Sandpoint Magazine Winter 2012

M A G A Z IN E

W INT E R 2 0 1 2

Sandpoint

Thrills and Spills 6

Winter Adventures [SOME gone awry]

&

Interview with Klaus Groenke, Obsessed Skiers, Avalanche Hunters, Skijoring and Winter Carnival, Peter Goetzinger’s Art, Winter Love Photo Essay, Mustelid Search, Architects, Calendars, Dining, Real Estate ... and a lot more

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208.255.7561 | Cindy.Bond@SothebysRealty.com | 200 Main | Sandpoint © MMVII Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Claude Monet’s “Red Boats at Argenteuil,” used with permission. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated, Except Offices Owned And Operated By NRT Incorporated. Sandpoint office: 208-263-5101, 200 Main Street, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

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© MMVII Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Claude Monet’s “Red Boats at Argenteuil,” used with permission. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated, Except Offices Owned And Operated By NRT Incorporated. Sandpoint office: 208-263-5101, 200 Main Street, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

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Charlie Parrish

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contents

S ANDPOINT M A G A ZIN E Winter 2012, Vo l. 22, N o . 1

FEATURES 60 Six Great Winter Adventures

Cover: Six thrill-seeking, winter-addicted adrenaline junkies tell all

31 For the Love of Animals

Panhandle Animal Shelter programs blossoming under new leadership

33 Making the Town Tick

Behind the scenes with Stephen Drinkard, the city’s project coordinator

35 The Artist Goetzinger

Nationally known multimedia artist brings 2-D and 3-D art to life

39 Panida Forever Major urban renewal grant boosts historic theater

41

41 Mustelid Search

Study confirms these critters live in the Selkirks, Scotchmans

Natives & Newcomers 85 Winter Guide 91 Lodging 98 Eats & Drinks 99 Dining Guide 106 Sandpoint of View 114

43 Street Wise A historical look at how local streets and roads got their names

47 Skijoring, Anyone?

Winter Carnival and its new addition – a rousing sport of horse and skier

53 Ski Obsessed Profiles of skiers downright maniacal about snow 57 Avalanche Hunters Tales from the ‘white side.’

Plus: Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center this winter

DEPARTMENTS

Almanac Who, What and Why in Greater Sandpoint 10 Calendar With Hot Picks and POAC calendar 21 Interview Klaus Groenke, German real estate magnate 25 Photo Essay Winter Love 67 Real Estate 72 Adaptable Architects: Getting creative to combat industry slowdown Making the Grade: For many buyers, schools are key to buying decision Sandpoint Forward. Plus: A downtown redevelopment timeline Marketwatch: Discounted prices pulling in more buyers

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WINTER 2012

72 77 79 82

On the cover: Doug Marshall captured Scott Miller in the Selkirk Mountains on a powderfilled backcountry ski adventure. Read more in the cover story on six great winter adventures, page 60, and in the skiing story, page 53.

Top: Perhaps looking for a little adventure himself, Doug Marshall shot this self-portrait on a scenic county road not far from home.

Above: Though a wolverine has been tracked in the Selkirk Mountains, so far s/he has eluded cameras. Read about the mustelid search on page 41. iStock photo

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CONTRIBUTORS editor’s note Because I consider myself a bit of a thrill-seeker, I had a tremendous amount of fun collecting winter adventure stories from six of my writers for this issue’s cover story. It was also humbling. They all did things I have never done – and probably never will.

One thing I was brave enough to try last winter was skijoring, and that’s the subject of another feature story. This newest Winter Carnival event debuted in Sandpoint last winter. Enjoy reading about this peculiar marriage of skiing and horseback riding, starting on page 47. Then I’ll see you in the grandstand or you’ll see me in the arena, if I’m brave enough to go skijoring again.

I also had fun interviewing skiers who are obsessed about their sport – all admirable athletes. They’ve got moxie. Read the story, page 53, and you’ll know what I mean.

Linger longer with this issue of Sandpoint Magazine to learn about mustelids – wolverines, fishers and martens. These critters are definitely in the Selkirk Mountains and Scotchman Peaks area of the Cabinets, as an Idaho Fish and Game study proved.

Meet the new executive director of the Panhandle Animal Shelter, Mandy Evans, and Sandpoint’s project manager, Stephen Drinkard, who was pegged for the first in a series of profiles on people who work behind the scenes to “make the town tick.”

