Runners check out scene at check-in

For Bloomsday, more than 40,000 runners cross the same start line, run the same course and finish together on the Monroe Street Bridge – and also pick up their race number in an organized frenzy that for some people is almost as fun as the race itself.

In preparation, there’s the Bloomsday trade show. On Friday, the show was teeming with people inside the Spokane Convention Center and out as workers on lunch breaks, families with children and aisle browsers convened on the last official warm-up for the 31st Bloomsday race.

“It’s a little bit of a ditch day,” said Diana Brantley, who said she didn’t have to be at work Friday afternoon. She and friend Sandy Rowe waited in line at one booth to spin a giant wheel to determine whether they would win a Frisbee, keychain or the ultimate low-end prize: a pen.

“It’s better than the other years,” Brantley said, noting the new Convention Center offered more space to move. Dozens of vendors sold shoes, promoted good health or encouraged runners at the event.

Some of the booths captivated younger visitors, like 11-year-old Dalton Rausch, who tried to toss bagels through holes in a piece of plywood for an unspecified prize.

The closest Dalton got was earning a paper baker’s hat from the booth.

“They love it,” said his mother, Jane, of Dalton and her daughter, Maya.

“The best part is getting stuff,” Dalton said, smiling.

Racers made their way around the Convention Center and entered through one door, picking up plastic sacks with race information and the retrieving their numbers from a giant, meticulously arranged horseshoe divided by last names and ages that was manned by dozens of purple-shirted volunteers.

As they neared the end of the process, Skookumtumtum Heaps fulfilled his volunteer role as the “director of directing people to the chip demo area,” the longtime racer and volunteer said.

Heaps sat in an elevated chair and directed racers to a location where they could test their electronic ankle bracelets to make sure they worked.

Heaps and other volunteers dotted the crowd, helping people get checked in, and most seemed to enjoy themselves.

“This is like a family reunion,” said information booth volunteer Judy Paine. “A lot of these people you only see once a year.”

Two women contemplated their trip through the Convention Center, noting the absence of a few food vendors.

“There are no milk people this year,” lamented Sibylle Harris, 65. “And no energy drinks, either.”

Harris and companion Beverly Morasch came to the show for the bargains and to pick up bus tokens for the race on Sunday. After spending time circulating among the booths, they split a tray of french fries from the Convention Center’s kitchen.

“We hope we unclog our arteries as we walk on Sunday,” Harris said with a laugh.

Not everything at the show was fitness and health-related. Some booths sold sunglasses and sundresses. Others promoted animal welfare and various nonprofit causes.

One booth, Namesake Bears, featured multicolored teddy bears with first names embroidered on the front. The bears often make their way into children’s bags as race completion incentives, said Maria Crabb, who arranged the plush animals into neat rows.

But even teddy bears have a connection to the race: Crabb’s husband shoots the starting gun at the front line for the Sunday race.

“I guess we’re pretty big Bloomsday fans, too,” she said.