Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture kicks off holiday season with Gather and Glow

Though many visit the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture several times throughout the year, it’s not often the first place that comes to mind when thinking of holiday destinations.

But for those in the know, the MAC’s Gather and Glow is a holiday kickoff that features crafts, cookies, art and, of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus.

During the sixth Gather and Glow, which will be held on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m., visitors can make a holiday card in the museum’s art studio and listen to performances by All City Jazz and Holy Names Academy.

Admission to the museum will be free during event hours, so visitors can warm up while exploring the MAC’s current exhibits: “Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight,” which closes Jan. 4, and “The Davenport Legacy,” which runs through spring.

At the Campbell House, which will be decorated for the season, visitors can enjoy a fresh-baked sugar cookie from Hulda, the Campbell family’s much loved Swedish cook, and listen to pianist Riley Grey. The Campbell House library, typically roped off for visitors, will also be open for visitors to browse.

“That’s a really large room, and you usually can’t see up close but this time of year you can, so it’s a special moment,” said Andrea Williams, who handles public relations and social media for the MAC.

Santa and Mrs. Clause will be around for the whole event, and the pair will help with the lighting ceremony at 4:30 p.m.

Gather and Glow grew from an event the museum hosted during the pandemic, during which people could drive by the MAC campus and see vintage Christmas displays from the Crescent. The next year, the museum opened the Campbell House to visitors during a torrential downpour, as Amanda Gardner, public programs and event manager at the MAC, remembers it, which proved to be popular.

In the years since, the MAC has intentionally brought holiday programming to the museum and Campbell House. Past Gather and Glows have featured performances from “The Nutcracker” ballet dancers and school choirs, while Hulda’s cookies are a staple.

“Hulda recognizes people each year, not just for the holidays, but for the Campbell House Holiday program as well,” Gardner said. “That one, more so than this one, is a family tradition, so she’s watched children grow.”

If you’d like to get a jumpstart on your holiday shopping, stop by the museum’s gift store, where Gather and Glow visitors get a 20% discount, or 30% if they’re a MAC member, on everything in the store, including the recently released “Elegance and Ambition: Louis Davenport, Kirtland Cutter and Spokane at the Turn of the 20th Century,” which coincides with “The Davenport Legacy.”

The book was written by lead author and editor Lawrence Kreisman and features essays by historian and former executive director of the MAC Glenn Mason and historian Henry Matthews about the artistry and architecture that made the Davenport a Spokane landmark.

“This exhibition beautifully honors one of Spokane’s most enduring and beloved institutions, the Davenport Hotel,” Jon Erickson, area director of sales and marketing at the Davenport Hotels, said during a news conference at the MAC. “It allows us to also look inside the lives of Louis and Verus Davenport. For more than a century, the Davenport has been a woven part of the fabric of Spokane and our history. It opened its doors in 1914, and it wasn’t just a hotel. It was a bold statement about Spokane’s ambition, creativity and sense of possibility. It stood as a symbol of a growing city, a city that believed deeply in hospitality, craftsmanship and, of course, community.”

The Davenport will host a tree lighting ceremony of its own on Friday before welcoming more than 100,000 visitors to the hotel for Christmas Tree Elegance, which begins on Tuesday and runs through Dec. 14.

Gather and Glow may not be as big as Christmas Tree Elegance, but the event has grown over the years, with more people learning about the event . Last year, Gardner spoke with a family who happened to stop by the MAC during a Gather and Glow event.

“They’re like ‘We just showed up because we wanted to see the museum, but this has been so wonderful,’ ” she said. “We get that a lot, actually, but word of mouth is what’s helping this program grow more.”