELMER NOEL
When you’ve got pipes like Helmer Noel, there’s no need for fancy production or complex backing instrumentation. After moving to Spokane just over three years ago from Austin, Texas, the singer-songwriter released an EP in 2023 titled City of Arrows and just recently released two new singles, “Yesterdays” and “Goodnight,” that showcase his vocal agility and ear for stunning, complex melodies. 7:05 at Q Lounge (MP)
KARLI FAIRBANKS
Karli Fairbanks is a cornerstone of all things creative in Spokane as a musician (solo and in past Spokane favorites like Cathedral Pearls and Super Sparkle), visual artist, former Lucky You owner and all-around advocate for the arts. This year, in a flex of her creativity, Fairbanks showcases her folk/ pop/rock chop at Zola with a full band. Visu ally, she contributed to Volume-themed window paintings downtown along with Tiffany Patterson, Joey Bareither, Erin Lang, Hazel Miller and Caleb Mannan. 7:20 at Zola (AP)
BENDI
Bendi is one of those names you hear often around these parts. The rapper, music producer and founder of the Skeemn collective is not just an artist but a curator of culture. Just a quick listen to his music quickly draws you in for a melodic ride, with much more depth than tunes that typically get slapped with the “stoner” music label. 7:50 at Saranac Commons (VCM)
Sandpoint natives the Shook Twins return to the Inland Northwest for Volume. SAM GEHRKE PHOTO
SERA CAHOONE
The elegant sincerity of Sera Cahoone’s folksy Americana songwriting has made her a beloved figure in the Seattle music scene for nearly two decades. She has a deft touch for not overcomplicating the emotional cores of her tunes, which gives her a broad, timeless appeal. 8:05 at Q Lounge (SS)
OBLÉ REED
WATER MONSTER
It will be a busy Volume for Max Harnishfeger, the man behind the electro/indie-pop Water Monster. Just in time for the fest, Harnishfeger recently released a three-song EP called Green World, and he’ll also accompany Marshall McLean and Karli Fairbanks on top of performing his own Water Monster set. 8:20 at Zola (AP)
There are good first impressions and then there’s Seattle rapper Oblé Reed’s 2023 debut album LINDENAVE!, which topped The Seattle Times’ critics poll for the best Washington album of the year. Sporting top-level lyricism and a clear melodic sensibility, Reed has already drawn comparisons to a young J. Cole, and he has all the potential to be the Evergreen State’s next breakout hip-hop star. 8:50 at Washington Cracker Building (SS)
AUGUST TO AUGUST
Jayson Orth, performing under the name August to August, is a master of ambiance. This one-man band is for the folks looking to exchange the rowdiness and loudness of a packed club for the soothing sounds of synths and chill drum beats. Orth’s February 2024 album Slow Down features songs like “Altamont” and “Sunset Hill” that serve as odes to his life in Spokane. 8:50 at Mootsy’s (MP)
YP
The recent cover star of our “Artists to Watch” issue, Post Falls rapper YP is one of those personalities who doesn’t stop working on his craft. He recently performed with the hip-hop collective Skeemn for the release of their debut album, Skeemn Tapes Vol. 1: Dark Daze He’s been in the studio and has much to share with us all, which usually is a perfect storm for music. 9:05 at Red Room (VCM)
THEM
Seattle-based pop-rock band THEM makes music for the girls. Since the poprock trio’s debut single “BAD 4 U” released in 2021, the group has played many major Seattle venues — from the Paramount Theatre to inside the Space Needle for a televised New Year’s Eve party — and now THEM is ready to take the Inland Northwest by storm. 9:20 at Nyne (CR)
KUNG FU VINYL
Kung Fu Vinyl is not the wave but the vibe. It’s hard to satisfy all stripes, but with a full band, including two rappers verbalizing emotions and a guitarist making his ax yell, it’s not hard to find an element of their music for everyone to enjoy. Tracks like “Everybody’s Broke” make it impossible to stand still and not groove to the music. Did I mention there’s also a saxophonist?
10:05 at Red Room (VCM)
GRIEVES
Seattle rapper Grieves has been showing Spokane a lot of love over the past year. He sold out the District Bar in December and helped launch the latest Rainier x Great PNW clothing collection with a concert at the Chameleon in May. Grieves has posted snaps from the studio recently, so fingers crossed he uses Volume as an opportunity to share new music. 10:50 at Washington Cracker Building (AP) n
ROCK FATHER JOHN MISTY
J = THE INLANDER RECOMMENDS THIS SHOW
J = ALL AGES SHOW
Thursday, 9/12
ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Michael Vallee
J THE BIG DIPPER, Calling All Captain, Good Terms
J THE CHAMELEON, Volume Pre-Party CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds
COEUR D’ALENE CASINO, Parmalee
J KNITTING FACTORY, Mother Mother, Winnetka Bowling League
J PANIDA THEATER, Ty Herndon, Jackson Roltgen
J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin
J REPUBLIC BREWING CO., Wayne Worthen
J SPOKANE COUNTY FAIR, Flo Rida ZOLA, One Street Over, Mason Van Stone
Friday, 9/13
AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Gil Rivas
BARRISTER WINERY, Stagecoach West
J BRICK WEST BREWING CO.,
DJ Exodus
THE CHAMELEON, Sleeping Jesus, Uh Oh And The Oh Wells, Timeworm
CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Working Spiffs
CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Nick Weibe
J DOWNTOWN SPOKANE, Volume Music Festival
DRY FLY DISTILLING, Son of Brad
J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Everything Always: Dom Dolla & John Summit
J THE GRAIN SHED, Haywire
Father John Misty has always been in on the joke, even when folks didn’t even realize he was joking. He emerged on the scene with 2012’s Fear Fun, his absolutely killer debut album that ruthlessly satirized the bravado of the male rock-and-roll ego. The problem was he played the part too well with his dry comedic banter and cocky on-stage peacocking, so many folks missed the punchline entirely. His sharp satirical tongue continued to spit venom on the similarly stellar I Love You, Honeybear, but on subsequent albums he began to lay things on less thick and just focus on making finely crafted rock songs, seemingly exhausted by the continued misreading of his work. But he’s still got some of that comedic fire in him as the title on his new career-spanning compilation album — Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl — indicates. And regardless of whether you’re in on it, FJM still puts on one of the best rock shows in the biz.
