Spokane, Washington, United States

🇺🇸 Spokane is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington along the Spokane River adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, 92 miles south of the Canadian border.

Spokane is the economic and cultural centre of the Spokane metropolitan area, the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area, and the Inland Northwest. It is known as the birthplace of Father's Day, and locally by the nickname of "Lilac City". Officially, Spokane goes by the nickname of Hooptown USA, due to Spokane annually hosting Spokane Hoopfest, the world's largest basketball tournament. The city and the wider Inland Northwest area are served by Spokane International Airport, 5 miles (8 km) west of Downtown Spokane. Spokane is the second-largest city in Washington, and the 101st largest city in the United States.

The first people to live in the area, the Spokane tribe (their name meaning "children of the sun" in Salishan), lived off plentiful game. David Thompson explored the area with the westward expansion and establishment of the North West Company's Spokane House in 1810. This trading post was the first long-term European settlement in Washington. Completion of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1881 brought settlers to the Spokane area. The same year it was officially incorporated as a city under the name of Spokane Falls (it was re-incorporated under its current name ten years later). In the late 19th century, gold and silver were discovered in the Inland Northwest. The local economy depended on mining, timber, and agriculture until the 1980s. Spokane hosted the first environmentally themed World's fair at Expo '74.

Many of the downtown area's older Romanesque Revival-style buildings were designed by architect Kirtland Kelsey Cutter after the Great Fire of 1889. The city is also home to the Riverfront and Manito parks, the Smithsonian-affiliated Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, the Davenport Hotel, and the Fox and Bing Crosby theaters.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, and the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist serves as that of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. The Spokane Washington Temple in the east of the county serves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gonzaga University was established in 1887 by the Jesuits, and the private Presbyterian Whitworth University was founded three years later and moved to north Spokane in 1914.

The city's western suburb of Airway Heights is home to Fairchild Air Force Base as well as two large casino hotels.

In sports, the region's professional and semi-professional sports teams include the Spokane Indians in Minor League Baseball and Spokane Chiefs in junior ice hockey. The Gonzaga Bulldogs collegiate basketball team competes at the Division I level. As of 2010, Spokane's major daily newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, had a daily circulation of over 76,000.

History The first humans to live in the Spokane area were hunter-gatherers that lived off plentiful fish and game; early human remains have been dated to 8,000 to 13,000 years ago. The Spokane tribe, after which the city is named (the name meaning "children of the sun" or "sun people" in Salishan), are believed to be either their direct descendants, or descendants of people from the Great Plains. When asked by early white explorers, the Spokanes said their ancestors came from "up North". Early in the 19th century, the Northwest Fur Company sent two white fur trappers west of the Rocky Mountains to search for fur. These were the first white men met by the Spokanes, who believed they were sacred, and set the trappers up in the Colville River valley for the winter.

Trading post The explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore the Inland Empire (now called the Inland Northwest). Crossing what is now the Canada–US border from British Columbia, Thompson wanted to expand the North West Company further south in search of furs. After establishing the Kullyspell House and Saleesh House trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. He sent out two trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, to construct a fur trading post on the Spokane River, which flows west from Lake Coeur d'Alene to the Columbia River, and trade with the local Indians. This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane rivers, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in what later became Washington state. Known as the Spokane House, or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826. Operations were run by the British North West Company and later the Hudson's Bay Company, and the post was the headquarters of the fur trade between the Rocky and Cascade mountains for 16 years. After the latter business absorbed the North West Company in 1821, the major operations at the Spokane House were eventually shifted north to Fort Colville, reducing the post's significance.

In 1836, Reverend Samuel Parker visited the area and reported that around 800 Native Americans were living in Spokane Falls. A medical mission was established by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman to cater for Cayuse Indians and hikers of the Oregon Trail at Walla Walla in the south. After the Whitmans were killed by Indians in 1847, Reverend Cushing Eells established Whitman College in their memory, also setting up the first church in the Spokane area.

In 1853, two years after the establishment of the Washington Territory, the first governor, Isaac Stevens, made an initial effort to make a treaty with Chief Garry and the Spokanes at Antoine Plantes' Ferry, not far from Millwood. After the last campaign of the Yakima Indian War, the Coeur d'Alene War of 1858 was brought to a close by the actions of Col. George Wright, who won decisive victories against a confederation of tribes in engagements at the battles of Four Lakes and Spokane Plains. The cessation of hostilities opened the inter-mountain valley of the Pacific Northwest to safe habitation by settlers.

