Spring Shootout deadline Friday

Perennial April showers won’t affect the 2009 Eastern Washington University Spring Shootout.

Tournament director Mike Campitelli warned, however, that if teams want to play in one of the largest three-on-three indoor basketball tournaments in the country, they must mail their entry forms by Friday.

“We think this is the best three-on-three tournament in the country and a great chance to get your team ready for Hoopfest,” Campitelli said, referring to Spokane’s three-on-three event that’s in late June.

The EWU Shootout, which is held indoors April 18 and 19 at the EWU Sports and Recreation Center in Cheney and is free to watch, consists of a straight double-elimination format with referees officiating on all courts. Download an entry form and get more information by visiting www.ewushootout.com or by calling Campitelli at (509) 359-4836.

Turnbull store to open

The store at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, four miles south of Cheney, will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., beginning Saturday and continuing through October.

The volunteer-run store, in seasonal operation since 2001, stocks an array of books, shirts and gifts created by local artists. It also offers birding backpack rentals and a list of family-friendly trails on the refuge. All proceeds generated by the shop benefit the refuge’s Environmental Education Program.

For more information, visit www.fotnwr.org/store.html.

Midnight run Saturday

Late registration is still available for the 31st annual Only Fools Run at Midnight, a 3 ½- mile race through lighted Medical Lake streets. It starts at midnight Saturday night at Medical Lake High School.

Runners can purchase a T-shirt for $19, a sweatshirt for $26, or both for $39. Participants can pay $6 to participate without purchasing a shirt.

“I’m not sure exactly what the shirt will be this year,” said Lions Club member Jerry Flood, who is this year’s organizer, “but the shirts are always terrific and so is the cause.”

The fun run benefits the Lions Club Sight Conservation Program, which provides eyeglasses for those who can’t afford them and other Lions Club programs like college scholarships for area high school students.

Check-in is from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday Entry forms must be filled out in advance and are available by contacting MedLkLions@aol.com.

Easter egg hunt April 11

Dozens of children are expected to race to Cheney’s Salnave Park on April 11 for the Kiwanis’ 28th annual Easter Egg Hunt. Located between Presley and Eplin streets on Salnave Road, the park will host the Easter Bunny, who will arrive in a fire engine before the hunt starts at 11 a.m.

Kiwanis Club member and event organizer Ron Gooley said children are divided into age groups.

“We set up for about two hours hiding the eggs, and the kids find them all in about a minute,” Gooley said.

The bounty is of the colored, hard-boiled variety, but Gooley said one golden-hued egg is hidden for each age bracket, and whoever finds it wins a prize.

“We always try to hide the golden egg a little better than the rest,” Gooley said, “especially for the older kids.”

For more information, call (509) 299-5478.

Get Lit! hits the streets

To promote the 2009 Get Lit! literary festival, April 10-19, volunteers will randomly appear at area colleges and libraries on April 9, and public venues such as River Park Square and Auntie’s Bookstore on April 10. They’ll be standing on milk crates, reading aloud from poetry and short works of fiction by authors scheduled to appear at the weeklong festival.

Danielle Ringwald, a festival coordinator, said that, unlike last year, the milk crate readings will generally take place indoors due to fickle springtime weather and because, “We want to reach the most people possible, but we don’t want people to think we’re proselytizing on street corners. This is just a fun, grassroots way of telling people about Get Lit.”

For more information on Get Lit!, visit www.ewu.edu/getlit.