Meanwhile, I encourage all of our readers to get out and try something different this winter – whether or not you’re a thrill seeker – because it keeps life interesting. We all need some adventure in our lives. Get off your duff and get out there!

– B.J.P. 8

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Rick Bass

Author was befriended by the late Scott Daily when the young Easterner traveled out West. He came to hear Bass read in Montana’s Yaak Valley and ended up settling his family there.

Their friendship and the loss of Daily in August 2011, after a threeyear battle with cancer, inspired Bass to write the Sandpoint of View essay “He Lived for the Here and Now,” page 114. Bass and Daily, who later moved to Sandpoint, helped found the Yaak Valley Forest Council, an organization for which Bass still serves on the board; see more at www.yaakvalley.org. He lives in Missoula, Mont.

Kevin Davis, director of the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche

Center and a U.S. Forest Service hydrologist, has been contributing to Sandpoint Magazine since 1999. Winter is his favorite time to be outdoors, whether in a canoe on the lake or teaching avalanche classes in the backcountry. His exploits as an adventurer and as an avalanche forecaster gave him plenty of material for “Avalanche Hunters,” page 57, and one of the six winter adventure stories comprising the cover story, “Paddling Clark Fork,” page 60. He is predicting a big winter, with snow and avalanches, which is just the way he likes it.

Marsha Lutz‘s contributions to Sandpoint Magazine,

until this issue, had been limited to photography. Living in the Sandpoint area and working as a freelance photographer since 1995, she got the inspiration to write her first story for the magazine from her dog and best buddy, Jackson, whom she adopted from the Panhandle Animal Shelter in 1999. See her story on the shelter and its new executive director, Mandy Evans, “For the Love of Animals,” on page 31.

Sandpoint Magazine is published twice yearly, in May and November, by Keokee Co. Publishing, Inc., 405 Church St., Sandpoint, ID 83864.

Phone: 208-263-3573 E-mail: inbox@keokee.com Publisher Chris Bessler Editor Billie Jean Plaster Editorial Assistant Beth Hawkins Advertising Director Clint Nicholson Sales Executive Scott Johnson Art Director Laura Wahl Ad Design/Production Christine Barrett Office Catherine Anderson & Beth Acker

Contributors Ralph Bartholdt, Nick Bandy, Rick Bass, Joshua Burt, Sandy Compton, Kevin Davis, Cate Huisman, Gary Johnson, Jennifer Lamont Leo, Marsha Lutz, Matt Mills McKnight, Chris Park, Carrie Scozzaro, Jesseca Whalen, Amie Wolf ©2012 by Keokee Co. Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Subscriptions: $12.00 per year. www.SandpointMagazine.com. Printed in USA. BACKGROUND Photo by Woods wheatcroft

WINTER 2012

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Country takes a shine to Solar Roadways

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Courtesy Scott Brusaw

ven on the darkest of wintry days in northern Idaho, Solar Roadways cofounders Scott and Julie Brusaw of Sagle are thinking “sun.” That’s because these local entrepreneurs are busy figuring out how to turn their innovative idea of solar-powered roads into a reality. And this past summer, their company’s efforts were re-charged with a $750,000 federal grant to create a prototype of sorts – a solarpowered parking lot.

The Brusaws say their ultimate goal is to replace the country’s asphalt surfaces with energy-producing, 12-foot-by-12-foot solar paneled roadways – a lofty idea, for sure, but one that’s receiving national and international interest from publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine, Popular Science and Smithsonian.com, among others.

“It’s been fun,” said Scott Brusaw of the experience. “And the amazing thing is we have people from all over the world wanting to volunteer and be a part of it.” He cites a group of students who have

already helped out with the website, www.

SolarRoadways.com, and a professor who aims to take on the traction-testing component of the project.

For now, it’s just Scott and Julie and a couple of part-time engineers who are working on putting the solar parking lot in place at their testing grounds in Sagle; from there, they expect to do about a year’s worth of testing. Scott estimates the company is about two years away from manufacturing.

“If we get a green light, it will really create a lot of jobs in the area,” said Scott, who plans to put Solar Roadways’ headquarters in either Sagle or Sandpoint.

Optimism runs high for Brusaw’s plan, as evidenced by the many requests he receives to personally address federal and state transportation agencies. Among the many questions and inquiries he has fielded, Scott was quizzed by a group of Idaho engineers who are interested in retrofitting the solar panels into the state’s roadside rest stops. Indeed, the sky truly is the limit!

