Getting there: Pride flag on intersection outside Riverfront Park gets a fresh coat of paint after fading and vandalism

Artists spruced up one of Spokane’s most technicolor intersections Sunday, repainting previously vandalized asphalt in the colors of the pride flag.

The painting now blanketing the intersection of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Howard Street at the south entrance to Riverfront Park is expected to last another year.

The project is one of 29 intersection installments in the Asphalt Art program through Spokane Arts, which has received funding of around $1 million diverted from the city’s traffic calming fund.

The Asphalt Arts program intends to fund intersection makeovers in each of Spokane’s 29 neighborhoods and six additional crosswalks across the city. Each design can be different to the discretion of each community, said program Director Shelby Allison. The program is bolstered by fees collected through traffic violations captured with red light or school zone cameras.

“I think you can have a city, which is just a collection of housing or infrastructure or economic opportunity, but it’s really not a community until you splash it full of art,” said Skyler Oberst, Spokane Arts executive director. “You need the vibrancy. People need it in their days to make them smile, make them think, remind them why it is that they live here and we just want to amplify that, the more art we have, the more we’ll feel like a community.”

In addition to the murals fostering unity among Spokanites, evidence indicates the art may encourage drivers to slow down. Hence, the support from the traffic calming fund.

While unsure of the effect Spokane’s design has on local traffic, the project is motivated by a 2019 Bloomberg Philanthropies study that suggests the colorful roadway paintings improve safety because the bright colors increase pedestrian visibility. In crosswalks the study evaluated, crashes between cars and pedestrians or cyclists decreased by 50%.

Last June, the group painted the same intersection in the same pride design, but vandals spun out over the mural soon after the paint dried, covering the rainbow stripes in black tire marks.

“It’s always sad to see art taken advantage of or defaced, especially a project like this, which is all about inclusivity and bringing people together,” Oberst said. “It definitely has helped start a community conversation about who we are and what we value.”

Vandals struck the Perry District last year, first defacing a rainbow crosswalk and eventually spray -painting slurs on a building housing the Odyssey Youth Movement, a queer youth center.

Hateful actions like vandalism can spur fear in the queer community, said Matthew Danielson, executive director of Spokane Pride, but it also makes the celebration of Pride and inclusivity more necessary in the city. “It shows you why we do this,” Danielson said.

The sting of vandalism prompted a state law, to go into effect June, that expands the definition of a hate crime to include defacing public property like the Perry crosswalk. Currently, vandalism can only be charged as a hate crime when done on private property.

As artists finished rolling their final coat of black paint Sunday, a few protesters arrived and yelled through an amplifier. Danielson turned up the volume on his speaker, drowning out protesters with music by Britney Spears and Adele while nearby bikers revved their Harleys to further mute the protesters.

The fresh coat of paint is just in time for a slate of heavily attended community events in the coming months: the Bloomsday footrace, 50th anniversary of Expo ’74, Lilac Parade, Pride festival and Hoopfest.

“Every time I drive across the street or walk across the sidewalk, I am reminded that folks in the LGBT community are part of Spokane and always have been and always will be,” Oberst said. “It’s exciting to see right at the literal welcome doormat to the park, especially for Expo and all the wonderful things we have planned, is all about inclusivity and we get to play a role in that.”

Pending permit approval, the next neighborhood slated for pavement painting is Hillyard, which is to be painted by Spokane’s Matt Smith, with the design based on Hillyard history.