Pia Hallenberg

The Manito/Cannon Hill Neighborhood Council has asked the city to put in a crosswalk at the intersection of Manito Boulevard and 29th Avenue. It’s the second time the neighborhood council has made the request, and at its meeting Tuesday evening at Wilson Elementary School that crosswalk was at the top of the agenda. The neighborhood council suggested that adding the crosswalk now, while that part of 29th Avenue is under reconstruction, seemed prudent.

The 20th anniversary celebration at Odyssey Youth Center – a nonprofit organization that works with lesbian, gay, transgender and questioning youth – spilled onto the sidewalk in front of the center and into the parking lot and side street out back. Just a few years ago such a big public celebration was unthinkable.

The Commons Community Garden, just across the street from Sacajawea Middle School on the South Hill, is an excellent example of creative use of space. It’s located on a triangular piece of land next to the water tower there, and although it’s a smaller space than many other community garden sites, it holds 35 raised garden beds.

It’s going to be a tiger of a day when Lewis and Clark High School celebrates its 100th year with a big open house Saturday. The downtown school is the alma mater of thousands, a small group of whom have dedicated countless hours to put on Saturday’s gala event.

The Peaceful Valley Community Center has always been different from the other community centers in town. It’s crammed full, and located in a small temporary building from the 1970s; for years it was operated by the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department. The building and property, as well as nearby Glover Field, is still owned by the Parks Department, but the Peaceful Valley Community Center is now operated by its own nonprofit organization.

On Saturday, the Garland District is putting on its 10th Garland Street Fair. Sure, it’s a tribute to Judy Garland and “The Wizard of Oz,” but it’s also a day full of kids activities and live music, food and local vendors. “We are expecting around 20,000 people to come up here,” said fair director Amy Cutler. “Something new this year is the block party that picks up when the street fair is over and runs through 10 p.m.”

What started as a summer of service projects in Spokane Valley has spread to the city of Spokane. The Greater Spokane Association of Evangelicals, together with Mayor David Condon’s office, is launching a day of service Aug. 11, when volunteers from area churches will complete small beautification projects for Spokane Public Schools and the Mead School District.

This year’s Hillyard Festival is the 101st party put on by the historic neighborhood in northeast Spokane. The main festivities take place in Sharpley-Harmon Park, just off the 6000 block of North Market Street, and run from Friday at noon through Sunday at 5 p.m. with fireworks at dusk on Saturday.

When graffiti painters aimed spray cans at a building on East Sprague Avenue, they probably didn’t imagine the chain of events they’d set off. The building belongs to Pentad Systems, a Spokane-based software company owned by Randy Nichols. Nichols reported the graffiti to Crime Check, and that’s how he met Deputy Eric Walker of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Walker is the lone officer in charge of graffiti abatement in Spokane County.

BNSF Railway Co. and Marathon Oil Co. may have to do some cleanup in Hillyard if an investigation prompted by the Washington state Department of Ecology shows petroleum-related contamination. The site being investigated is on BNSF’s property near 3202 E. Wellesley Ave. and, according to the Department of Ecology, located directly above the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.

When Sharon Cramer wrote and illustrated a little story at the time her youngest son, Chase, was born, she never dreamed of publishing it. The inspiration for the story “Lost and Alone” came from Chase’s two older brothers who sometimes quarreled mercilessly like only siblings can. “They were boys and they were tearing my house apart,” said Cramer with a smile. “I wanted to do something especially for Chase, who was much younger than them. Now he turns 19 in August.”

Cigarette butts, fast food bags, used diapers and bottles full of urine are all in a day’s work for the Department of Ecology’s Youth Corps, which works through mid-August to clean up Washington roadways. More unusual was the pipe bomb found by a crew working in southern Washington last week. “They find all sorts of things along the roadside,” said Jani Gilbert, public information officer for the Department of Ecology’s Eastern Washington Office. “The pipe bomb was obviously very dangerous, but no one got hurt.” Car parts, blown tires and bags full of garbage are more common and not quite as potentially harmful items.

The South Perry Parade was one of the smallest parades in town, but it was also one of the most loved. Its participants were proud neighborhood kids on decorated bikes, families and dogs, and toddlers riding in wagons next to the occasional local politician running for office. And every year, onlookers cheered like it was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. This year’s South Perry Street Fair on Saturday will not feature a street parade. It’s been replaced by a youth parade through Grant Park.

Cigarette butts, fast food bags, used diapers and bottles full of urine are all in a day’s work for the Department of Ecology’s Youth Corps, which works through mid-August to clean up Washington roadways. More unusual was the pipe bomb found by a crew working in southern Washington last week. “They find all sorts of things along the roadside,” said Jani Gilbert, public information officer for the Department of Ecology’s Eastern Washington Office. “The pipe bomb was obviously very dangerous, but no one got hurt.”