The busiest day on Newport's October calendar is Saturday, Oct. 10. It starts with a 10 a.m. book discussion at the Newport Library and closes with telescopes at Indian Creek Community Forest starting at 9 p.m. A benefit concert at Create Arts Center falls in between. On a flyer, those are three separate outings at three separate addresses.
The sponsor lists tell a different story. Create Arts and Community Center is one of the hosts of the forest night. The Pend Oreille County Library District is on that same sponsor list, and it also runs the cider pressing in Usk the Saturday before. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff appear at both of those events. Most of what happens in and around Newport this month comes from a handful of organizers who keep turning up on each other's events. That is why their calendars land on the same days.
Saturday, Oct. 10, Hour by Hour
- 10 a.m., Newport Library. Banned Books Week runs Oct. 4 through 10, and it ends locally with a discussion of George Takei's They Called Us Enemy. The book draws on Takei's childhood in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, and Takei is this year's honorary chair of Banned Books Week.
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 321 W. First St. Inland Empire Spice and Tea is open Saturdays during these hours, which leaves room for a stop between the library and dinner.
- 6 to 8 p.m., Create Arts Center, 900 W. Fourth St. Just Andy plays a benefit concert for the Newport Creative District and Create. He covers rock 'n' roll, alternative, country and Americana. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, and students get in free. You can buy them at Create or at createarts.org.
- 8 p.m., Indian Creek Community Forest, 1802 Indian Creek Road. Healani Johnson, an assistant wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, talks about local bat species and how bats are identified by their sounds.
- 9 p.m., same site. Local amateur astronomers set up telescopes and lead laser-guided tours of the major constellations.
The concert ends at 8 p.m., the same time the bat talk starts. If you want both, plan to get to the forest for the 9 p.m. telescopes, or pick one of the two 8 o'clock options ahead of time. Night Science is free. The hosts will lend red-lens flashlights and ask people not to use white lights, because a white light shrinks your pupils right away and takes several minutes to recover from. That affects you and the people standing near you. Children are welcome with an adult. If the weather turns, one or both presentations may move indoors.
Who Is Behind the Night Sky
Six groups sponsor Night Science:
- Selkirk Alliance for Science
- Pend Oreille County Library District
- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Kalispel Natural Resources Department
- Responsible Growth Northeast Washington
- Create Arts and Community Center
Several of those names also show up a week earlier. On Saturday, Oct. 3, the library district, WDFW and the Kalispel Tribe hold a bear-awareness and cider-pressing event at Usk Community Hall from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The goal is to support local bear abatement. You bring apples from your trees and containers for the cider, and staff press the fruit. If your best apples are out of reach, the Calispel Valley Library lends an apple picker.
So the event about bats on Oct. 10 and the event about bears on Oct. 3 come from largely the same partners, a week apart. Anyone who went to one has a good reason to go to the other.
Create Is the Room the Month Keeps Coming Back To
Create isn't only the concert venue. Its fall calendar runs underneath most of Newport's October. Swing dance starts again on Oct. 2. A kimekomi class is on the calendar for Saturday, Oct. 3, and ukulele studio meets Oct. 1 and Oct. 15. Its regular class list covers belly dance, fiber arts, tai chi, watercolor, music instruction, swing and ballroom dance, and children's creative play.
Other groups book the space as well. The WSU Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners hold their "Understanding Soils" class at Create on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m. It costs $5, and they recommend registering ahead.
The Oct. 10 concert raises money for the Newport Creative District. ArtsWA certified the district during its 2024 fiscal year, in the same group as Anacortes, Bremerton, Ellensburg and CoWalla. The district covers four blocks along Washington and Union avenues, plus the stretch of Highway 2 around Centennial Plaza and the Pend Oreille Historical Museum. A local profile written soon after certification listed the district's plans as beautification, infrastructure, public art and promoting local history. It also described the Earth Day Art Walk, Shamrock Shindig and an ice-cream social, all meant to become annual events. Buying a $15 ticket goes toward that list.
The Week Leading In
The days before Oct. 10 have smaller events, and they still lead back to the same downtown blocks.
Monday, Oct. 5. The Newport Friends of the Library meets at 10 a.m. in the Newport Library teen room, and new members are welcome. From 3:30 to 6 p.m., Pend Oreille PUD hosts Pops, Brats & Kilowatts on the front lawn of its Administration Building on Washington Avenue. Washington Avenue is one of the two streets the Creative District's four blocks run along.
The PUD event marks 90 years. The utility was formed in 1936 under Washington's public utility district law to bring locally governed power to rural communities. Today it provides electric, water and broadband service across the county. The Pend Oreille County Historical Society is bringing a display on those nine decades. Food, drinks and games are free. Local fire districts will have booths too, since Public Power Week overlaps with Fire Prevention Week.
Thursday, Oct. 8. The PUD repeats the celebration from 3:30 to 6 p.m. in the Box Canyon Visitor Center parking lot. The soils class at Create follows at 6:30.
Saturday, Oct. 3. If you'd rather make a day of it across the state line, Priest River holds its Oktoberfest downtown from noon to 5 p.m. with no entry fee. This year there are five beer vendors, six food vendors and 11 craft vendors. Games include Hammerschlagen, a cornhole tournament, keg curling, stein holding and arm wrestling. Tiffiny Simpkins, vice president of the Priest River Chamber of Commerce, told The Miner that "people like to get out and socialize and have something to do without going too far."
A Spice Shop That Moved Home
Inland Empire Spice and Tea is the one new storefront in this picture. Searri and Keven Shipman of Usk moved the shop from Spokane, where it had operated for about five years, and opened at 321 W. First St. in May. Searri said the move saved them money and that she would "rather be up in our local community." Popular items include Heavenly Huckleberry Tea, Smokin Huckleberry Rub, Muddy Bigfoot Brew and Butter Beer Tea. The owners say more than 90% of their stock is additive-free. They also do custom blending for Spokane restaurants such as Island Style Grill and The Lantern Restaurant.
The shop's hours fit the Saturday schedule above, and its fall plans run past October. Searri plans to hand out coupons and candy on Halloween. The owners also plan longer hours over Black Friday weekend and on select evenings.
After the 10th
The same network keeps going after Oct. 10. On Saturday, Oct. 17, Create hosts Biblio Mania, a free local-author event from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Nancy Eldridge and Jani Gonzales are hosting, and authors will have their books for sale. Refreshments will be served. Authors who want to take part pay a $15 fee and must register by Oct. 3.
In November, the WSU Pend Oreille County Extension Office in Newport hosts a hydroponics class on Nov. 12 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Certified Master Gardener Courtney George leads it. The fee is $5 per person or $8 per couple, and you register by phone.
If you're local, Create's number is 509-447-9277 for concert information and for registering for its free classes.
We spend a lot of our time on Newport's quieter details, from river frontage to the rural roads out toward Indian Creek. Calendars like this one are part of how we stay current on the community. If a weekend at Create or a night under the Night Science telescopes has you thinking about your own next step in Pend Oreille County, Arianna & Angela Newcomb would be glad to sit down with you. Schedule a Free Consultation.
