This was the worst tournament experience I have ever had. They put grown men on a part of the street that was unplayable on almost half of the court because of the street conditions. Then they had rude absolutely clueless young girls `monitoring` the court. Which basically means they dont do anything but stand there and watch you play while they look like they hate their life. The court marshal was also about 20 years old and had no idea what he was doing. Here was my experience as a player, team captain, and the situation that happened leaving emotion and cussing out of it. The sign in and first day of playing went great. We had a couple close games that we won both and when we asked if our 19 year old player could play with us because our 20 year old son was sick nobody had a problem with it and everyone was aware of the situation. It was a great day even though the court was terrible and they let too much fouling go to the point there was a fist fight that we witnessed on another court. It wouldn't be hard to blow a whistle sometimes to make it not so rough. On the blacktop we all had scratches, bruises and road rash and I only fell one time in 3 games. Still can barely walk because of the brutal nature of the games. Sunday comes around and we play an early game. We ask the court officials and other team if we could have our original player back on the court and everyone agreed that was no problem considering they were just subs and had no impact on the game. Played about 2 mins maybe and I believe scored maybe 1 time against guys that could score on him almost every time because they were 3 times his size so he quickly came out after our guy got a slight rest. We ended up not even getting a warning when the time expired the girl blew her whistle for the first time and said game over. We were up by 1 and therefore won the game and were 3-0 on the tournament. We were proud of what we were accomplishing considering we are undersized and old guys doing very well against overly aggressive, fouling local players. We had fans and everyone against us and were very happy with what we had accomplished. As we were packing up to go eat before our next game at 12:30 to get into the championship we had the young clueless court marshal come over wanting to check the ID of our 20 year old player. He complied and went and got his identification while I talked to the marshal about the situation and how everyone including the other team and court officials were fine with our arrangement. He showed him his ID and the marshal made a phone call to the head director of the tournament. The director showed up with 2 body guard like characters and proceeded to tell me that my team and I were disqualified for breaking the rules of the tournament. I politely asked if we could just take the loss and play in the losers bracket with either of the young guys on our team or have us 35+ year old just finish out the tourney with 3 players. We drove from deep in montana and payed ridiculous prices for hotels, food etc. And would love to finish out the games. He said no and that we needed to pack up are stuff and go home immediately. Poor guy had to walk a whole mile to come tell us that and was not a nice guy about it. We dont find it fair that even though everyone was aware that when the home town team decided to go complain after the game we were disqualified. They even were laughing and joking with the director as if they were friends. Pretty messed up if you ask me. This is all after the team that played before us won a game with a player from another team playing with them The director said no one had brought that to his attention so it was ok....... Spokane hoopfest is an absolute joke. Unless you are a young kid or an elite player, I would HIGHLY suggest you don't go to this tournament. It has changed way to much over the last few years and not for the better. If you don't agree with what happened to my team or my review just go look up how many injuries there are each year on the garbage filled streets of the cities. Thanks for nothing Spokane you will not be seeing us going back anytime soon. read more

A signature holiday in Spokane! Seriously such an amazing festival type game. The largest 3 on 3 tournament ever. We are LUCKY. I was surprised that for a basketball tournament of this size, the construction didn't affect the outcome too much. But the city regulated and problem solved and still threw a ragin' weekend. I have volunteered, and wandered, have never played but it is definitely a place to be in Spokane around the end of June. I have had family members play, friends, out of towners on my couch. A festival that everyone loves because it is unique and truly brings people together. Plus the after parties are where to be too. read more

Awesome! I've been to Hoopfest21, 22, and now i am here for 23!! Basketball, festival food, hott girls!! The place is a straight up zoo. They close down the entire downtown and make the streets half courts. Then, night is one giant party! If you havent been to a hoopfest you need to. If your from out of town make sure you book your room reservations months in advance because the downtown fills up quick. read more