—
SETH SOMMERFELD
Father John Misty, Omar Velasco • Wed, Sept. 18 at 8 pm • $35 • All ages • Knitting Factory • 919 W. Sprague Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com
PSYCH ROCK KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD
HELIX WINES, Robert Vaughn
J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Walker Hayes
PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Truck Mills and Global Gumbo RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs
Saturday, 9/14
BIG SKY DRINKERY, Neon Interstate
BOTTLE BAY BREWING CO., Son of Brad
J BRICK WEST BREWING CO.,
DJ Asher St. Mars
CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Justyn Priest
CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Nick Weibe
J DOWNTOWN SPOKANE, Volume Music Festival
J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
THE GRAIN SHED TAPROOM,
Starlite Motel
J LIVE AT ANDRE’S, Red Wanting Blue
J NEATO BURRITO, The Names of Our Friends, Puddy Knife, Fossil Fire Fossil Blood, Hell Motel, Iron Chain
NIGHT OWL, Priestess
J OLD SCHOOL LIQUOR BAR, Just Plain Darin
J PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Ben Vogel
J PONDEROSA BAR AND GRILL, Evan Denlinger
RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs
ROCKET MARKET, Shaun Duffy
Sunday, 9/15
ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Lake City Blues
J HAMILTON STUDIO,
While most bands pour years into supporting each new album, the Australian rock shredders of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard approach their discography as a volume business. The group released its first album 12 Bar Bruise in 2012. That means if King Gizz had released an album per year — which would be a crazy pace in the modern music industry landscape — then the band’s new 2024 album Flight b741 would be its 13th album… well… it’s not. It’s the Aussies’ 26th LP. But fans eat up that level of prolificness because of the band’s expansive guitar-attack that touches psychedelic, garage, hard rock, jazz fusion and surf sounds. Expect a marathon setlist as King Gizz heads to the Gorge for one of its biggest shows ever.
— SETH SOMMERFELD
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Geese • Sat, Sept. 14 at 6:40 pm • $50 • All ages • Gorge Amphitheatre • 754 Silica Rd. NW, George • gorgeamphitheatre.com
Christie Lenée HOGFISH, Open Mic
J SOUTH HILL GRILL, Just Plain Darin ZOLA, Sugar Bear Family Dinner
Monday, 9/16
EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night Blues Jam with John Firshi RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night
Tuesday, 9/17
THE BUNKER BAR, Wiebe Jammin’ THE DISTRICT BAR, Red Shahan, Lucas Brookbank Brown OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Son of Brad
J PACIFIC TO PALOUSE WINE BAR, Just Plain Darin SWING LOUNGE, Swing Lounge Live Music Tuesdays
ZOLA, The Zola All Star Jam, Oceanography
Wednesday, 9/18
THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic IRON HORSE (VALLEY), Wiebe Jammin’
J KENDALL YARDS, Rock the Nest: Daniel Hall, Hannah Boundy, Gil Rivas, Katie Marabello
J J KNITTING FACTORY, } Father John Misty, Omar Velasco
OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Land of Voices
RED ROOM LOUNGE, Red Room Lounge Jam
J THE BEARDED GINGER BAR & GRILL, Nate Stratte
J TIMBERS ROADHOUSE, Cary Beare Presents ZOLA, Red Hot Kitten Stompers
MUSIC | VENUES
219 LOUNGE • 219 N. First Ave., Sandpoint • 208-263-5673
ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS • 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-927-9463
BABY BAR • 827 W. First Ave. • 509-847-1234
BARRISTER WINERY • 1213 W. Railroad Ave. • 509-465-3591
BEE’S KNEES WHISKY BAR • 1324 W. Lancaster Rd.., Hayden • 208-758-0558
BERSERK • 125 S. Stevens St. • 509-315-5101
THE BIG DIPPER • 171 S. Washington St. • 509-863-8098
BIGFOOT PUB • 9115 N. Division St. • 509-467-9638
BING CROSBY THEATER • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-227-7638
BLACK DIAMOND • 9614 E. Sprague Ave. • 509891-8357
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL • 116 S. Best Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-891-8995
BOOMERS CLASSIC ROCK BAR • 18219 E. Appleway Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-368-9847
BUCER’S COFFEEHOUSE PUB • 201 S. Main St., Moscow • 208-596-0887
THE BULL HEAD • 10211 S. Electric St., Four Lakes • 509-838-9717
CHAN’S RED DRAGON • 1406 W. Third Ave. • 509-838-6688
THE CHAMELEON • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd.
CHECKERBOARD • 1716 E. Sprague Ave. • 509-443-4767
COEUR D’ALENE CASINO • 37914 S. Nukwalqw St., Worley • 800-523-2464
COEUR D’ALENE CELLARS • 3890 N. Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-2336
CRUISERS BAR & GRILL • 6105 W Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-446-7154
CURLEY’S HAUSER JUNCTION • 26433 W. Hwy. 53, Post Falls • 208-773-5816
THE DISTRICT BAR • 916 W. 1st Ave. • 509-244-3279
EICHARDT’S PUB • 212 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-263-4005
FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • 509-279-7000
FOX THEATER • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-624-1200
IRON HORSE • 407 E. Sherman, Coeur d’Alene • 208-667-7314
IRON HORSE BAR & GRILL • 11105 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-926-8411
JOHN’S ALLEY • 114 E. Sixth St., Moscow • 208-883-7662
KNITTING FACTORY • 911 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-244-3279
MARYHILL WINERY • 1303 W. Summit Pkwy. • 509-443-3832
MILLIE’S • 28441 Hwy 57, Priest Lake • 208-443-0510
MOOSE LOUNGE • 401 E. Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-7901
NASHVILLE NORTH • 6361 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-457-9128
NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights • 877-871-6772
NYNE BAR & BISTRO • 232 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-474-1621
PEND D’OREILLE WINERY • 301 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-265-8545
POST FALLS BREWING CO. • 112 N. Spokane St., Post Falls • 208-773-7301
RAZZLE’S BAR & GRILL • 10325 N. Government Way, Hayden • 208-635-5874
RED ROOM LOUNGE • 521 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-7613
THE RIDLER PIANO BAR • 718 W. Riverside Ave. • 509-822-7938
SEASONS OF COEUR D’ALENE • 1004 S. Perry St. • 208-664-8008
SPOKANE ARENA • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • 509-279-7000
SPOKANE TRIBE RESORT & CASINO • 14300 US-2, Airway Heights • 877-786-9467
SOUTH PERRY LANTERN • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-473-9098
STORMIN’ NORMAN’S SHIPFACED SALOON • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-862-4852
TRANCHE • 705 Berney Dr., Wall Walla • 509-526-3500
ZOLA • 22 W. Main Ave. • 509-624-2416
Living Well in the Inland Northwest
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER and BILL CHARLAP
Two Grammy® Winners Share the Stage
7:30 P.M. | Sunday, September 22 Coughlin Theater Tickets: $42 - $68
September-October Issue ON STANDS NOW!
Pick up your copy at area grocery stores and Inlander stand locations
For information on advertising in the next edition, contact: advertising@inlander.com
VISUAL ARTS ROLL WITH IT
Join local artists in downtown Coeur d’Alene for Emerge’s eighth annual INK! Print Rally. The rally involves large-scale block printing using 4-foot-by-5-foot wood panels and an asphalt roller in the street in front of Emerge. Participating artists spend weeks intricately carving the blocks and, with the help of local printmaking experts Jen Erickson, Carl Richardson, Jennifer Drake and Jill McFarlane, will see their designs printed onto large sheets of fabric while attendees watch. This year’s rally theme is “dichotomy,” and the event also features live music, food trucks, vendors and a beer garden. Funds raised at the rally help Emerge continue offering its arts education programs to the community, covering the cost of supplies and other resources.
