Spokane

From 1975: The Associated Press listed the top stories in Washington for 1975, and the No. 1 story was also a top story 50 years later: Flooding in Western Washington.

From 1975: Spokane beer drinkers had something to celebrate: Coors beer was finally coming to the Spokane area.

From a tiny Nativity scene carved in stone to a large blow-mold plastic set, Rhonda Fischer’s collection embraces the spirit of the season.

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, where residents have rallied to support the Christmas Bureau.

Mike and Marji Arnold have the distinction of being the only married couple among the current Bloomsday Perennials to run all 49 races together.

Most years, Santa comes down the chimney wanting milk with his cookies. This year ... Santa wants beer.

From 1975: Fog closed in on Spokane International Airport, causing flight delays during the busy Christmas Day schedule.

Each year, we like to celebrate the holiday season with a Christmas card for our readers that showcases the best of the Inland Northwest, from the Spokane Falls to the Ice Ribbon.

Every effort is made to make the Christmas Bureau an uplifting experience for the people who come and stand in line for hours at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center to get presents to make the holiday bright for their children. Ornaments are placed on trees. Decorations are hung. Santa is on display. And Christmas music rings through the air.

From 1975: The Spokane Chronicle told the riches-to-rags story of Frank N, Marr, 68, a former mining tycoon, now dying of cancer and barely surviving on Social Security.

Barely two decades into his status as a Bloomsday Perennial, Martin Kittredge had surgery to repair a torn meniscus three weeks from the big event.

From 1975: The city of Spokane “deliberately built failure” into its controversial firefighter trainee program, said Ann Dewey, president of the Spokane chapter of the National Organization for Women .

Four years after the project was announced, the first of two phases of pedestrian and cyclist improvements kicks off next construction season on the Pacific Avenue Greenway in downtown Spokane.

Hundreds of volunteers are the face of the Christmas Bureau, working directly with families to assist them with what they need to make Christmas brighter for their children. What goes mostly unseen, however, is the work done by local companies that provide the in-kind donations that keep the Bureau humming along every year.

Retail commerce and Santa Claus have been a part of Spokane holidays since the turn of the 20th century. The character of Santa entered American culture through the many drawings of illustrator Thomas Nast, dating back to the Civil War. The story best known as “The Night Before Christmas” filled out the lore of the beloved Christmas icon.

From 1975: The United Airlines desk at Spokane International Airport was back in business after two weeks of inactivity.

For years, Paul Dorning has quietly led the computer intake area at the annual Christmas Bureau, making sure everything goes smoothly as client information is entered into the computer so they can receive a grocery store voucher and a toy and book for each child.

From 1975: The City Plan Commission predicted that an increasing number of families would be moving closer to downtown, and as a result, the city center should be oriented toward “people, pedestrians and shoppers, as opposed to the automobile.”