Hoopfest - Festivals Near Me - Spokane, Washington

Ok, after returning home from my fourth Hoopfest in a row, I think that I can finally give an extremely accurate review of the largest 3-3 basketball tournament on earth. Let's get started... This past weekend was Hoopfest's 25 anniversary. The whole set up is incredible and VERY hard to explain, but imagine this: The entire city of Spokane and surrounding area completely shut down, and every road, parking lot, and bridge hosts basketball court, after basketball court, after basketball court. It's truly amazing how they can provide basketball courts, brackets, and fun to over a quarter million people that somehow all fit into downtown Spokane. The basketball part of it is just fun (though it can get pretty physical and rough, and the "court monitors" don't exactly make terrific calls, they're volunteers and you just gotta love with it) and in between your own games you can go and watch your friends and family, and then they come and watch your games, giving you a whole fan club, lol...it's just fun! And I applaud their organization of it all! Besides your own basketball games, there are PLENTY of other things to do! In Riverfront park, there a tons of vendors, food trucks, bouncy houses for the kids, etc. In "Center Court", sponsored by Nike and Beats by Dre, are the elite games where the best of the best duke it out for the title of Hoopfest champion while being televised and in front of hundreds of people. It's really fun to say the least! Every year I come to Hoopfest, I always find some new area of the city I hadn't noticed the year before, and this weekend I found and recommend going to the main, multi-story shopping complex on the West Side of the city. Not only is it shopping galore, but there are CLEAN (No HoneyBuckets that are sprawled out all over the city) restrooms, more genuine food in their food court, and just a nice, secluded, out of the way place (especially on the upper floors) to just take a moment and relax from all the organized chaos outside. Another thing I discovered was this new park funded by Avista behind the Washington State Power Building and the Spokane Dam! Ok, it was BEAUTIFUL and I got the coolest river shots and it was also, as above, out of the way and secluded from the commotion. Another cool addition is the Nike Hoopfest Store which is a makeshift Nike Outlet with lots of shoes and everything else on sale at a discounted price...LOVE IT! DOS: 1) Bring tons of water! Not so much Hoopfest 25, but other years and for sure some in the future, it can get 80*+! 2) Book your hotel AT LEAST six months in advance because there won't be a room available in a 10 mile radius of Spokane. 3) Download the Hoopfest app! This new addition was so helpful to us in looking at brackets, scores, friends courts and everything in between. If you want to be semi-organized I would highly recommend getting the free app. DONT'S: 1) Don't expect to come to Hoopfest and have a "relaxing" time! You're constantly roaming through the city and by the end of the day all you want to do is go back to your hotel and SLLEEP! 2) Don't use the HoneyBuckets! They're nasty as heck, and 90% there is a massive line just to use one. Just go to one of the local business, use theirs, or find the city-run public restrooms as they're cleaner and, I personally have never had a line. I have nothing but respect for the people of Hoopfest. They somehow manage to give hundreds of thousands of people an enjoyable, sweaty, fun weekend and be organized and efficient about it! I've made memories that will live with me forever at Hoopfest, and I don't think I'm going to miss another one as long as I live! read more

Hoopfest - Festivals Near Me - Spokane, Washington

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I worked as a volunteer at hoop fest for my 1st time this year. I paid good money for parking. I worked tirelessly and over 8 hrs each of the 5 days. I am appalled that I did not receive a thank you, or any of free merchandise that I worked with. I think that is awful that you expect people to pay their own money to park and to eat lunch. I will not be volunteering again and neither will my friends. That is too bad that Nike can make a million dollars but cannot promote their product to these volunteers that work without even a thank you. read more

This is a great event. It is organized and executed exceptionally well. It's amazing how over 250,000 people descend upon downtown Spokane and it's not cluttered/clustered. It may get busy in the food vendor area, but that's to be expected. There is enough seating around each street court, plenty of bathrooms (porta potties), and a decent amount of trash/recycle containers. Hoopfest is such an awesome social sporting event with excellent people watching. I don't play basketball, but love watching my friends and and everyone else compete. If you've never been, you really ought to check it out! read more

The world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament is located in Spokane, Washington. It's always a huge highlight of my summer and a not-to-be-missed weekend. Make sure to have a snarky team name, cash for the food trucks, a good tan, a party to attend, pain meds, and some good buddies to share the street ball glories and epic defeats. Sign up early and book your hotel--- every one else will. read more

Can you say Amazing! Best sporting event I have ever been apart of! I guess after 26 years you better be pretty organized and I must say they were! Not worth complaining about the HEAT, or the courts and or the rims! Cuz I'm sure ALL us HOOPERS live by the same rule. If the ball bounces and there is a hoop. ITS GAME ON! At 32 I have been missing out and will never miss out going forward. Cant wait to get back next year! Probably play around with the division our team wants to be in because the brackets look evenly matched, But one team always seems to be WAY better then the rest! Just like our bracket. One team probably should been playing up in ELITE Divisions but it was still good comp! Didn't really get out and enjoy much other than the day events, SLEEP is way more valuable than any other activities going on at night and the SLEEP is much needed. I was smart and brought my own shade by way of umbrella. We had plenty of liquids and every one got back home in one piece with no injuries. ALL ways a blessing! This year it was just the fellas and I! Next year bringing the FAM.. TOO much fun going on not to have the FAM with me. EVERY year I plan to do things bigger and better! So till next year HOOP FEST! I may start practicing in FULL body seat suits and down jackets because my only complaint is the HEAT. GOOD JOB HOOPFEST! Till next year , Deuce 5 Trey! read more

I have been attending Hoopfest for 10+ years and it has always amazed me how this all goes down over the weekend with some awesome people putting it all together. But like I have said before and will say again, it is important to really listen and respect the voices of the little people because without the participant's there would be no Hoopfest. Having young kids with no basketball experience of 5 years or more shouldn't I repeat SHOULD not be officiating the competitive divisions. They should be working with the elementary 3rd grade and under divisions in noncompetitive. Some travel a long way for a chance at the title only to be treated so horribly. I saw some sad stuff with young monitors yelling at parents and kids. They don't know how to be mature no more than an irate adult so why put them in those positions? And if red shirt directors with a headset come over to help, then that is exactly what they should be doing when they see that the official is in way over his or her head. Instead I saw one say he was off duty..hello who does that? Then you are as helpful as a worker at Target with that get up. There are always places to work on and I pray that the little person gets heard. Overall the attractions are beautiful and the food is superb! And sometimes you may get to catch a really great game with a great official who really knows his business. Great job to the guy at bracket #202 Rockwood Court you rocked!!! read more