Spokane Special Insert June | July 2018

DESTINATION
SPOKANE
DINING // HOTELS // EVENTS // RECREATION // DRINKS & MORE

Jon Jonckers
PLAN YOUR TRIP
Centennial Trail State Park has 37 miles
of trails for running and recreating.
written by Kevin Max
EVERY TIME I visit Spokane, I find something new to make it my favorite surprise city in Washington.
Early on, it was a winter relationship—one-night stands and well-groomed cross-country skiing at Mount
Spokane State Park. Come spring, we moved into long runs along Centennial Trail. By summer, we were
dining al fresco downtown and taking in a performance at the Spokane Symphony.
Beneath my new fascination, I knew it was the old bones—old
bones with a lively marrow—that brought me back. Like a forensic
paleontologist, I dig into a city’s buried places, the older the better.
These are the bones that will have more stories to tell. This was once
the long-time department store, where Spokanians shopped for decades.
Or Bing Crosby trod the boards here.
The bones of this eastern Washington city are old, going back to
the 1870s. Beautiful and boarded-up stone and brick buildings in
its downtown core area are steadily being renovated for higher use.
Theaters have undergone massive renovations. The riverfront is getting
a makeover, too.
Though historians and rank nostalgists like me won’t be disappointed
here, neither will entrepreneurs. In and around Spokane,
innovation is bubbling. There is the new medical school affiliated
with Washington State University, only the second in Washington.
Gonzaga University has partnered with University of Washington to
double down on medical curricula in Eastern Washington. Spokane
was also named one of ten Smart Cities nationally, a collaboration of
business and government entities deploying technology to improve a
city’s efficiency and livability.
JUNE | JULY 2018 // DESTINATION SPOKANE 2

Spokane's downtown core is
steadily being renovated.
DAY
1
OFTEN THE BEST way to dive in is
through a city’s cultural scene. We had a full
plate of events in front of us—wine tasting
at Barrister Tasting Room, dinner at Churchill’s
and tickets to Carmen at the stunningly
renovated Fox Theater.
We bolted down to Washington Street,
across from the stately Davenport Grand
Hotel, and into Barrister Winery Tasting Room inside the Liberty
Building, a turn-of-the-century red brick building. Barrister is the
culmination of two lawyers who began experimenting with a zinfandel
wine-making kit. Greg Lipsker and Michael White turned
their passion for winemaking into a garage startup before making
award-winning wines with fruit from Washington’s top vineyards.
The carménère with its French heart and Latin tongue was going to
transport us to the perfect place in advance of Carmen.
Also in the downtown core are Cougar Crest Winery and Maryhill
Winery, which recently opened its sleek, modern tasting room
in Kendall Yards, just across the Spokane River and with 180-degree
views of downtown Spokane.
From Barrister, it’s a nice ten-minute walk to Churchill’s Steakhouse,
a Spokane classic. An elegant speakeasy of a dining experience,
Churchill’s is a place where lights are low, conversations are
engaged and service is at the fore of the experience. The menu is a
library for all cuts of fine steaks. We opted for braised beef tips with
mushroom risotto and an 8-ounce filet mignon. Both were excellent.
Having just come from wine, we drifted into cocktails before heading
to the Fox Theater.
Originally built in 1931, this handsome example of Art-Deco theater
architecture was designed by Robert Reamer, the same architect
who designed Yellowstone’s “Golden Era” lodge, Old Faithful Inn.
Now the permanent home of the Spokane Symphony, Fox Theater
is a cultural force for the town. The ten-year, $31 million renovation
brought back to life an era of splendor, with Art-Deco crownings that
look like the headdress of a high priestess, its symmetrical feathers
converging on a common arc over the brow of doors.
In Spokane’s theater district is also the effort of developer Jerry
Dicker, who bought and renovated the Bing Crosby Theater. This
building, also on the National Register of Historic Places, plots Spokane
squarely on the map for culture vultures.
3 DESTINATION SPOKANE // JUNE | JULY 2018

You’re
Welcome
...here.
Plunge into the Spokane River.
Go from high-rise to riverside in minutes.
Get soaked - we don’t mind.
visitspokane.com | #lovespokane

