travel spokane

Hoopfest Registration Opens March 12

Written by admin on March 5th, 2010

Hoopfest Spokane

The city of Spokane, WA is preparing for one of its biggest events of the year. Teams can soon register for Hoopfest, the world’s largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament, which will be held on June 26th and 27th, 2010, in downtown Spokane. This wildly popular annual summer sports event welcomes players of all abilities and almost all ages (players must be in at least third grade) to compete for awards in each bracket.

The Spokane Hoopfest Association’s mission is simple: To create the best basketball weekend on Earth. The incredible success of Hoopfest indicates that the mission has been accomplished! Since the Association gathered the support needed to convince the city of Spokane to shut down streets in the heart of downtown for two days of basketball in 1990, Hoopfest has grown into a huge, national sports event that draws 6,700 teams, 3,000 volunteers, 200,000 players and fans, and 428 courts spanning forty downtown city blocks. It has become an outdoor festival with concerts, food, and interactive entertainment for the entire community.

With people coming from forty-two states to participate, Spokane area hotels fill up fast! To avoid a last-minute hassle, book your comfortable, spacious room at Stratford Suites Extended Stay Hotel now. Our one and two bedroom suites with fully equipped kitchens are ideal for families travelling with children, offering privacy and the option of eating in.

Hoopfest players

According to a 2006 survey, Hoopfest brought 30 million dollars to the Spokane economy. The largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament in the world also provides other benefits to the community: Since 1990, Spokane Hoopfest Association has donated over $1,200,000 to organizations such as Special Olympics, YMCA, YWCA, and other youth sports programs, as well as its court construction program. Hoopfest has built or renovated over twenty outdoor basketball courts in area neighborhoods so local residents have an opportunity to play year-round. If your business or organization would like to help, consider sponsoring. Few sponsorship opportunities in Spokane offer such high visibility for your business name.

When Hoopfest won the 2003 Agora Award for Business Excellence, the judges said, “No other single event (here) brings together people of such diverse cultures, economic conditions, and ages for a common purpose. And this common purpose is not just basketball. It is cheering for one another, working together, competing fairly, and celebrating Spokane.”

Remember; book your rooms soon for best prices and availability!

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Spokane Lilac Festival 2010 Celebrates Freedom, the Lilac City, and Royalty

Written by admin on March 3rd, 2010

The Spokane Lilac Festival (May 10–16) is an annual spring tradition in Spokane, WA dating back to 1938. It has grown from a one-day flower show to a week-long festival of family friendly events that bring visitors from all over the Inland Northwest.

The big finale event is the largest armed forces torchlight parade in the nation, the 72nd Spokane Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade, which begins at 7:45 p.m. on May 15, 2010 with a canon blast and a flyover by a military airplane. This year’s parade will feature approximately 200 units, including military units, marching bands, floats, dignitaries, equestrian groups, the Lilac Festival Queen and Princesses, and much more.

The 2010 theme, selected by the Spokane Lilac Festival Association President, Arne Weinman, is “Freedom is Not Free.” “As a twenty-nine-year Veteran of the Air Force, it’s clear to me that the freedom we have in America isn’t free,” Weinman said. “And I’m proud to carry on the Spokane Lilac Festival tradition of honoring our military personnel.”

One week before the Torchlight Parade, Spokane will celebrate children with the Junior Lilac Parade on Saturday, May 8, 10 a.m. The theme is Lights, Camera, Action! The Jr. Lilac Parade is a treasured, long-standing family tradition in Spokane, WA. Performers include elementary and middle school bands and drill teams, youth organizations such as Scouts, dance groups, local mascot celebrities, and various youth clubs. If you need a place to stay for the parade, you can book your luxurious one- or two-bedroom suite now at Stratford Suites, which is conveniently located near the freeway just a few minutes from downtown Spokane. Adults and kids alike love our pillow-top mattresses, 50” hi-def. televisions, fully equipped kitchens and free washer/dryer.

Photo by Green Gables Photography and Design, the official Lilac Festival Photographer

Other fun events include a Royal Tea Party for little girls at the Davenport Hotel, Royalty Luncheon with a style show by Finders Keepers designer dress boutique, Heaven’s Cruisers Car Show, and Farewell Breakfast.

