Folk Arts - Tours

The new Heritage Driving Tour for Interstate 90 is now available.

From Brazilian musicians to cowboy poets, wheat farmers to mountaineers, the Interstate 90 Heritage Audio tour captures some of the diversity and history of Washington state between Seattle and Spokane.

The Folk Arts Program at the Washington State Arts Commission (WSAC) is pleased to announce the publication of a new heritage audio tour guide for Washington state. The guide, Interstate 90 East Heritage Tour: Seattle to Spokane, was produced in partnership with Northwest Heritage Resources and is now available (along with the first six tours) online at www.washingtonfolkarts.com.

The guide book contains tour maps, photographs, and an audio tour on three CDs, featuring music, stories and information about the cultural treasures located along Interstate 90 between Seattle and Spokane, WA. It originates in a major metropolis, passes through historic cities and suburbs, farmland, forests and desert, ending near the Washington-Idaho border. The guide follows a historic Pacific Northwest transportation route and passes within easy access of national and state parks, national forests, historic sites, and other natural and recreational areas.

The guided audio portion corresponds with driving time during the trip, pointing out diverse cultural heritage along the way and includes East African, East Indian, Austrian American, Native American, African American, Brazilian, Mexican American, and Hutterite musicians, Native American and gold miner storytellers, cowboy and farmer poets and ranchers, saddle makers, famous mountaineers, Mennonite settlers, wheat farmers, and more.

The I-90 guide is number seven in a series that includes six earlier heritage audio guides for other regions of Washington state. They are published by Northwest Heritage Resources, a non-profit organization based in Washington state that is devoted to the conservation of folk and traditional arts in the Northwest and the production of public programs and publications that present the culture of this region. The guides are produced in partnership with the Washington State Arts Commission, with additional funding support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Several Heritage Tour guides are also available for purchase through CD Baby and local book and travel stores. For more information about the I-90 Heritage Tour Guide and Northwest Heritage Resources, contact, Jill Linzee, Executive Director, Northwest Heritage Resources or call 206-306-1181.