Valleyfest parade moved to night

Spokane Valley’s annual festival, Valleyfest, has two more firsts.

Its parade will be at night, and the route is on East Sprague Avenue.

The parade – themed Hearts of Gold – will run from Spokane Valley City Hall, 11707 E. Sprague Ave., to University Road, starting at 7 p.m. Sept. 23.

“The location of this year’s parade is a chance to showcase the city,” said Pat Leu, a Valleyfest volunteer. “The city really wanted it to be on Sprague, so it wasn’t too hard to make it happen.”

“I think it’s delightful,” Spokane Valley Mayor Diana Wilhite said. “It’ll give us a Macy’s Day parade look and be a festive time. I think it’s fun when you can have a parade on the main street. It’ll be great for our city.”

The parade has previously been on Saturday mornings, immediately before the festivities kicked off at an area park.

“It was too hard to cram all the events into one day,” Leu said.

Having the parade the night before the full day of festivities also opens up possibilities for more participants.

“We really reached out to the smaller communities in the Valley this year to get involved,” Leu said. “We told them to bring a float, a car with their mayor or whatever to represent their town.”

In the past, there have been conflicts with other festivals, but the timing and day are right this year, said Ken Weedmark, Valleyfest parade coordinator.

“The parade is a variety of everything,” Leu said. “It’s a community parade.”

Spectators will see antique cars, Campfire Girls, the Country Buffet Bee, Smokey Bear, Ronald McDonald, a Lilac Festival float and the 141st honor guard from Fairchild Air Force Base, to name a few. Usually about 2,000 people and more than 100 entrants are featured in the parade.

The parade route has been shortened from about 1½ miles to just under a mile. “I don’t anticipate it taking more than hour to an hour and a half,” Weedmark said.

The staging area will be at Spokane Valley City Hall. The parade will start in the northbound lanes of Sprague Avenue and shift to the southbound lanes.

Valleyfest organizers suspect that holding the parade at night and in a central location will lead to more participants and spectators. Growth is something organizers are getting used to.

Last year, the event moved to Mirabeau Point Park because it outgrew its previous site at Terrace View Park.

Organizers saw a record high attendance in 2004 of 30,000 people.

The Friday start also gave organizers a chance to add activities.

Immediately following the parade, at Mirabeau Point Park, a family movie will be shown outdoors. “Napoleon Dynamite” will be put on by the Comcast Outdoor Cinema, a 40-by-40-foot screen, at 8:30 p.m.