Garbage Goat

Spokane loves its goat. Tucked on the south side of Riverfront Park, a steel billy goat with spiky horns stands in a stone grotto and waits for litter. Push the button on the wall, hold a wrapper near its mouth, and a vacuum pulls it in.

It is a tiny stop, five minutes at most, and a favorite with kids. It is also a good way to see why locals are fond of the park. The goat is the reason Spokane has goat-themed beer, pizza and T-shirts.

Bring a napkin or a gum wrapper. Real trash only. The goat is not a toy and it is not a snack bar.

What to see and do

Local tips

• It is a short stop. Combine it with the Looff Carrousel, which is a few steps west.
• Bring a small piece of clean trash like a wrapper or napkin so kids can feed it right away.
• Do not put anything bulky, wet or sharp into its mouth.
• If the goat is out of order, it has occasionally needed repairs; check with the park if you are making a special trip.
• Go on a weekday morning to avoid a line of small visitors waiting their turn.
• Look for goat-themed souvenirs and beer in nearby downtown shops and taprooms.

A little history

Sister Paula Mary Turnbull, a nun known as the welding nun, built the goat in 1974 for Expo '74, Spokane's environmental world's fair. Her aim was to teach kids to throw trash away instead of dropping it. She welded the sculpture from corten steel, used old springs for horns, pipe for legs and railroad spike ends for eyes, and kept it a little spiky so people would not climb it.

Dairy goat farmers protested that the statue spread the myth that goats eat anything. Organizers added a sign about real goat diets and the fact that goats produce milk, and Turnbull said it was a billy goat, not a dairy goat. By the goat's 40th birthday in 2014 it had swallowed close to 15,000 cubic yards of trash, according to local reporting.