♪ Hello and welcome to the season finale of Profiles.

I'm your host, Lynn, Veltrie.

And yes, I know it's hard to believe another year of Profiles is nearly in the books.

But as they say, time flies when you're having fun.

And certainly for us here at KSP There's nothing more fun and rew than a good storytelling through like Northwest Profiles.

With that said, we look forward to closing out season 36 in Gran with four terrific stories that the adventurous, creative and hi magic of the place we are all pr we live, work and play.

The Inland Northwest and western For our opening story, we don't have to venture far.

In fact, it's all about riding t in and around Spokane.

They call themselves the Mild Riders Spokane's most r scooter gang.

So put on a light jacket and gra sparkling water because this sto My name is Tiffany Patterson, I'm a local Spokane artist, I run a scooter gang called the Mile Riders, and I work as a graphic designer and illustrator.

Mild Riders started in May of 2020.

I was living kitty corner from another artist named Ruben Villarreal, and he had a scooter.

And we talked about riding.

I painted this really giant basketball court mural down in peaceful valley.

I had more extra money than I had ever had, and I bought my dream scooter, which is that one.

I was like, Ruben, I've got a scooter coming.

We need to ride together.

So we went on that first ride.

And Ruben, just like, reached down.

He had screwed like a bicycle water bottle holder onto his scooter, and he, like, pulled out a La Croix, cracked it open and took a big swig of it, And I was like, okay, we need to have a rule about cup holders.

Our first ride, we actually were weirdly successful.

I think we had like 19 people, which was a lot.

There's half scooters and half sport bikes.

We got pulled over by the cops.

It was a great first ride.

Anyone with a scooter that I see or can talk to, I tell about the mild riders and tried to get them to come out because there's something really beautiful about sort of gathering a bunch of strangers with like one shared passion.

I dont know if I've met you?

I don't think I've met you.

I'm Meredith.

Oh, nice.

Tony.

Tony Hi.

Tony is going to be a regular again.

I love it.

I thought we would go down Northwest Boulevard, turn at Glass Street and come in down by the golf course.

In honor of Ruben!

No, we won't go on the freeway this time.

Sound good?

Everyone stopped like, right on the exit.

Its a blind exit!!

all over the Internet right now.

Sounds horrible, Im not laughing She was like afterwards was like wow!

Lets go huh?

Riding a scooter is, like, so much fun to find other people that love it.

I mean, you instantly have something in common with a stranger.

We did an Inlander article.

More people started to find out about it, so we did a Spokesman-Review article.

It's been really nice to see that culture growing in Spokane.

Anybody can come and ride with us.

Any size motor.

To become a patched member of the mild riders requires a bit more.

We have some rules.

First and foremost, you have to have a scooter and ride with us.

Second rule is you have to have a cup holder on your bike.

I get a lot of drive thru coffee on my scooter.

It's great!

The third rule is like the biggest one is that you have to do a non romantic, anonymous kind deed for a stranger.

The last rule is that when we give you a patch, you have to sew it on something, you don't have to wear it, you just have to saw it on something.

We have discovered a lot of really interesting routes.

It's been very easy to explore.

We tend to like really long stretches of like rural areas, and it's pretty easy to find that like 5 minutes from Spokane in any direction.

The mild riders are a great way to connect with other scooter riders and see the city in a new light.

I have a completely different relationship with this place that I didn't have before owning a scooter.

I think there's something really empowering about riding scooters.

It's really hard to be mad when you're on a scooter.

Like it's just fun.

If you're interested in learning about the Mild Riders, you can visit their Instagram pa There you'll discover when their next ride is as well as see posts from previo Up next, we head to Spokane Vall to discover the history behind an interesting landmark called Saltese Flats.

Originally, Saltese Flats was a acre lake until it was partially at the start of the 20th century to make way for farming.

Today it's a different place.

Much of the farmland has been re to its original state, a thrivin Saltese Flats actually was a lak that several thousand years ago after the gre Missoula floods came through.

It's a lot like Liberty Lake or Newman Lake the Morrisons acquired the land in the late 18 Morrison Ranch began in 1892.

My granddad, Peter Morrison, started acquiring prop He put together over 2000 acres here in the early 1900s.

He drained the meadow using hors and fresno's to build the ditche Once that was done he planted T Hay and became the largest Timothy grower in the state of W And we've kind of just started to revert that back to the wetland process just by using the natural runoff of Mica Peak and the surrounding mountains.

The property that I sold to the county was part of the Mille Morrison family after they acquired our property they went ahead and acquired all the neighbors property as we So consequently they have probably a little less than 700 acres in the meadow now In 2010 we bought the property f Morrison and a stipulation in that purchase and sale agreem was that we would build some sort of learning center and dedication to his mother, Do We really wanted to kind of conn Spokane Valley and other Spokane County students with, you know, wetland science, environmental science and the ou And this this building will real of provide that area for field t We knew we needed some shelter s a place to have lunch, but reall the focus of education itself is it will be outside as much as po The Saltese Flats Wetland Restoration Project was a product of the cou purchasing this land as a place to potentially put reclaimed wat from our brand new water reclamation facility in the vall We weren't initially able to dis our reclaimed water into the riv so we needed kind of a backup pl or a plan B, and that's what Saltese Flats really was in the beginnin We ended up getting our permit and being able to discharge into the river, but we kept Saltese flats around someday that might be a place for the water to go.

