Strutting neighborhood pride
Amid the chain stores and mega-malls that have sprouted all over Spokane, an oasis from corporate interests can be found in a lower South Hill neighborhood.
Residents of the South Perry Street neighborhood have remained adamant about supporting their local businesses. Instead of Starbucks, they drink coffee at The Shop, a java joint that was formerly a garage. Baskin-Robbins? No way. Folks around here want their banana splits from The Scoop, an ice cream parlor with fewer than 31 flavors.
It’s this civic-minded, grass-roots-oriented attitude that has helped revitalize the Perry Street neighborhood and given it its funky flair, residents say.
On Saturday, the proud people of Perry Street threw a huge party to celebrate the transformation they’ve experienced in recent years.
For the first time since it began five years ago, the annual South Perry Summer Street Faire will last for two days and continue through today.
“It’s glorious,” said Marjory Halvorson, describing the changes she has seen in the last five years on South Perry Street. She came to the event with her mother-in-law, Joyce Graham, specifically to eat ice cream at The Shop, she said. Halvorson, who drives by the neighborhood every day, hopes to see the improvements – wider walkways, street lamps, benches and trees – extend even farther in both directions of South Perry Street.
The annual fair drew a diverse crowd of neighbors and visitors who gathered along the neighborhood’s business district to check out the shops, drink coffee or listen to one of the Spokane Buddhist Temple’s “Introduction to Buddhism” talks. Even more people hung out at nearby Liberty Park, where more than 40 booths featured food, arts and crafts, and information from neighborhood churches, candidates running for office and area services.
“People really care about this neighborhood,” said Karyn Christner, who moved to the South Perry area in 1989, back in the days when the Altamont Pharmacy was the only business that existed amid all the closed storefronts. In recent years, people and businesses made a concerted effort to beautify their surroundings and revitalize the business district.
“This is a place where the community has really gotten involved,” she said.
This year’s Summer Street Faire also included its first-ever parade, a 15-minute affair that featured classic cars, kids on bicycles and a procession of politicians.
The march along several blocks of Perry Street showcased the area’s diversity: the bucket-thumping women of Rhythm Envy; breastfeeding moms from MAMAS – Mothers Assisting Mothers Around Spokane – pushing strollers or wearing their babies in slings; and the East Central Neighborhood Planning Drill Team, whose members held power drills complete with whirling cocktail umbrellas.
“Who are you?” a woman in the crowd cried out to two young men flinging candy from a white limousine. “Just two guys throwing candy?”
“Yeah,” replied one of the men, as he pelted the crowd with more sweets.
Among the numerous parades and fairs that take place practically every weekend in Spokane and the surrounding areas, the Perry Street event stands out because of the civic pride, said Robert Benton, who moved to the neighborhood a decade ago.
“There’s more unity here, it’s family friendly, everyone’s down to earth,” he said. “We have a beautiful neighborhood.”