John A. Finch Arboretum — Attraction in Spokane

Beautiful place but don't pay for an event here. My husband told me not to post because overall this wedding venue is a 10th of the price most venues in spokane are but you certainly get what you pay for. We paid for most of the day but were not able to arrive for set up till noon. And had to wrap up at 8pm but got pushed out by six. The private event signs that were to be posted never were and I had someone literally walk through my ceremony while I was giving my vows. I had gifts stolen by people who should not have had access to the building and the “private” room I was given to change into my gown had a glass door for everyone outside to see. No privacy and to top that off the assistant to the manager who was not present showed up four hours late and told us we had to leave early even though we had paid till 8pm. They only give you so much “private” outside time or they charge an outrageous fee, well we paid for the minimum and it still wasn't private by any means. Dogs aren't allowed here but a large group of people decided to walk their dogs and eat right next to the ceremony and they barked for most of it. Also the time limit isn’t enough to both set up and have a ceremony because our whole wedding was rushed. I seriously debated leaving a review because Dawn the manager was super nice and friendly but I feel my wedding day was ruined hugely in part to false promises and because we choose this venue and I don't want another couple to go through what we did. Save yourself the pain and stress and pay extra for a venue that will take care of you on your...

A nice park with a very lovely little spring-fed stream, with several major issues - . The biggest is that it is right next to I-90 and even very early in the morning the traffic noise is overwhelming, destroying any sense of peace. It’s time for the City of Spokane to work with WSDOT on getting a noise barrier wall built along its length. Secondly, there are many beautiful specimen trees, but nearly all are unlabeled, so people don’t get “introduced” to them, which is precisely what an arboretum is supposed to do! Surprisingly the native bird diversity is very poor for an arboretum with a riparian zone; it doesn’t compare well with nearby People's Park or High Bridge Park, both of which have more visitors and dogs, but much less constant loud road noise and turf grass (pesticides and fertilizers). The city could replace many of the large mowed lawn areas with native plantings attractive to native NW birds. This would not only conserve a lot of water but also make it a much better natural area and place to display and study trees and plants! @waterwisespokane...

Some of the trees here are absolutely magical. I loved the stream and the big tree in the very beginning (couldn't find a label for that guy but it's the one with all the huge branches under the canopy). Loved the redwoods and oak trees and willows.. it was all beautiful. It's worth visiting this park and I'm glad we went, but it's not one we'll likely be coming back to visit any time soon. Here's why.

Two things that I didn't care for:

1. we have a disabled daughter and this place isn't wheelchair/stroller friendly. We had to push her around on a dirt/rock path and gave up and pushed her on the grass instead. It worked, but if they would just pave a path and have some ramps rather than stone stairs, it would really help for accessibility. It's important.
2. The freeway noise is pretty bad in some parts. I know this can't really be helped since you can't just pick up the trees and relocate the whole park. I'd you stick close to the stream it helps drown...