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Photo illustration courtesy of LLHS

For many years the A.R.T. Summer Christmas Party was held at Liberty Lake Park and its dance Pavillion, shown in this circa 1940 photo.

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History: Summer bash raised funds for area athletics
11/24/2014 4:16:14 PM

By Karen Johnson
Liberty Lake Historical Society

How far would you travel to feast at a tender, juicy beef BBQ on a gorgeous summer day at a beautiful lake ... where entertainment and activities were endless ... where fellow guests shared your passions and included friends, acquaintances, and often, professional athletes? This was the annual Athletic Round Table's summertime Christmas party at Liberty Lake!

Spokane's fun-loving Athletic Round Table, led by Joe Albi, started the annual Christmas party as a gag in 1937 at Hayden Lake. But the gag turned out to be a whopping success. And the following year, it flourished once again-and for many years thereafter-at Liberty Lake. The Spokane Daily Chronicle reported that at 1938's party, "Every one of the 1,200 persons, 15 ducks, a pig, a shetland pony and a nondescript dog, had a whale of a time." They were also well-fed, consuming around 700 pounds of barbequed meat plus other picnic items. 

A.R.T.'s summertime Christmas party became known as a rolling snowball gathering weight that could not be stopped. The Christmas parties were exclusive to A.R.T. members and their wives or lady friends as well as specially invited guests. Some years the club hosted out-of-town groups such as the contestants and officials of the national Public Links Tournament when it was held at Indian Canyon in 1941. The 1942 Christmas party kicked off a week-long social schedule honoring golfers in the Western Golf Association championships playing at Manito Golf and Country Club. In 1948 Spokane hosted the national Affiliated Advertising Agencies' annual meeting which strategically played into A.R.T.'s hands as several invited national advertising representatives became their perfect publicity opportunity. 

The icing on the 1939 Christmas cake at Liberty Lake was Turk Edwards, former Washington State College football star-turned-captain of the NFL's Washington Redskins. He accepted the invitation to come to the summer Christmas party along with, according to the Spokesman Review, "five tons of ravenous professional football players" (Redskins teammates), an entourage of Washington D.C. newspaper correspondents, and the Round Table's softball team. That year the A.R.T. cuisine director added two extra-fat steers to the 10 fat ones they ordinarily served to their now typical headcount of 2,000. The 12 steers of tender beef filled a 10 foot deep by 30 foot long pit and then were roasted for 48 hours "to a savory tenderness." (The pit reportedly expanded later to only 8 feet deep but 60 feet long.) The seven-course dinner was served off long tables set up on the lawn in front of the Dance Pavillion which jutted out over the water at the Liberty Lake Park.  Albi once quipped that, "The Dance Pavillion and most of the 
lake front has been reserved for the 2,000 or more guests that are expected...The crowd will be able to splash gravy for miles around...and we're going to have plenty of gravy." 

Activities through the years included capturing a greasy pig on the sandy beach, clown stunts set up by a local water ski expert, diving and water-ski exhibitions, and a taffy pull overseen by a local dentist. Santa Claus donned his suit and water skied behind an inflated reindeer. There were baby shows and bathing beauty shows. Though talking politics was taboo at the parties, they did spotlight a "medicine show" featuring politicians (including a U.S. Senatorial candidate and a governor) who promised anything and everything. Entertainment was provided by singers, orchestras and dance bands including the locally-loved Dutch Groshoff Band. In 1948 the Christmas crowd enjoyed the Chicagoland Music Festival competition winner, Phil Crosbie, from Spokane. One thing that never changed was the invited presence of the Salvation Army bell-ringing lassie with her Christmas pot. The Round Tablers were known to be very generous, and if they didn't give enough, the A.R.T. itself would fill the pot a little fuller.  

One interesting story came from 1948 when the Athletic Round Table was trying to raise money to build a $750,000 outdoor stadium in Spokane. They'd already donated $250,000 to be matched by other clubs and civic organizations. Then the famous crooner Bing Crosby, a Round Table member himself, visited his hometown Spokane and he became very enthusiastic about the stadium project. He worked with A.R.T. leaders to finalize details to help raise funds: Crosby would return in September with his Hollywood troupe and his famous radio show, Bing Crosby's Philco Hour, would be taped live on stage at Spokane's beautiful downtown Post Theater. He would put on two shows-the first an informal matinee/rehearsal, and the second, a "gala affair" that evening to be transcribed for radio broadcast. All proceeds from both shows would be donated to the stadium fund. This announcement was made to a cheering crowd at the 12th annual A.R.T. Christmas party at Liberty Lake, the one coincidentally attended by the national Affiliated 

Advertising Agencies' representatives. It was a huge boost for the stadium fund as well as provided highly desirable publicity in the nation's public eye. The stadium became a reality two short years later; it was built in under four months.

This wild and crazy, civically-minded A.R.T. group did many zany things to contribute to our area, but it has been said that the Round Tablers would rather lose an arm or a leg than to miss the annual Christmas party at Liberty Lake. 

Karen Johnson has lived in Liberty Lake most of her life. She is a board member with the Liberty Lake Historical Society.

• • • 

Did you know?
• Joe Albi was founder and "the ever-and-forever" 42-year president of the A.R.T. It was a fun-loving fundraising group that targeted the expansion of sports in the Spokane area. The stadium project they funded was named Memorial Stadium in 1950, but it was renamed Joe Albi Stadium in 1962, just a few weeks before Albi died of Lou Gehrig's disease. The A.R.T. brought more than $6.5 million into Spokane to promote athletic events and scholarships.

• 1939 wasn't the only year a representative of the Washington Redskins showed up in sunny Liberty Lake for the annual Christmas party. Former owner and president of the Redskins, George Preston Marshall, graced the shores of Liberty Lake for a summer A.R.T. Christmas party, and Turk Edwards returned a few years later and was targeted for fattening up after he'd dropped 25 pounds from his normal 300-pound frame.

• In July of 1941, Christmas cards (invitations) were mailed out with caricatures of A.R.T. members sketched on a postcard of the Liberty Lake Pavillion.

• The unstoppable Christmas in July party stopped for three years from 1943-45, possibly due to WWII. 

• Dutch Groshoff, a popular Spokane band leader, banjo player and entertainer, was well-known at Liberty Lake. He and his orchestra were featured on the national Philco Hour with his friend and schoolmate Bing Crosby when it was broadcast from the Post Theater in Spokane. Many years earlier in 1925, Groshoff had turned down an opportunity to accompany Bing in California.

• The Round Table once sponsored a coaches' moaning contest where tears cost a thousand bucks a drop!

• • • 

Events, Competitions and Activities
From the Liberty Lake Historical Society, a 2014 monthly series

January - Ice Skating
February - Parade of Mermaid Competitions 
March - Opening Day of Fishing 
April - Dancing 
May - Water Competitions
June - Liberty Lake Amateur
July - All Valley Picnics 
August - Dutch Jake Picnics
September - Hydroplane Races 
October - Baseball Games
November - Liberty Lake and Football
December - A.R.T.'s Christmas in July

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