About Spokane - Gonzaga University

THE CITY

Spokane (pronounced Spo-CAN) is the largest metropolitan area between Seattle and Minneapolis, with 199,630 residents within city limits and more than 446,700 people in the greater Spokane area. Spokane is home to an array of historical landmarks, community events, arts & entertainment, and athletic competitions. Click here to learn more about Spokane.

Students walking outside of River Park Square

RIVER PARK SQUARE - DOWNTOWN

River Park Square, located about one mile from Gonzaga's campus, boasts popular stores like Nordstrom, GAP, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, Mariposa, Helly Hansen, Aveda, Bath & Body Works, and Pottery Barn. A three-story movie theater with student discounted ticket sales is also located within the shopping center.

River Park Square

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

For current information on Arts & Entertainment offerings in Spokane, check out the Offical Site of the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Listed below are entertainers and musicians who have recently performed (or soon will be) at one of the many venues in the Spokane area:

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Alison Krauss
Avenged Sevenfold
Avril Lavigne
Ben Cummins - Comedian/GU grad
Ben Folds
Ben Harper
Beyonce
Bill Cosby - Comedian
Blue Man Group
Blues Traveler
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Brad Paisley
Brooks & Dunn
Casting Crowns
Def Leppard
Drowning Pool

E-40
Elevators
G. Love & Special Sauce
George Clinton & P-Funk Allstars
Hinder
Incubus
Jay Leno - Comedian
Larry the Cable Guy - Comedian
Lewis Black - Comedian
Keith Urban
James Taylor
Jason Mraz
Mannheim Steamroller
Mat Kearney
Michael Buble
Modest Mouse
Newsboys

Nickelback
Rascal Flatts
REO Speedwagon
Ron White - Comedian
Sevendust
Shawn Colvin
Social Distortion
Sting
Styx
Switchfoot
Tech N9ne
The Drew Davis Band
The Fray
The Presidents of the United States of America
Tool
Yellowcard

MOUNTAIN SPORTS

The Spokane area is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts with four major ski areas within a 90-minute drive. Find out what Schweitzer, Mt. Spokane, 49° North, and Silver Mountain resorts have to offer.

Schweitzer Ski Resort

LAKE ADVENTURES

Spokane has 76 lakes within a 60-minute drive of downtown, with Lake Coeur d'Alene (pronounced Kor-duh-LANE) being a popular hotspot for weekend getaways and student life activities. In approximately 30 minutes by car, students can enjoy lake activities, Coeur d'Alene's sandy beach, and the occasional boat cruise. Lake Coeur d'Alene is approximately 30 miles east of Spokane, in Idaho.

Lake Arthur

SILVERWOOD THEME PARK & BOULDER BEACH WATER PARK

Silverwood Theme Park and Boulder Beach Water Park - located just 15 minutes north of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - is the Northwest's largest amusement park! Silverwood is proud to hold the largest roller coaster in the region and has over 60 rides, games, and attractions for students to enjoy. (Open May through October.)

Silverwood Theme Park

FAMOUS EVENTS

Hoopfest: Spokane plays host to the largest three-on-three basketball tournament in the country on the last weekend of June every year. The event draws more than 6,000 teams and 24,000 participants to play on almost 400 courts lined out on the streets of downtown Spokane.

Spokane Lilac Festival: The Spokane Lilac Festival has been a "Lilac City" tradition since 1938. Every May, an elaborate Lilac Festival parade decorates the streets of downtown Spokane to honor and showcase the community of Spokane and the Inland Northwest.

Bloomsday: This Spokane event is one of the top ten road races in the United States and one of the largest timed running events in the World. The Lilac Bloomsday Run draws over 50,000 runners and walkers to the 12k race on the first Sunday of May every year. The run draws many people from throughout the Northwest, the Nation, and the World to take part in one of Spokane's most famous annual events.

RIGHT NOW IN SPOKANE

Visit www.accessspokane.com and www.visitspokane.com to explore the latest events and attractions in and around the Spokane metropolitan area.

Spokane River

A BIT OF HISTORY

Spokane County is located on the western slopes of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains along the Idaho-Washington border. East of the Cascade Mountains, it was first settled by the "Spokane"--Native Americans who fished for salmon along the banks of the Spokane River. Immigrants soon came, attracted by the wildlife, fertile soil, mines, forests, and of course the mighty Spokane Falls. Spokane is known as the heart of the Inland Northwest, the city situated along the Spokane River and the Falls.

DID YOU KNOW?

In 2003, the City of Spokane was selected by the Intelligent Community Forum as one of the TOP SEVEN INTELLIGENT COMMUNITIES in the world! Currently, Spokane is rated as one of the top 50 Intelligent Communities in the World.

"Spokane, the largest city on the east side of Washington State, with a population of 196,000, has long been removed both geographically and economically from the fast-growing Seattle area that includes the City of Redmond, home of software giant Microsoft. The prosperity of the City of Spokane in the 19th and early 20th centuries was based on resource extraction, and its history includes the silver boom, the timber boom and a trading boom that followed the coming of the railroads. Their legacy was a downtown area filled with graceful historic buildings set on wide streets above the magnificent falls of the Spokane River. But the power of Spokane's traditional industries to create jobs and prosperity had run its course and, by the 1980's, the city was struggling for economic vitality.

The software boom on the west side of the State, however, was dramatizing the existence of new opportunities and a mix of private-sector and far-sighted public-sector investment began to lay the foundations for a new economy. ...Public-sector investment included Spokane's Educational Metropolitan Area Network, a gigabit Ethernet connection to all classrooms in more than 53 schools and colleges, an Inland Northwest Community Access Network that offers Internet access, training and social service resources to the economically disadvantaged; and a state-funded rural fiber network deployed by Inland Northwest Health Services connecting Spokane's health care community with the region.

Investments valued at more than $1 billion have transformed Spokane, and generated a"Downtown Renaissance" which has launched over 450 new and proposed public and private construction projects to bring new vitality and vigor to downtown Spokane. Building on this regional high-speed infrastructure, Spokane has created a public/private collaboration called the Virtual Possibilities Network, using funding from the local utility, Avista Corporation, in order to donate dark fiber infrastructure for research projects at local universities. And the City itself uses this connectivity for a full range of services from GIS mapping to finding rooms and resources for the homeless, from networking all libraries and community centers to ensuring that police and firefighters have wireless Internet access aboard their vehicles.

Through many steps, large and small, Spokane is building broadband into the life of the City, the region and its residents, and using it as a lever to create a more competitive economy." (Intelligent Community Forum, 2003)

Intelligent Community Forum, 2003. The Top Ten Intelligent Communities of 2003: Retrieved on 22nd December 2004 from the World Wide Web.