Riverside State Park cancels Winter Wonderland due to storm damage

The Nov. 17 windstorm that ravaged the Spokane region toppled so many trees at Riverside State Park, rangers are still cleaning up the mess three weeks later.

Park officials say the extensive damage is the reason they canceled this weekend’s Winter Wonderland, a three-night holiday celebration that quickly has become the largest annual fundraiser for the Riverside State Park Foundation.

It’s just not safe yet to invite large crowds into the 14,000-acre park along the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers, said Cherie Gwinn, program specialist at Riverside State Park.

“Hopefully, you can see us next year with a bigger, better show,” Gwinn said.

She hatched the idea for Winter Wonderland, which has raised $30,000 for the foundation over the past three years.

The park usually closes at dusk, but for the three nights of Winter Wonderland, it’s open into the evening. Visitors pay a $5 admission and get to enjoy more than 2 miles of lights and displays, bonfires, music, hot chocolate, hay rides and Santa Claus. The suspension bridge over the Bowl and Pitcher rapids is lit up and open as well.

“It’s just a really great, family-friendly event; exposes you to the elements, and it’s just a real relaxing time,” Gwinn said.

She estimates the park lost hundreds of trees, mostly ponderosa pine, in the windstorm.

“We had one in our group campsite, which is where our hay ride leaves from,” she said. “It was easily a 150-foot tree in good health, and it crashed down right into the site. What took the longest was limbing it up.”

Park employees and volunteers have spent long days clearing trees from parking lots, popular trails and other sites. The park has eight rangers and one construction and maintenance employee, and it does not have the money to hire outside help.

“Really, it has been our rangers out there taking care of the downed trees,” Gwinn said.

They spent the first week after the storm felling uprooted trees and limbing and sawing trees on the ground, she said. The park remained open after the storm, but the Aubrey L. White Parkway was closed for eight days because of a hanging power line across the river between the Bowl and Pitcher and the Devil’s Toenail rapid.

“The devastation that it created on Aubrey L. White Parkway was enormous, as well as the Bowl and Pitcher area,” Gwinn said. “We haven’t even gotten out onto trails yet to do a good job of creating safe access for our users.”

Park workers first concentrated on clearing trees in the Bowl and Pitcher day-use area, which gets the heaviest use, then moved on to the 7 Mile Airstrip – a popular bike-riding area – and the park’s equestrian area. The park remains popular this time of year for hiking, horseback riding and fat-tire bike riding.

Park officials ask visitors who see downed trees blocking trails to call or message them on Facebook. “We’re certainly encouraging the users to let us know so we can get out there and take care of it,” Gwinn said.

The park also is offering a $25 firewood permit, good for up to five cords of wood, to help clean up downed trees.

“We’ve been issuing them like crazy,” Gwinn said. “We have so much wood here.”

Last year’s Winter Wonderland drew thousands of visitors.

“People love it,” she said. “It really made me sick to my stomach to make the difficult decision of having to cancel this, but we also have to look out for the best interest of the public, and that’s safety and the fact that we haven’t been able to adequately prepare and make the Bowl and Pitcher its best.”

The lost fundraising opportunity will hinder the foundation’s ability to supplement the park’s budget in 2016, she said.

The public can help by making a donation to the foundation or volunteering at the park, she added.

“It is our biggest fundraiser, so it is a big hit to our foundation and the park.”