Skate Into The New Year With A Little Personal Time At The Rink

The first weekend of the new year promises to be a quiet one, if events and performances - or lack thereof - prove to be any indication.

Welcome to the Big Slowdown. You’ve been going nonstop since Halloween; it’s time to have a relaxing weekend without 15 parties, performances and appointments to keep straight.

You might start by lacing up a pair of skates at the Riverfront Park Ice Palace or Eagles Ice-A-Rena. There’s something exhilarating about working up a sweat on the cold ice to the beat of the Village People’s “Macho Man.” It’s a blast.

Here are the hours:

Riverfront Park Ice Palace - 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7:15 to 10 p.m. today and Saturday. Cost is $4.25 for adults and teens, $3.25 for children 12 and under and seniors. Skate rental is $1.75.

The Ice Palace has daily skating specials, including the weekday lunch bunch (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) for $3.50, including skate rental.

Eagles Ice-A-Rena - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and 8 to 10 p.m. today; 1 to 3 p.m., and 8:15 to 10:15 p.m. Saturday. There’s also a 3:30 p.m. session on Sunday.

Admission is $4 for teens and adults, $3 for people 12 and under. Skate rental is $1.50, except on Friday and Saturday nights, when it’s free.

For the rest of the weekend, it’s pretty slim pickin’s.

Dance and learn

The fourth annual American Indian Friendship Dance begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Temple, where regional tribal elders will teach young people the traditional dances and songs of their tribes.

The Spokane Tribe, with help from the Kalispel and Coeur d’Alene tribes, has helped Cheney Cowles Museum coordinate the event for the past three years. A lunch will be served from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Later that night, the play “According to Coyote” will be performed at The Met. It’s a combination of storytelling and dance and portrays some of the stories of the Nez Perce that detail the exploits of The Trickster, Coyote.

The public is invited to all these family-oriented events. Admission is free. Donations will be accepted.

Holiday music

You thought it was over? No way. Don’t forget the Feast of the Epiphany, which Music at Lourdes will mark with an “Epiphany Extravaganza” of music for organ, brass, percussion, choir and oboe, with The Cathedral Choir, members of the St. Augustine Choir and the Cathedral Brass.

The 4 p.m. Sunday concert at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes will include the Eugene Thayer “Variations on Auld Lang Syne” for two performers at one organ. The concert is free.

On the road

Here’s an interesting presentation, although attending it would require a short drive for most. Gordon Jackson, professor of communications at Whitworth College, will present a lecture titled “Media Ethics - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cutter Theatre in Metaline Falls, Wash. The lecture is free.

, DataTimes