The Jess Roskelley Foundation is hosting a local showing of Mountainfilm on Tour, featuring the best of the films awarded at the annual festival held each year in Telluride, Colorado. Join others for an evening of inspiring films to benefit local outdoor recreation projects. Doors open at the Garland Theater September 28 at 7 p.m. and the films run until 9:30 p.m. Beer and wine will be served and some great outdoor adventure prizes from The North Face, Lowa, YETI, Rambleraven Gear Trader, and Bloc Yard Bouldering Gym will be raffled off. Event tickets are $20 and are available in advance at Garlandtheater.com or at the door.
The foundation will be showing over a dozen of their favorite short films from the festival that will include outdoor adventure, environmental, political and social justice themes that the festival hopes will inspire viewers to go out and create a better world.
All proceeds benefit the Jess Roskelley Foundation’s pledge of $100,000 to help renovate John H. Shields (Minnehaha) Park and climbing area. Foundation board member John Roskelley says there is a complete renovation planned for the park. Once the City of Spokane and Spokane County have completed the joint project, hopefully by late 2024, renovations will include a new parking lot, improved Centennial Trail access, ADA accessibility, a new restroom, and, thanks to the Jess Roskelley Foundation, a new children’s playground with multiple climbing features. “One of them will be a giant, climbable marmot made out of steel and cement,” explains John. “It will give families a chance to let their kids climb without having to go up on the rocks with ropes.”
In honor of the late Spokane native and elite international alpinist Jess Roskelley, the foundation exists to promote public projects and outdoor activities in the Inland Northwest that will benefit generations to come. Projects the foundation has helped fund so far include a climbing boulder in the Ice Age Floods Playground in Riverfront Park, a new restroom and trailhead at Deep Creek in Riverside State Park, and play features in Spokane’s Audubon Park.
In April 2019, Jess Roskelley was killed in an avalanche in the Canadian Rockies, along with two Austrian climbers. His family created the foundation to preserve the legacy of Jess and his love for Spokane parks. Learn more or make a donation at Jessroskelleyfoundation.com. (Derrick Knowles)