I have been involved with it since in the beginning and that was one of the conditio the sale that if Morris and fami would remain involved in the con and of the wetland project and everything else.

We bought the land in 2010 and several years of of studying and making sure that it would be to hold the reclaimed water that we were hoping to bring her we really got to construction in And that's when we built control structures.

This over the last couple of yea that we've been able to bring th back.

It's amazing the kind of plants and a that really return to the area t My favorite part of this whole p there are many, many native wetl plant seeds that have just lay dormant in th since it was drained a hundred y And now that we've added the wat they've sprouted up through the even after, you know, just being for over a hundred years.

And with those natural plants co the wildlife come back to and so some years the waterfowl migrate through he and the tens of thousands and it kind of a really incredible thin But I go down and ride my horse and talk to people on the trails and people come from all over th to come out here.

I've talked to people that came from Seattle to take p and see this operation that the county has done.

It's fantastic.

We have about a mile and a half of elevated trail that we built as part of the construction wher we're building our control struc It's kind of the deepest area of our wetland.

It has the most water for the longest period of time.

And so we knew we needed to really have a trail that would be above where the water was going to be And that's our most popular trai to be used by recreational folks We have a series of about five miles of trails throughout the whole property, but none are quite as epic as th the gravel trail.

So we're keeping it as kind of a natural wetland are There's all kinds of recreation you can do hiking, biking, equestrian, horse riding.

But we discourage anything with no hunting, although we do allow fishing on our pond as wel So I feel that the family have been totally inv The county has done a fantastic on the development of the wetlan and the center, and I couldn't b Take note.

The Learning Center will soon be open to the public, but Saltese is available to enjoy year round Next, we take you to the Deer Park Studio of Tiddly Bakes, where owner and artist Kayla Bonner makes miniature pol clay desserts that look so realistic and delic We can't fault you for wanting to take a bite.

So in a nutshell, I kind of make tangible happines [Upbeat Music] My name is Kayla Bonner.

I'm the owner of Tiddly Bakes, and I make polymer clay miniatur My artistic career began with my grandfather.

He was an artist and inspired me And from there I became a cake d working my way into dyeing yarn.

And after joining the knitting c I found that there were charms I wanted to make.

And now that's become my full ti career, making polymer clay mini But I do necklaces, earrings, basically anything you can attach a charm to, I can make.

[Upbeat Music] When I am making a new charm, I usually will make one, maybe t So I'll, I'll test things out.

I'll try different colors.

But luckily polymer clay comes in a lot of different colors alr But I do make my own recipes.

I write them down in a notebook because otherwise I will forget.

Usually ratios because like for cake, for example, I want it to look very transluce and you actually can get a translucent looking clay that you bake it, it looks mostly cle So for instance, my yellow cake is like a light yellow clay one part of that and 20 parts of translucent because cake is very wet looking.

And so I definitely do start with the colors that are provided and kind of tweak them to my needs.

[Upbeat Music] So as far as my process, it really depends on what kind of charm it is.

Some of them are a lot more complicated than others, but as far as total turnaround time, probably roughly around 15 to 20 for my average charm.

The materials aren't very expensive.

It's the labor.

The clay is very inexpensive.

It runs like roughly $3 a block after tax.

It's really about your time and putting in your energy into what you want to create.

You could do anything.

[Upbeat Music] I love the nostalgia and the feeling I want for my business.

It's kind of like it's your birthday, like it's a party.

Everything's fun.

Smiling.

You're thinking back to that bir you had when you were nine years Like, for me personally, I make a peanut butt cookie like you get at Christmas And that evokes for me, like Christmas with my mom.

That's one cookie we demand and have demanded for years, you kno So it's not just the clay, like cute, it's happy, but it's reall the feelings and the memories that all of them bring back.

And it's different for everybody [Upbeat Music] Social media has been incredible for my business, I find, and not in a negative wa because, you know, my family and friends are very supportive They don't entirely understand what I do.

And so the online community really gives me that validation.

But there is a lot of stuff that does not end up on Instagram.

When I'm developing a charm, I'l color frosting or that color fro and there's a lot more nos than there are yeses in the beginning But I make I think I've got over 100 different designs right now.

[Upbeat Music] I had thought about expanding beyond just what I'm doing right now, b I feel like I have a lot left to And this like, you know, I always feel like I'm a little mercurial in that, like I'm always changing and like, now I want to do this and I want to do this.

Well, the thing with clay is I c still work with clay and change what I'm doing with it so I can do just about anything.

