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Family Fun: Summer Parkways extends to one week, adds scavenger hunt

Tyler Stanton, 13, gets a taste of his blueberry-raspberry-bubble gum-flavored shaved ice before the start of the Summer Parkways in Comstock Park on Thursday, June 21, 2018 in Spokane. (Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review)
By Kimberly Lusk kimberlyl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5457

Summer Parkways’ annual celebration is getting a longer run this year.

Instead of gathering everyone for a walk, ride, skate or scoot through the Manito and Comstock neighborhoods on the summer solstice, the event will be spread over a week to allow for social distancing, said Bill Bender, one of the event organizers.

From Monday through Sunday, people are encouraged to follow the regular Summer Parkways loop, a 3.65-mile route with sections in Comstock and Manito parks, as well as along Manito Boulevard and other neighborhood streets.

For added fun this year, organizers created the Search and Spot scavenger hunt.

“The intent of it is to get out and be physically active … and also to have fun seeing things they might not otherwise tune their eyes to,” Bender said.

Summer Parkways committee members and friends have tested the hunt, and it’s fun, he said.

There are 16 questions, including: How many Little Free Libraries are on the route? What color is the fire hydrant at Howard and 23rd? What crossing signs are posted at 22nd and Manito Boulevard?

“It’s a lot of little things you just take for granted or you don’t look at while you’re out strolling,” Bender said. “It makes you stop and take a look at them.”

Like that crossing sign – “I’ve been by there a thousand times, and I’ve never noticed it before,” he said.

Participants need to submit their answers online by June 22. Everyone who participates will receive a reflective Summer Parkways zipper pull and be entered into prize drawings.

Unlike a Summer Parkways event during a normal year, the streets won’t be closed . So, participants will need to pay attention to traffic, especially when crossing arterials, Bender said.

Bender is looking forward to a return to the traditional Summer Parkways event next year with everyone on the course in one evening. “People seem to have so much fun doing it,” he said.

To find the quiz, visit summerparkways.com, and search for Spokane Summer Parkways on Facebook.