SPOKANE, Wash — You can expect quite a few time-honored traditions for the 48th running of Bloomsday.
Same 12-kilometer course, bands keeping pace along the route, tens of thousands of runners pounding the pavement.
Though this year, the Lilac Bloomsday Association kicked off the festivities with some big changes.
"We're going to do something we've never done before. Which is a T-shirt reveal," said Dori Whitford of the association, pulling out a gray shirt and holding it up for a crowd at No-Li's Bier Hall Thursday. "The volunteer t-shirts. Come on, you guys."
That's another tradition that's not being touched: you'll have to wait a bit longer for a peek at the coveted finisher shirts which are revealed on race day.
"We're giving a nod to the 50th year since Expo," Whitford said of the volunteer shirts.
The association revealed only a bit of what we can expect for Bloomsday 48 during Thursday's kick-off event. That included this year's charity of choice: Shriners Children's Spokane.
Kristin Monasmith, director of marketing for the hospital, said they're also celebrating an anniversary. The Spokane hospital began caring for children, regardless of ability to pay, in November 1924.
"In that first year we cared for 115 kids," she said. "In 2023, fast-forward to last year just in our out-patient clinic alone we had 17,000 visits."
The nods to the 50th anniversary of Expo 74 can also be seen in this year's souvenir medal and in the Bloomsday poster, designed by Art Mercz.
"To kind of get the connectedness of community with the lines and the changing of the seasons with the gradients," he said of his design, which features the race route. "And of course Expo 74 with the A."
Mercz has been submitting designs for the race shirts since 2008; his finisher T-shirt design was selected during the 40th Bloomsday.
It's not just the big race seeing changes. Junior Bloomsday returns for its third year in a row, allowing third-seventh graders a chance to show off their skills.
"Something new this year we're really excited about is we are starting a scholarship fund for kids in Title I schools who may not be able to participate," said Stefanie Webb of the Lilac Bloomsday Association.
Kick-off attendees also got an early introduction to this year's Hall of Fame inductee, which association member Mark Starr says usually isn't released until close to the race. The early announcement didn't ruffle any feathers, though.
"Bloomsday Hall of Fame this year: Bill Robinson," Starr said to cheers and applause, standing next to the 11-foot tall bird.
Residents likely know Bill as the Doomsday Hill vulture.
"Interesting fact: he's been doing this for about 36 years now," Starr said. "And in that time he's in that uniform for five hours?"
Bloomsday registration is now open here. Race day is May 5.
Watch the full press conference below:
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.