Manito celebrates with ice cream social

The folks at Spokane’s parks department have a cool treat waiting for you at Manito Park this afternoon.

An old-fashioned ice cream social is being held today from 1 to 4 p.m. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Manito Park this year.

Free hand-scooped ice cream cones will be handed out to everyone who shows up. Mary Lou’s Homemade Ice Cream of Spokane Valley has been hired as vendor.

“It’s a good day to eat ice cream,” Steve Gustafson, supervisor at Manito, said in anticipation of hot weather today. “Of course, every day is a good day to eat ice cream.”

Gustafson said he expects a crowd of between 2,000 and 3,000 people to take advantage of the ice cream event, which will also include a show of antique cars, art displays and live music. “For those of us who don’t have lake houses, this is the best thing we’ve got going in town,” Gustafson said.

The ice cream social will be held at the pavilion near the entrance to the park at 18th and Grand.

The Friends of Manito and Avista Corp. donated money to pay for the ice cream social as a gift to city residents to celebrate the park’s centennial, Gustafson said.

Land for Manito Park was deeded to the city of Spokane on May 19, 1904. Today, the park still shows its old-fashioned character with its formal annual garden, conservatory, rose garden, perennial garden and duck pond. Its rock-wall buildings reflect the architecture of the Arts and Crafts era of the early 1900s.

In recent years, the park has seen improvements to its roadways, the duck pond, parking areas, lilac garden, play equipment and greenhouses. More improvements are proposed for the greenhouse complex.

This year, a new arbor and a gazebo were added to the park as gifts in honor of the centennial. The Friends of Manito volunteer fund-raising organization donated $80,000 for the structures. Smaller donations came from Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane at $5,000 and Spokane Rose Society at $1,000.