The Gathering House organizes a Global Food and Art Market

By Marijke Fakasiieiki

The Gathering House is starting a new community event in the Garland District, which grew from their prayer for a new way to use the parking lot behind the church and coffee shop at 733 W. Garland Ave.

The answer to the prayer and planning is The Global Food and Art Market, which will be open from 3 to 7 p.m., Tuesdays, May 6 through July 29, in the parking lot that the Garland Summer Market previously used.

For the past several years, the Garland Business District used the parking lot for the Garland Summer Market, but it had no leaders to do it in 2024, so no market happened. As a result, the Gathering House has been praying about how to use the parking lot.

The Gathering House, with its heritage in the Evangelical Covenant Church, turns 137 years old this October. It was the First Covenant Church for 60 years. Before that, it was the Swedish Tabernacle and before that the Swedish Tabernacle of Spokane Washington Territory, one of the first churches in the area, making it one year older than the state of Washington. The Evangelical Covenant Church headquarters are in Chicago.

The first location in 1880 was at a tiny bachelor house in downtown Spokane for blacksmiths, miners and lumberjacks. For more than 110 of those years, the church building was at 2nd and Division, where Redemption Church now is. That building was built in 1950 when the first building was torn down because of construction safety issues.

The church sold that building in 2014, changed the church name, and moved to the Garland Business District. This is the church's fifth location in its history.

When they moved, they added an open-to-the-public coffee house. In 2021, Pitotti Coffee Roasters took over operating the coffee shop and runs it as a separate business there.

"We are believers. We know that our building and property were our best assets. Other than Sundays, we wanted to use these assets differently—to be a blessing," said Rob Bryceson, lead pastor.

As a friend of Mark Finney, who is also pastor at Emmaus Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church, and of Boris Borisov at the Ukrainian Church, Rob is connected with Thrive International, World Relief, Feast World Kitchen and other groups working with immigrants and refugees.

"We felt Spokane did not need another farmers market. We wanted to help refugees and asylum seekers restart their lives after trauma, loss and devastation," said Rob. "We decided a global food and art market would be a place for entrepreneurial start-ups."

Church members meeting Wednesday afternoons for prayer and worship looked at needs in the community and ways to make a difference. They realized that many verses in the Old Testament say that how people treat strangers, widows and orphans defines how righteous society is.

From prayer, they made connections with friends and their groups to learn what might be needed.

"Food sounds simple, but it's a complex business," said Rob, speaking from the experience of the church hosting a restaurant to help people coming out of trafficking, jail and other vulnerable situations.

The Gathering House also hosts the monthly Spokane Homeless Coalition meetings.

As a one-pastor church, many volunteers keep the place running and they are not shy about trying new things.

Joanna Newcomb, a volunteer and church member since 2018, is coordinating with multiple immigrant and refugee agencies out of her desire to serve others and to invite people from different cultures to sell their wares in a supportive setting.

Her interest in working with entrepreneurs comes from her faith and her own experience as an entrepreneur. She started Myth Food Co., a local dessert business that orders chocolate from a woman-owned and operated chocolatier in El Salvador. She has also been a vendor at area farmers' markets and got her start renting space at Feast World Kitchen.

Joanna is excited about opportunities the market holds for the community and wants to bring immigrant and refugee vendors together with others to talk face-to-face and overcome stereotypes.

"People should come to this market ready to eat dinner. We have several hot food vendors, tables to sit at and live music to listen to. In addition to food, there will be a henna artist and vendors selling art, jewelry, sewn items, soaps and other crafts handcrafted by local artisans who are part of Spokane's international community and from different cultures," said Joanna.

"We envision having arts and crafts tables around the perimeter and a food court in the middle with different musicians performing each week," said Rob.

The hope is for people to come to sample foods and then meet people who are settling into American society and culture.

"Refugees are trying to restart their lives. Many had earned higher education degrees, achieved careers and then lost everything," he said. "We will have a rotating information booth with a local refugee and immigrant organization each week, providing information about their organization."

Rob added that the immigrant struggle is part of the heritage of the Covenant Church.

"We can understand the plight of refugees and immigrants as our church was still singing hymns in Swedish in the 1960s. Post-World War I laws in the 1920s made it illegal to have public meetings in any language but English. Our church couldn't find preachers who could preach in English," he explained.

"We have come full circle. Last year, a 97-year-old member died. He knew the immigrant blacksmith and founder, Gus Johnson," said Rob. "One hundred and thirty-six years later, none of us are Swedish. Someone else is the immigrant now.

"It has been interesting telling people what we are doing. We thought it might be politically divisive, but people on the left support us doing it. People on the right support our helping people who want to start businesses.

"We weren't sure if there would be hostility in the current environment, but the local climate feels different. Both ends of the political perspective connect to this," said Rob.

"When they understand the refugees' struggles and the strong vetting, people from the left and right are supportive," he said.

Rob knows some may be angry if they think a refugee who came illegally receives government tax dollars, but they may support someone who comes here legally and needs support to build a business.

"We see booths at the market as startups that will turn into successful shops," Rob explained.

"Our hope as a church and as believers is that Spokane will want to help different cultures assimilate into American culture and become friends," Rob commented.

He has learned that the average stay in a refugee camp is 17 years, so 15-year-olds come who have not used flushing toilets or a doorknob. Families of different ethnicities stick together in their own language and culture groups.

Few middle-class Americans understand unless they volunteer at World Relief or Thrive International.

 Rob hopes the Global Food and Art Market will be an opportunity for people to meet and befriend people from Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and other countries, and support their businesses.

For information, email rob@gatheringhouse.org or email market@gatheringhouse.org.