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Archive for the ‘Local News’ Category
Spokane Mourns the Loss of a Landmark
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle, a beloved restaurant and landmark in Spokane’s Garland District, burned to the ground on the night of September 25. The fire also destroyed Ferguson’s Café next door, and was so large and difficult to contain that it took 50 firemen almost two hours to put it out. Both restaurants were featured in the 1993 movie Benny and Joon, and the Milk Bottle in particular has come to be nationally known as an iconic location in Spokane.
The Milk Bottle was built in 1935 as a retail store for the Benewah Dairy. At 38 feet tall and 15 feet wide, it is one of a handful of giant milk bottle buildings scattered around the United States—and one of the most famous. The dairy closed down in the early 70’s, leaving the Milk Bottle unused until 1994, when it reopened as Mary Lou’s restaurant, serving some of the best local burgers, thick-cut fries, and delicious homemade ice cream. Mary Lou’s has been a favorite among North Spokane residents ever since, and their ice cream became so popular that it was served in other local restaurants around town. The restaurant had an old-fashioned charm to its décor, with black and white checkered tile floor, historic photos displayed on the walls, and 50’s style bar stools at the front counter. At first, the Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle was open only for lunch, but the past two summers their hours were extended into the mid-evening so that locals could grab an ice cream cone to cool down on a hot summer night. Many people around Spokane have fond memories of both the Milk Bottle and Ferguson’s Café and have been devastated to learn that they are gone, describing it as a heartbreaking loss for the city.
Update: Although the Ferguson’s building has been deemed a total loss, the Milk Bottle is still structurally intact. The owners of both restaurants state that they have plans to rebuild. The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time.
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Celebrate the Grand Opening of Spokane Public Market!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Spokane Public Market is celebrating its Grand Opening this Friday and Saturday! This is an exciting opportunity to explore Spokane’s newest market for local farmers, artisans, and small businesses. Local businesses like the ones you can find at the Spokane Public Market are the lifeblood of a community, offering unique products that are grown and made in the area with an eye toward quality that is so often missing from mass produced goods and commercially grown food. When you purchase from these vendors, you know that your money is going to support people who live and work in the same area as you do, thereby supporting the economy of your hometown.
Mountain Valley View Farm, Inc. is proud to be a vendor at the Spokane Public Market. In addition to our delicious, fresh organic produce, you will find baked goods, all natural goat cheese in a variety of flavors, healthy teas and juices, candies, cut flowers, and nursery stock. Our booth is easy to find: it’s on the Northeast corner at the end of the aisle when you first walk in–just look for our sign. We would love to meet you and tell you more about our family farm.
Other unique items you can find for sale at the Spokane Public Market include freshly picked huckleberries and wild mushrooms; arts and crafts including dolls, sculpture, herbal soaps, hand-dyed yarns, handcrafted jewelry, leather handbags, and candles; gourmet caramel candies and chocolates; locally caught fish as well as locally raised beef, pork, poultry, and goat meat; and so much more. There is almost no end to the variety of amazing things you can discover at the market! A full list of vendors can be viewed here.
The Spokane Public Market is open each week Thursday-Saturday from 10AM to 6PM, and plans to operate year-round. Please spread the word about their Grand Opening by grabbing a flyer and showing it to your friends and coworkers! You can print the flyer at the top of the post, or choose from one of the following flyers as well (click on either image to view and print it in a larger format). Thank you for supporting local businesses in the Spokane area!
COME SEE US AT THE FAIR!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Karen’s Collectors Cottage, Inc. & Art Gallery is at the Spokane County Interstate Fair! We invite you to visit our booth (Bay 1, Booth 269 – west end, center section) for a fantastic selection of fiction and nonfiction books, cookbooks, poetry, cards, bookmarks, custom art, gift baskets and more!
Mention that you saw this post on the KCC Blog and receive 10% off anything in our booth.
Whispering Pine Press celebrates GetLit!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
This week is the 13th annual Get Lit! literary festival sponsored by Eastern Washington University. Events run from April 13-17, and include poetry slams, book readings, panel discussions, writing contests, and workshops. For a full calendar of this year’s events, click here. Over 40 nationally acclaimed and local authors will be in Spokane for Get Lit!; past guests have included such luminaries as Kurt Vonnegut, Salman Rushdie, and David Sedaris. Prominent authors for GetLit! 2011 are Tim O’Brien, Sena Jeter Naslund, Maude Barlow, Sam Kean, Matthew Dickman, Louise Borden, Michael Harmon, Suzanne Morgan Williams, and Ani DiFranco. For a full list of authors attending this year’s festival, click here.
The Big Read is an event created by the National Endowment for the Arts with the goal of restoring reading to the center of a community’s culture by “[drawing] communities together around a single book through a month long series of related literary events.” For Spokane County’s third Big Read event, the book chosen is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, a collection of stories about soldiers who served in the Vietnam War. The Things They Carried was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Award. The Big Read will culminate on April 16 at the Bing Crosby Theater, when Tim O’Brien and veteran/poet Brian Turner will discuss their experiences in war and their resulting creative works. This event is also part of GetLit!.
To celebrate GetLit!, Whispering Pine Press is offering a 10% discount on all books from April 13-17. Please visit our website to see our list of children’s and adult fiction, cookbooks, poetry collections, and more. If you have any difficulty getting the 10% discount on our website, feel free to call us at (509) 928-8700.
In honor of GetLit!, we are also giving away one free copy of Frost of Spring Green, Karen Hood’s widely-acclaimed first poetry collection. Click here to read a review of the book, then leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway. Don’t forget to include your e-mail address so that we can contact you if you win! Entries will be accepted through April 23 to give everyone time to participate.
Japan Week 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Now in it’s 19th year, Japan Week is a community festival celebrating the rich variety and beauty of Japanese culture. Beginning with the opening ceremonies on April 16, there are events spread out across the next nine days that explore many aspects of Japanese culture from calligraphy and painting to food, martial arts, and even the anime and cosplay that has become so popular with many American teens. For a full schedule of activities, click here.
The history of the Japanese community in Spokane goes back to the late 1800s, when many Japanese immigrated to the United States to work on the railroads and in the mines. Although many returned to their home country when they were no longer needed for these jobs, by 1910 there were 1,000 Japanese and first generation Japanese-Americans living in Spokane. Over the next 25 years the population dwindled as new laws, both state and federal, were introduced to ban Asians from owning land and immigrating to the US. Many Japanese immigrants had left their families behind, and now that their families were prohibited from joining them in the US, they returned home. By the beginning of World War II, less than 400 Japanese remained in Spokane. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Spokane saw a large influx of Japanese from Western Washington and Oregon who were fleeing government internment camps. After the war, some of them returned to their previous homes while others remained in Spokane. Since that time, the Japanese population has been integrated into Spokane’s general populace, but they continue to honor their heritage through Japan Week and other cultural events throughout the year.
Japan Week is fun for the whole family, with activities that will appeal to all ages. Take your kids to Manito Park this Sunday afternoon for the Children’s Festival, where they can make crafts, learn how to play Japanese games, and more. Or take everyone to see the kendo martials arts demonstration which is sure to thrill. Your anime-loving teen can learn how to draw manga and participate in cosplay while you and your spouse enjoy a sushi cooking class. Whatever you choose to do for Japan Week this year, you are guaranteed to have a wonderful time learning about and enjoying the multifaceted aspects of Japanese culture.
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