American settlement Joint American–British occupation of Oregon Country, in effect since the Treaty of 1818, eventually led to the Oregon Boundary Dispute after a large influx of American settlers along the Oregon Trail. Great Britain ceded its claims to lands in Puget Sound and the central and lower Columbia Basin by the Oregon Treaty of 1846 The Hudson's Bay Company wound up its operations in the area over the next few years.

In what is now Spokane, the first American settlers were J.J. Downing and S.R. Scranton, cattle ranchers who squatted and established a claim at Spokane Falls in 1871. Together they built a small sawmill on a claim near the south bank of the falls. James N. Glover and Jasper Matheney, Oregonians passing through the region in 1873, recognised the value of the Spokane River and its falls for the purpose of water power. They realized the investment potential and bought the claims of 160 acres (65 ha) and the sawmill from Downing and Scranton for a total of $4,000. Glover and Matheney knew that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company had received a government charter to build a main line across this northern route. Amid many delays in construction and uncertainty over the completion of the railroad and its exact course, Matheney sold his interest in the claim to Glover. Glover confidently held on to his claim and became a successful Spokane business owner and the city's second mayor. He later came to be known as the "Father of Spokane".

In 1880, Fort Spokane was established by U.S. Army troops under Lt. Col. Henry C. Merriam 56 miles (90 km) north-west of Spokane, at the junction of the Columbia and Spokane Rivers, to protect the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway and secure a place for U.S. settlement. By June 30, 1881, the railway reached the city, bringing major European settlement to the area. The city was officially incorporated with a population of about 1,000 residents on November 29, 1881. When Spokane was officially incorporated in 1881, Robert W. Forrest was elected as the first mayor of the city, with a Council of seven, S.G. Havermale, A.M. Cannon, Dr. L.H. Whitehouse, L.W. Rima, F.R. Moore, George A. Davis, and W.C. Gray, all serving without pay. The marketing campaigns of transportation companies with affordable fertile land to sell along their trade routes lured many settlers into the region they dubbed "Spokane Country".

The 1883 discovery of gold, silver, and lead in the Coeur d'Alene region of northern Idaho lured prospectors. The Inland Empire erupted with numerous mining rushes from 1883 to 1892. Mining and smelting emerged as a major stimulus to Spokane. At the onset of the initial 1883 gold rush in the nearby Coeur d'Alene mining district, Spokane became popular with prospectors, offering low prices on everything "from a horse to a frying pan". It would keep this status for subsequent rushes in the region due to its trade centre status and accessibility to railroad infrastructure.

Spokane's growth continued unabated until August 4, 1889, when a fire, now known as The Great Fire (not to be confused with the Great Fire of 1910, which happened nearby), began just after 6:00 p.m., and destroyed the city's downtown commercial district. Due to technical problems with a pump station, there was no water pressure in the city when the fire started. In a desperate bid to starve the fire, firefighters began razing buildings with dynamite. Eventually, the winds and the fire died down; 32 blocks of Spokane's downtown core had been destroyed and one person was killed.

Despite this catastrophe, and in part because of it, Spokane experienced a building boom. The downtown was rebuilt, and the city was reincorporated under the present name of "Spokane" in 1891. According to historian David H. Stratton, "From the late 1890s to about 1912, a great flurry of construction created a modern urban profile of office buildings, banks, department stores, hotels and other commercial institutions" which stretched from the Spokane River to the site of the Northern Pacific railroad tracks below the South Hill. Yet the rebuilding and development of the city was far from smooth: between 1889 and 1896 alone, all six bridges over the Spokane River were destroyed by floods before their completion. In the 1890s the city was subject to intrastate migration by African-Americans from Roslyn, looking for work after the closure of the area's mines. Two African-American churches, Calvary Baptist and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal, were founded in 1890. Just three years after the fire, in 1892, James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway arrived in the chosen site for Hill's rail yards, the newly created township of Hillyard (annexed by Spokane in 1924). Spokane became an important rail shipping and transportation hub for the Inland Empire, connecting mines in the Silver Valley with agricultural areas around the Palouse region. The city's population ballooned to 19,922 in 1890, and to 36,848 in 1900 with the arrival of additional railroads. By 1910 the population had hit 104,000, and Spokane eclipsed Walla Walla as the commercial centre of the Inland Empire. In time the city came to be known as the "capital" of the Inland Empire and the heart of a vast tributary region. After the arrival of the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Great Northern, and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific railroads, Spokane became one of the most important rail centres in the western U.S.

