Bloomsday Streets Will Close Down Early

It’ll probably take less time for some Bloomies to sweat through 7.46 miles than to get across downtown Sunday.

Streets will close early and often, as police try to segregate people and cars.

The first street to close will be West Broadway from Monroe to Cedar at 5:30 a.m., giving race officials and TV crews time to set up at the finish line, Spokane police Sgt. Russ Cox said.

From then on, the pavement increasingly belongs to bipeds. At 6:15 a.m., westbound traffic on Spokane Falls Boulevard at Washington will be routed north. Fifteen minutes later, Monroe will shut down from Boone to Bridge.

Between 7 and 8:10 a.m., traffic flow downtown will be stanched. The course will be swept and checked for pokey cars.

If this all makes you sweat, STA is offering special shuttles from neighborhoods countywide to downtown.

The buses cost $1 and will be leaving designated areas about every 10 minutes beginning at 6:30 a.m., said Jill Lamb, STA spokeswoman.

The last buses run at 7:45 a.m., but Lamb says it’s unwise to wait until the then.

“Those buses get really packed,” she said.

The buses go from (and, after the race, to) the following areas.

In the Valley: Pence-Cole Transit Center, East Fourth and University; Pines Park and Ride, Pines and Indiana; Spokane Valley Mall, on Indiana near Tony Roma’s; Liberty Lake Park and Ride.

In northeast Spokane: Spokane Community College, west parking lot.

On the North Side: Mead High School, on Hastings Road; Five Mile Park and Ride, Ash and Five Mile Road.

On the South Side: Ferris High School, north side parking lot.

From the West Plains: the EWU Red Barn, West Sixth and Washington.

From downtown: Jefferson Street, under I-90.

Outbound buses run from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. from the intersection of Riverside and Browne.

Tickets for the special shuttles can be picked up at the Bloomsday trade show and the STA plaza.

Bloomsday ended an agreement with KXLY-TV for official sponsorship, giving wider access to KREM and KHQ news crews.

All three plan extensive live coverage in the morning and wrap-up shows in the evenings.

KXLY will broadcast from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.

KREM coverage runs 7:30 to 10:30 a.m., with an edited rebroadcast from 4 to 6 p.m. A live wrap-up show will air 6 to 7 p.m.

KHQ airs 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., before cutting away to NBA coverage.

The Rez Running Club of the Spokane Indian reservation hopes to have more than a dozen blue and gold uniforms bobbing through the Bloomsday masses.

Club organizer Gene Brisbois wants to revive an old running tradition on the reservation.

“Somebody has told them that, as Indian children, they have a natural running ability,” said Brisbois, pointing to the success of Indian runners like Olympic 10,000-meter medalist Billy Mills.

“They’re doing a traditional thing. They’re able to get better and better.”

Wellpinit High’s top runners include Donny Carter, a senior, and freshman William Smallwood, who qualified for the State B cross-country meet last year after picking up running just two years before.

Formed in 1995, the club hosts a Drug Elimination Fun Run today, and sponsors youths to run in local road races.

Churches usually cancel services only for catastrophe, death of the pastor or an act of God.

Add Bloomsday to the list, at least for one Deer Park congregation.

The Deer Park United Methodist Church is switching services to Saturday because pastor Laura Dahlstrom wants to run Bloomsday.

She offered to find a replacement pastor, but the church’s administrative council approved the switch.

Only a handful of the 85 members intend to join Dahlstrom, but she says the congregation has been supportive.

“These folks have been very gracious and flexible,” said Dahlstrom, pastor for the past 20 months.

The last time services under her direction were canceled, a snowstorm upholstered the roads.

She doesn’t plan on this being routine. “I’ll do anything once,” she said.