If you are looking for something to do tomorrow as you wait for Bloomsday, check out the 11th annual Otis Orchards Community Days. There will be games, crafts, food, raffles and a jumping castle at Otis Orchards Elementary, 22000 E. Wellesley, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. A parade will go down Wellesly at noon, complete with little red wagons and kids on decorated bikes. The parade starts at Kenney Road and ends at the school. Proceeds will benefit East SCOPE and students from the school traveling to Washington, D.C.

Otis Orchards Elementary kitchen manager Judy Boykin serves up chicken fried steak wth potatoes and gravy, vegetables, rolls and cookies for the senior meals lunch Feb. 3. Lunch through Valley Meals on Wheels is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. SR photo/J. Bart Rayniak

We managed to pack several interesting stories into Saturday's Valley Voice. Here's the roundup, in case you missed it. Otis Orchards Elementary is the only school in the area to be a senior meal site through Valley Meals on Wheels. Reporter Lisa Leinberger checked in on how it is going and found that several of the seniors have given volunteer applications to Principal Suzanne Savall. The lunches are served on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Spokane Valley City Council spent a day last week in a lengthy winter retreat discussing everything from funding street maintenance to a possible city hall site. The Simply Northwest gift shop known for its gift baskets is now under new ownership. An employee purchased the store from founder De Scott.

Residents in Millwood are apparently upset over a recent vote by the city council to shut down and tear out the wading pool that has been in the Millwood City Park since 1954. After hearing from several residents, last week the council agreed to take another look at the plan.

There was some brief excitement last week for Spokane Valley Fire Department firefighters. That generated some advice from assistant fire marshal Bill Clifford - it's a really, really, really bad idea to try and clean up a large gasoline spill by putting a match to it.

We'll have some great entertainment for you in Saturday's Valley Voice. In addition to an arson fire this week, the Spokane Valley Fire Department responded to a fireball seen at a local tavern. It turned out that someone had tried to clean up a gasoline spill by lighting it on fire, with predictable bad results. Luckily no one was hurt.

Reporter Lisa Leinberger stopped by Otis Orchards Elementary recently to see how the latest Valley Meals on Wheels site is doing. It's the first one in a school. I also have a report on the all day winter retreat with the Spokane Valley City Council. They discussed a wide variety of topics, including economic development, finances and street maintenance.

The East Valley School District board of directors is considering asking the voters to pass a construction bond this year. A series of informational meetings to discuss the potential bond are being held beginning tonight at 6 p.m. at the Administration Building, 12325 E. Grace. The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at Otis Orchards Elementary, 22000 E. Wellesley.

The board is scheduled to vote on whether to go out for a bond at the next board meeting on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. in the Administration Building.

Valley Meals on Wheels has opened a new senior meals site in Otis Orchards. The meal will be served at 12:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at Otis Orchards Elementary (22000 E. Wellesley). The first meal will be served today. Senior citizens who attend the meals will be welcome to stay after and play games with or read to students. The suggested donation is $3.50 per person but no one will be turned away if they cannot pay.

For 22 years, Santa has stood proudly in the parking lot at the White Elephant store on East Sprague Avenue in the Spokane Valley waving at passerby. The 13-foot tall statue once graced the windows of The Crescent department store in downtown Spokane. SR photo/Bart Rayniak.

There is a lot of Valley news to read today in the paper, so here’s the lineup. Budget discussions in Liberty Lake have been so contentious that a council member walked out of this week’s council meeting in frustration. One of the candidates for two vacant Spokane Valley Planning Commission seats is the half-brother of Mayor Tom Towey, but neither think his involvement is a conflict of interest. The mayor has recused himself from the appointment process, which will be handled by Deputy Mayor Gary Schimmels.

Students at Otis Orchards Elementary are being exposed to art, theater, sports and martial arts thanks to a new after school program known as the Orchard Project. Correspondent Stefanie Pettit has a regular Landmarks feature that examines various local historic and iconic sites. This week she writes about the Santa at the White Elephant store that used to be on display at The Crescent department store.

In other Spokane Valley news, a Montana fugitive was arrested by police late Tuesday night. He led police on a chase before hitting a snow berm.

There are a few goodies on tap for tomorrow’s Valley Voice. A Liberty Lake city council member was so frustrated during Tueday’s meeting focusing on the 2011 budget that she got up and walked out. A special meeting has been called for 6 p.m. Dec. 14 for further budget discussions at City Hall, 22710 E. Country Vista Drive.

The Spokane Valley city council moved rapidly through a lengthy agenda that looked like it would drag on forever. No big decisions during this week’s study session, but several interesting votes are scheduled for next week. I’ve also put together a story on the applicants for the two planning comission vacancies and why the mayor won’t be making the recommendations this year.

Reporter Lisa Leinberger has put together a story on the Orchard Project, an after school program at Otis Orchards Elementary. And the recent bad weather appears to have kept car prowling thieves in Liberty Lake from making the rounds. We’ll see if that remains the case during the relatively warm weather this week.