Early 20th century Expansion abruptly stopped in the 1910s and was followed by a period of population decline, due in large part to Spokane's slowing economy. Control of regional mines and resources became increasingly dominated by national corporations rather than local people and organisations, diverting capital outside of Spokane and decreasing growth and investment opportunities in the city. During this time of stagnation, unrest was prevalent among the area's unemployed, who became victimized by "job sharks", who charged a fee for signing up workers in the logging camps. Job sharks and employment agencies were known to cheat itinerant workers, sometimes paying bribes to periodically fire entire work crews, thus generating repetitive fees for themselves. Crime spiked in the 1890s and 1900s, with eruptions of violent activity involving unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or "Wobblies" as they were often known, whose free speech fights had begun to garner national attention. Now, with grievances concerning the unethical practices of the employment agencies, they initiated a free speech fight in September 1908 by purposely breaking a city ordinance on soapboxing. With IWW encouragement, union members from many western states came to Spokane to take part in what had become a publicity stunt. Many Wobblies were incarcerated, including feminist labor leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who published her account in the local Industrial Worker.

After mining declined at the turn of the 20th century, agriculture and logging became the primary influences in the Spokane economy. The population explosion and the building of homes, railroads, and mines in northern Idaho and southern British Columbia fuelled the logging industry. Although overshadowed in importance by the vast timbered areas on the coastal regions west of the Cascades, and burdened with monopolistic rail freight rates and stiff competition, Spokane became a noted leader in the manufacture of doors, window sashes, blinds, and other planing mill products. Rail freight rates were much higher in Spokane than the rates in coastal seaport cities such as Seattle and Portland, so much so that Minneapolis merchants could ship goods first to Seattle and then back to Spokane for less than shipping directly to Spokane, even though the rail line ran through Spokane on the way to the coast.

The Inland Northwest region has also long been associated with farming, especially wheat production. Initially, the Palouse was thought to be unsuitable for wheat production due to the hilly terrain, believing wheat could not be cultivated on the tops of the hills, but the region showed great promise for wheat production when it began in the late 1850s in part due to the hilltops. The Palouse was and still is a breadbasket and was able to develop and grow with the completion of several railroad networks as well as a highway system that began to centre around the city of Spokane, aiding farmers from around the region in distributing their products to market. Inland Empire farmers exported wheat, livestock and other agricultural products to ports such as New York, Liverpool and Tokyo.

Local morale was affected for years by the collapse of the Division Street Bridge early in the morning on December 15, 1915, which killed five people and injured over 20, but a new bridge was built (eventually replaced in 1994). The 1920 census showed a net increase of just 35 individuals, which actually indicates that thousands left the city when considering the natural growth rate of a population. Growth in the 1920s and 1930s remained slow but less drastically so, forcing city boosters to market the city as a quiet, comfortable place suitable for raising a family rather than a dynamic community full of opportunity. The Inland Empire was heavily dependent on natural resources and extractive goods produced from mines, forests, and farms, which experienced a fall in demand. The situation improved slightly with the start of World War II as aluminum production commenced in Spokane due to the area's cheap electricity (produced from regional dams) and the increased demand for airplanes.

Second half of the 20th century After decades of stagnation and slow growth, Spokane businessmen formed Spokane Unlimited in the early 1960s, an organization that sought to revitalize downtown Spokane. A recreation park showcasing the Spokane Falls was the preferred option, and after successful negotiation to relocate the railroad facilities on Havermale Island, they executed on a proposal to host the first environmentally themed World's Fair in Expo '74 on May 4, becoming the smallest city at the time to host a World's Fair. This event transformed Spokane's downtown, removing a century of railroad infrastructure and re-inventing the urban core. After Expo '74, the fairgrounds became the 100-acre (40 ha) Riverfront Park.

The growth witnessed in the late 1970s and early 1980s was interrupted by another U.S. recession in 1981, in which silver, timber, and farm prices dropped. The period of decline for the city lasted into the 1990s and was also marked by a loss of many steady family-wage jobs in the manufacturing sector. At this time, market forces began to impact the local Kaiser Aluminum plant and layoffs, pension cuts, a 1998-1999 labor strike, and eventually bankruptcy in 2002 followed. Although this was a tough period, Spokane's economy had started to benefit from some measure of economic diversification; growing companies such as Key Tronic and other research, marketing, and assembly plants for technology companies helped lessen Spokane's dependence on natural resources.

