The Inlander10%
Hillyard’s annual Hi-Jinx Parade & Festival celebrates the neighborhood’s rich history and more recent revitalization 47%
By Lucia Valle62%
7/29/2026, 12:00:00 PM
Keywords: Hillyard, Hi Jinx Parade, Festival, Spokane, Community, History, Revitalization, Public Art, Local Business, Tradition
BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Confirmation Bias, and Framing Effect, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 18.5% saturation with 204 hits. Analysis detected 1,101 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,105 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.5% and a BS Rank of 47% (13,420 of 25,294 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 53.10% of the article peer group.
Tucked in Spokane’s northeastern corner, the Hillyard neighborhood hosts a tradition that returns every summer, one that’s almost as old as the state of Washington itself.
Dating back to 1911, the Hillyard Hi-Jinx Parade has been an ongoing community celebration and a gathering space for over a century — this year marks its 115th event.
The annual festival and parade returns to north Market Street on Saturday Aug. 1, showcasing not only Hillyard’s storied history, but also how public art, local businesses and longtime traditions are helping reshape one of Spokane’s fastest-growing neighborhoods.
The free community celebration invites neighborhood residents and visitors alike to rediscover the charm of Hillyard through a parade, live music, local vendors, car shows, a community mural, children’s activities and local businesses, which will have their doors open all day.
Lined with early 1900s brick buildings, Hillyard’s main drag on Market Street buzzes with local shops that welcome visitors with friendly smiles.
The historic architecture is the heart of the neighborhood, but residents are its soul.
For Dee Boyle, who moved to Spokane from the Tri-Cities in 2021 and serves as marketing coordinator for the Hillyard Creative District, falling in love with the neighborhood happened almost immediately.
“All these people from all over moved here for the railroads, and they had to find a way to become neighbors with each other and connect,” Boyle says.
“And that’s where the Hi-Jinx Parade actually started 115 years ago.”
That deep-rooted sense of community was born alongside Hillyard itself.
Back in the late 19th century, railroad developer and businessman James J.
Hill strategically chose Hillyard’s location, which was not yet part of Spokane, to house his Great Northern Railroad terminal and workshops to avoid paying municipal taxes.
According to Spokane Historical, an online history platform run by Eastern Washington University’s public history program (spokanehistorical.org), most residents of the area at the time were railroad industry workers.
In honor of Hill, it was named Hillyard (from Hill’s Yard), even though he objected to the decision.
At the railroads’ economic peak in the 1950s, Great Northern’s Hillyard headquarters employed over 1,300 workers who built massive steam engines for the region.
However, by the early 1980s, rail mergers shifted operations elsewhere, leaving many residents without jobs and subsequently forcing local businesses in the area to close.
Economic hardship in the decades since hasn’t held back Hillyard residents’ dogged determination.
Instead, it’s driving them to reinvent the neighborhood while continuing to celebrate that scrappy spirit and the place they call home.
The neighborhood’s rail heritage is still proudly visible today, including at its small train museum.
“People who did not really have a lot of ties to each other created ties on behalf of railroads, and you still see that spirit here,” Boyle says.
“Hillyard’s always about showing up for each other and making things happen, despite a noticeable challenge at times.”
In August 2025, the Washington State Arts Commission officially designated Hillyard as Spokane’s first-ever Creative District.
The designation recognizes how, over the past several years, the historically economically depressed area has been intentionally infused with public art, new businesses and events.
Instead of overshadowing Hillyard’s gritty history with modern gentrification, Boyle says the creative district title elevates the neighborhood’s existing blue-collar charm and draws visitors to experience what residents love about the area.
“We’ve really just come in and helped amplify what was already built here by a lot of locals,” she says.
“Most of this programming is all the result of locals and volunteers, and we’re just here to help amplify it.”
During Saturday’s parade, kicking off at 10 am at Harmon Park and marching down Market Street, people are encouraged to fill up the sidewalks along the way with lawn chairs and picnic blankets to enjoy the day’s festivities
Hillyard Hi-Jinx offers more than just a parade.
“It’s a little bit of everything, all in one, and the creativity of this community shows in that parade,” Boyle says.
“During the parade and after, we’ll have a festival with all sorts of local vendors, food, artist makers, local businesses and organizations doing collectivities along with live music for most of the day.”
It can be a challenge to strike the perfect balance between honoring the past and embracing the future; however, Hillyard’s growing collection of public murals is succeeding.
If you take a stroll along Market Street, you’ll likely notice many different colorful artworks covering brick walls and the sides of storefronts, including several telling stories about the neighborhood’s industrial past and demonstrating its creative spirit.
This year’s Hi-Jinx celebration is adding another community mural to that mix, designed by six local high school students who were selected to participate in this summer’s Hillyard Mural Apprenticeship program.
Led by local artist Rose Honey, the project gives students — including some who’d never painted before — hands-on experience while working alongside professional artists and introducing them to creative careers they may not have considered.
The same group was recently commissioned to paint a mural on Post Street in downtown Spokane to raise awareness for youth drug overdose prevention campaigns.
Starting at 10 am, visitors of all ages will also have a chance to help paint sections of the new Hillyard mural, on the side of Green’s Fresh Market, through a paint-by-number format, regardless of artistic experience.
“At one of the oldest events in our community, you can be a part of the newest mural,” Boyle says.
Boyle says projects like the mural reflect the same spirit that inspired the Hi-Jinx Parade more than a century ago: neighbors creating something together.
“It’s a moment to honor where we’ve been and also where we’re going,” she says.
“When you have a tradition that’s been going on literally for over a century — but then you also get the opportunity to infuse our mural apprentices, the new businesses and new neighbors that are moving to Hillyard — it feels like both.”
As summer continues, Hillyard has several more community events on the calendar, including the annual Chalk Art Walk (Aug.
8), Tacos y Tequila Festival (Aug. 29) and Hillyard Pride (Sept.
19).
More than a century after railroad workers first gathered to build a community, the Hi-Jinx Parade continues to celebrate and honor that legacy.
While the neighborhood that hosts the event has evolved, its purpose has remained unchanged: bringing neighbors together and inviting others to forge connections in Hillyard.
Hillyard Hi-Jinx Parade & Festival • Sat, Aug. 1 from 10 am-8 pm • Free • Hillyard Neighborhood • North Market Street • hillyardspokane.org/parade
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