During the first two weeks of July, I enjoyed a restful vacation with my husband, Tom, and daughter, Karolina. We traveled to the East Coast to visit friends and family in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as in New England. One of our many stops was in  in Riverside, Rhode Island, where we visited the birthplace of Spokane’s Looff Carousel at Crescent Park. Mr. Charles I.D. Looff’s “show” carousel is in a beautiful building where he had a small shop that created the merry-go-rounds for amusement parks around the country. Unfortunately, the Crescent Park Carousel was closed for repairs…hopefully, I will be able to bring my daughter back for a ride in the future! In the meantime, she can ride to her heart’s content on Spokane’s 1909 Looff Carousel — one of a few left nationwide and relocated from the old Nat Park to our lovely Riverfront Park!

p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm and One World Spokane have come together to offer Spokane residents a community farm stand featuring fresh, local, organic produce for sale as well as fun and informational cooking and nutrition classes all conveniently located in the East Central Neighborhood.

p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm gives discounts of 50% for those electing to purchase produce with their EBT card – a discount given at every p.e.a.c.h. farm stand with EBT payment . The food stand is available each Thursday from 4-7 at the One World Garden (Pittsburg St. off Sprague Ave behind One World Cafe). For more information on this and other p.e.a.c.h. farm stands and farmers markets please visit www.peachlocal.com.

Nutrition and cooking classes taught at One World Cafe can be attended for a donation. Cooking classes take place on Wednesday evenings from 6-8 p.m. and are held at One World Spokane Kitchen located at 1804 E. Sprague Avenue. For more information about other One World Spokane events and for more details regarding cooking classes, including the class schedule and weekly topics, please visit www.oneworldspokane.org or call One World Spokane at 509-270-1608.

Attachments below include a p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm Stand flyer, Cooking and Nutrition Class flyer, and One World Spokane’s July newsletter.

community farm stand; cooking classes; ows newsletter

The Office of Neighborhood Services and Community Assembly’s Building Stronger Neighborhoods committee have organized four “meet & eat” events to share information about various City departments and the services they provide: Each event is intended to provide an understanding of what the featured departments does and how they can help you make your neighborhood a better place. Both the department head and other staff will be present at each event to answer your questions.

Staff to be present on Wednesday include Jonathan Mallahan, director of the Office of Neighborhood Services (ONS)/Code enforcement and Heather Troutman, Code Enforcement Supervisor

This event will be held between 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Northern Lights Brewery (1003 E. Trent Ave)

If you plan to attend please contact Sandy Scott by email at sscott@spokanecity.org or by phone at 625-6730.

*Attendees of these events are responsible for their own food and beverage.

Food scraps and food-soiled paper can now be mixed in with Clean Green yard debris

Starting today, Monday, July 12, 2010, Spokane Regional Solid Waste System (SRSWS) facilities will accept food scraps and food-soiled paper that residents place in curbside Clean Green carts or bring as Clean Green to one of the three SRSWS facilities.

In addition to offering greater recycling options, customers taking advantage of this new program may find that when they include food scraps with their Clean Green materials, the amount of waste they put in the garbage cart may be reduced enough that they can move to a smaller collection container at a lower price.

More information on food scraps collection (including which food scraps and food-soiled paper can be included and which are prohibited) and other recycling and solid waste topics are available from the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System website at www.solidwaste.org or by calling the Recycling Hot Line, 625-6800.

Summer Parkways are coming to Spokane – next event on August 22nd, 2010!

Bring your bike, board, or feet down to Howard St between Corbin Park & Riverfront Park to join in the celebration!

Inspired by an event in Bogota, Columbia call Ciclovia (meaning “bike path” in Spanish) and similar events in other parts of the world the focus of Spokane Summer Parkways is on recreation, fitness, and community. For this event 3 miles of roadway will be closed to automobiles and the streets will be open up to bikes, pedestrians, skaters, and other human-powered transportation. Physical fitness activities like yoga, Zumba, Hula Hoops, jump rope, hacky sack, and martial arts will also be offered free along the course to encourage a healthy lifestyle for everyone. There will be tandem bikes to ride, and others to test drive, so bring a helmet if you can. And, there will be a bike decorating contest!

The event will take place from 9 AM-1 PM with activities throughout the day: Show up anytime during those hours.

For more information and details about the bike decorating contest please visit www.summerparkways.com

***And remember, if you ride your bike to Summer Parkways, bring a lock so you can stop and do the activities.***