History: 21st century As of 2014, Spokane is still trying to make the transition to a more service-oriented economy in the face of a less prominent manufacturing sector. Developing the city's strength in the medical and health sciences fields has seen some success, resulting in the expansion of the University District with two medical school branches. The city faces challenges such as a scarcity of high-paying jobs, pockets of poverty, and areas of high crime.

The opening of the River Park Square in 1999 served as a catalyst and sparked a downtown rebirth that included the building of the Spokane Arena and expansion of the Spokane Convention Center. Other major projects include the building of the Big Easy concert house (now the Knitting Factory) and renovation of the historic Montvale Hotel, the Kirtland Cutter-designed Davenport Hotel (after being vacant for over 20 years), the Fox Theater (now home to the Spokane Symphony) as well as the completion of the WSU Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Building in 2013 and the Davenport Grand Hotel in 2015, Ridpath Hotel in 2018 and the ongoing renovation of Riverfront Park (as of May 2019). The Kendall Yards development on the west side of downtown Spokane is one of the largest construction projects in the city's history. Directly across the Spokane River from downtown, it will blend residential and retail space with plazas and walking trails.

Geography Spokane is located on the Spokane River in eastern Washington at an elevation of 1,843 feet (562 m) above sea level, about 18 miles (29 km) from Idaho, 92 miles (148 km) south of the Canadian border, 229 miles (369 km) due east of Seattle, and 279 miles (449 km) south-west of Calgary. The lowest elevation in the city of Spokane is the northernmost point of the Spokane River within city limits (in Riverside State Park) at 1,608 feet (490 m); the highest elevation is on the north-east side, near the community of Hillyard (though closer to Beacon Hill and the North Hill Reservoir) at 2,591 feet (790 m). Spokane is part of the Inland Northwest region, consisting of eastern Washington, north Idaho, north-western Montana, and north-eastern Oregon. The city has a total area of 60.02 square miles (155.45 km²), of which 59.25 square miles (153.46 km²) is land and 0.77 square miles (1.99 km²) is water.

Spokane lies mostly within the Spokane Valley Outwash Plains at the periphery of the North Central Rockies forests ecoregion and partly within the eastern edge of the basaltic Channeled Scablands steppe of the Columbia Plateau ecoregion, a plain that eventually rises sharply to the east towards the rugged, timbered Selkirk Mountains. The foothills of the Rockies—the Coeur d'Alene Mountains—rise about 25 miles (40 km) to the east in north Idaho. The city is in a transition area between the barren landscape of the Columbia Basin and the coniferous forests to the east; to the south are the lush prairies and rolling hills of the Palouse. The highest peak in Spokane County is Mount Spokane, at an elevation of 5,883 feet (1,793 m), on the eastern side of the Selkirk Mountains. The Spokane River is the area's most prominent water feature, a 111-mile (179 km) tributary of the Columbia River, originating from Lake Coeur d'Alene in northern Idaho. The river flows west across the Washington state line through downtown Spokane, meeting Latah Creek, then turns to the north-west, where it is joined by the Little Spokane River on its way to the Columbia River, north of Davenport. The Channeled Scablands and many of the area's numerous large lakes, such as Lake Coeur d'Alene and Lake Pend Oreille, were formed by the Missoula Floods after the ice-dammed Glacial Lake Missoula ruptured at the end of the last ice age. The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge south of Cheney is the closest natural reserve, the closest National Forest is the Colville National Forest, the closest National Recreation Area is the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and the closest national park is Mount Rainier National Park, approximately a four-and-a-half hour drive from Spokane.

Economy Spokane became an important rail and shipping centre because of its location between mining and farming areas. In the early 1880s, gold and silver were discovered in the Inland Empire; as a regional shipping centre, the city furnished supplies to the miners who passed through on their way to the mineral-rich Coeur d'Alene, Colville and Kootenay districts. The mining districts are still considered among the most productive in North America.

Natural resources have historically been the foundation of Spokane's economy, with the mining, logging, and agriculture industries providing much of the region's economic activity. After mining declined at the turn of the 20th century, agriculture and logging replaced mining as the primary influences in the economy. Lumberjacks and millmen working in the hundreds of mills along the railroads, rivers, and lakes of northern Washington and Idaho were provisioning themselves in Spokane. Agriculture has always been an important sector in the local economy. The surrounding area, especially to the south is the Palouse, a region that has long been associated with farming, especially wheat production where it is one of the largest wheat producing regions in the United States. As with the mining industry in the late 1880s, Spokane was an important agricultural market and trade center. Inland Empire farmers exported wheat, livestock and other agricultural products to the ports such as New York, Liverpool and Tokyo. Today, a large share of the wheat produced in the region is shipped to Far East markets. The Inland Northwest also supports many vineyards and microbreweries as well. By the early 20th century Spokane was primarily a commercial centre rather than an industrial center.

