Lilac City Roller Derby, Spokane’s flat track roller derby league, consists of four teams: the Sass, Yetis, Lore and Abominations.
They’ve practiced multiple nights out of the week in preparation for their 20th anniversary tournament on November 7, 2026. It starts at 9 a.m. at the Spokane Convention Center.
But the league is facing a problem ahead of its birthday bash. They’re trying to find a permanent spot to host home games, said Lilac City President Sabrina “Trainwreck” Olivares.
“We’ve been looking for years, honestly, just because things are so expensive,” Olivares said. “I currently don’t have any home games planned for this next season because I cannot find us a venue.”
Olivares said the league’s last home venue was at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.
“We loved it out there, they took care of us, but not a lot of our friends want to drive to Coeur D’Alene to watch a Spokane team play a game,” Olivares said. “And then with the way things are currently with Idaho legislation and things like that — like I said, we are inclusive. We have a lot of trans, genderfluid, non-binary, et cetera people on our teams that did not feel safe going out to Idaho.”
Olivares said the league has talked to almost every venue in Spokane, including the Spokane County Fairgrounds, but it’s not an easy fix. For roller derby, venues need to meet certain track requirements so they can get ranked. Lilac City is a part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which is how the league competes for spots in national and international championships. This year’s WFTDA Championships took place earlier in October in Malmö, Sweden.
Players in the league continue to hope for a permanent spot. Derby is a beloved sport by those on the team, whether they’ve been playing since they were children or picked it up recently.
Alissa “Mayday” Hutchins is one of the teammates that’s been playing since she was a child.
“I started playing when I was 10, because one of my mom’s coworkers actually played roller derby for Sin City Roller Derby down in Las Vegas,” Hutchins said. “Every single morning, I had the laptop open onto the junior roller derby webpage and brought it to my mom every morning until she was ready to sign me up. And yeah, the rest is history.”
Hutchins said she was delighted by the sport.
“Back then, Sin City was only women skaters,” Hutchins said, “and as a young girl in Las Vegas, I was like ‘Wow, look at all these awesome, super strong women playing a full contact sport and, like, hitting each other. That’s awesome.’”
Now, Hutchins is the marketing director, a coach and a captain for Lilac City. Hutchins said one of the things that makes the league special is that it’s open to all gender identities, not just women.
Mary Grace Banks agreed. Banks is Lilac City’s vice president and a captain for the Yetis.
“I moved here in 2020, so building a community when you don’t know anyone in the city is very hard,” Banks said. “So being able to make friends and make a lot of really deep connections is really wonderful. It’s super accepting and welcoming.”
The league said it’s not going to stop looking for a permanent home. Regardless, there’s so much to celebrate, said Olivares.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, Spokane has roller derby?’ Yes, my love, we’ve been here for 20 years,” Olivares said. “Come out, watch us, get hooked, become a super fan.”