DAY
2
NO INDULGENCE goes unpunished, so it was out
to Canfield Mountain Mecca Trail for a 10-mile loop,
logging miles on old logging roads. If you trod lightly
the night before, try a more relaxed out-and-back
hike and enjoy the views of Coeur d’Alene below.
Though there are plenty of flowers to stop and
smell, we struggled against distance and height, the
route gaining more than 2,500 feet in elevation. My
heart pounded, but my mind was on baked goods. Somewhere down below
on Third Street in Coeur d’Alene was Strada, a top coffee shop ready to pull an
Americano and a Cubano latte.
Back at the Davenport Grand, we decided to kick back for the afternoon.
The Davenport Hotel array in Spokane is a collection of four stately properties.
Doubletree, Ruby hotels and the newly rebranded RL, or Red Lion, hotels are
also well-placed for downtown or riverfront exploration. On a summer day,
the best way to relax is to grab a book and head to the second floor terrace
for baba ghanoush and a beer. The terrace bar serves a full drink menu with a
snack food menu. If you don’t have a good book with you, skip out to Auntie’s
Bookstore on Main or Atticus Coffee & Gifts on Howard. On the Davenport
terrace and above the Riverfront Park, the world below hushed as we whiled
away the afternoon between the pages of time.
We stayed on the fine side of dining at Santé, a farm-to-table charcuterie
and restaurant with a good kitchen behind it. Executive chef Jeremy Hansen
is a culinary force, without doubt. He studied at Portland’s Le Cordon Bleu
before heading for New York and working alongside Michelin Star Chef Gray
Kunz. His farm-to-table and tip-to-tail butchery practices are on full display
at Santé. Duck prosciutto, garlic sausage and goat cheese agnolotti were on the
menu and our plates.
DAY
3
PROXIMITY TO THE Centennial Trail State Park
is a premium for any runner or hiker. The 37-mile
trail runs through town and out to the Idaho border.
Thankfully, we attempted only a short segment of
this. Out east the trail winds past the campuses and
playing fields of Washington State University-Spokane
and Gonzaga University. It is of mixed strata,
following the banks of the Spokane River. This trail
also is a good way to see the different facets of Spokane, from public art and
manicured parks to rugged industrial and high desert.
In 2015, Spokane was chosen to be one of the first ten national “Smart Cities,”
a program which leverages technology and data to improve a community’s
quality of life. Another smart addition is the UW School of Medicine,
a partnership with Gonzaga. Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine opened to
students in the fall of 2017 and has seen a boom in enrollment.
One of my safe places in town is Rocket Bakery. The coffee is outstanding,
the pastries are good and the ambience takes on the patina of the renovated
buildings they occupy. It’s also a good environment to plug in and work for a
bit or to rediscover the art of gab.
We couldn’t leave town, of course, without cruising the galleries and boutiques
of Kendall Yards before heading to the shopping mecca of River Park
Square. My wife slipped into Anthropologie and Athleta, I found a place outside
in the shadow of all of the old buildings in various stages of renovation
and produce Norwegian by Night from my back pocket to commit another act
of nostalgic rebellion—reading.
FROM TOP The Bing Crosby Theater is on the National Register of Historic Places. Santé offers
farm-to-table charcuterie. Rocket Bakery’s coffee is outstanding.
5 DESTINATION SPOKANE // JUNE | JULY 2018

THE
UNIVERSITY
FOR
WASHINGTON
From educating medical students over the past four
decades to working with entrepreneurs today, the UW’s
commitment to Eastern Washington runs deep. Together
with partners like Gonzaga University, we’re serving local
students, communities and the state we all call home.
LEARN MORE
uw.edu/spokane

OUR PICKS
BEST PLACES TO…
GET A WHISKEY
• Hogwash Whiskey Den
• Durkin’s Liquor Bar
• Dry Fly Distillery
and Tasting Room
• Bistango Martini Lounge
• Churchill’s Steakhouse
GO WINE
TASTING
• Barrister Tasting Room
• Cougar Crest Estate Winery
• Craftsman Cellars
Tasting Room
• Maryhill Winery
Tasting Room
GRAB A BITE
• Farm to Table: Sage
• BBQ: The Blackbird
Tavern + Kitchen
• Pizza: The Flying Goat
• Italian: Italia Trattoria
• Global: Central Food
• Fish: Zona Blanca
• Steak: Spencer’s Steakhouse
EXPERIENCE
CULTURE
• Music: Spokane Symphony
• Art: Northwest Museum
of Arts and Culture
• Art: Sculpture walk on the
riverfront
• On Stage: Bing Crosby
Theater
GET OUTSIDE
• Running: Centennial Trail
• Cycling: Spokefest
• Mountain Biking: Mount
Spokane
• Paddling: Spokane Paddle
Trail
7 DESTINATION SPOKANE // JUNE | JULY 2018

