The Spokane Lilac Festival |
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Our New 2022 Spokane Lilac Festival Theme |
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2022 President Alan Hart
Photo Courtesy of Hawkinson Photography
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Thank you and Merry Christmas to all of our volunteers, directors and partners! We have had an eventful Fall with three highly successful events and a float barn move in just 50 days.
After two years, the Lilac Festival was the first major Spokane event back with our first ever holiday parade. The parade in conjunction with our partner’s River Park Square Mall Santa’s Arrival ceremony was well attended by thousands and was capped off with fireworks in the evening.
At the Holiday Bruncheon on Dec 11th, we also unveiled our theme for 2022, “Our Town”. The theme speaks to the importance of community, especially after two years of pandemic. Our communities: where we raise our families, go to church, start businesses and go to school. They are our hobby groups, our volunteer groups and places of employment. In short, “Our Town” symbolizes how important relationships are to us.
I hope the holiday season brings each of you joy and plenty of time with family and friends. I’ll leave you with my personally favorite picture of the 2020 and 2021 courts in front River Park Square Mall just prior to the holiday parade. Despite a difficult two years each of these talented young women are smiling and reflecting the hope of the season.
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On Veteran's Day, November 11, 2021, a few of our local 2021 Royal Court attended an event at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center to express their gratitude for the service our Veterans have given to protect our nation’s freedom.
Princess Maddie and Princess Lauren were present to greet and thank our Veterans for their service. Area school children had made cards thanking our Veterans that the court was able to distribute on their behalf.
We are forever grateful for our Veterans.
Thank You for your service.
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2021 'Destination Spokane'
Holiday Parade
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2020 & 2021 Lilac Festival President Dan VerHeul & First Lady Chris VerHeul |
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Fairchild Air Force Base Color Guard |
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Grand Marshal Tony Lamonta |
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We love our Military Families!!!! |
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Lilac Spotlight
Mike Moore
46 Year Lilac Volunteer
Director
Float Toad
Since 1981, there has been one consistent hand behind every Lilac float design, Mike Moore. Mike started with Lilac in 1972 as a volunteer with the Royal Escorts, a group that built and traveled to many of the parades in the Pacific Northwest. However, it wasn’t until an attempt to get community input into our float design that Mike’s iconic scale models designs began. In 1981 after receiving three non-workable design inputs, the Lilac President Marvin Rubens asked Mike to design a trolley car float. That moment kicked off one of our most consistent traditions, one that has remained virtually unbroken to the current year.
Of course, the first in a long tradition deserves to be repeated, right? Mike’s trolley car float design is the only two time float design in our 84 years. In 1981, the trolley car was colored lilac and just a couple years later it was repeated in blue at the request of the Spokane Water Department.
The float models and the philosophy behind their creation is an extension of Mike’s 48 year professional career as an art teacher in the Mead school district. Each design element is a three dimensional rendering of the actual full scale piece, to include materials and colors. Mike emphasizes it's an important part of the build process to have all elements working together in miniature before scaling up to their full size.
Mike has stayed committed to Lilac for many years. Starting as a child going to watch the parade to designing our floats, our festival has played a significant role in his life. One of his favorite things to do is driving floats in parades. According to Mike “You drive at a child's eye level, you get to see their reaction.” We hope Mike will continue to drive and design floats that amaze children for many more years to come.
If you have a chance, please thank Mike Moore for his half century of Lilac volunteerism and the nearly 40 float designs he has created.
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The 5th Annual Lilac Legacy Art Show |
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Our 5th Annual Lilac Legacy Art Show took place on Tuesday November 16th at Nectar Catering and Events in Downtown Spokane. We had some really great pieces of art work entered! And enjoyed some really great food! Be on the lookout for the newest prospectus for the May 2022 show! |
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First Place Winner: "Lilac Love" by MaryAnn Fiorillo |
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Second Place Winner: "Spokane's Lilac Garden" by Gloria Fox |
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Third Place Winner: "Delphinium" by Janie Edwards |
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"Home for the Holidays" Bruncheon
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Last weekend we held our very first Holiday Bruncheon and it was a major success! We had over 200 people join us for some delicious food and fabulous time with friends and family.
