Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Hey, beer dorks!
Yes, that means you. And me. And most of the Inland Northwest, from what I can surmise. While the summer brew festivals are soon to be in the past, there's no reason you can't look ahead to the fall, when you can spend some time at the ol' ballpark for the Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival in September. And No-Li Brewhouse just announced its second No-Li FrostFest on Saturday, Dec. 9.
This year's FrostFest moves to the Spokane Veterans Arena, which makes sense, given that all proceeds from the event go toward the upkeep of the Fallen Heroes memorial sculpture. The event runs from 2 to 6 pm and features a dozen one-off beers crafted by the No-Li crew. They announced the first two beers this week: a 'Tis The Saison and Tritamorphasis Barley Wine, coming in at 12 percent ABV. Pace yourselves, people!
Tickets for FrostFest are $30 through TicketsWest outlets and include a T-shirt, tasting glass and five 4-ounce pours. There will be tunes, food and a costume contest that could land you a free membership in No-Li's mug club. And you can add a ticket to the evening's Spokane Chiefs game for just $10 if you want to hang around (and haven't had too many of those barley wines). Another bonus: If you buy your tickets before Friday, you'll get a bonus Born & Raised T-shirt at the pub, too.
Tags: Food , beer , No-Li , FrostFestm , Spokane Veterans Arena , Fallen Heroes , TicketsWest , Born & Raised , T-shirt , For Fun! , Image
Thursday, August 3, 2017
It's no secret that No-Li Brewhouse is insanely active in supporting various causes in the Inland Northwest, often selling cases of beer at special prices or creating original T-shirts to sell as fundraisers for various charities.
They're at it again this week with a project to raise $10,000 for Teen Closet, a nonprofit that provides clothing for Spokane-area foster children and other kids in need. With back-to-school mayhem coming fast, it's the perfect time to help the free boutique load up with new duds for kids who want to look sharp for the new school year.
Starting Friday, No-Li will be selling 400 limited-edition "Spokane Has Heart" T-shirts for $25 a pop at the brewery, and will continue selling the shirts until the end of the month. No-Li has covered the cost of the shirts, so all the proceeds from the shirts sold through the end of August will go to the charity.
Teen Closet was founded by KXLY's Robyn Nance and foster parent Linda Rogers. Here's a video of the duo discussing Teen Closet's work:
Teen Closet May 5th from Teen Closet on Vimeo.
Tags: For Fun! , No-Li , Teen Closet , T-shirts , nonprofit , foster kids , fundraiser , Image
Friday, July 28, 2017
The human body is a beautiful thing, and that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, all shades and ages and genders.
A range of those bodies — not just from the Inland Northwest, but all over the world — will be front and center at Kaniksu Ranch, 40 miles north of Spokane, for the original, 33rd annual Bare Buns Fun Run (and the ranch's 78th anniversary).
A 5K, clothing-optional run/walk always held on the final Sunday of July, the BBFR features 14 competitive age groups, ranging from 5 and under to 70-plus, with medals awarded to the top three overall male and female finishers, and the top three male and female finishers in each age group after the overall top three.
The ranch, a hilly, forested 260-acre nudist resort northwest of Deer Lake, was founded in 1939 and prides itself as a family-friendly environment, with members and visitors ranging from babies to great-grandparents.
Visitors are welcome on race day, but must leave their cameras — as well as their cellphones — in their vehicles.
The specifics:
Bare Buns Fun Run • Sun, July 30 at 9:30 am • $30 individual registration • Kaniksu Ranch Family Nudist Resort, 4295 N. Deer Lake Rd., Loon Lake, Wash. • kaniksuranch.com • 327-6833
Tags: Bare Buns Fun Run , Kaniksu Ranch Family Nudist Resort , For Fun! , Image
Friday, June 30, 2017
Nearly 50 dangerously adorable marmot pictures; seek them out on your own!
This week, our Outdoors Issue tackles the marvelous spectacle of urban wildlife. Naturally, that includes God's most majestic creature, the yellow-bellied marmot. Marmots that live in urban environments are unheard of in most cities across the United States, but in Spokane, the creatures have presumably been attracted enough by our low cost of living and thriving downtown to move to the city.
As a general rule, the best places to look for marmots are near rivers, by big piles of rocks. But if you want a few specific places to look for marmots, we're here to help. Here are a few of my favorite marmot-spotting spots near downtown Spokane:
Sometimes these marmots pop out of the big boulders like a game of Whack-A-Mole. Other times they stand still against the skyline, like silent protectors. If you're lucky, you can spot three or more lounging on a single group of rocks, or streaking across the dirt field to duck under the big shipping containers.
Notice how some of these marmots have luscious coats worthy of Cruella de Vil's Marmot signature collection, while others look like scraggly river rats?
Elizabeth Addis, assistant professor of biology at Gonzaga University, has studied urban marmots and offers an explanation for the variance.
"The ones that didn’t have any fur were parasitized by skin mites," Addis says "They also had lower levels of triglycerides."
Triglycerides are found in fat, meaning the marmots with the gorgeous coats generally have better diets.
Tags: Wildlife , outdoors , marmots , downtown Spokane , Kendall Yards , Glover Field , Centennial Trail , News , For Fun! , Image
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Sucker fish, beware; you are being hunted
This week's Outdoors issue of the Inlander celebrates the adorable and awe-inspiring presence of wildlife near Spokane's urban core.