— CASSANDRA BENSON
INK! Print Rally • Sat, Sept. 14 at 1 pm • Free • All ages • Emerge • 119 N. Second St., Coeur d’Alene • emergecda.com
MUSIC THE SULTAN OF SWOON
If you’ve ventured into The Ridler Piano Bar with any frequency in the past few years, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen singer and pianist Shawn Stratte entertaining the crowd. Now the local crooner takes his talents to the Bing Crosby Theater for “That’s Life - A Night of Frank Sinatra.” Stratte and a full jazz band he’s assembled tackle the classic catalog of standards made famous by the Chairman of the Board. While it’s hard to touch the authoritative charismatic presence of Ol’ Blue Eyes, Stratte’s energetic performance style should make for a fun nostalgia-tinged show. He’ll do it his way.
— SETH SOMMERFELD
That’s Life - A Night of Frank Sinatra • Fri, Sept. 13 at 7:30 pm • $32 • All ages • Bing Crosby Theater • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • bingcrosbytheater.com
OUTDOORS LEAVE NO TRACE
Have you ever taken a dip in the Spokane River on a blistering summer day? How about a thrilling raft trip through the river’s rapids? Maybe you’ve stood atop the Monroe Street Bridge and gazed longingly at the river as it cascades down Spokane Falls. If you’ve done any of those activities, you should attend the 21st annual Spokane River Cleanup this weekend. Over the past two decades, volunteers have removed thousands of pounds of garbage from the river. To ensure the same success as years past, the Lands Council, Spokane Riverkeeper and Spokane River Forum are working together to clean the river at four different locations. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own gloves and to wear sturdy shoes.
— COLTON RASANEN
21st Annual Spokane River Cleanup • Sat, Sept. 14 from 10 am-1 pm • Free • All ages • Locations vary • landscouncil.org
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MUSIC A MASTER AT WORK
Pianist Awadagin Pratt has had quite a career thus far. He teaches piano at the San Francisco Conservatory, won a Grammy this past year, and, most importantly, appeared alongside big-name stars like Elmo and Big Bird on Sesame Street. This weekend, Pratt joins the Spokane Symphony on the Fox Theater stage for the orchestra’s first Masterworks program of the season to perform the Grammy award-winning song “Rounds” composed by Jessie Montgomery. Bookended by performances of Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight” and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, all three works are filled with passion from the first note to the last — fitting for the first Spokane Symphony concert of the season.
— MADISON PEARSON
Spokane Symphony Masterworks 1: The Turning World • Sat, Sept. 14 7:30 pm and Sun, Sept. 15 at 3 pm • $21-$72 • All ages • Fox Theater • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • spokanesymphony.org
VISUAL ARTS SERIOUSLY ICONIC
“Yesterday I saw a collection of old Russian icons,” wrote French painter Henri Matisse in 1911. “The artist’s soul emerges in these icons like a mystical flower. It is through them that we should learn to understand art.” Orthodox Christian iconography is an ancient painting style that draws its power from repetition, history and tradition. But ancient Russian icons have inspired contemporary artist Ludmila Pawlowska to create genre-bending, traditionviolating spiritual explorations she calls “Icons in Transformation.” Pawlowska combines ancient color symbolism and religious motifs with her unique 3D abstract painting techniques. Icons in Transformation has toured the country, often in churches and sometimes doubling as a fundraiser for Ukrainian relief. This fall, it takes up residence at St. James Episcopal Church in Pullman, along with icons on loan from the Vasilevsky Monastery in Suzdal, Russia.
—
ELIZA BILLINGHAM
Icons in Transformation • Sun, Sept. 15-Wed, Nov. 6; open Sun from 1-4 pm, Wed from 10 am-2 pm, Fri from 4-7 pm • Free • All ages • St. James Episcopal Church • 1410 NE Stadium Way, Pullman • stjamespullman.org
ALL ENTRIES RECEIVE
T-Shirtdesignedby TheGreatPNW
• Racebib+timingtag
• RosauersCoupon
• FreeDutchBros.drink
• FreeMetroExpressCarWash *seewebsiteforfulldetails
I SAW YOU
ZOLA PARTY 8/8 at Zola. I was with a large group, you and I started dancing. A friend’s daughter kept stepping in and moving you away. My relationship situation had changed in a big way. You black top, and beautiful. I hope to reconnect and talk to learn about each other and hopefully more fun times dancing!!
PIG OUT SUNDAY Watching Blue Tattoo. I saw you across the crowd in front. We seemed to connect in those stolen glances as we sang along with the band enjoying every minute. Any chance of rocking out together sometime?
DAMN! WISH I WAS YOUR LOVER It’s been a while since I’d originally posted this. I have since seen you, we hangout every so often. It’s always a lovely time. But I am curious if the person who originally responded to me is the person that it was intended for. If you see this, tell me the next time I see you. I look forward to discovering what’s new in your home the next time I come over…
ALASKA FLIGHT 1004 SEAT 8C ON 8/31 Me in seat 8a. We talked the whole way from Seattle to Spokane. You fly a lot, I don’t. We didn’t exchange ph#’s or names. (I’m not sure why). Maybe because you’re a cowboy and a gentleman. Me, I’m a little old fashion. You’re in the logging field & live in CdA. I’d love to meet up with you again. Sunsets are a perfect way to end the day. Send me your picture. I’ll know my cowboy. If you’re not my cowboy, you’ll be deleted and blocked. 3adnilem@outlook.com
WHAT WE DO NOW! Someone saw you! They may not have commented to you. I know you felt good for doing it. Good job. You did a good thing for another. Keep it up!
CHEERS
BIKE CRASH Thanks to the two guys that stopped to help me after my accident on Sunday. I blew it on that turn and paid the price. Ended up at the ER and checked out OK. Helmet saved me! A little road rash and stiff neck. Gonna be fine. Thank you, thank you!
BEST POOL HALL EVER! Thank you so much to everyone at Legacy Bar and Grill. You’re amazing! I accidentally left my cues there one night recently and they saved them for me! I thought I’d lost them forever. Such a huge relief! The food is always so yummy there, the drinks are perfect, the tables are excellent, and the people are awesome! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
CENTENNIAL TRAIL HERO Cheers to the later-in-life gentleman who travels up and down the Centennial Trail from Minnehaha to Mission Park (and possibly beyond), picking up the trash left behind by inconsiderate people while you walk! I see you and I appreciate you! Although I’m sure you seek no accolades, I think you are truly a Hero and an asset to Spokane. If only more people appreciated the public spaces as much as you do.
TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE Solve the U.S. border problem without the government. Apple and Microsoft can combine their resources and buy raw land in Central America which is covered by the jungle or a rain forest. Hidden within this jungle/rain forest are multiple Flat-Top pyramids built by the Mayans civilizations as a house for their gods and bury their kings. They were used as temples, tombs, for religious rituals, astronomical alignment and for sacrifice (human & animal). They were the center of cultural life, like a town square. They are a miniature version of an office high-rise with multiple rooms. Both Apple and Microsoft can build their own semiconductor chips instead of Taiwan, giving jobs to thousands.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM VS. HYPNOSIS Animal magnetism or mesmerism is a theory originated by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It suggests the existence of an invisible natural force possessed by all living things and that this force could have
physical effects. A 1791 London publication explains Mesmer’s theory of magnetic fluid. The commission agreed that the healing cures claimed by Mesmer were indeed cures, but it also concluded there was no evidence of the existence of his magnetic fluid and that its effects derived from the imaginations of its subjects. The word mesmerize means to hold someone’s
attention as in hypnotic trance. The secrecy of the practice contributed to the skepticism about it. Popularization of animal magnetism was ridiculed by newspaper journals as fraud. Modern philosophy has known about the universal principles of fluid matter, which occupies all space, and it flows as a current from a magnet. The power to manipulate this magnetic fluid comes from the imaginations of its subjects.