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March Madness in Spokane – NCAA 2010 Division 1 Men’s Basketball March 19th and 21st

Written by admin on February 17th, 2010

NCAA Spokane, WA

March Madness will storm into Spokane on Friday, March 19 with the first and second rounds of the NCAA 72nd annual Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship, hosted by Washington State University. Two sessions will be held on Friday and one session on Sunday, March 21, 2010 (six games total) at the Spokane Arena. If you are traveling to Spokane, WA to be a part of the excitement, Stratford Suites Extended Stay Hotel is accepting reservations for the weekend of the event now and has some great shop-and-stay packages.

Pairings will be announced Sunday, March 14, 2010, at 6 pm Eastern time on CBS.

After the first and second rounds, regionals will take place at the end of March, leading to the Final Four on April 3rd and 5th for the championship in Indianapolis.

Stratford Suites’ luxurious rooms all include kitchenettes and 50” hi-definition televisions so you can kick back on our comfortable leather furniture and keep up on the results of the other March Madness games happening across the country.

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March Madness is Coming to Spokane

Written by admin on February 16th, 2010

The 1st and 2nd Rounds of March Madness will be in Spokane on March 19th and 21st, 2010. Be sure to book your stay at Stratford Suites early to get your room. In-between Spokane games, keep up with games across the country on a 50″ HDTV in your room while enjoying leather furniture, and kitchens.

Book your suite today by calling 509-321-1600 or 888-705-8877

www.stratfordsuites.com

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Register (And Book Your Room) for Bloomsday 2010

Written by admin on February 12th, 2010

The 34th annual Lilac Bloomsday Run will be held in Spokane, WA on Sunday, May 2, 2010. This huge road race, which is open to all runners, walkers, wheelchairs, assisted wheelchairs, and strollers, consists of a scenic 12 km (7.46 miles) loop that begins in downtown Spokane and travels northwest along the far west end of town. The course passes by Mukogowa Ft. Wright Institute and Spokane Falls Community College before heading up Doomsday Hill and back downtown. The deadline for registration is April 13; you can register online at the official website. The cost is $15, which includes a t-shirt for all finishers.

Bloomsday has been a member of the ARRA and PRRO Circuits of major U.S. running events, and in 1996 Bloomsday hosted the first PRRO World Road Running Championships. Over the years, the race has been featured in Runner’s World and The Runner magazines, as well as on television on ESPN, Fox Sports Northwest, and the Outdoor Life Network. The first race took place in 1977 with over a thousand runners, and 112 “perennials” have been in the race every single year.

First Bloomsday poster, designed by Bob Runkle.

Last year, Bloomsday counted 51,259 participants. Over 20,000 of these racers were from out-of-town, so it is a good idea to book your Spokane hotel room early. Stratford Suites has beautiful one- and two-bedroom suites available to comfortably accommodate Bloomsday travelers. Our pillow-top mattresses and down feather pillows feel great after the big run!

In addition to the famous road race, Spokane’s Bloomsday hosts one of the nation’s largest free trade shows devoted to fitness, health, and running. It is free to the public and open Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1, next to Bloomsday Check-In at the Spokane Convention Center (Group Health Exhibition Hall), 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd (just east of the DoubleTree Hotel Downtown City Center). Business travelers enjoy Stratford Suites Extended Stay Hotel’s many amenities, including high-speed internet, executive style shuttle service, video conference room, all-leather furniture, and fine kitchenettes. Our hotel is located just five minutes from the airport, with easy access to downtown Spokane.

In case you were wondering, the name “Bloomsday” was given to the race by founder Don Kardong, a local runner who competed in several national class road races before and after his participation in the 1976 Olympic Marathon. The name joins Spokane’s favorite flower to the word used by author James Joyce scholars to describe the day of events in the novel Ulysses. According to Kardong, a road race is an odyssey, not unlike the one Ulysses endured in his return to Ithaca after the Trojan War, a journey described in great detail by the Greek poet Homer. In 1917, James Joyce wrote Ulysses about one day in the life of a man (Leopold Bloom) in Dublin, Ireland. Bloom spends the day wandering through the streets of Dublin in a rough parallel of his Greek counterpart Ulysses, and that day (June 16) is celebrated worldwide by Joyce fans as “Bloomsday.”