This year, I had but one bullet point on my summer bucket list:
• Get a sweet picture of an osprey carrying a fish.
The evening before my story on urban wildlife in Spokane was due, I finally got lucky. Pausing on the Centennial Trail near the Night Market in Kendall Yards, I spotted an osprey searching for food.
After diving down to the Spokane River to snatch a sucker fish, the osprey skims over the Spokane River, then glides above the Peaceful Valley neighborhood.
Then he heads for the Maple Street Bridge, shooting upward over the evening's traffic.
Then, he's flying west over Riverside Avenue...
... swinging by
...soaring over the towers of the Steam Plant and the Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes...
... and making a cameo
Finally, he flies back across the river, directly over my head, delivering that photograph I've been seeking for two straight summers:
Earlier this year, I also managed to take a few shots of an osprey — maybe the same osprey — gliding down into the gorge, ripping a big stick off a tree, and taking it back to its nest. (The stick really ties the room together.)
On top of that, I managed to snap a few pics of the
Tags: Osprey , Wildlife , Outdoors issue , For Fun! , Image
Monday, June 26, 2017
On Friday, the Spokesman-Review ran a story about just how few of the victims of Spokane's winter plague of potholes were able to convince the city to pay their claims. While the city has committed $1 million as part of "Fix-It-Fest 2017" to repair broken arterials and has a long-term strategy to make roads more resistant to potholes, the pothole struggles this year only solidified Spokane's longstanding pothole-pocked reputation.
Of course, for every fact about Spokane potholes, there are plenty of scurrilous, unsourced rumors. As a service to you, the reader, we've collected these rumors in one place, while recognizing that it's entirely possible that we made every one of these rumors up.
1. They say when you gaze into a Spokane pothole, the Spokane pothole also gazes into you.
2. They say if you put your ear to the edge of a Spokane pothole, and listen closely, you can hear the bloodcurdling screams of the damned souls of children who don't obey their parents.
3. They say that, back in 2010, 33 Chilean miners got trapped for two weeks in a Spokane pothole before being rescued.
4. They say that the only thing that can truly defeat a Spokane pothole is for it be swallowed up by an even bigger Spokane pothole.
5. They say you can't reach the bottom of a Spokane pothole until you truly reach the bottom of... yourself.
6. They say when you pour asphalt into a Spokane pothole, you just make it hungrier.
7. They say if you step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back three weeks later when that crack develops into a pothole on Freya and she drives straight into it.
8. They say that most Spokane potholes were created when the dwarves dug too greedily and too deep, and awoke shadow and flame in the darkness of Khazad-dûm.
9. They say that if you make a wish and throw a coin into a Spokane pothole, your wish will come true, but only if that wish involves significant damage to your tires and undercarriage.
10. They say that 15,000 years ago, a glacial ice dam in Missoula broke, sending two-story-tall water blitzing 60 miles an hour from Montana to the Pacific, ripping canyons in the earth and creating the first Spokane pothole.
It was supposed to be a secret. Nobody announced that Kevin Durant would be showing up at Nike Center Court on Sunday. But when you're as big a deal as Kevin Durant, NBA Finals MVP and champion, word tends to get out.
Early on Sunday, some people had heard the rumor that the Golden State Warriors' star was in Spokane. Friends told their friends, and those friends told their friends, but nobody really wanted to get their hopes up. Kevin Durant? In Spokane?
The rumor was that he would show up to Nike Center Court around 2:30 or 3 pm. By 2:15, the bleachers were full and the heat was beating down on the court during the men's elite games. People in the stands were whispering to each other — maybe Durant isn't coming. Is it worth suffering in this heat? Was it a false rumor?
When a few security guards gathered in one place, everyone looked over to try and catch a glimpse of Durant. But it was a false alarm. The security guards were just telling people to get off the court.
Tags: Kevin Durant , Hoopfest , Spokane , NBA , For Fun! , Image
Thursday, June 1, 2017
We hunted through Spotify and found some samples of bands playing Red Room Lounge this weekend as part of the Volume Music Festival. You can find playlists for all the venues right here. Enjoy!
Perhaps taking inspiration from the old "Hit & Run" tours of Prince, one of the people he gloriously lampooned during his years on Saturday Night Live, comedian/musician Fred Armisen is coming to Spokane, and he's coming soon.
Armisen will perform on July 7 at the Bing Crosby Theater, joined by writer/comedian Jacqueline Novak. Tickets go on sale Friday morning at 10 am via the box office at TicketsWest outlets, and they will be $36, $56, $76 and $101.
What, exactly, will Armisen be doing at his show? The press release we received gave no hints, and neither does his website. But the funnyman is an accomplished actor and writer, as well as performer on shows like Portlandia and Documentary Now, and a musician as well. So perhaps a combination of stand-up and songs?
You'll have to go to find out.
Tags: For Fun! , Fred Armisen , Jacqueline Novak , Bing Crosby Theater , Image
We hunted through Spotify and found some samples of bands playing The Big Dipper this weekend as part of the Volume Music Festival. You can find playlists for all the venues right here. Enjoy!