JEERS
RE: CHOOSE I wholeheartedly agree with you about women screaming that their “right” to an abortion has been taken away from them. If you don’t want to produce a child then take measures that will prevent that in the first place. Wait till marriage that is the best. Yes people have to do pre planning when it comes to sex. Don’t get pregnant if you don’t want a child. BE RESPONSIBLE!!!
RE: CHOOSE You: Stating that pregnancies are 100% preventable, stating if you don’t want to get pregnant don’t, what a crock. Not all pregnancies are by choice, some are sexually abused, or raped. Nobody plans to be sexually abused, or raped, and I’m pretty sure you know it takes two to make a baby, so don’t blame this all on women, men play a factor in this too. They can wear a condom, and why is preventing pregnancy always put on the woman, especially when our government is trying to ban birth control. Isn’t that kind of a double standard, don’t get pregnant, but we won’t give you the birth control to prevent? Please don’t lump all women together, not all women had the choice.
RE: TRAFFIC You think I don’t know how our city’s public transportation system works? I’ve been riding buses for 12 years. I have a bike and an electric scooter that I use as well to increase my range. I get surrounded by pervs all the time! My bus anxiety has increased to a level where I’ve been having panic attacks! That doesn’t warrant taking public transportation away from people
who need it and giving it all to cars. Did you try to help me at The Plaza while I was having my panic attack? No? Then quit assuming stuff. Especially since I can ride my 40-pound bike better in the snow than most of y’all can drive on a clear dry day and a new, empty street.
FREDERICK DRAG RACE PART I: To the moronic driver at the Euclid/Frederick at Freya intersection who illegally PASSED two other eastbound drivers by crossing a double yellow line and driving the wrong way in the westbound lane: you almost mowed down two pedestrians with your used-to-maybe-be-cool silver POS little car (9/2 about 9:15 a.m.). I’m sure you felt you had “won,” but had you actually injured or killed a person, the rest of your life would not feel like winning anything, least of all your pathetic need to beat two other drivers off the line. Perhaps read the oath you signed when you obtained your driver’s license about adhering to rules of the road.
PART II: To the City of Spokane: It is beyond time to install cameras at the merge point of eastbound Euclid/Frederick at Freya. Rather than forcing the eastbound right lane to turn right, as would be reasonable, city engineers have setup a 40-foot drag race that takes place EVERY time the traffic light cycles. The problem is now escalated due to overflow traffic from the Market Street construction detour.
GONZAGA HYPOCRISY? Why is Gonzaga enacting new policies to ban peaceful protests on campus while simultaneously using photos of now banned signs in their promo material? New policies were implemented without input from faculty and students who now question Gonzaga’s
adherence to their stated mission of “equality and justice”
CONTRACTORS WHO DISAPPEAR It is so frustrating to be blown off by contractors who survey a job and promise to respond with a bid, but seemingly fall off the face of the earth, never to be heard from again! This has happened to me numerous times in the past few years - people take the time to look at the job, but they never follow through with the bid and never return my calls! What’s up with that? If they are too busy to do the work or the job isn’t a good fit for their business, then please have the decency to tell me that! Don’t promise a bid then proceed to ignore me. Even worse, don’t start a landscaping job over 2 years ago, leave it partially done, then disappear and ignore all my attempts to contact you. I finally gave up and found another landscaper months ago, but alas, once again no bid has come through. Is anyone else experiencing this problem? I’m wondering if I’m being shoved aside by these contractors because I’m a 60+ single woman in a non-affluent home?
PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW FACTS There seems to be a lot of jeers lately surrounding the issue of whether or not a person has the right to terminate their pregnancy. Incest and rape are often cited as great reasons to terminate the fetus. However, the language surrounding this is laden with inaccurate information as if to sound like most pregnancies that are terminated are due to these causes. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 1% of abortions are due to rape and 0.5% are due to incest and this data has remained largely the same for decades. The vast majority of reasons for abortion are ‘having a baby would change my life,’ ‘can’t afford it,’ ‘don’t want to be a single mother,’ ‘having relationship problems,’ or ‘have completed my childbearing.’ I’m not disagreeing with the arguments. Rather, I disagree with the misinformation. n
SOUND OFF 1. Visit Inlander.com/isawyou by 3 pm Monday. 2. Pick a category (I Saw You, You Saw Me, Cheers or Jeers). 3. Provide basic info: your name and email (so we know you’re real). 4. To connect via I Saw You, provide a non-identifying email to be included with your submission — like “petals327@yahoo.com,” not “j.smith@comcast.net.”
