Fifty Years of Premera and Bloomsday

Over the last fifty years, a lot has changed with the Lilac Bloomsday Run, Spokane’s annual 12K race held on May 3, but some things have stayed the same.

Bloomsday always marks the start of springtime in Spokane and Premera Blue Cross has been there since the beginning as the very first sponsor of the race. Premera employees have volunteered countless hours since the race’s inception – helping people register for the race by computer for the first time ever in the 80s, managing the data entry for everyone’s finishing times until 1996, and greeting participants at the top of Doomsday Hill with a friendly smile and cup of water.

As a not-for-profit health plan and the only commercial health plan headquartered in Washington, we embed ourselves in what’s important to the community. It’s just part of how we do business.

Strong communities help people like healthier lives. That’s why we continue to support events like Bloomsday.

Read more about the history of Bloomsday and how Premera has helped it evolve over at The Inlander. See you next year at the top of Doomsday Hill!