Branch Outlets For Clothing
Soon after the Bloomsday race started, trees looked like dirty laundry.
Sweat shirts, flannel shirts, T-shirts and undershirts hung from branches like yesterday’s fashions, stripped by people sweating even before they hit the starting line.
The clothes trees lined streets all the way through Peaceful Valley. Kim Stout and Chris Lairmore cleaned up. They scooped up the clothing and lugged it down the course.
“We’re gonna tie-dye ‘em,” Stout said.
“All the residents of Peaceful Valley, instead of shopping, come through every year and get free clothes,” Lairmore added.
Cash-and-carry business
If Lorri Wandler’s experience is any indication, Bloomsday retailing may not be the wave of the future.
The Airway Heights woman got a city business license and set up a table of Mother’s Day gifts across from Spokane Falls Community College.
There were baskets with soap and lace, dried flowers and handmade knickknacks.
Many walkers asked if she’d be there afterward, but no one was seen running the last 3.5 miles with a wrapped gift for mom.
Even so, Wandler had fun and got some exposure.
“I didn’t expect anybody to be carrying their wallets in their pockets,” she said.
Station moving a bit too fast
KXLY-TV’s “official coverage” team, led by anchor Rick Lukens, got a tad carried away when the top women crossed the finish line.
Lukens and other broadcast journalists gushed over Colleen De Reuck’s winning time, repeatedly telling viewers it was under 24 minutes. Her real time: 38 minutes, 48 seconds.
Runners show yielding spirit
Shortly before 10 a.m., a runner reportedly suffered a broken ankle at the so-called “merge point” near Second Avenue.
An ambulance arrived, looking hopelessly mired in the massive crowd. But in the true spirit of the event, the sea of humanity suddenly parted, allowing emergency crews to get through.
Man, beasts struggle for supremacy
Nearly midway up Doomsday Hill, a man and his two dogs created a spectacle that nearly caused a traffic jam among racers. Seems the man was trying to get his two large chows up the grassy embankment beside Pettet Drive. The dogs were launching a sit-down strike.
The man pulled, prodded and begged the animals to comply. At one point, he even tried carrying the canines up the steep slope. The orange chow snapped at its master, who promptly set the animal back down.
A couple of minutes later, the dogs ended their protest and climbed the hill, their master behind them.
“I kept wondering,” said one woman who witnessed the struggle, “‘Who’s gonna win - the dogs or him?”’
Temptation lurks on sidelines
Claire Parks and Tracy Rehwald decided to drink away their Cinco de Mayo - and find as many Bloomsday party mates as they could.
The “Free Tequila Shots” sign in front of their roadside party headquarters at Spokane Falls Community College drew about a dozen parched Bloomies.
Former mayor took first step
David Rodgers, Spokane’s mayor from 1968 to 1977, is the 1996 Bloomsday Hall of Fame inductee.
Bloomsday founder Don Kardong said he remembers the chance encounter with Rodgers that sparked the race.
The men were riding in a City Hall elevator when Rodgers recognized Kardong as “that Olympic runner.”
Rodgers mentioned a comment Kardong had made in a newspaper article about starting a road race in downtown Spokane. The idea became reality a short time later.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo