It's a big milestone, so it's appropriate that Spokane's oldest public green space, Coeur d'Alene Park in Browne's Addition, should celebrate its 125th birthday all summer long. The ongoing party kicks off this weekend with a big public art project called Art for the Park.
The main attraction of the event is the installation of four local artists' designs at street intersections bordering the park. The semipermanent designs to be painted on the street were created by local artists Erin Mielcarek, Tiffany Patterson, Ellen Picken and Tom Quinn, who are aided in their painting efforts by local volunteers. As they paint, the public can browse artisan vendor booths in the park, which also hosts family activities and local food trucks. To raise funds for future improvements to the park through a new master plan, the public can vote with their dollar for a favorite art design, with a winner declared during June's ArtFest hosted by the MAC.
Coeur d'Alene Park continues celebrating through its Summer Concert Series, which is entering its 20th year. Each Thursday in July and through August, the park welcomes all to enjoy live music from the gazebo, a reproduction built in the 1990s from plans for an original structure that stood there more than a century ago. Other activities are being planned to coincide with the concert series night. The 125th anniversary concludes with a Sept. 10 event called Parkfest.
Coeur d'Alene Park became Spokane's first public park in 1891 after business magnates A.M. Cannon and J.J. Browne each donated connecting parcels of roughly 10 acres of land to the city, with the stipulation that the city maintain it as a public park. The only original structures remaining from those times are two large urns currently placed outside the gazebo.
Art for the Park • Sat, May 21, from 9 am-5 pm • Free to attend • Coeur d'Alene Park • Second and Chestnut, Browne's Addition • friendsofcdapark.org