In Spokane, wood and food processing, printing and publishing, primary metal refining and fabrication, electrical and computer equipment, and transportation equipment are leaders in the manufacturing sector. Gold mining company Gold Reserve, and Fortune 1000 company Potlatch Corporation – a forest products company that operates as a real estate investment trust – are headquartered in the city proper. Mining, forestry, and agribusiness remain important to the local and regional economy, but Spokane's economy has diversified to include other industries, including the high-tech and biotech sectors. Spokane is becoming a more service-oriented economy in the face of a less prominent manufacturing sector which declined in the 1980s, particularly as a medical and biotechnology center; Fortune 1000 technology company Itron, for instance, is headquartered in the area. Avista Corporation, the holding company of Avista Utilities, is the only company in Spokane that has been listed in the Fortune 500, ranked 299 on the list in 2002. Other companies with head offices in the Spokane area include technology company Key Tronic, vacation rental provider Stay Alfred, and microcar maker Commuter Cars. Despite diversification to new industries, Spokane's economy has struggled in recent decades. Spokane was ranked the #1 "Worst City For Jobs" in America in both 2012 and 2015, while also ranking #4 in 2014. Additionally, Forbes named Spokane the "Scam Capital of America" in 2009 due to widespread business fraud. Trends of fraud were noted as far back as 1988, again in 2002, and continuing through 2011.

As of 2013, the top five employers in Spokane are the State of Washington, Spokane Public Schools, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital, the 92d Air Refueling Wing, and Spokane County. The largest military facility and employer, the 92d Air Refueling Wing, was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base near Airway Heights. The leading industries in Spokane for the employed population 16 years and older were educational services, health care, and social assistance (26.5 percent), retail trade (12.7 percent), and arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation food services (10.4 percent). As the metropolitan centre of the Inland Northwest, as well as parts of southern British Columbia and Alberta, Spokane serves as a commercial, manufacturing, transportation, medical, shopping, and entertainment hub. In 2017, the Spokane–Spokane Valley MSA had a gross metropolitan product of $25.5 billion while the Coeur d'Alene metropolitan area was $5.93 billion.

As of 2014, economic development in the Spokane area primarily focuses on promoting the following industries: manufacturing (especially aerospace manufacturing), health sciences, professional services, information science and technology, finance and insurance as well as clean technology, and digital media. To aid economic development, the eastern branch of Innovate Washington, a state-supported business incubator was placed in the city.

In recent years, Spokane has become a growing technology hub for both established companies and startups. Fortune 1000 cybersecurity leader, F5, Inc., has two offices in the area with over 250 employees whom are focused on hardware product development, software engineering, global services support, and digital sales. Other established firms are moving to Spokane, such as Remitly, an app-based financial services corporation, which was founded by Josh Hug, a Whitworth University graduate. Ignite Northwest, led by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tom Simpson, has invested over $100 million through the Spokane Angel Alliance and Ignite to fund and support early stage companies.

Arts and theater Spokane's main art districts are located in the Davenport Arts District, the Garland Business District, and East Sprague. The First Friday Artwalk, which occurs the first Friday of every month, is dedicated to local vendors and performers displaying art around downtown. The two most important Artwalk dates (the first Friday of February and October) attract large crowds to the art districts. The Davenport Arts District has the largest concentration of art galleries and is home to many of Spokane's main performing arts venues, including the Knitting Factory, Fox Theater, and Bing Crosby Theater. The Knitting Factory is a concert house that serves as a setting for many mainstream touring musicians and acts. The Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, restored to its original 1931 Art Deco state after years of being derelict, is home to the Spokane Symphony Orchestra. The Metropolitan Performing Arts Center was restored in 1988 and renamed the Bing Crosby Theater in 2006 to honor the former Spokanite. Touring stand-up comedians are hosted by the Spokane Comedy Club. Theater is provided by Spokane's only resident professional company, The Modern Theater, though there are also the Spokane Civic Theatre and several other amateur community theaters and smaller groups. The First Interstate Center for the Arts often hosts large traveling exhibitions, shows, and tours. Spokane was awarded the All-America City Award by the National Civic League in 1974, 2004, and 2015.