EVENTS | CALENDAR
BENEFIT
DINNER ON THE FARM Chefs Courtney Wright, Joseph Bonavita, Chad White, Joseph Morris and Ashlee Santiago create a five-course meal benefitting the Women & Children’s Free Restaurant. Ages 21+. Sep. 13, 6-9 pm. $245. Owens Farms, 11010 S. Sharon Road. wcfrspokane.org
SEQUINS AND VELVET A gala benefitting Mujeres in Action’s mission to advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The night features live music, auctions and dancing. Sep. 13, 6-9 pm. $150-$175. Spokane Tribe Resort & Casino, 14300 W. SR Highway 2. miaspokane.org (509-599-5527)
ALSSO AUCTION FUNDRAISER A fundraiser for local families battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS/ Lou Gehrigs disease). Socialize, bid on silent auction items, enjoy food trucks, live music and brews on tap. Sep. 14, 2-7 pm. Free. Big Barn Brewing Co., 16004 N. Applewood Ln. alsso.org/fundraising
JULIE MORRIS MEMORIAL BENEFIT
BRUNCH This brunch celebrates the life of Julie Morris as well as the 25th anniversary of Spokane Area Jewish Family Services. The event also honors Leslie Huppin and Sue Windham and feature a performance by local singer Heather Villa. Sep. 15, 10-11:30 am. $80. Gonzaga Cataldo Hall, Addison & Sharp. sajfs.org
SPALDING AUTO PARTS CAR SHOW A car show with raffles supporting the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. Sep. 15, 2-6 pm. Free. Spalding Auto Parts, 10708 E. Knox Ave. spaldings.com
CHENEY HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY
DAY An outdoor fundraising event for the Cheney High School Blackhawk Band. The event features vendors, activities, games performances, raffles and more. Sep. 21, 12-4 pm. Free. Cheney High School, 460 N. 6th St. facebook.com/ CheneyHighSchoolBandCommunityDay
COMEDY
COMEDY ROAD STORY SLAM Comedians Nick Theisen, Susan Rice, Art Krug, Vince Valenzuela and Rod Long dish the dirt on the good the bad and the ugly of life on the comedy road. Sep. 12, 7:309:30 pm. $15-$20. The District Bar, 916 W. First Ave. sp.knittingfactory.com
DALE JONES Jones was a semi-finalist on the sixth season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Sep. 12, 7 pm. $20-$28. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)
THEO VON Von is a comedian, podcaster and internet personality best known for hosting the This Past Weekend podcast. Sep. 12, 7:30-9:30 pm. $35-$129. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanearena.com (509-279-7000)
BEARD-PROV! Blue Door Theatre players perform improv sketches and games. Sept. 13-14 at 7:30 pm. By donation. Lumberbeard Brewing, 25 E. Third Ave. bluedoortheatre.com (509-747-7045)
CHAD DANIELS Daniels’ comedy focuses on domestic family life; he hosts a podcast with fellow comedian Kelsey Cook. Sep. 13-14, 7 & 9:45 pm. $25-$35. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)
KAT TIMPF Timpf is a writer, comedian, and libertarian commentator. She’s currently the co-host of Gutfeld! on Fox News. Sep. 14, 7-9 pm. $49-$126. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com (509-227-7638)
BILL SQUIRE Squire is an ex-Mormon comedian and the co-host of the podcast Cleveland America. Sep. 15, 7 pm. $15-$22. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com
EDEN SHER Sher is best-known for playing the role of Sue Heck on ABC’s The Middle. Sep. 18, 7:30 pm. $30-$145. 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 starts at 7pm. First, third and fifth Wednesday of each month from 8-9:30 pm. Free. The Q Lounge, 228 W. Sprague Ave. instagram. com/openlymic
HEATH HARMISON Harmison has performed in clubs, colleges, cruise ships and festivals including the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sep. 21, 7-7:30 pm. $20-$35. Kroc Center, 1765 W. Golf Course Rd. merlinscomedyclub.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
DRIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM:
1970S CARS Learn about the changes in the world that heralded a new era of auto making in the United States through automobiles of the 1970s. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Sep. 14. $8-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
ROCK THE DISABILITY VOTE Join SelfAdvocates from The Arc of Spokane and AtWork! to learn about the power of the disability vote, legislation that affects you and have the opportunity to register to vote. Sep. 12, 5:30-7 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main. spokanelibrary.org
SPOKANE COUNTY INTERSTATE FAIR
A traditional fair with carnival rides, an agriculture and animals section as well as concerts throughout the week. See website for schedule. Through Sep. 15, 8 am-10:30 pm. $9-$12. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. thespokanefair.com (509-477-1766)
VIGIL FOR AYŞENUR EYGI A vigil to honor Ayşenur, an American/Turkish activist who was killed during a protest in Palestine. Sep. 12, 6 pm. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. instagram.com/ inwclp (509-625-6600)
21ST ANNUAL SPOKANE RIVER CLEAN-
UP A large group clean-up at High Bridge Park. Volunteers and Lands Council staff will remove garbage from the Spokane River, including at various locations in Spokane Valley. See website for details. Sep. 14, 10 am-1 pm. Free. High Bridge Park, Riverside Ave. and A St. landscouncil.org (509-534-8133)
LET’S VIKE IT! VIKING AGE FAIRE A fair featuring historical vendors, demonstra-
tions, entertainment, fave painting, a Norse museum and more educational activities. Sep. 14, 10 am-5 pm. Free. Newport City Park, First St. and Calispel Ave. (208-217-0793)
MENDING CLOTHES BY HAND With training provided by Creativebug, an online resource in the Digital Library, learn how to darn clothing by hand and give a favorite garment new life. Sep. 14, 2-4 pm. Free. North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Rd. scld.org (893-8350)
PALOUSE DAYS A city-wide celebration featuring a kickoff party, a car show, live music and various activities. Sept. 14-15. Free. Palouse, Wash. visitpalouse.com
SKEETER CUP A tricycle racing event with live music from Quarter Monkey. Sep. 14, 2 pm. Free. Moezy Inn, 2723 N. Monroe St. spokanedivebars.com/ main/2011/10/22/moezy
SNAP PAJAMA PARTY This event features a live DJ, raffles, face painting, a photo booth, games and more. Benefits SNAP. Sep. 14, 3:30-8 pm. Free. Brick West Brewing Co., 1318 W. First Ave. snapwa.org (509-279-2982)
WISHING TREE BOOKS GARAGE SALE
Peruse a selection of books, games and other gift items. (Cash and check encouraged.) Sep. 14, 10 am-6 pm and Sep. 15, 11 am-5 pm. Free. Wishing Tree Books, 1410 E. 11th. wishingtreebookstore.com
YMCA WELCOMING WEEK A chance for immigrants and U.S.-born residents to get to know one another through cultural exchange, crafts, food and more Sep. 19, 5:30-7:30 pm. Free. YMCA Central Spokane, 930 N. Monroe St. ymcainw.org
EVENTS | CALENDAR
HOMESCHOOL DAY An afternoon of activity stations and drop-in art-making inspired by the museum’s current exhibitions. Sep. 20, 12-4 pm. $13-$17. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
VALLEYFEST The three-day celebration includes outdoor activities, food, music and family-friendly events. Events take place at various venues, see website for schedule and locations. Sept. 20-22; times vary. Free. Mirabeau Point Park, 2426 N. Discovery Place. valleyfest.org
33 ARTISTS MARKET A curated, monthly art market featuring local artists, art demonstrations and live music. Sep. 21, 11 am-5 pm. Free. The Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St. 33artistsmarket.com
INDABA FLAGSHIP ROASTERY GRAND
OPENING Includes a swag bag giveaway, building tours, games, live music, a raffle, ribbon cutting and latte art competition. Sep. 21, 6 am-9 pm. Free. Indaba Flagship Roastery & Café, 2020 N. Monroe St. indabacoffee.com
