SPOKANE, Wash.– The 50th running of Bloomsday is in just a few days and volunteers are coming together to clean up Spokane ahead of the big race.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership said it’s like cleaning up your house before you have guests over.
More than 41,000 people have already registered for the race and Bloomsday organizers expect 1,000 to 2,000 more people to register before Sunday.
To help get the city ready for everyone that will be visiting, Bloomsday is partnering with Downtown Spokane Partnership and their clean team.
“They’re doing all of that general clean up, getting all of the litter and removing the less desirable items from the sidewalk,” Downtown Spokane Partnership’s VP of Marketing Elisabeth Hooker said, “but then each year we ask the community members to come out and do an extra special front porch clean up.”
Downtown Spokane Partnership said it got 80 volunteers to come out over the course of the week to clean up trash and freshen up planters.
It hopes the effort will help make a good first impression of downtown for everyone that will be visiting for bloomsday.
“Just like anywhere you go, if you invite guests over, you’re going to do an extra special clean up for your home and we feel the same way about downtown,” Hooker said.
Bloomsday organizers are thankful that volunteers have been working hard to get Spokane ready to welcome people from all 50 states and 20 different countries.
Meanwhile, Bloomsday is setting up for bib pickup at the Spokane Convention Center, which will also include a trade show.
People of all abilities will be participating in the race, including a wheelchair division.
Parasport’s David Greig is looking forward to being a part of the 50th anniversary of Bloomsday.
“I think it’s exciting to see this last this long and to be growing at the rate that it is now,” Greig said, “as people try to pivot to be outdoors more and be more active, we’re starting to see that movement again.”
For the runners who have already registered for the race, bib pickups will begin at the Spokane Convention Center Friday at 11:30.
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