Spokane offers an array of musical performances catering to a variety of interests. Spokane's local music scene, however, is considered somewhat lacking by the Spokane All-Ages Music Initiative and other critics, who have identified a need for a legitimate all-ages venue for music performances. The Spokane Symphony presents a full season of classical music, and the Spokane Jazz Orchestra, a full season of jazz music. The Spokane Jazz Orchestra, formed in 1962, is a 70-piece orchestra and non-profit organization.

Museums There are several museums in the city, most notably the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, located a few blocks from the centre of downtown in Browne's Addition, amid the mansions of Spokane's late 19th-century "Age of Elegance". A Smithsonian affiliate museum, it houses a large collection of Native American artifacts as well as regional and national traveling art exhibits.

The Mobius Science Center and the related Mobius Kid's Museum in downtown Spokane seek to generate interest in science, technology, engineering, and math among the youth in a hands-on experience. The Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University features 2,800 square feet (260 m²) of exhibition space and contains sizable collections of prints from the Bolker, Baruch, Jacobs, and Corita Kent collections. The museum houses glass art by Dale Chihuly, bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin, tapestries, paintings, ceramics, photographs, and a wide range of gifts, including from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation and Collections. On the campus of Gonzaga University, the Crosby House, Bing Crosby's childhood home, houses the Bing Crosby Memorabilia Room, the world's largest Crosby collection with around 200 pieces. A museum of flight showcasing historic airplanes and curated by the Historic Flight Foundation is located at Felts Field.

Events and activities Spokane is known as the birthplace of the national movement started by Sonora Smart Dodd that led to the proposal and the eventual establishment of Father's Day as a national holiday in the U.S. The first observation of Father's Day in Spokane was on June 19, 1910. Sonora conceived the idea in Spokane's Central Methodist Episcopal Church, while listening to a Mother's Day sermon.

The Lilac Bloomsday Run, held in the spring on the first Sunday of May, is a 7.46-mile (12.01 km) race for competitive runners as well as walkers that attracts international competition. Also in May is the Lilac Festival which honors the military, celebrates youth, and showcases the region. Spokane's unofficial nickname, the "Lilac City", refers to a flowering shrub that has flourished since its introduction to the area in the early 20th century. In June the city hosts Spokane Hoopfest, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, among the largest of its kind. One of Spokane's most popular local events is Pig Out in the Park, an annual six-day food and entertainment festival where attendees may eat a variety of foods and listen to free live music concerts featuring local, regional, and national recording artists in Riverfront Park.

The Spokane International Film Festival, held every February, is a small, juried festival that features documentaries and shorts from around the world. The Spokane Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, held every November, features contemporary, independent films of interest to the GLBT community.

Other notable events in the Spokane region include the Spokane County Interstate Fair, Japan Week, Spokane Pride Parade and the Lilac City Comicon. The Spokane County Interstate Fair is held annually in September at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center in Spokane Valley. Japan Week is held in April and celebrates the sister-city relationship with Nishinomiya, Hyogo, demonstrating the many commonalities shared between the two cities. Students from the Spokane campus of Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, Gonzaga, Whitworth, and other area schools organize an array of Japanese cultural events. The gay and lesbian Spokane Pride Parade is held each June. There is an annual Renaissance fair and Civil War reenactment as well.

Education: University Spokane is home to many higher education institutions. They include the private universities Gonzaga and Whitworth, and the public Community Colleges of Spokane system (Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College) as well as a variety of technical institutes. Gonzaga University and Law School were founded by the Italian-born priest Joseph Cataldo and the Jesuits in 1887. Whitworth was founded in Tacoma, Washington in 1890 and moved to its present location in 1914. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and had 2,500 students studying in 53 different undergraduate and degree programs as of 2011. While Spokane is one of the larger cities in the U.S. to lack a main campus of a state-supported university within its city limits, Eastern Washington University (EWU) and Washington State University (WSU) have operations at the Riverpoint Campus in the University District, just adjacent to downtown and across the Spokane River from the Gonzaga campus. Washington State University Spokane is WSU's health sciences campus and houses the school's College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, and Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. The main EWU campus is located 15 miles (24 km) south-west of Spokane in nearby Cheney, and WSU is located 65 miles (105 km) to the south in Pullman. In addition to WSU's health science presence in Spokane, there is also a four-year medical school branch affiliated with the University of Washington's WWAMI program. An international branch campus of the Mukogawa Women's University, the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, is located in Spokane.