FILM
CINEMA UNDER THE STARS Watch Grease outdoors with food and drinks available for purchase. Sep. 15, 8-10 pm. Free. Coeur d’Alene Resort, 115 S. Second. cdaresort.com/cinema-under-the-stars
SILENT FILM FESTIVAL: A PAGE OF MADNESS A man takes a job as a janitor at a mental asylum in order to be near his wife. Although his wife suffers genuine mental anguish, the man believes he can rescue her. Sep. 19, 7-9 pm. $15. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org
THIRD THURSDAY MATINEE: DERSU THE HUNTER A Russian army explorer who’s rescued in Siberia by a rugged Asian hunter renews his friendship with the woodsman years later when he returns as the head of a larger expedition. Sep. 19, 1 pm. $7. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)
CHOPBUSTER: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS A showing on VHS, preceded by a plant swap presented by Chop Shop. Sep. 20, 6 pm. $10. The Chameleon, 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. chameleonspokane.com
FOOD & DRINK
ROSÉ ON THE ROOFTOP Try 12 rosé wins from local and worldwide wineries with small bites by the Steam Plant. A portion of ticket sales go to Giving Back Spokane. Sep. 12, 7-9:30 pm. $60. Steam Plant Restaurant & Brew Pub, 159 S. Lincoln St. rubyhospitality.com
BBQ & BANDS Live music by Brittany’s House; dinner is brisket. Sep. 13, 5-7 pm. $30. The Culinary Stone, 2129 N. Main St. culinarystone.com
GOOD FORTUNE FRIDAY Get to know the new owners of the Boiler Room with discounted food and drink specials as well as raffles. Sep. 13, 11 am-9 pm. The Boiler Room, 6501 N. Cedar St. (509-8639213)
SOURDOUGH BROWNIES MINI CLASS
Learn about sourdough discard, the many uses for leftover starter and tricks and tips for using and sustaining a happy starter. Sep. 13, 1:30-2:30 pm. $25. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)
MAKING TOMATO SAUCE Jack Dayley from Growing Neighbors teaches how
to make tomato sauce. Come with your tomatoes and containers, and he’ll turn them into sauce to take home. Sep. 14, 1:15-2 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org
SALSA FIESTA Enjoy spicy foods, live music, wines, and dancing on the lawn. Sep. 14, 12-5 pm. $10. China Bend Winery, 3751 Vineyard Way, Kettle Falls. chinabend.com
SALSA MAKING DEMO Learn how to make salsa with chef Cynthia Monroe, instructor for OnTrack Academy’s culinary program. Sep. 14, 12:30-1:30 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org
BREAD BAKING TECHNIQUES Learn bread baking basics with Jeff Halfhide in this educational hands-on class while making soft triticale sandwich bread. Sep. 16, 5:45-8:15 pm. $85. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)
COOKING, BAKING & ROYAL ICING
MAKING Jamie Roberts from Three Birdies Bakery teaches how to make soft, tender and delicious cookies as well as royal icing perfect for decorating. Sep. 18, 5:45-8:15 pm. $85. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com
88TH ANNUAL GREEK FOOD FESTIVAL
This annual celebration includes traditional Greek food items such as gyros and baklava. The event also features live music, dancing, a Greek marketplace, church tours and more. Sept. 19-21, 11 am-8 pm daily. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 1703 N. Washington St. holytrinityspokane.org (509-328-9310)
STEAK 101 Al Baston shares secrets to cooking steak in this entertainment style class. Sep. 19, 5:45-8:15 pm. $100. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)
COEUR D’ALENE OKTOBERFEST Sample Oktoberfest-style beers and ciders at participating downtown businesses. Sept. 20-21; Fri from 4-9 pm, Sat from 12-9 pm. Downtown Coeur d’Alene, Sherman Ave. cdadowntown.com
NO-LI OKTOBERFEST Entry includes a half-liter glass boot and an authentic Bavarian feather hat, plus live music, games, food and No-Li beers on tap. Sep. 21, 12-3 pm. $20. No-Li Brewhouse, 1003 E. Trent. nolibrewhouse.com
MUSIC
THE LOWEDOWN Spokane Symphony
Music Director James Lowe gives an indepth preview of the next Masterworks concert, including visuals, insight from an orchestra musician and a Q&A. Get to know the composers and understand the historic and modern relevance of the compositions. Sep. 12, 12-1 pm. Free. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
THAT’S LIFE: A NIGHT OF FRANK SINATRA Local musician Shawn Stratte and his band pay tribute to Frank Sinatra. Sep. 13, 7:30-9:30 pm. $33. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com (509-227-7404)
SPOKANE SYMPHONY MASTERWORKS
1: THE TURNING WORLD The Symphony, along with Awadagin Pratt, perform Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and more. Sep. 14, 7:30 pm and Sep. 15, 3 pm. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanesymphony.org (509-624-1200)
SEAN BOSTROM Bostrom performs classical and contemporary selections for the
grand piano. Sep. 18, 5-7 pm. Free. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar. powine.com
DESAFINADO 20 YEAR REUNION CONCERT The nine-member Brazilian Jazz group, reunites to perform together once again. Wine, beer and charcuterie boards available for purchase. Sep. 20, 7:30-10 pm. $30. Hamilton Studio, 1427 W. Dean Ave. hamilton.live (509-327-9501)
AN EVENING WITH JESS WALTER Jess Walter’s range of writing styles takes audiences from the warmth of Italy to the gritty streets of 1980s Spokane as the Symphony sets the backdrop to his storytelling. Sep. 21, 7:30 pm. $32.50-$87.50. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. foxtheaterspokane.org (509-624-1200)
SPORTS & OUTDOORS
GRIZZLY BEARS OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES: RECONNECT, REPOPULATE, & RECOVER Learn about the natural history and conservation biology of grizzly bears in North Idaho and Western Montana, including their habitat needs, threats to their recovery and conservation challenges. Sep. 12, 7-8:30 pm. Free. Sandpoint High School, 410 S. Division Ave. lposd.org (208-263-3034)
CASCADE CHAOS Wrestling matches, including Big Nasty Logan vs. Jakari Frost in a no-holds-barred rematch. Also features a triple-threat championship bout and a tag team open challenge. Sep. 14, 7-9:30 pm. $25. Riverside Place, 1108 W. Riverside Ave. rogueattractions.com
GARDEN PRODUCE & FLOWERS SWAP Celebrate the end of gardening season and share the bounties of your harvest. Sep. 14, 12-2 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org
GARDENING FOR POLLINATORS Bring native pollinators to your yard and learn easy stewardship strategies to implement immediately. Sep. 14, 1-2 pm. Free. Cheney Library, 610 First St. scld.org
MARCH FOR THE FALLEN A walk/run honoring post 9/11 fallen military members. Also features a barbecue meal, beer garden, climbing wall and more. Sep. 14, 9 am-2 pm. $35. Seven Mile Airstrip, Riverside State Park, 7904 W Missoula St. marchforthefallen.com
SPOKANE VELOCITY VS. SOUTH
GEORGIA TORMENTA FC Regular season game. Sep. 14, 6 pm. $21-$41. ONE Spokane Stadium, 501 W. Gardner Ave. spokanevelocityfc.com
A WALK THROUGH THE NIGHT GARDEN This talk focuses on what you need to create a night garden, including fragrant plants, white flowers, lighting and moon gardening. Presented by Steve Nokes, WSU Extension Spokane County Master Gardener Volunteer. Sep. 18, 6:307:30 pm. Free. Cheney Library, 610 First St. scld.org (509-893-8280)
INDIAN TRAIN BIRD GARDEN & POLLINATOR MEADOW GRAND OPENING This grand opening celebration features a Susie Tree dedication, tree planting demo, live music, a treasure hunt in the garden and more. Sep. 21, 11 am-1 pm. Free. Indian Trail Library, 4909 W. Barnes Rd. spokanelibrary.org
THEATER & DANCE
COMPANY Bobbie searches for answers and discovers why being single, being
