In brief: Olive Garden closes downtown Spokane location

A sign placed Saturday outside the Olive Garden in downtown Spokane announced that the business was closing permanently at the end of the day.

The restaurant’s 80 employees were notified of the closure Saturday morning, said Hunter Robinson, Olive Garden communications manager.

“We do hope to place most of them in the two other Olive Gardens we have in the area,” Robinson said.

Employees who do not transfer will be offered a severance package, he said.

Restaurant locations are always being evaluated and the downtown Spokane location wasn’t meeting performance expectations, Robinson said.

The restaurant opened in the old City Hall building at 221 N. Wall St. in 1990, occupying space on the first floor that used to be a fire station.

Rock group earns Bloomsday honor

The rock group Nixon Rodeo won a $500 cash prize as Best Bloomsday Entertainer after their performance at the base of Doomsday Hill during the annual road race earlier this month, Bloomsday announced in a news release last week.

This year, 30 musical groups were competing for votes. Nixon Rodeo previously took second place in the competition in 2014.

The second-place winner this year was two-time champion Tori Whitten. Angela Marie Project and Black Gingham tied for third place.

More than 1,500 votes were cast by those who ran or walked the Bloomsday course. This year, for the first time, voters could pick their top three performers instead of only one favorite.