“As far as we’ve come, greater things are still to be done, in this city.”

Author Elizabeth Gilbert recently shared a map of the Mississippi River, created in 1944 by a cartographer named Harold Fisk, called a “meander map.” 

Gilbert explained that the map demonstrates the various paths the Mississippi has taken over 1,000 years. Each different pathway represents moments in history when the river jumped its banks and dramatically changed course. “Native Americans used to move their settlements along with the river’s constant shifts and changes, but Americans saw things differently. In the 1940s, the Army Corps of Engineers decided to lock down the Mississippi River into a certain course. They built walls and levees and declared: ‘These are now the official boundaries of the Mississippi. She doesn’t move an inch from here.’ Nature, of course, has had different plans.” 

The map reminded Gilbert about the rigid ways she has tried to control her own nature. “I see the rules and boundaries I have set for myself over the years, and how often they have failed,” she says. “Endless, expensive, stress-inducing efforts to civilize the river of my being. I often say that, after a certain age, every woman in the world could write a memoir called Not What I Planned. We change. Life changes. We often feel shame, confusion and anger about those shifts and pivots. But what if we just trusted the river?”

I thought about her statement in regards to the changes our city has experienced over the years, and, in particular, the growing pains evoked from rigid expectations and a lack of grace and patience. Forced growth—or the attempt of it—wreaks havoc on a community, and creates discord within the psychology of its residents. If we neglect to exude grace—investing the time to speak of the many positives occurring in Spokane alongside the challenges we would like to tackle—we risk being steamrolled by a few of the negatives.

As Spokane has grown, our culture and vibe as a community who values staying connected and keeping it real remains, although I fear a tilting of this axis in our current, primarily political, climate. I’ve been a broken record in this arena, but I’ll allow the words to leave my lips yet another time: don’t let anyone convince you to alter your inclination for continued community connectivity. Keep talking about the joys, growth and triumphs, as well as the difficulties and failures—personally, professionally, and as a community—without allowing one to negate the other.

I remember a conversation with my friend Dave Cotton a couple years ago as he recalled being fresh on the Spokane scene 15 years prior, having moved here to become co-anchor of the Inland Northwest’s top-rated morning television news program KHQ Local News Today. Riding his bike downtown to explore his new city soon after arriving, he found there wasn’t much to do and that the downtown area in particular was somewhat of a ghost town. “What have I done?” he asked himself.

Spokane isn’t the same city it was when Dave arrived. It’s not even the same city it was a year ago. And that’s a good thing. If we take a moment to tune into our own senses, we’ll see more visual art, hear more music, read more literature from our neighbors—as we’ve become a writers’ town, taste “knock your socks off” cuisine, sip award winning beverages, gather in cooler spaces with business associates and friends alike.

The challenge, as we continue to move forward, will be to keep that welcoming, small-city feel as Spokane grows and diversifies. Keeping it real, honest and respectful, Spokane style, in the face of more: more humans, more businesses, more tourism, more traffic, more successes, more challenges and greater strains on our essential services and natural resources. It doesn’t have to be easy to be good. And if enough of us stay connected on a personal level, we can help each other shape this pretty little city into a place that feels safe, welcoming and exciting to all who live, work, play and visit here. 

And to help you “see” some of the good, glorious and gilded aspects of our region, we’ve filled this issue with more than 40 pages of the best of our region—sorted into 126 categories for the annual Best of the City Awards. Cheers to you, to our city, to change, to connectivity and to the balance of success and work still left to do, together. 

We are Spokane Coeur d’Alene Living, and we are Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. Please find me on Facebook and Instagram—and hop over to “like” the Spokane Coeur d’Alene Living page—to stay connected between press dates, and share your thoughts, stories, and life in real time.

My best,

Stephanie Regalado

[email protected]