Santa took time out of his busy schedule to join us for pictures and the Ferris High School Canterbury Belles sang some beautiful Christmas carols. We had many raffle and silent auction items including some coveted Gonzaga Basketball tickets!
2022 Lilac President Alan Hart revealed his theme at the Holiday Bruncheon. His pin art, designed by Gloria Fox, and float, designed by Mike Moore, were also revealed.
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1999 Lilac Princess and current Lilac Director Elizabeth Hooker served as our emcee and did amazing as always! |
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1991 Lilac Princess Taryn (Brinson) League was our speaker for the event. Taryn represented Gonzaga Prep as Lilac Princess. Taryn's mom, Megan, was a Lilac Princess for North Central High School in 1965 and her dad, Tim, was a Lilac Director in the 1980s. |
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A big thank you to Barbara Tappa and the Ferris High School Canterbury Belles for their beautiful Christmas songs. |
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"Our Town"
The 2022 Spokane Lilac Festival theme is revealed!!!
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2022 President Alan Hart is assisted by President-Elect Sam Snow in unveiling the 2022 Spokane Lilac Festival Float!!! |
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A close-up view of the float model |
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The Royalty Application Packets are due this Friday, December 17th by 5pm.
The area High Schools are busy picking their Royalty Candidates! We are so excited to meet the special young ladies who could be our next Royal Court members!
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2021 'Color Me Lilac'
Coloring Contest
Winners
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We had many great entries for our Color Me Lilac Holiday Coloring Contest! A big thank you to River Park Square for displaying all of our entries.
Watch for information on our 2022 Color Me Lilac Coloring Contest coming up next year!
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0 to 4 years old Winner: Hannah |
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5 years to 7 years old Winner: Celia |
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8 years old to 12 years old Winner: Sammy |
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18 years & Up Winner: Rachael |
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Grand Prize Winner: Kimberly |
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We have a new office manager!!!
Stacey Kottwitz has accepted the position as office manager. Stacey has volunteered with the Spokane Lilac Festival Parade Krewe for many years and had become a director right before the COVID pandemic started. Please join us in welcoming her to the office team!
Office Hours Change!!!
The Lilac office is now open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10am-2pm. The days and times that the office is open will be adjusted as the year progresses. Feel free to call or email the office to confirm the hours before coming in.
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The Spokane Lilac Festival wishes our friends with birthdays in November and December a Happy Birthday!
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December:
- Catherine Tunstall 12/1
- Kristy Hamby 12/3
- Jamie Dedmon 12/6
- Hal Patton 12/7
- Christine Leva 12/8
- Margeaux Fox 12/21
- Jack Aronson 12/25
- Carly Cortright 12/27
January:
- Kathy Kendall 1/4
- Denny Kane 1/13
- Deb Koch 1/15
- Denise Vickerman 1/17
- Nancy Cole 1/20
- Deborah Bowen 1/23
- Lisa Lembeck 1/25
- Joyce Tillotson 1/25
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December:
- Monday, December 6th - Hosting Committee Meeting, 6pm via Zoom and Lilac Office
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Saturday, December 11th - Lilac Holiday Bruncheon, 10am, Historic Davenport Hotel | Click Here for More Info & Tickets
- Monday, December 13th - Community Partnerships Committee, 6pm, Lilac Office
- Wednesday, December 15th - NEW Directors Q2 Meeting, 6pm, Zoom & In-Person
- Friday, December 17th - Royalty Candidate Packets Due, 5pm, Lilac Office
- Monday, December 20th - Finance Committee Meeting, 6pm, Lilac Office
- Tuesday, December 28th - Executive Committee Meeting, 6pm, Lilac Office & Zoom
- Monday, December 20th thru Monday, January 3rd - Lilac Office Closed
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Spokane Lilac Festival
3021 S. Regal, Suite 105
Spokane, WA 99223
509.535.4554
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Video Produced & Provided by Gibby Media Group |
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