Friends of the Falls’ President Barb Chamberlain recently forwarded staff and board members an e-mail from the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, relating another of many positive steps we’re seeing in terms of the river’s growing prominence in Spokane’s civic identity.

Even though the message we received was missing the specific image she noted - security filters being what they are - her note including the statement “Look at the use of the river in marketing destination tourism!” made us think the image was something like the one gathered from the CVB site posted to the left, one of many the agency is using these days to promote Spokane.

We’re excited about harbingers like this and the many, many others that we’ve noticed in the past few years, indicating a community that’s growing to appreciate and value the river as it’s centerpiece. Business-boosters, community activists, neighborhood volunteers, cultural advocates and river organizations like ours all have important perspectives to share, and it’s great to have so many focused on the Spokane River these days.

Prompted by the e-mail image, we’re pretty sure that’s what Barb saw, too.