– Beth Hawkins

USA Today declares Sandpoint ‘Most Beautiful Small Town’

W

hile accolades from national press

contest. The couple who visited and judged

of what’s there and really appreciates where

are nothing new for Sandpoint,

Sandpoint, Daniel and JoAnne Schaub

they live.”

the announcement in July 2011 that Rand

(“The McNavigators”) of Cary, N.C., thought

McNally and USA Today named Sandpoint

Sandpoint stood out because of its location

one of the five best small towns in the nation

on pristine Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho

were mesmerized by the expansive views. They

seemed to resonate more than most. Why?

Panhandle.

also took a trail ride at Western Pleasure Guest

Because it lauded the attribute that everyone agrees on: Sandpoint is beautiful.

Five teams of travelers scoured the nation for three weeks in the Best of the Road 10

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“We could actually see ourselves living there,” JoAnne said. “You have the mountains

The couple stayed at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, where they took a chairlift ride and

Ranch, went on an aerial tour with SilverWing Flight Services, tasted wine at Pend d’Oreille

and the lake, and it feels like you have a

Winery, dined at Trinity at City Beach, and

connected community that takes advantage

toured with Lake Pend Oreille Cruises.

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NIMSEF puts children on the slopes

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hen the snow falls, many Sandpoint residents don’t think twice about getting on the mountain. But to those who can’t afford it, downhill skiing and snowboarding are simply out of reach. The North Idaho Mountain Sports Education Fund (NIMSEF) is on a mission to change that.

Now in its second year, NIMSEF is a nonprofit organization that provides underprivileged children with a Schweitzer season pass, ski or snowboard lessons, rental equipment and bus passes.

Jade Smith, resort services director at Schweitzer, says the mountain is collaborating with NIMSEF because it’s important to support the local community.

“Schweitzer’s been a great help,” said Schweitzer ski instructor and NIMSEF founder Jeff Rouleau. “They cut our skiing tuition costs substantially to benefit us.”

Rouleau, 53, started NIMSEF after he received a moving letter from a fourth-grader who was given a free day of skiing. The letter read: “Thank you for the best day of my life. I probably won’t ever see any of you ever again. So goodbye.”

“When I read that letter, I got kind of sad. A lot of kids who live here are separated from a vital part of our community,” he said.

The goal is to bridge that gap. Bonner and Boundary County children ages 7 to 14 apply to the NIMSEF program based on economic need. Last year NIMSEF sponsored 22 children. This year Rouleau says

he would like to double that number, but the challenge is always funding.

“Never is it easy,” Rouleau said, “but with the support of the community, I think it could last a long time.”

For more information about NIMSEF and how you can help, visit www.nimsef.com.

“It was sweet to see them embrace who

amazed that locals invited them to come back

we are,” said Greater Sandpoint Chamber of

and stay at their homes. With plans to RV for

Commerce President Kate McAlister. “They

the next year or two, the Schaubs will defi-

were a wonderful young couple, and they

nitely visit Sandpoint again. They’ll be blogging

really appreciated that we said, ‘Here’s our

their travels at www.themcnavigators.com.

town, have fun.’ “

courtesy Schweitzer Mountain Resort

– Jesseca Whalen

Sandpoint’s latest accolade tickled

McAlister says Sandpoint’s people im-

many locals and was welcome news for

pressed the Schaubs the most. “I like that

tourism-based businesses and Realtors, said

they noticed the authenticity of the people

McAlister. “I’m just very proud of us, the en-

here,” she said.

tire town. It took all of us to do it,” she said.

JoAnne Schaub agreed, saying she was

Rand McNally judges JoAnne and Daniel Schaub on a trail ride at Western Pleasure. courtesy photo

– Billie Jean Plaster

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Jeff Rouleau (center) founded a program to give children a chance to experience downhill skiing and snowboarding at Schweitzer. photo

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Kohals create arts niche

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ometimes you have to get a little distance to appreciate things. That’s what happened to Amber (Gildersleeve) and Jeremiah “Miah” Kohal when they were living in Portland, Ore., eight years ago.

“Leaving (Sandpoint) was the best thing we did,” said Miah. “It made us

realize we wanted to move back.”

