Notebook

Look, it’s Ned Ryerson

Bloomsday’s legions of runners probably could identify Jonathan Parker before they could name any of the world-class runners lined up in front of him.

Parker stood behind the elite runners at the Bloomsday starting line, holding the rope that kept the masses back until it was their turn to take off on the 7.46 mile run.

“Since I can’t run, I still like to be part of a Spokane tradition,” the Ferris High School senior said.

Parker’s participation is limited because last year he broke from the same spot to lead the elite field for a couple of blocks. Bloomsday officials weren’t too thrilled to see a red-clad renegade leading competitive athletes through downtown Spokane.

When they tracked down the jack rabbit, who ran as Ned Ryerson, a character in the movie “Ground Hog Day,” they banned him from Bloomsday for five years.

“It was a lot of fun,” Parker admitted sheepishly. “I got in the newspaper, I got on TV, I got a lot of publicity. Not a lot of it was good. I wasn’t too happy with the ban, but I see where they’re coming from.”

When a few more volunteers were needed this spring, Bloomsday starter Bob Crabb, the guy who wears the tuxedo at the start, suggested Parker. Crabb is a vice principal at Ferris.

Ferris teacher Pat Pfeifer, who was manning a post near Parker, said Parker’s job was to look for jack rabbits.

“They probably figured it takes one to know one,” he joked.

No wonder my feet hurt

The revised Bloomsday course was 21 feet longer than 12 kilometers.

To put it in perspective, Bloomsday board member Bill Johnson said jokingly, 21 feet equals about two strides by Don Kardong, race founder and former Olympic athlete.

“No course is exactly anything,” Johnson said.

Their wedding march

Patrick Tabak was a hit last year, as he sat at the base of Doomsday Hill with a sign asking Becky McKimmey to become his wife. She said “Yes,” and the pair married in October.

On Sunday, the couple walked Bloomsday hand-in-hand, wearing T-shirts with a newspaper story about his proposal printed on the front.

The pick of the crop

Riqi Silva, 6, stood on his front lawn near the finish line on Broadway, clutching one dandelion in each hand and advertising that he was “selling flowers for free!”

“I selled a couple of flowers, but I don’t know how many because I haven’t counted so far,” Silva said.

But his friend was keeping count. By 11:45 a.m., Silva had sold 10 lilacs, one white flower and no dandelions.

A chair for Vickie

Carl Grant sat in one lawn chair with an empty one beside him.

His wife of 32 years occupied that second chair every Bloomsday for the past 13, as they watched for her relatives in the passing crowd near Spokane Falls Community College. Vickie Grant died of cancer in January, but Carl wasn’t about to stop the tradition.

“She’s here,” he said.

Ottie and Margie Mosley were thinking of their late daughter as they walked the course. The pair from Elk wore cowboy hats, long black slacks and matching western shirts in black with white piping.

Their daughter made the shirts for them 15 years ago, right before she was murdered in Michigan, Margie Mosley said.

“We wear them in her honor,” she said, adding that the sun and heat “don’t bother me a bit.”

A sweet offer, but no bites

As a Spokane police officer blocked a street with barricade tape near Latah Creek before the race, a spectator offered him a doughnut. Sheepishly, the officer said he’d like one, but didn’t want to “encourage the stereotype” in front of all the television cameras. He even resisted after the onlooker suggested he take one and simply “hide behind his car.”