Annual Celebration In West Central Area

West Central Spokane residents will celebrate the day before Bloomsday with a community parade, carnival and celebrity softball game.

The Saturday event is the annual celebration of the 1993 creation of the neighborhood’s COPS shop and an opportunity for residents to meet friends and neighbors.

The anniversary begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs to 6:30 p.m. at A.M. Cannon Park, Mission and Belt.

This year’s parade is dubbed “A Children’s World” and starts from the park at 10 a.m., leading up to the park carnival.

The softball game starts around 5 p.m., said spokeswoman Dorothy Spoerhase.

The annual event also commemorates the abductions of West Central students Nicki Wood and Rebecca West. That crime prompted West Central residents to work together to improve the neighborhood and establish the COPS shop.

Most of Bloomsday’s final two miles run through West Central, and spectators line the streets to watch runners go by.

, DataTimes