When families anticipate the arrival of summer guests, routine and budget become secondary to doing all it takes to make the guests feel welcome. The house gets a thorough cleaning. The refrigerator gets stocked with food and drink unique to the guests. And the ordinary schedule gets pushed aside for some special sightseeing.

Hospitality enriches the receiver. And it enriches the giver, who rises above daily routine and sees ordinary surroundings in a new way. Homer once wrote that “a guest never forgets the host who had treated him kindly.”

Today, Saturday and Sunday, Inland Northwest residents will have thousands of opportunities to act as unforgettably kind hosts. This area will be bursting with visitors; the 10,000 available hotel rooms and campground spots were reserved months ago. Even if you do a conservative estimate of three people per room or campsite, that means about 30,000 visitors here. The closest available motel room might just be in Ritzville, and that town might sell out before the weekend comes to a close.

The biggest events are Hoopfest and Ironman, the world-class triathlon in Coeur d’Alene. The Far West Youth Soccer Championships will finish up today and Saturday. And the Spokane Drum & Bugle Corps Classic, which features championship bands from all over the country, is expected to fill Central Valley High School’s stadium tonight.

Get your party hats on.

For adults who grew up in the Inland Northwest, these events are a welcome change from the past. In the old days, after the Lilac Festival parade in May, nothing much happened here. Some kids escaped to camp; some families fled town for their lake cabins. But on summer weekends, Spokane could feel like a ghost town — dry and boring.

Not anymore.

Yes, there will be downsides to all the visitors. Traffic might feel Seattlesque at times. Parking will, too. It’s not often Inland Northwesterners have to wait in long lines for anything, but this will happen at many coffee kiosks and restaurants. And if the weather’s hot, it’s hard to keep that host charm going.

Municipalities throughout the Inland Northwest will have to strain their budgets to increase police protection and clean up the messes left behind.

It’s worth it.

The visitors and hosts will spend money, lots of money — on lodging, meals, bottled water, souvenirs. The Spokane Regional Sports Commission estimates the influx of visitors will mean $29 million for area businesses.

And maybe some new visitor, or someone who used to live here and hasn’t been back for awhile, will see the Inland Northwest’s unique attributes — natural beauty, friendly people and room to thrive and grow — and decide to relocate that family-wage-jobs business here. Or maybe a visitor will be one of those visionary types who will decide to move here and solve our nagging challenges — a higher-than-average poverty level and an area in transition between old-economy jobs and new.

The cliché goes that visitors and fish begin to stink after three days. The good news about this big weekend? By Monday, the events are all over. The drums and bugles packed away. The hoops down. The triathletes resting. The visitors will be on their way home. Here’s hoping they come back again next year.