For one weekend every June, Hoopfest takes over downtown Spokane.
While the event may span just three days each year, the organization's impact on the community is year-round. Since 1990, Hoopfest has helped build over 30 basketball courts around the Inland Northwest. They're in Spokane, at parks like Comstock and Corbin, but also all around the region, from Reardan to Lewiston.
It's on these courts that Hoopfest makes its presence known 365 days of the year.
"I do take pride in this fact, and our organization should take pride in this fact, that you go out about any day from when the weather gets nice ... so let's just call it June 1 through Hoopfest, and there are people on the courts," says Riley Stockton, executive director of the Spokane Hoopfest Association.
Not every basketball court around the region was developed by Hoopfest, but many of the best ones were. On the west side of the city for example, Grandview Park has a decent basketball court. About a mile away at Whittier Park, you'll find a Hoopfest court, and it's even better.
"We've been able to work with Hoopfest to identify high-need areas within neighborhoods and parks that either do not have a sports-court-slash-basketball court, or there is a basketball court that is in high need of replacement," says Garrett Jones, director of Spokane Parks and Recreation.
The most recent example opened this year.
The cement at Underhill Park is now dry, but it still feels fresh on the two brand new basketball courts. Part of a $628,000 renovation that included not only the two basketball courts but also a pickleball area and updates to the sidewalk and crosswalks, the newest Hoopfest court brings a level of modernity to a park that has long been a focal point for Spokane's grassroots basketball scene.
The Spokane Eastside Reunion Association puts on a youth basketball camp at the park every summer. Construction of the new courts was scheduled around it.
"We waited until the camp was done last year to start on it, and then they just finished [the court] up a few days ago," Stockton says.
The camp used to take place on asphalt, but now, smooth cement. Previously the courts were oriented east-to-west, meaning in the afternoons and evenings one team was playing directly into the sun. Now, the new courts run north-to-south. It's a small change, but one that really matters.
"As we looked at activating the East Central neighborhood and then this location, we worked with the neighborhood and Hoopfest and Parks [and Recreation] and our state grant officers over in Olympia to look at opportunities to be able to invest back in that facility," Jones says.
The changes at Underhill are the most recent example of work Hoopfest has done to improve basketball courts around the region. Years ago, the focus landed on Grant Park in Spokane's South Perry District.
On a mildly rainy weekday, when you would think a basketball court would be empty, I find a man playing on the Grant Park court.
"This seems to be like a well, well-maintained court," says Jake Vincent, who was shooting around on the court while his family enjoyed the play structure just across the lawn.
"I'm just kind of getting back into the game after taking 15, 20 years off. So for me it's just a fun place to shoot. My kids can play at the playground, and I can get some shots off," Vincent says.
Hoopfest not only builds these courts around the region, but also plays a role in maintaining them.
"Every year we bring fresh nets around, and if there's stuff broken, we try to fix it on each of these courts. So hopefully we're trying to do a good job of maintaining them as well with the parks department," Stockton says.
As Stockton mentions, while the Hoopfest name adorns these courts, they are, like the namesake event this weekend, a collaborative effort.
"It is all about partnerships. When we look at the opportunities of what we can provide in parks and recreation, of giving these assets to the community that get the community outside, gets them engaged with each other, gets them moving, gets them out of their house, off their screens, providing that positive atmosphere is a huge win for us," Jones says. "And I know that's a huge mission for Hoopfest."
After literally bringing traffic to a halt through downtown Spokane this weekend, Hoopfest's impact doesn't end once hundreds of hoops are taken down, tape peeled off, and the asphalt returned to cars.
Basketball will continue to be played. And at more than 30 locations around the Inland Northwest, it will be played on public courts that would not be there were it not for the event this weekend and the partnerships Hoopfest has helped to create. ♦