So I think I'm going to be with for a while at least, I hope.

Who knows, in five years it might be totally different, b To learn and see more of Kayla's creations go to Tiddly Bakes Dotcom.

Moving on now to our last story.

We reprise a fascinating story.

We first aired in January 2020.

It's the remarkable story of pho Frank Matsura.

As a Japanese immigrant, Matsura in the Okanagan Valley in 1903.

Before long, he started taking p of his new friends and neighbors Eventually, Matsuras personality and Keen Eye won the and respect of the diverse, roug and tumble frontier community ar ♪♪ In the Okanogan Valley, photographer Frank Matsura, a Japanese immigrant, was befriended by a community of cowboys, miners, merchants and Native Americans.

In a time when portraits were stiff formal affairs, Matsura's photographs seemed to capture a more authentic image of his friends and neighbors.

Matsura would have fit right in to our culture today of Instagram's and Selfies.

He took photographs like a family member would, with a real personal connection,... many times including himself.

Frank Matsura was well-liked in the Okanogan valley.

He was gregarious and full of fun, and seemed to get along with everyone; from all walks of life.

His camera knew no social barriers: cowboys,... farmers,....miners,...

Native Americans,...women,...rich or poor.

They all came under his spell.

Frank Sakai Matsura was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1873 to a Samurai family, who could trace their Japanese ancestry back to the 1600s.

At age 28, looking for adventure, Frank Matsura packed up his camera, grabbed his passport and sailed for America In the fall of 1903, Frank Matsura arrived in Conconully, Washington in Okanogan County.

He was hired by Jess Dillabough to work at the Elliot hotel as a "laundryman and general roustabout" >>"They need a cook, a washer a roustabout somebody to help out with the chores.

He answered the call."

>>At that time, Okanogan County was considered one of the "last frontiers" of the American west.

>>"People were still packing six-guns, but at the same time you had the automobile and incandescent light."

>>"The Dillabough's kind of adopted him and treated him like kind of a big brother to their young family.

And there's a lot of pictures of the Dillabough kids with Frank."

>>Matsura soon began taking photographs in his spare time and developing them in the Laundry room of the hotel.

Early on his name starts appearing in the Okanogan Record Newspaper.

At first, Matsura was referred to as the "Little Jap".

Before long, he becomes, "Mr. Frank Matsura, the esteemed photographer who is taking wonderful photographs of our community."

>>"The bleeding edge of Manifest Destiny out here.

The 1880 saw anti-Chinese riots in Seattle.

There was a lot of animosity.

Xenophobia, the fear of the immigrants taking a job that should have rightfully belonged to a white man."

>>But Frank and his camera seemed to break down social barriers.

>>"His gregariousness and his ability to be at all levels of social strata."

>> "He was much more engaged at a direct level with the people of the community that he was working with.

That he would see on a regular basis.

That he was friends with.

That distinction right there tells me about Frank Matsura.

That he lived in the community.

He was a part of the community and so with that his engagement with the people that he was photographing, it was much more personal, there wasn't this removal."

>>Frank Matsura also had a special connection with the Native Americans.

>>"Here was a person who looked a lot like them, in skin color and eyes and did not condescend to them, in fact, offered them the Japanese humility and hospitality and took note of their material culture and their families and visited their families at their houses."

>>"But by no means was he trying to document the Native people in a way that was trying to capture them before they disappeared.

This by no means was the intention of Frank Matsura, you could see that.

He allowed the people to be who they were in that time; whether it was, proudly wearing their traditional regalia or the clothes that they wore out on the ranch with their big angora chaps and hats and cuffs.

He was very conscious of who they were in that moment in time."

>>Sudden Death in Okanogan the Omak Chronicle reported.

Sadly, on June 19, 1913, Frank Matsura's life was cut short by Tuberculosis.

Frank Matsura was only 39 years old.

"A shadow of sorrow was cast over the community early in the week by the sudden death Monday night of Frank S. Matsura, the Japanese photographer who has been part and parcel of the city ever since its establishment seven years ago."

The Okanogan Independent.

"Frank's place in Okanogan City will never be filled.

He was held in high esteem of all who knew him and was known from one end of this vast county to the other."

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane is currently hosting an exhibition of Frank Masturas Displayed with Matsuras photographs are cultural objects from the MACs Premier American Indian Collecti And on that note, the time has c to put the finishing touches on and what has been another outsta season of Northwest Profiles.

Thanks to a dedicated and talent production team, starting with executive producer Jim Zimmer, followed by story pr Scott McKinnon, Todd Anderson, Mikayla Fox and Neil Vanos.

Now, as we look forward to next please know this show would not without the ongoing financial su and story ideas from our viewers So thank you.

Until we meet again, this is Lyn saying farewell and remember liv in the Inland Northwest and west Canada affords us plenty of opportunities for adve So what are you waiting for?

Get out there.

And when you do, make sure you take time to savor