Welcome vets back from Honor Flight tonight

Here is your chance to honor veterans from throughout the region, welcoming them back from an emotional trip to Washington, D.C., to visit war memorials.

The veterans are expected to return Spokane International Airport tonight around 7:30.

"If all goes well, the veterans will come down the ramp about 8 p.m.," said Barb Nelson, a volunteer with Inland Northwest Honor Flight. "The party will then be in full swing."

Attendees are encouraged to show up a little early and bring a chair.

Updates of the flight will be posted on Honor Flight's Facebook page. Once the flight is in the air, people can also track the status of it on flightlocator.com, flightaware.com or suncountry.com.

There will be 103 veterans on the trip including eight who served during World War II, six in Korea and 89 in Vietnam.

After this trip, there will have been 1,738 veterans who made the journey. The nonprofit funds the trips for veterans.

The nonprofit's seventh annual dinner and auction fundraiser is Saturday, Oct. 6, at Mirabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan Road, Spokane Valley. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $70 each or $560 per table of eight.

Visit https://bit.ly/2IaPYaW to buy tickets.

Dinner is either salmon with steak or chicken or a vegetarian meal. Activities are silent and live auctions, a dessert dash, raise the paddle and a veteran speaker.