If Crowds Just Aren’t Your Scene, There’s Lots To Do Besides Running
Maybe the best way to deal with the onslaught of runners, joggers and walkers in Spokane this weekend is to get out of town - just avoid the whole thing altogether.
Not that Bloomsday isn’t a wonderful, uplifting display of civic pride. It’s just that it’s also a mess of traffic, crowds and sweat.
But don’t despair. If you’re looking for a day trip to take you away from it all, Moscow and the Tri-Cities have some options. If you’re going to stick around but have no intention of hoofing it 12 kilometers through town, there are a select few events around town as well.
Hit the road
Preston Premium Wines, about five miles north of Pasco on U.S. Highway 395, is holding its annual Kite Festival and Remote Control Car Race Saturday and Sunday.
Kites will be in flight from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Chenyn’s Park on the winery grounds - with expert fliers from around the Northwest displaying and flying kites of all kinds.
From about 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Tri-Cities RC Offroaders Club will be racing remote control cars.
Admission is free; food is available. Bring your own kites to fly, and a sack lunch if you don’t want to buy something there. Kids are admitted, but no wine tasting for them.
Moscow is holding its 21st annual Moscow Renaissance Fair under the big trees at East City Park from 11 a.m. to dusk on Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the festivities and the main stage entertainment is free.
Headlining the entertainment is the Cantrells, a folk/country band that recently toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter. Other music styles include steel string, Celtic rock and acoustic guitar.
About 130 booths will be stuffed with fine, handcrafted work for display and sale. Dozens of food items are a traditional highlight of the fair, from full meals to desserts and beverages.
There’s plenty to do for kids. Colorful, whimsical garb is encouraged.
Fifth of May
It’s late notice, but you can still celebrate Cinco de Mayo through Saturday; EWU and Cavanaughs are both offering to help.
Eastern Washington University will hold its 17th Cinco de Mayo banquet and celebration at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Pence Union Building in Cheney. The theme is Chicano Politics in Times of Conservatism.
Tickets for the banquet and dance are $20. You can attend the banquet alone for $16 or the dance only for $10. There will be music and a lecture during dinner. The band El Grupo Esmeralda will keep feet moving at the dance.
Call 359-2404 for more information.
Tonight, Hobart’s jazz lounge in Cavanaugh’s Fourth Avenue Hotel will be the site of a Cinco de Mayo party, starting at 9 p.m.
Salsa Latin jazz will be played by Fuego, a six-piece ensemble. Admission is $3 at the door. Call 838-6101 for more info.
Dance romance
The Davenport Hotel gets into the Bloomsday spirit this weekend with a Tea Dance with Jim Baker’s Orchestra in the Marie Antoinette Room tonight from 6:30 to 9:30. Ten bucks gets you admission, ballroom dancing (lessons start at 5:30 p.m.) and tea and coffee.
The lobby will be featuring Men in the Making, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. A no-host bar will be available, so its 21 and older, only. Cost is $15. Wear your Bloomsday garb and boogie down.
Music, music, music
There is plenty to please your ears this weekend, starting with a recital at Holy Names Music Center at Fort Wright that will benefit the four Russian children who lost their parents in a Bellingham house fire recently.
Holy Names students will be performing in the Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival later this month. As a preview, they’ll play at 6 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. tonight in McNally Recital Hall.
The center will take donations for the Solodyankin children.
The Whitworth Handbell Choir will present its spring mini-recital at 8 tonight in the Music Recital Hall at Whitworth. The recital is free.
And they’re off! Seven choruses and six quartets from Washington, Montana and Idaho will compete vocal skill against vocal skill at the Barbershop Competition at noon Saturday in Spokane Falls Community College Music Building.
Admission to the noon competition is $10, the cabaret costs $12.
A cabaret featuring the same groups will be held in the SFCC cafeteria at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The North Idaho Symphony Orchestra will take on its most difficult task to date when it performs a Gustav Mahler symphony Saturday at 8 p.m. in the North Idaho College Boswell Auditorium in Coeur d’Alene.
The program includes a variety of selections and ends with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D minor. Tickets are available at the door and are $5, $3 for seniors, $1 for students.
Tickets are still available for the Washington Idaho Symphony Chorale’s annual benefit concert at St. Boniface Church in Uniontown, Wash., at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
A reception begins at 6 p.m. at the new Churchyard Inn next to the church. Tickets for the concert are $12.50 for all ages. If you want to go to both the concert and the reception, it’s $25. Call (800) 949-ARTS for more information.
The 24-voice Whitworth College Chamber Singers will perform a spring concert at 4 p.m. Sunday in the college’s recital hall. It’s free.
On your toes
Tessa Williams’ School of Classical Ballet presents Ballet in May ‘95, a dance recital of Williams’ dozens of aspiring ballerinas and a few ballerinos.
This year, the amateurs will be joined by guest dancer Jeanene Russell, a Spokane native who has studied with the renowned Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Russia.
The recital begins at 3 p.m. Saturday at The Met. Admission is $5.
Miscellaneous
Don’t miss a special salute to Northwest Black Pioneers, an exhibit beginning Monday through May 19 at the Crescent Court Exhibition Center.
Ralph Hayes, storyteller, will lead viewers through the display of more than 100 panels depicting the life stories and accomplishments of the hundreds of black explorers, settlers and urban pioneers who came to this area.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Daughters of the American Revolution, Esther Reed Chapter, will feature Dorothy Rochon Powers, at a Heritage Tea at 1 p.m. Saturday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Admission is $3.
xxxx Getting out Perhaps it’s pushing the picnic season, but when the sun’s shining, who isn’t in the mood for eating outdoors? One of the best picnic-sites-with-a-view is Steptoe Butte in the heart of the Palouse. The sight of undulating hills green with spring wheat can be breathtaking. The winds atop the hill can also be daunting so take extra layers of clothing as well as binoculars.