In brief: Spaghetti feed to help Skirko
A spaghetti feed and music benefit for the Chris Skirko family to help pay bills for his multiple brain surgeries will be 6 p.m. Saturday at the Moose Lodge, 6363 N. Lidgerwood. Music is by Phat Chantz. Cost is $10.
Colin Green and co-workers at Peninsula Truck Lines have organized the benefit through the sponsorship of Peninsula Truck Lines and West Coast Truck Lines. Skirko, a West Valley graduate, is recovering from his third brain surgery in April.
– From staff reports
Downtown
Lilac functions will be May 17-18
The Spokane Lilac Festival Association will hold its annual Royalty Luncheon May 18 at 11:30 a.m. in the Marie Antoinette Room of the Davenport Hotel, 10 S. Post St.
This year’s luncheon will feature community royalty from around the region and the Lilac Queen, Wylie Patton and her court.
Tickets are $30 each and should be purchased by next Thursday.
The association also will offer its annual President’s Dinner at 6:30 p.m. May 18 in the Grand Pennington Ballroom of the Davenport.
Tickets are $60 a person and must be purchased by next Thursday.
The Lilac Festival Association will honor Military Persons of the Year May 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. during its annual All-City Civic Military Luncheon, also at the Davenport.
The honored guests were selected by the Regional Chamber of Commerce and will be featured in the Torchlight Parade May 19.
Tickets are $28 each. For more information about any of these events or to buy tickets, call the Lilac office at 535-4554.
– Lisa Leinberger
Country Homes
Water safety classes offered
The American Red Cross will present its 2007 Aquatics Safety Workshop May 11 from 5:30 to 10 p.m. and May 12 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Lifeguards, lifeguard instructors, and water safety instructors are invited to attend to learn updates and revisions for CPR/Automated External Defibrillators and first aid as well as changes to lifeguarding pre-requisites and pool chemistry.
The Friday workshop will be held at the Red Cross Training Center and the $25 fee includes a text and a pocket mask.
The Saturday workshop will be held at the Whitworth College Aquatics Center, and the $45 fee includes a lifeguard textbook and a sack lunch.
Those attending both classes can do so at a discounted rate of $55. For more information, call the American Red Cross, 326-3330.
– Lisa Leinberger
Downtown
Breakfast to aid Chase Youth
The Chase Youth Commission will present its Breakfast of Champions Friday from 7 to 8:30 a.m. at the Doubletree Hotel, 322 N. Spokane Falls Court.
The funds raised through this breakfast will benefit the Chase Youth Awards, BOBfest, the Spokane’s Promise Initiative and the Chase Youth Enrichment Fund, which provides scholarships for after-school and summer activities for students who receive reduced or free lunches.
The cost of the breakfast is $25. For more information or to register, call 625-6440 or visit www.chaseyouth.org.
– Lisa Leinberger
Spokane
Three trees OK’d by forest council
The Spokane Urban Forest Council has named three trees of the year for 2007 as a way to encourage residents to plant trees that increase the diversity of the urban forest.
They are the Amur maackia for small-sized category. It grows to 20 feet or more. The medium-sized tree is the American yellowwood at 30 feet or more; and the Japanese zelkova was chosen as the large tree with a potential of 60 to 70 feet.
Carrie Anderson of the council said property owners should select a tree that is sized to its confines. Also, planting different trees increases diversity in the forest, reducing the risk of large-scale losses if a new disease or insect breaks out. She said the city is quickly losing many of its older trees, which were planted about a century ago.
– Mike Prager