Mikayla Davis
The Communicator

There’s more to parks than dog poop and children. They also hold a lot of culture for the neighborhoods they are in.
ArtFest, an annual event located in Browne’s Edition’s Coeur D’Alene Park, brings in over a hundred artists and vendors from around the Northwest.
The publicity that ArtFest creates in Spokane helps the renovations of Coeur D’Alene Park.
“People are nice,” said Conar Piermarini, co-owner of Oberini Glass, said. “I think people understand our art. It’s complimentary to their lifestyle.”
For years, he and his wife Ana Willow Obermayr have come to ArtFest from Portland, Oregon.
“Where else are you gonna go to enjoy the outside and enjoy culture,” Piermarini said. “It keeps people happy and motivated and looking forward to stuff. It’s like coming back to the same friends.”
“I come usually every year,” said Duncan Jackson, a student from Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC). “It’s great to support the arts and give artists a platform to support the crafts. It seemed like a really beautiful day for it.”
An organization called Friends of Coeur D’Alene Park has been trying to improve the park over the last couple of years.
“Our mission is to have the restoration of the park back to what it was like at the turn of the last century,” MaryLou Sproul, a local historian and a member of the Friends of Coeur D’Alene park and a retired English teacher from SFCC, said.  “We are stewards of the park and in that way, we are connected with ArtFest.”
This year, Friends of Coeur D’Alene Park set up a lemonade stand in front of Patsy Clark’s mansion, directly across from Artfest. They offered walking tours of Browne’s Edition and sold lemonade in order to make money for the park’s renovation.
“When we were here for the Mother’s Day tour, we raised almost $700 dollars,” Sproul said. “We worked with the parks department last year to do the restoration on the gazebo. We had a grant that we wrote for lots of money to upgrade the playground equipment and we hope to do something for the paths. We also have money for the comprehensive plan for the park.”
Other parks around Spokane are also renovating.
According to riverfrontparkmasterplan.org, the Parks & Recreation Department in Spokane began creating a master plan for Riverfront Park in 2012. This year they began Phase II where the Department hopes to finalize the strategies they created in Phase I. However, the growth and development for Riverfront Park is set to take place over the next 40 years.
The goals, according to the Master Plan, is to create a gathering place that is accessible, safe, and affordable.
Some of the top project ideas right now are to create a promenade to connect the north and south bank of the park. They also hope to recover the Pavilion tent structure and improve the lighting on it and to create a new home for the Looff Carrousel.
In a survey conducted by the Master Plan site, 61.8 percent of the people who took their survey hoped that the scenic river views would be enhanced by the renovations.
Another park updated recently was Huntington Park, also in downtown Spokane. This park, paid for by Avista Corp. offers citizens “interpretive displays” that will feature artifacts of Washington Water Power.
According to spokanecity.org, Avista is committed to continuing “the environmental stewardship and beautification of areas along the Spokane River.” The renovation of Huntington Park “will open up the great views of the Spokane River, foster connectivity between Riverfront Park and Huntington Park, and provide more park amenities.”
“I love that the city is paying more attention to the environment and encouraging students and other people to spend more time outside,” Kara Nelson, an alumni of SFCC said.
By holding events such as ArtFest and other park-based events, Spokane is able to attract more people to better improve the city’s economy.