This day in history: Chamber pulled plug on Miss Spokane contest. Liberty Lake resort set for big improvements

From 1976: A long-running Spokane tradition – the Miss Spokane Contest – was coming to an end after 29 years.

The Spokane Chamber of Commerce announced that it “will no longer sponsor the contest and the program, as it is now known, will come to an end.”

The contest had suffered from a lack of interest in prior years.

“Indeed, the chamber had difficulty attracting candidates for the title and during the past few years the deadline for entry repeatedly had to be extended until a sufficient number of contestants could be persuaded to enter,” said the Spokane Chronicle.

The decision also came on the heels of a controversy in the most recent contest, when a contestant – a former masseuse – said judges were encouraged to downgrade her because of questions about her “character.”

The Spokane Jaycees would later pick up sponsorship of a similar contest, the Miss Spokane USA contest.

From 1926: A huge new addition was proposed at the popular Liberty Lake Pavilion and Resort.

The resort operator said he planned a 50-room hotel building “of modern construction, with refrigeration plant and large ice machine.”

“New concessions and riding apparatus of every description will be added,” the Chronicle reported.

The resort recently was purchased from Lew Hurtig by C.E. Stillwell who said he would invest $125,000 to $175,000 on the property. Stillwell came to Spokane in 1912 and owned theaters in the city.

“Riding apparatus” apparently meant winter sledding equipment, and something called a “watertoboggan.”

“On weekends we intend having balloon ascensions with all the latest thrillers in parachute drops and weekly band contests with out-of-town bands,” the proprietor said.