Riverfront Park operations staff delivered a year‑end recap Jan. 8 that highlighted sharply higher usage in 2025, strong sponsorship gains and a series of security challenges.

John (park operations) told the board the Spokane River reached roughly 20,000 cubic feet per second during mid‑December river flows, a marked increase over typical levels. He said parks staff posted social-media material that "reached over 5,000,000 views and gained about 3,800 followers" and that overall attendance for 2025 was reported at about 1.9 million visits—approximately 1,000,000 more than the prior year, according to the department’s Placer Report data cited in the presentation.

The presentation summarized high-attendance events and financial outcomes: Holiday Village ran four days with about 60 vendors and roughly 30,000 visitors over the run; vendor sales produced about $25,000 in additional revenue for the park; the ice ribbon closed for nine days because of warm weather but staff rebuilt the ice in three days and reopened for winter break; and the sky‑ride saw a $20,000-plus increase in revenue compared with the previous year.

John also disclosed several security and public-safety issues in 2025: ICE protests, bomb threats, gang activity on the North Bank, a killing at a tribal gathering place, and drug and vandalism incidents near the CSO tank. He said the department will bring on a security consultant to assess needs and improve response.

The presentation included an operations note that Parks turned over the Indian Canyon 2018 SIP loan in full at year end (a change that will reduce the facility fee fund balance next year by about $1.7 million, the presenter said) and reported record sponsorship revenue driven in part by a naming-rights agreement valued at $2.6 million over 10 years for the U.S. Pavilion. Staff said new point-of-sale and maintenance systems were implemented to support attractions and operations.

Board members and staff celebrated successful events—including fireworks on New Year’s Eve—and noted staff work to manage elevated wear-and-tear from higher visitation. Staff said they will continue to report on finances and security planning and return with more detailed fiscal statements at the February meeting.