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Bloomsday 2010 is Coming…

Written by admin on February 10th, 2010

The Lilac Bloomsday Run is right around the corner on Sunday, May 2, 2010. The 12 kilometer (7.46 miles) race had 51,259 registrants last year, 42,477 of those finished and got their exclusive finishers t-shirt. The 34th annual Bloomsday Run is expected to be even larger and more fun.

Book your room at Stratford Suites today for the best rates and to make sure there is still room available. Our suites feature 1 or 2 bedrooms, kitchens, 50″ HDTV, Leather furniture and more. Book online or by calling 509-321-1600 or 888-705-8877.

Don’t forget to register for Bloomsday too!

We also want to hear your favorite Bloomsday stories in the comments of this post.

Bloomsday 2010 - Sunday, May 2nd, 2010.

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Don’t Miss the Return of the Dinosaurs, Live at the Spokane Arena!

Written by admin on February 3rd, 2010

Hear T-Rex roar! On April 7–11, 2010, giant, life-size dinosaurs will once again roam the earth, taking over the Spokane Arena. Based on the award-winning BBC television show, this incredible spectacle features “a whole menagerie of creatures, many of which have never been seen outside the pages of scientific journals,” according to Tim Haines, creator and BBC series producer of Walking with Dinosaurs. If you enjoyed the blockbuster film Jurassic Park or have ever marveled at dinosaur fossils in a museum or illustrations of dinosaurs in a magazine, then you will be blown away by this realistic sensory experience of being transported 65 million years back in time. Seventeen dinosaurs, representing ten different species, move, roar, and look just like the originals in this live performance.

The thrilling display even replicates the earthquakes, volcanoes, and comet impacts of the Triassic and Cetaceous periods (208–144 and 144–65 million years ago, respectively), but this show is suitable for all ages. Adults and children alike will be enthralled. Book your family’s adventure soon—when the show came to Spokane in 2007, shows sold out! An ideal Spokane area hotel to stay at, especially if you are bringing children to the show, is Stratford Suites. The two-bedroom suites provide privacy for families, and a fully equipped kitchen in every suite gives you the convenience and affordability of eating in.

Watch the Ornithocheirus soar Come watch the Ornithocheirus, the largest creature to ever fly, the Allosaurus, known as the lion of the Jurassic, the T-Rex, king of prehistoric predators, and other amazing favorites come to life this April. Get ready for the show by designing your own virtual dinosaur, piecing together a dinosaur from skeleton pieces, and playing a game of digging for dinosaurs at the Walking with Dinosaurs website.

Walking with Dinosaurs tickets are available through TicketsWest, or just go to the Spokane Arena website. When you book your luxurious, fully-furnished suite at Stratford Suites hotel, be sure to check out our shop and stay packages for a weekend of Spokane shopping and fun.

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Hang with the Locals, Get the Inside Scoop on the Zags: “GU Coaches Show” Tuesday Nights at Tomato Street

Written by admin on February 1st, 2010

If you are staying at Stratford Suites extended stay hotel or another Spokane area hotel during the week and looking for a local insider sports hangout, check out Tomato Street Italian restaurant on Tuesday nights for a Zags radio show. As the friendly bartender who recently served me there explained, the “GU Coaches Show” is a radio show featuring interviews with the Gonzaga University Bulldogs men’s and women’s basketball coaching staff, with occasional appearances by head coach Mark Few and team players. It originates from Tomato Street and is broadcast on Sports Radio 1510 KGA every Tuesday from 7–8 p.m. Tom Hudson, the radio voice of the Zags, hosts.

Tomato Street is a 9,000 square foot family Italian restaurant with a full bar, located at 6220 North Division Street,

Spokane, WA. Kids are kept happy with fun and quirky touches like clay to shape and crayons to color the paper table coverings. Bonus: This is one of the few restaurants in Spokane to offer whole wheat pasta, and special requests seem to be no problem: a few people in our thirty-five person group (yes, they can accommodate large groups, call 509-484-4500 for reservations) needed dairy-free, and the server happily honored our requests for unbuttered bread and an off-the-menu pasta creation.

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