Best Web Design in Spokane, WA (2026)

Web Design for Spokane, Washington

Spokane is the largest city in the Inland Northwest, straddling the Spokane River whose waterfalls tumble right through downtown. It earned the name Lilac City after park crews planted the flowering shrubs across town in the early 1900s, and it now brands itself Hooptown USA for hosting the world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The riverfront core was carved out of old rail yards for the 1974 World's Fair, still the smallest city ever to host a world exposition.

AppWT works with Spokane, WA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Spokane

Also known as. Lilac City. Hooptown USA (official city nickname). The Kan. Spoke Vegas.

History. The Spokane Tribe, whose name means 'children of the sun' in Salishan, were the first people to live in the area. Lilacs were not native; the first were recorded planted in Browne's Addition in 1906, and by 1912 parks director John W. Duncan had planted 128 lilac bushes (cultivars from Rochester, New York) in Manito Park, seeding the 'Lilac City' identity. Gonzaga University was established in 1887 by the Jesuits and grew into one of the nation's best-known basketball programs. Spokane hosted Expo '74, the first environmentally themed World's Fair; President Richard Nixon opened the six-month event, and it remains the smallest city ever to host a world exposition. The city is the birthplace of Father's Day: the first observance was held June 19, 1910, after Sonora Smart Dodd proposed honoring fathers like her Civil War veteran father William Jackson Smart.

Local economy. Serves as the commercial, medical, and cultural hub for the Inland Northwest region spanning eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Higher education anchors the economy, led by Gonzaga University (founded 1887). Tourism and events built around Riverfront Park, the legacy of the Expo '74 fairgrounds.

Culture and community. Bloomsday, a road race founded in May 1977 that draws tens of thousands of runners and walkers through downtown and Riverfront Park. Spokane Hoopfest, billed as the largest 3-on-3 outdoor basketball tournament in the world, spanning roughly 45 city blocks with thousands of teams. Pig Out in the Park over Labor Day weekend, with 50-plus food booths, beer gardens, and live music in Riverfront Park. The Spokane Lilac Festival, first held in 1938, celebrating the city's signature bloom. Crooner Bing Crosby grew up in Spokane and attended Gonzaga; his childhood home holds the Crosby memorabilia collection. The Chinese Lantern Festival, a multi-week Riverfront event with large illuminated lantern displays.

What makes Spokane distinct. Spokane is the smallest city ever to host a World's Fair (Expo '74). It is the birthplace of Father's Day, first celebrated here on June 19, 1910. The lilac cultivars that gave Spokane its nickname were originally shipped in from Rochester, New York, another 'Flower City.' The official city nickname is Hooptown USA, thanks to Hoopfest. The Garbage Goat sculpture literally sucks up trash through a hidden vacuum when a nearby button is pressed.

Spokane Landmarks and Local Life

• Riverfront Park - a roughly 100-acre downtown park created from industrial land for Expo '74
• The Clock Tower - built in 1902 as part of the Great Northern Railway Depot, now an icon of Riverfront Park
• The Looff Carousel - hand-carved in 1909 as a wedding gift and brought to Spokane in 1923
• The Garbage Goat - a whimsical Riverfront sculpture by Paula Turnbull that vacuums up litter
• Manito Park - home to the Lilac Garden that helped launch the city's nickname
• The Davenport Hotel - a landmark historic downtown hotel