EVENT CALENDAR
LIGHTHOUSE FOOD TRUCK RALLY
INLAND NORTHWEST LIGHTHOUSE
June 7 // Free
thelighthousefortheblindinc.org
Support the blind in Spokane during this event featuring
five food trucks, a beer and wine garden and raffles. The
event will also include tours of The Lighthouse for the
Blind’s 95,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
SPOKANE PRIDE
RIVERFRONT PARK LILAC MEADOWS
June 9 // Free
outspokane.org
Celebrate the LGBTQA community as Spokane marks its
twenty-sixth year of pride. The theme of this year’s event
is Pride, Now More Than Ever, and includes a parade
starting downtown at noon and then a Rainbow Festival
with live entertainment, an art show, teen zone and an allages
dance party. The event ends with a fireworks show.
BECU OUTDOOR MOVIES
AT RIVERFRONT PARK
RIVERFRONT PARK
Beginning June 13 // Free
epiceap.com/spokane-outdoor-movies/
Mark off your Wednesdays in June and July and
head down to Riverfront Park for an outdoor theater
experience along with trivia, food trucks and movies on
the big screen. Movies range from recent hits like Wonder
Woman to Black Panther, as well as older hits like The
Princess Bride and 10 Things I Hate About You. Bonus: a
Saturday showing of The Greatest Showman on July 7.
EDWARD S. CURTIS:
THE GRAND IDEA
NORTHWEST MUSEUM OF ARTS AND CULTURE
Begins June 16 // $18
A new exhibit about Edward Curtis, a photographer who
captured compelling images of Native Americans, will
celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth. The exhibit,
in partnership with the Spokane Public Library, is one of
three opening in the month of June.
MARA LIASSON
BING CROSBY THEATER
June 21 // $34.48
bingcrosbytheater.com
Spokane Public Radio presents Mara Liasson, NPR’s
national political correspondent for a night to talk politics.
Liasson has covered Washington, D.C., for decades and
will discuss the midterm elections and other political
issues at the event. She will also participate in a Q&A.
ART, CRAFTS & DRAFTS
RIVER CITY BREWING
June 23 // $2 per ticket ($10 for six tickets)
partneringforprogress.org
Get your DIY on with professional crafters. This benefit,
for Partnering for Progress’s Power of Milk program,
helps malnourished children in rural Kenya. It will include
beers from River City Brewing, as well as live music and
the opportunity to try your hand at making paper flowers,
driftwood mobiles and other crafts.
I LOVE THE ’90S TOUR
NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO
June 28 // $39-$79
northernquest.com
Get in touch with your inner teen and bask in nostalgia at
this concert. Set to perform are Salt n Pepa, Vanilla Ice,
Sir Mix-A-Lot, Color Me Badd and Young MC.
HOOPFEST SPOKANE
DOWNTOWN SPOKANE
June 30-July 1 // Free to watch, team entries vary
spokanehoopfest.net
This iconic Spokane event is the largest three-on-three
outdoor basketball tournament in the world. Thousands
gather to watch the more than 14,000 games over the
weekend and walk through the downtown festival.
CRAVE! NORTHWEST
MIRABEAU POINT PARK
July 12-15 // $40-$311
cravenw.com
This food and drink event celebrates all things Northwest
food, as well as the area’s top chefs. Events throughout
the weekend include tastings with on-stage chef demos,
a tasting event focused on barbeque, and a seafood
celebration featuring champagne. Your tastebuds will
thank you.
THE GREAT SPOKANE ROAD RALLY
HONOR POINT MILITARY & AEROSPACE
MUSEUM AT FELTS FIELD
July 14 // $100 for 2-person team
spokaneroadrally.com
This Meals on Wheels benefit, in its second year, puts
teams of two on a sort of scavenger hunt throughout
Spokane County. Teams receive a passport with hints
to pit stops around the area, where they must complete
“challenges.” The event includes a silent auction, and a
barbeque follows with an awards ceremony.
CHRIS STAPLETON’S
ALL AMERICAN ROAD SHOW
SPOKANE ARENA
July 19 // $39.75-$79.75
spokanearena.com
Grab your best cowboy boots and some fringe and get
ready for this five-time Grammy Award winner’s big
show, with special guests Marty Stuart & Brent Cobb.
BRAD PAISLEY WITH BROWN
& GRAY
NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO
July 27 // $69-$129
northernquest.com
Country music lovers, rejoice: there are plenty of
concerts coming your way this summer. And if you
haven’t gotten enough country music, head up to
Northern Quest for a concert with one of the genre’s
most popular musicians, Brad Paisley.
9 DESTINATION SPOKANE // JUNE | JULY 2018

We take our coffee
drinking seriously.
A B U N D A N C E
R A R E A Y R E . C O M
TOM SAWYER COUNTRY COFFEE
MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF ROASTING EXPERIENCE
tomsawyercountrycoffee.com | 509.818.3355 | 608 N. Maple St., Spokane

EAUTY
It’s closer than you think.
STAY AND PLAY
$239
FROM FOR TWO!
Based on availability. All packages incur a 7% Tribal tax.
Summer package rates expires 9/30/18.
Visit cdacasino.com/golf for more packages.
1 800 523-2464 | CDACASINO.COM | Worley, Idaho | 25 miles south of Coeur d’Alene