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Tobacco Free Zone in the Park
The Spokane Regional Health District's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program successfully lobbied to have 50 Tobacco Free Zone signs placed prominently in the open-air play and concert areas in Spokane's Riverfront Park during the summer of 2001.
The health district was a sponsor of the Summer Celebration in Spokane. This sponsorship came with the agreement that the tobacco free signs would be placed in the park for two months. At the same time, youth from Spokane Teens Against Tobacco wrote letters to the editor of the local newspaper in favor of the signs. Promotional radio spots about the Summer Celebration also carried a tag line saying it was sponsored by Tobacco Free Spokane. The response from the public was overwhelmingly positive, and the Parks Department volunteered to leave the signs in place for the entire summer. An unexpected result of the project was a request from the board of the Interstate Fair to have the health district place tobacco free signs in its carnival and food court areas. The health district hopes to make the signs a permanent fixture of Riverfront Park.
The project sought to raise awareness of the need for clean air in public environments, to shape public opinion in favor of tobacco-free zones in all the city's parks, and to make this the community norm.
General public, Policymakers
The signs were relatively inexpensive to produce and were paid for by health district funds.
Tobacco Free Spokane, Riverfront Park and Vision Marketing were partners in this project.
