Spokane Events

On Friday, I received notice this weekend that Jive Five, a friend's band, was playing at the Garland Street Fair on Saturday. I'd heard of the fair but had never gone. It's the only blocked-off street fair in town, and is up in the Garland District - up north of the river by a mile or two. It's a place of history in Spokane - has the Milk Bottle restaurant, the old Garland Theatre that is still independent from the AMCs, and nooks and crannies of neighborhood shops. Its theme every year is "Wizard of Oz," because of Garland and Judy Garland. Fun.

Also on Friday, a friend of mine asked me if I'd gone out to the American Legion World Series games yet. The ALWS is in Spokane for the first time in its 80+ year history. It has only been in Washington three times before, each time in Yakima. My friend thought it would be a great opportunity for a book signing. I hadn't even thought of it, though I'd been reading about all that good baseball in the newspaper. It's odd that I didn't think of it, since I've been thinking about book signings recently. In fact, I've got one out at the Indians' stadium next Saturday, for fireworks night (another fireworks night).

So yesterday, I made it a Spokane day. First I headed to the baseball park - the ALWS is being held at the Indians' Avista stadium - and talked to the organizers about coming out for a book signing. I'll be there today for all three games. Fun! They'll even let me sit in a place where I can watch the games.

Then I headed over to the Garland Street Fair, in time to see the Jive Five play. They were so good! Almost a big band sound, with jazz thrown in. The sound is hard to describe, but I kept hearing people around me talk about how good they were. Definitely a treat.

Here's a hard-to-see-them photo of the Jive Five, at Garland and Post:

And here's a photo of the red boots I bought from the now-closed Ruby Slipper (a very cool, upscale shoe store in Spokane that went out of business but had a few shoes left to sell at the Fair). I felt a little bad about the great deal - but they are trying to clear out merchandise:


And then here's a very-bad photo of the Milk Bottle (off to the left) - which is a greasy spoon restaurant in the shape of a milk bottle - quite the conversation piece in the Garland District - also at the corner of Garland and Post, across from where the Jive Five was playing.

Here's a better photo of the Milk Bottle that I found on Flckr, coming at the restaurant from an opposite (and clearly better) angle, though not taken during the Fair itself. Photo credit goes to Christphre Campbell. Photo is found here.