married and being alive in the 21st-century could drive a person crazy. Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat also at 2 pm, Sun at 1 pm and 6:30 pm through Sept. 15. $54-$110. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls. broadwayspokane.com
MORTAL TERROR The play explores the tumultuous political climate of London in 1605, specifically the Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to blow up the houses of parliament. Thu-Sun through Sept. 15, locations and times vary; see website for details. Free. spokaneshakespearesociety.org
CAMELOT King Arthur hopes to create a kingdom built on honor and dignity. His ideals are tested when his queen falls in love with the young Knight Lancelot, and the fate of the kingdom hangs in the balance. Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun at 1:30 pm through Sept. 22. $30-$35. Regional Theatre of the Palouse, 122 N. Grand Ave. rtoptheatre.org (509-334-0750)
CAROUSEL In a bustling carnival enlivens a small fishing village on the rocky New England coastline, Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan, a quiet girl who works in the mill, fall in love, marry and have a stormy relationship that leads to tragedy. Sept. 13-Oct. 13; Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. (Sept. 14 and Oct. 12 at 2 pm.) $15-41. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard. spokanecivictheatre.com
LEARN TO SQUARE DANCE WITH THE RAMBLERS No experience needed; everything is taught as the lesson goes on. Partner suggested, but not required. Sep. 17, 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. North Spokane Dance Center, 7424 N. Freya St. SquareDanceSpokane.org (509-329-8825)
SHIBARI & FLOW: TIME WARP Burlesque, aerial and drag performances that take audiences back in time. Sep. 19, 7 pm. $30. The Chameleon, 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. chameleonspokane.com
JEKYLL & HYDE Dr. Henry Jekyll is driven to find a chemical breakthrough that can solve mankind’s most challenging medical dilemmas. He decides to make himself the subject of his own experimental treatments. Sept. 20-Oct. 6; Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $27-$30. Lake City Playhouse, 1320 E. Garden Ave. lakecityplayhouse.org (208-673-7529)
GONZAGA DANCE SEASON OPENER A performance featuring Gonzaga dance students and IMGE Dance Company. Founded by Ishita Mili, IMGE brings a new medium of storytelling focused on navigating social, cultural and environmental constructs using a global movement vocabulary. Sep. 21, 7:30-8:30 pm. $8-$10. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet. gonzaga.edu/dance
VISUAL ARTS
1924: SOVEREIGNTY, LEADERSHIP AND THE INDIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT This exhibition commemorates the 100-year anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act and centers on photographs of early local tribal leadership. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Feb. 2. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
THE ART OF FOOD A collection of work showcasing how prominent artists depict food beyond mere sustenance and how food connects us through shared experiences and societal issues. TueSat from 10 am-4 pm through March 8. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson. museum.wsu.edu
BE AN ART: DERIVATIVES OF SOM A group show curated by Rajah Bose, ThuyDzuong Nguyen, Justyn Priest and Caleb Jordan in honor of the late Isamu Jordan. Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm through Sept. 28. Free. Terrain Gallery, 628 N. Monroe St. terrainspokane.com
BEN JOYCE: PLACES Abstract topographical art by the Spokane-based artist 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
BETWEEN BORDERS: FOLKLIFE THROUGH THE COEUR D’ALENES A traveling exhibit featuring folk and traditional works from artists across the Panhandle region, curated by the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Thu-Sun from 12-5 pm through Oct. 6. Free. Historic Jameson Hotel, 304 Sixth. wallaceid.fun
DUNCAN CLARK MENZIES: WHAT DO YOU COVER? An innovative and immersive solo exhibition which transforms the gallery into a contemporary sacred art space, inviting visitors to engage in a collective exploration of the themes personal and communal covering. Sept. 12-Oct. 5, Tue-Sat from 10 am-6 pm. Free. Emerge, 119 N. Second. emergecda.com
LEELA FRANCIS & EMILY WENNER: EARTH MYSTERIES Paintings by Leela Francis and Emily Wenner embodying the healing power of trees and the magic of nature. Wed-Sat from 11 am-5 pm through Sep. 28. Free. New Moon Art Gallery, 1326 E. Sprague Ave. manicmoonandmore.com (509-413-9101)
ELLEN PICKEN: MESSAGES FROM THE LAMMERGEIER Paintings and mixed media works by the local artist. Daily from 11 am-6 pm through Sep. 30, 11 am-6 pm. Free. Entropy, 101 N. Stevens St. explodingstars.com (509-414-3226)
TERESA RANCOURT: NATURE, MY MUSE A collection of abstract mixed media works inspired by the natural beauty of Northern Idaho. Mon-Sat from 10 am-5 pm through Sep. 30. Free. Pend Oreille Arts Council Gallery, 313 N. Second Ave. artinsandpoint.org (208-263-6139)
THE GREAT NORTHWEST WOOD SHOW & SALE An open exhibition and retail event for both established and emerging wood artists. The show presents a range of wood pieces, from traditional to avant-garde. Thu-Sun from 10 am-6 pm. through Sep. 29. Free. Dahmen Barn, 419 N. Park Way, Uniontown. artisanbarn.org
HIGHER GROUND: AN EXHIBITION OF ART, EPHEMERA AND FORM Artwork and archival material from across the Palouse that speaks to the history of queer experience in the area including historical photographs, writings and pieces of art. Mon-Fri from 8:30 am-4:30 pm through Oct. 31. Free. Washington State University, 2000 NE Stadium Way. libraries.wsu.edu/masc
RIVER RIDGE ASSOCIATION OF FINE ARTS: COLORS OF FALL Art by RRAFA members featuring rich, fall colors. Daily from 11 am-7 pm through Sep. 28, 11 am-7 pm. Free. Liberty Building, 203 N. Washington St. spokanelibertybuilding.com
MAYA RUMSEY, LAURA DIRKSEN & AUSTIN COUDRIET: ARRANGED OBJECTS Functional and sculptural works of Coeur d’Alene ceramic artist Maya Rumsey and Helena, Montana, residents Laura Dirksen and Austin Coudriet. Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm through Sep. 27. Free. Trackside Studio, 115 S. Adams. tracksidestudio.net
PROVOCATIVE BEAUTY: SELECTIONS FROM THE ART COLLECTION OF DRS. DOROTHY & GORDON CARLSON Alumni Gordon and Dorothy Carlson were instrumental in establishing Whitworth’s art collection. This show features several pieces from their contributions. Mon-Fri from 10 am-4:30 pm, Sat from 10 am-2 pm through Oct. 24. Free. Whitworth University, 300 W. Hawthorne Rd. whitworth.edu (509-777-3258)
RICK SINGER: PHOTOGRAPHY RETROSPECTIVE A collection of photographs by Rick Singer spanning his 43year career. Sept. 6-Oct. 28, Mon-Fri from 8 am-5 pm. Free. Chase Gallery, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. spokanearts.org (509-321-9416)
SPOKANE WATERCOLOR SOCIETY SHOW Members display new works. Mon-Fri from 10 am-5 pm through Sep. 27. Free. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave. spokaneartschool.net
TOM ASKMAN: CONVOLUTED AMBIGUITIES A career retrospective collection including drawings, paintings, videos and public art. Thu-Sat from noon-6 pm through Sep. 28 or by appt. Free. Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. mobile.kolva.comcastbiz. net (509-458-5517)
INTERNATIONAL SURREALISM IN AMERICA Seventeen international artists are featured in this surrelist showcase including Spokane artists Roch Fautch and Dara Debast, along with Portugese artist Santiago Ribeiro. Fridays from 5-9 pm through Oct. 5. Free. Shotgun Studios, 1625 W. Water Ave. shotgunstudiosspokane.com
