SPOKANE, Wash. — Adding a bit of movement to the stationary runners, old race day t-shirts add energy to every Bloomsday weekend. One woman has been responsible for the annual tradition for the past 27 years.
Lala Gerber started collecting the shirts decades ago while working at St. Vincent de Paul. Her job consisted of putting together the store's visual displays, so dressing the mannequins sparked the inspiration to dress the runner statues.
"There's people that look forward to it, and they don't know who does it. But they expect it to be done," Gerber said.
Since that year, the tradition has become part of what creates excitement around race day. But after nearly three decades, Gerber said it's getting harder to find t-shirts every year.
She needs 40 shirts, one for each statue, every year. She started a Facebook page asking the community for donations, and she partners with local thrift stores that donate shirts every year.
Some of the shirts are vintage and worth money now, sporting old Nike logos. Plus, Gerber has to find shirts that are large enough to fit onto each statue.
"I barely have enough," Gerber said about this year.
She will hang all 40 shirts at 11 a.m. on Friday morning, then she will have to start collecting for next year.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
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.