For nearly a year, masks have been ubiquitous. It seems as if the protective coverings are everywhere. Yes, that is a reminder to sport a mask on the Riverfront Park Clock Tower and the Fox Theater. That familiar visual is courtesy of Terrain.

An icon of Riverfront Park’s history and, more recently, its rebirth, was brought down by Wednesday’s forceful winds.

For families in search of outdoor activities this winter, the Inland Northwest serves up plenty of cool, fresh air. Many parents with kids have taken to area hiking trails eager to find safe ways to be active outside the home while following pandemic precautions. Here are five additional activities to consider for a family's winter wanderings.

The Numerica Skate Ribbon opened Saturday with a new reservation-only system that helps reduce the number of skaters on the ice at any given time, making it easier to physically distance. 

Spokane’s newest playground is replete with state-of-the-art equipment, but Emmett Sonnemaker’s favorite amenity is simply the space to safely roll around.

The facility on Havermale Island prior to Expo '74 was indicative of the push to move mail by rail in the early 20th century, even as would-be thieves targeted trains. 

Autumn glows in the Inland Northwest. You can thank our region's variety of trees with leaves morphing into vivid hues of yellow, orange and red – typically peaking mid-October. We have another bounty: Plenty of places for families to go on walking or driving tours to view all those fall colors.

Spokane Arts has made a selection for the 2021 Hooptown USA outdoor basketball court mural project located at Riverfront Park. Local mural artist Joshua Martel will be the painter for the mural at the multi-court complex, which is still under construction at the North Bank of the park.

Sarah Thompson Moore's "The Seeking Place" was forwarded as the preferred art piece by a subset of the full Spokane Park Board earlier this week. An initial recommendation had forwarded Saya Moriyasu's "Beaver" statue, but pushback from the public and concerns raised by the Spokane Tribe of Indians led officials to consider a different recommendation. 

I have always been an avid fan of inventive fusion cuisine, when two dissimilar items or categories of food are joined in harmony. Think Japanese and Italian, eggs and/or peanut butter on cheeseburgers and kimchi with fried rice.Now add pastrami and tacos to that list – a tacastrami taco, to be exact.

Spokanites need no convincing that Riverfront Park is a gem.

Construction of a new, Ice Age-inspired playground, a new skate park and basketball courts on the north end of Riverfront Park is scheduled to be completed in the spring. The structures are taking shape behind chainlink fences, even during the pandemic. 

"Don’t focus on what you lack, focus on what you possess" is what my father told me after I complained as a teenager. I dusted off that phrase when my son Milo recently asked about club and school ice hockey in Spokane.

The annual live music and food festival will not take place in 2020 because of concerns about the pandemic, organizers announced Tuesday. 

While organizers were planning a world's fair in the early 1970s, boosters were also pitching the idea of a natural downtown playground that would be left in its wake. That idea became Riverfront Park. 

Pepsi has had an exclusive deal with the Spokane Parks Department since 2003. On Thursday, after a competitive bidding process that began late last year, the Spokane Park Board agreed to a new five-year deal with Coca-Cola that will bring the drink-maker's beverages to city golf courses, Manito and Riverfront parks and the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex in the coming months as attractions reopen following the coronavirus pandemic. 

The location of the downtown John Deere warehouse in Spokane, built in 1910, was tied to the railroads in the city's urban center. The arrival of the World's Fair in 1974 led to the realignment of those railroads, and the John Deere building was used for storage and staging during Expo '74. 

"Providence Playspace," made possible by a $1 million contribution from the health care provider, will open on Havermale Island near the U.S. Pavilion this fall, city leaders said Wednesday. 

A crowd several thousand strong once again began marching from Riverfront Park across the Monroe Street Bridge on Sunday afternoon. Speakers called for acknowledgment of police brutality against Black people, and there were some calls to defund the city’s police department.