REBEKAH WILKINS-PEPITON: STATIC MY SENSES MAKE This new mixed -media collection contrasts imagery of mycorrhizal networks with urban constructivist scenes in response to the fractured relationship between humans and the natural world. Fri-Sat from 12-8 pm through Sep. 28. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. sapgallery.com
INK! PRINT RALLY Interactive printmaking booths with activities for all ages led by local artisans and makers as well as live music, food and beverages. Sep. 14. Free. Emerge, 119 N. Second St., Coeur d’Alene. emergecda. com (208-930-1876)
ARTISTS IN THE GARDEN Diverse regional artists fill the garden with pottery, jewelry, visual arts, fiber and fabric arts, wood bowls, leather work and more. Refreshments available. Mountain Dulcimer music by Joanne Heinz. Sep. 15, 1-4 pm. Free. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St., Newport. createarts.org
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. Sept. 15-Nov. 6; Wed from 10 am-2 pm, Fri from 4-7 pm and Sun from 1-4 pm. Free. St. James Episcopal Church, 1410 NE. Stadium Way. stjamespullman.org
WORDS
CHRIS BIEKER & ELENA HARTWELL
TAYLOR: WHO DUNIT & WHY? Local mystery authors Chris Bieker and Elena Hartwell Taylor discuss their books and writing process. Sep. 12, 5:30-6:30
pm. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry St. spokanelibrary.org
EXPLORING HONESTY IN REPRE-
SENTATION Justin Chon delivers the Habib Institute for Asian Studies AsiaPOP! keynote address, and considers how the Korean Wave impacts Asian Americans in the entertainment industry and representation more broadly. Sep. 12, 4-5:30 pm. Free. University of Idaho Student Union Building, 875 S. Line St. uidaho.edu/class/ hias/asiapop
WRITE TOGETHER: A COMMUNITY
WRITING SESSION Bring your current writing project and your favorite writing tools and prepare to hunker down and write with local novelist and Writing Education Specialist Sharma Shields. Sep. 13, 10 am-noon. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5300)
LIBRARY BOOK CLUB: PERMA RED BY DEBRA MAGPIE EARLING Join Spokane Public Library for a book discussion of Spokane Is Reading’s 2024 selection, Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling. Register online to attend. Sep. 14, 10:30 am. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry St. spokanelibrary.org
BROKEN MIC A weekly open mic reading series. Wednesdays at 6:30 pm; sign-ups at 6 pm. Free. Neato Burrito, 827 W. First Ave. bit.ly/2ZAbugD
GEORGIA TIFFANY & RONALD MCFARLAND Authors Georgia Tiffany and Ronald McFarland read from their books Body Be Sound and A Variable Sense of Things with local author Sharma Shields. Sep. 18, 5:30 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5390)
PIVOT: WILD Six storytellers tell eightminute tales on the theme of “wild.” Sep. 19, 7-9 pm. By donation. Washington Cracker Co. Building, 304 W. Pacific. pivotspokane.com
GIANT BOOK SALE Used books for $1$3, DVDs and more. Everything drops to half-off on Sunday. Sept. 20-22; daily from 11 am-7 pm. Giant Nerd Books, 607 W. Garland. giantnerdbooks.com
WRITE TOGETHER: A COMMUNITY
WRITING SESSION Bring your current writing project and writing tools and prepare to write with local novelist and Writing Education Specialist Sharma Shields. Sep. 20, 10 am-noon. Free. Indian Trail Library, 4909 W. Barnes Rd. spokanelibrary.org
LIANE MORIARTY: A DEEP DIVE IN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Moriarty chats about her newest novel, Here One Moment, which explores free will, destiny, grief and love. Registration required. Sep. 21, 4 pm. Free. Online at scld.org
MORGAN RICHTER: THE DIVIDE In conversation with local author John Keeble, Morgan Richter discusses her novel The Divide about a failed actress turned grifting psychic searching for her missing doppelgänger. Sep. 21, 7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com
RESISTING ERASURE THROUGH STORYTELLING Putsata Reang discusses the dangers of dwelling on differences and encourages audiences to share their personal stories as an antidote to erasure. Sep. 21, 2 pm. Free. Online at humanities.org n
REGULATION
Copycat California
The Golden State is generating headlines for following a path Washington went down a year ago
BY WILL MAUPIN
Amove last week from California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a tidal wave through the hemp and cannabis industries and generated numerous headlines around the nation.
Newsom announced a set of emergency regulations that would ban the sale of hemp-derived products containing any amount of THC. As California is the most populous state in the nation, regulations passed in the Golden State often become industry standards nationwide.
Which begs the question, could these policies make their way north to the Evergreen State? The answer is, they already have. Washington adopted nearly identical regulations in 2023.
The impetus behind Newsom’s proposed action, and that of Washington before him, stems from the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp at the federal level.
The 2018 Farm Bill defined hemp as cannabis plants
containing less than 0.3% THC by dry weight. Anything above that threshold would be considered cannabis, and thus illegal at the federal level.
Those rules say nothing about other cannabinoids like CBD, however, which is why in the years since, CBD products from supplements to seltzers and everything in between have been stocked on grocery store shelves.
Legal hemp, as the Farm Bill defines it, can only contain a negligible amount of THC. However, other cannabinoids produced by the plant can then be converted into intoxicating analogs of the THC found in cannabis.
These hemp-derived THC products began appearing on shelves at stores not licensed to sell recreational cannabis and have also been available to order online.
Washington’s action in 2023, under Senate Bill 5367, defined all products meant for human consumption that contain detectable amounts of THC as “cannabis prod-
Hemp-derived products such as Delta 8 are being sold without the strict regulations of the recreational market.
ucts,” regardless of whether or not they were originally derived from cannabis or hemp.
Under the 2023 regulations, these cannabis products could only be sold in accordance with the rules regulating the state’s legal cannabis market — from the consumer’s perspective, that means they can only be purchased at a licensed dispensary.
The emergency regulations announced last week by Gov. Newsom in California mirror the changes made by Washington last year, but unsurprisingly the reaction to California’s action has been far greater.
There weren’t headlines about damage to a billion-dollar industry or reactions from the company of renowned stoners Cheech and Chong when Washington went down this path a year ago. But don’t be fooled by the fervor in the news in recent days. Washington won’t be copying California. It’s the other way around. n
NOTE TO READERS
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.
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.
greenhand
pigs, hippos, and giraffes (but who’s counting?)
Tajikistan, previously, for short DOWN
Convinced to shell out more
It comes before “lands” or “world”
Coy comeback
“Spring ahead” clock abbr.
“___ of little faith”
Topple
Giveaway gift
Person who waits
Urban center
Tons
Say it isn’t
“Evening
narrator
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Video gaming machine exclusions apply. See cdacasino.com, the CDA Casino app or the Coeur Rewards Club for more details.
Young at Heart
MONDAYS IN SEPTEMBER
Calling all Coeur Rewards Members age 55 and better! Enjoy $5 Extra Play Cash and $2 off a breakfast, lunch or dinner entrée at Red Tail Bar & Grill.
Must be age 55 or better and show a valid ID and Coeur Rewards card to receive the discount.