Regional PCMA Members Volunteer For Service In Sync!
For two hours this past Thursday, The Davenport Hotel and Tower employees along with other Spokane-area management employees, dedicated their time to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane, Washington through Service In Sync. Service In Sync is a program that encourages members of the Professional Convention Management Association to help out in their respective communities during November.




Each year, all across the United States, Service In Sync volunteer’s set aside time to volunteer in their communities to help people less fortunate than them. The Davenport Hotel and Tower employees have been teaming up with the Second Harvest Food Bank and Service In Sync for several years. The volunteers go in “blind” not knowing what their task will be until they arrive. This year their job was to take bulk pasta and repackage it into smaller packages to be distributed across Eastern Washington.



This year the team members filled 96 boxes totaling 768 pounds of pasta in just two hours! Thank you to all who helped volunteer and make Service In Sync possible. And a special thank you to Second Harvest Food Bank!

Happy Friday The 13th!

Do you believe in ghosts? Well, even if you don't, it's difficult to not find the Davenport Hotel's documented encounters with spirits of the dead intriguing. And what better day for a good ghost story than a possibly snowy, overcast, Friday the 13th in Spokane, Washington?

The most famous apparition legend involves a one Ellen McNamara from 1920. As the story goes, multiple guests and employees of the modern day Davenport Hotel on separate occasions have reportedly seen a ghost of a woman dressed in what appears to be 1920's fashion. The stories were all consistent in that she was always spotted roaming the mezzanine and the Grand Lobby saying "Where did I go?"

The same story was reported so many times, that employees of The Davenport became curious. Could this be true? Was there someone who died at the hotel in the 1920's who has unfinished business with The Davenport?

After some thorough research, an article was found in the Spokesman Review on August 18, 1920 with a headline reading "Matron falls to death through hotel skylight."

The article reads on to describe the mysterious case of Ms. Ellen McNamara, an affluent guest from New York City. While touring the West Coast with a few women family members, they stopped in Spokane en route to a National Park. Ms. McNamara retired to her room before dinner time, siting that she was not feeling well. While the other women went downstairs for dinner, McNamara stayed in her room.

Because no one was with Ms. McNamara, the exact details of her death are unknown, but here is what was pieced together. While hundreds of people were dining downstairs, Ms. McNamara was attempting to step out of her room for a breath of fresh air. At that point, she must have been confused and accidentally opened a wrong door. That door led to the glass roof, which is the ceiling for the Grand Lobby. Ms. McNamara might have thought that it looked like a checkerboard floor, so went ahead and stepped on it. The glass, unfortunately, was not strong enough to hold her weight, and she fell through the glass landing in the Grand Lobby while other guests (including her family) were eating dinner.

As people rushed to her side, the only words she uttered were "Where did I go?"

Suffering from a major skull injury, McNamara died in her room an hour later.