Despite remaining financially stable during the pandemic, SpokeFest is gone and Bloomsday is struggling. General fatigue and a roller coaster of event logistics may have played a role in recent issues faced by the two popular road races.
SpokeFest, an annual community bike ride that drew thousands of people of all abilities to ride 9- to 50-mile routes, recently voted to dissolve as a nonprofit.
Founder Bill Bender says the organization was in good financial shape. But with the inability to hold events in 2020 and 2021, and the cancellation of this year's ride after the loss of an event planner who moved away for another job, the volunteer board was tired and decided to end the event.
"This year we basically had lost that inertia — we couldn't seem to get going again," Bender says. "While we're sad not to have it anymore, we're really happy with what we've been able to accomplish."
In the spirit of Bloomsday, Bender says SpokeFest, which started in 2008, hoped to attract both avid bike riders and those who hadn't been on a bike in years.
"I've always been impressed with how many people gear up to run who aren't regular runners because of Bloomsday," Bender says. "We had lots of good success stories: People becoming more physically active, trimming excess pounds, and biking to work or school."
SpokeFest also offered grants to local schools for bicycle education in gym classes, and spurred events such as Summer Parkways, which was successful this June as thousands of people took to 4 miles of streets closed to auto traffic between Comstock and Manito parks on Spokane's South Hill.
Bender says Summer Parkways is now looking for another nonprofit to be the umbrella organization so it can continue.
Meanwhile, the 12-kilometer foot race Bloomsday hit its own hurdles last week, when race director Jon Neill resigned after a board vote to demote him. After volunteering with the organization since the mid-1990s, Neill became director in 2019 — filling the shoes of race founder Don Kardong, who did not want to comment for this article.
In an Oct. 11 letter to Bloomsday's board, Neill said he was dismayed at their Sept. 22 vote to remove him as race director and offer him another role. Neill, who did not respond to an interview request, wrote that the news "came abruptly with little explanation."
"I have endured ongoing criticism, insult, and demeaning comments from select members of this Board," Neill wrote. "Those members have created a toxic, negative, pessimistic, and distracting workplace that remains both corrosive and demoralizing. This hostility is not the Bloomsday way, nor should it ever be."
Immediately after the vote to remove Neill, board members Tom Fuchs (with Bloomsday since 2004) and Steve Jones (there since 1979) resigned from the board. Both say they feel demoting Neill was unfair.
"I think his leadership in helping us navigate two years of COVID was exceptional," Jones says. "I think there are some people on the board who didn't like that he didn't communicate with them as well as he should, or didn't follow their directives as closely as he should, but it was pretty minor when you look at the overall picture of how well Bloomsday did."
Jones says finances for Bloomsday — which began in 1977 and reached peak participation in 1996 with 61,000 people — are in a better place now than before Neill became director.
Carol Hunter, who left the board a year ago after serving for 25 years, and Gary Markham, who also left last year after 18 years, were disappointed with the way Neill was treated and questioned how the board intended to replace him.
Hunter says Neill was pushing for innovation. She says the organization needed to make room for new ideas so it wouldn't stagnate. Some board members disagreed.
"They just had a hard time with change, and quite frankly, I think COVID had a lot to do with that," Hunter says. "I think people started losing control of many aspects of their own life and were looking for something to control, and they didn't like these changes."
Board president Dori Whitford told other news outlets that Bloomsday is looking at restructuring some jobs. None of the former board members who spoke to the Inlander knew what the restructuring plans were, and they said that eliminating the race director would require changing the bylaws.
"The current board is working well together and is looking forward to a great Bloomsday 2023 that Spokane can be proud of," Whitford told the Inlander by email. "All of us at Bloomsday would like to thank Jon Neill for his service. We accept his resignation and wish him the absolute best in his future." ♦
