Running Tab: In the outdoors, food is love – Terrain Table returns triumphantly, and Wonder Fair debuts on Sunday
Food is love! These three words embody the triumphant return of Terrain Table, the annual fundraiser of local arts nonprofit Terrain, on July 21 after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Add the outdoors, and you have the recipe for a perfect evening of dining in Spokane.
I was invited by Ginger Ewing, Terrain’s co-founder and executive director, to my first Terrain Table, and it was absolutely fabulous. The weather on Wednesday evening was wonderful in Dan Coulston and Celeste Shaw-Coulston’s alfalfa field that is part of their expansive farm southwest of Spokane. Shaw-Coulston is the proprietor behind Chaps Diner and Bakery.
“It feels exhilarating to return. While I’m super proud of the ways we’ve remained nimble and adjusted throughout the pandemic, Terrain is a community-building organization at our core,” Ewing said after Terrain Table.
“Finding ways to bring people and ideas together – to witness each other’s humanity – be it gathered around a table all dressed in white or in a vacant warehouse listening to a punk band, providing these connections are the foundation of who we are as an organization, and it felt pretty damn good to be able to do that again.”
Three hundred and fifty guests, up 100 from 2019’s fundraiser, dressed in white dined at one long table while volunteers dressed in black served a four-course dinner. The event, which included a champagne and cocktail bar, started with a bosc pear with gorgonzola and caramel honey, with focaccia, baguettes and baskets of fruit on the table.
The first course was a summer beet salad with edible flowers and thyme. The appetizer was lox with marinated cherry tomatoes, fresh oregano, smoked and marinated cioppino, pickled shimej, za’atar yogurt and sea beans.
The entrée was smoked pork loin with kochkocha, peaches, herbs and yogurt, and dessert was ravani cake with pistachio pastry cream and sugar tuile, candied mandarin orange, cranberry and milk jam. Chefs Austin Conklin of Inland Pacific Kitchen, Chad White of Chad White Hospitality Group (High Tide Lobster Bar, TT’s Old Iron Brewery and BBQ and Zona Blanca), C.J. Callahan of IPK and Hogwash Whiskey Den and Jason Foss of Chaps created the food and menu.
Terrain’s community partners, alongside the chefs and Coultson and Shaw, also included Chaps, Inland Pacific Kitchen, Hogwash Whiskey Den, Scoop, Flowers for People, U.S. Foods, Patty Tully of Baby Bar, Sysco, Electric Photoland Photobooth, Towshend Cellar and Cadee Distillery.
“It also felt like a celebration of the fact that we’re all still standing,” Ewing said. “Both the arts and the service industry were absolutely pummeled by the pandemic, and Terrain, Chaps, Inland Pacific Kitchen, Hogwash, Zona Blanca, TT’s & High Tide are no exception.
“While we put on a hell of a party, I also hope that Terrain Table served as an important reminder that we need community support – financial support – now more than ever to keep our doors open.”
Also in attendance at Terrain: Ricky Webster of Rind and Wheat, photographer Ari Nordhagen, Scoop owner Jennifer Davis, Joe Morris of Luna, Gage Lang of Breauxdoo Bakery, Erin Peterson of the Spokane Guild, award-winning author Jess Walter and Gonzaga University Men’s Basketball Coach Mark Few.
For Ewing, Terrain Table is the embodiment of all that Terrain strives to be: “Being in community with one another. Examining what it means to be human. Feeling less alone,” she said.
“I know that might sound a bit hyperbolic, but truly, the more we can foster true and authentic connections, the better off we’ll all be. It’s also about serving one another, and to have the event hosted on Dan Coulston and Celeste Shaw-Coulston’s property, two of the kindest, most humble public servants I know, makes the event all that more special.”
Terrain programming includes Terrain, summer art market Bazaar, winter art market BrrrZAAR, retail storefront From Here, Terrain Gallery, art-driven city beautification Window Dressing, incubator Creative Enterprise, a performing arts space, arts advocacy and arts mentorship. For more information, visit terrainspokane.com.
Food is love, indeed, and so are Terrain and Spokane.
Wonder Fair debuts Sunday
Speaking of outdoor (and indoor) events, Wonder Fair makes its debut this Sunday from Chad White Hospitality Group, Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters and Ethan Stowell Restaurants. The fair celebrates the reimagined Wonder Market space at the Wonder Building.
The event from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday is sponsored by the initial trio of Wonder Market vendors: High Tide Lobster Rolls from White, Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters and newly opened Bosco Pasta & Panini from Stowell.
The impetus for the space originated with a desire to introduce the new market area to the community, but that introduction has now evolved into what is hoped to be an annual festival catering to families. This inaugural fair will benefit local charity the Wishing Star Foundation.
The Wonder Fair will be a party for the entire family and includes entertainment such as live music from Carter Hudson Band, as well as DJs Unifest and Moon Wild, balloon animals, family games including ping pong and cornhole, a charity raffle, a bouncy castle for kids and a dunk tank featuring the chance to dunk notable Wonder Market personalities.
All vendors will be open for service, and kids younger than 12 eat for free. There will be drink specials for adults and guest vendors and ice cream to help attendees battle the heat.
Wonder Fair is free to attend, but there will be raffle tickets available for purchase with a chance to win prizes including a private dinner for up to 10 people at Tavolata; a Coffee Cupping class for up to 6 people with Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters; and gift certificates and event tickets.
All raffle and dunk tank proceeds and a percentage of vendor sales will benefit Wishing Star and its work with local families. Wishing Star fosters hope, community and lasting memories by granting wishes for children who are terminal or battling a life-threatening illness and supporting their families beyond the wish.
The Wonder Market is located in the Wonder Building at 835 N. Post St. and is home to the Wonder Saturday Market from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.