Pia Hallenberg

Years ago, when neighbors got together for the first time to clean up Palisades Park, they hauled out 22 tons of garbage, building debris, old toilets and car parts. On Saturday, when residents from the neighborhood around the west Spokane park gathered once again to fill trash bags and pickup beds, they expected maybe 1 ton. “We get together once a year, always around this time, and we clean up,” said Vic Castleberry, chair of the neighborhood association. “Today, the Parks Department helps us out a lot, but when I came to this area in the 1970s, I think they’d forgotten that they even had it.”

The after-school class at Spokane Garry Middle School is a little chaotic: Bobby is dead, Molly has a broken leg and Katie has gone temporarily insane. Of course nobody is really injured, but the students do an awesome job moaning and carrying on.

The stories are of a holocaust survivor looking back at her childhood years spent hiding in Nazi Germany, about a woman who finds inspiration for environmental activism in her faith, and about how a campus ministry reaches out to students through family style dinners. Long and short, personal or general, to editor Mary Stamp the stories in The Fig Tree newspaper all have one thing in common: they are sacred.

When the Salvation Army announced earlier this month that a tight budget will force the closure of its therapeutic pool by April 30, swimmers and other pool users responded with dozens of upset phone calls, letters and e-mails. Gene Bronson, a longtime pool user, has been especially persistent.

It’s loved and hated by women around the world. It lifts and divides, controls and contains, enhances and shapes. A good one fits without creeping up or sliding down, without leaving bulges and marks. A bad one feels like barbed wire. Of course, the subject is the bra. A handful of creative designs will make their debut in support of breast cancer awareness at this weekend’s Women’s Show at the Spokane Convention Center.

When picking out fabric for summer T-shirts, bamboo is not an obvious choice – cotton is more like it. But at Blue Button Apparel in Hillyard, a small nonprofit that employs and mentors neighborhood teens, bamboo is top of the line.

The stories are of a holocaust survivor looking back at her childhood years spent hiding in Nazi Germany, about a woman who finds inspiration for environmental activism in her faith, and about how a campus ministry reaches out to students through family style dinners. Long and short, personal or general, to editor Mary Stamp the stories in The Fig Tree newspaper all have one thing in common: they are sacred.

The faces of the children in the black-and-white photo, more than 60 years old, look just like the faces of children today. In June 1946, Ray Strecker, Mary Masters and Byron Johnson lined up neatly outside Franklin Elementary School to have their kindergarten picture taken. Miss Gladys Hoagland watched over her 37 students as they squinted at the camera in the exact place where hundreds of other students have had their picture taken.

The faces of the children in the black-and-white photo, more than 60 years old, look just like the faces of children today. In June 1946, Ray Strecker, Mary Masters and Byron Johnson lined up neatly outside Franklin Elementary School to have their kindergarten picture taken. Miss Gladys Hoagland watched over her 37 students as they squinted at the camera in the exact place where hundreds of other students have had their picture taken.

The road to the perfect game has been a winding one for Jeremy Fleck. He began bowling as a kid, and then took an eight-year hiatus. When he returned to bowling about a year and a half ago, he never dreamed that he would score a perfect 300 so soon.

The flagpole in the median of Riverside Avenue outside the Spokane Club is looking for a new support system. There’s nothing wrong with the foundation or the pole, but the civic group that’s taken care of it since 2002 has retired and there’s just one flag left.

As the snow berms recede, the city of Spokane and its contractors are plunging ahead with swimming pool construction across town. The harsh winter weather hampered construction in many ways. Thawing machines and heating blankets were brought in to allow crews to work through the snowstorms, yet it looks like the pools won’t be ready for summer break.

Wednesday was one of those unseasonably cold days last week, but that didn’t put a damper on the spirit at the groundbreaking for the Main Market Cooperative. The Main Market will go into the former Goodyear Tire store on the corner of West Main Avenue and Browne Street, and is expected to open this fall. The Main Market Co-op is yet another offshoot from the Community Building – the brainchild of Jim Sheehan. “When times are tough we are coming together as a group,” Sheehan said. “When you think of building community nothing supersedes food. Just think of when you are together with the people in your life.” Sheehan said he’d love to see a Spokane version of the co-op in Ashland, Calif. “It’s a dream for me to be able to bring this here,” Sheehan said. “The co-op is only a beginning.” Jennifer M. Hall, the community food builder for Main Market, has been the driving force behind getting the co-op to this point. “This will be a consumer food co-op,” she said. “A membership is not just a payment to get in the door, it’s an investment, you are an owner.” The idea behind Main Market is to provide a retail outlet for local farmers, ranchers and fishermen who conduct their businesses in a sustainable manner. “We want to make sure the profits stay local,” Hall said. Designed by Patsy O’Connor and with Leone & Keeble as the general contractor, Main Market will be a green building after the same model as the Saranac Building, just across the street. “It’s been a really long haul to get to this point, and there’s a lot more ahead,” said John Grollmus, president of the Main Market board of directors and co-owner of the Elk and other area restaurants. “I can’t thank Jim Sheehan enough. It takes a visionary to put the big ideas out there and back them up.” For now, construction is the order of the day, as the 9,500-square-foot tire store is converted to a market place containing a deli, a commercial kitchen, a dining area and rentable freezer space. A rooftop garden and greenhouse is also part of the plans. You will not have to be a member to shop at the Main Market, but members will receive certain benefits such as special sales. A membership is $180 and a low-income membership is $75 – for an added $15, you can pay for your share over three years. Once the Main Market opens, expect demonstrations by local farmers who grow special produce and crops, or from local bakers and restaurateurs. “We want to keep the community really tight and support one another,” Hall said. “People will get a chance to meet the farmers. They are the super heroes in my mind, because they bring food to our tables.”