Since returning to live here, the Kohals have been carving a niche in the arts – he in music, she in visual art. His Miah Kohal band, a loose grouping of likeminded musicians, has played at venues such as Murphy’s in Hope, Downtown Crossing and Coeur d’Alene’s Eagles. Her artwork was at Spokane’s Chase Gallery

Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail on path to reality

T

he powers that be recently gave the go-

Drumheller, of Friends of Pend d’Oreille Bay

ahead to begin establishing nearly a mile

Trail. Now, the work turns to fundraising.

a stone’s throw from downtown Sandpoint –

first two parcels at $400,000 each, Ponderay

much to the delight of advocates for the Pend

is buying the third for $400,000, and Friends

d’Oreille Bay Trail.

of Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail will buy the fourth

of public access along Lake Pend Oreille – just

The cities of Sandpoint and Ponderay both agreed in September 2011 to purchase parcels of privately held land from the Hall family

“Dress Western” downtown Sandpoint 100 B Cedar Street Sandpoint, ID 83864 208-255-5858

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Fax. 208-255-5866 email: gail@thesandstallion.com website: www.thesandstallion.com

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In a four-year deal, Sandpoint is buying the

for $360,000 – an amount the group will be working to raise in the interim.

“In the long run, it will be a benefit to the

to collectively create the waterfront trail. As

community,” Drumheller said. “It will be an-

proposed, the trail would eventually extend

other amenity that makes our town a draw.”

from Sandpoint just north of City Beach to

As this landmark deal continues, stay

near Black Rock in Ponderay, and someday, it’s

updated with the latest information by visiting

hoped, all the way to Ponder Point in Kootenai.

www.POBTrail.org.

“It’s neat to see the leadership seizing the day and carrying out the dream,” said Susan

– Beth Hawkins

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Amber and Jeremiah (Miah) Kohal, opposite, enjoy spending time together, music, art and, of course, anything involving beautiful Lake Pend Oreille. PHOTO BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

and, more recently, at Keller Williams Realty for POAC’s Artwalk.

By day the couple are parents to 8-year-old Zac – known to spontaneously join his father on stage – and the more contemplative Tanner, 12, who plays guitar and enjoys art. Both are Sagle Elementary students.

Miah, 33, works at Avista when he’s not plucking away at music by Jason Mraz, Johnny Cash or Robert Earl Keen on his guitar. Amber, 33, is finishing an associate’s in art at North Idaho College and works part-time at Seasons at Sandpoint. She also volunteers with Kaleidoscope, teaching art to area students, and would someday like to teach.

School, in fact, was how the two met. Miah’s mother, Betty, was Amber’s second grade teacher. The couple, friends since high school, have been married 14 years. “We came home,” said Amber, “so our kids could grow up here the way we did.”

– Carrie Scozzaro

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Friends of Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, Inc. board members gather at the proposed trail: from left, Susan Drumheller, President Jan Griffitts and Jon Sayler. PHOTO BY Beth Hawkins

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Dot-com owner hits virtual home run

I

n 2000, the Yankees won the World Series for the third year in a row, A-Rod signed a record-breaking contract with the Rangers and Centerfield Sports owner Ken Horton decided to take a chance on the dot-com craze, launching www.CustomGlove.com.

His sporting goods store, Centerfield Sports, had been selling custom-made baseball gloves, but there wasn’t a huge market locally.

“Once the Internet was out there and it was real, a customer could go online and build a glove exactly the way they wanted it on a step-by-step basis,” Horton said. “The Internet allowed us to sell that product to more people besides the people in Sandpoint.”

Today, Horton’s online business is booming, with orders for customized baseball and softball gloves, catcher’s gear, and bats rolling in from across the United States and internationally from

Canada, the Netherlands and Australia. Horton, 56, runs the business while manning his store at the Bonner Mall in Ponderay, filling an average of 250 orders a month, mainly from minor league players, college and high school athletes, and sports agents.

Customers can use the stateof-the-art online tool to design a baseball glove exactly to their liking and even have their name embroidered on the glove, with prices ranging from $180 to $400. Custom features include up to 28 options such as glove style, size, type of leather, type of back and colors.

While many dot-coms struck out, Horton is on a winning streak with his.

“Last year was our best year, and this year has been better than last year.

We’ve been growing right through the recession,” he said.

Ken Horton’s CustomGlove.com, inset, has continued to grow through the recession

– Amie Wolf

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Backcountry addict climbing with 7B Skis

A

vid backcountry skier David Marx was looking for a ski that didn’t exist – fat, flexible powder boards with snap coming out of a turn and – this was always the deal breaker – the ability to climb low-angle ascents without putting on skins. So, he decided to build his own. Twenty pairs later, he thinks he’s on to something.

“Building skis isn’t rocket science,” Marx said, “but I figured if I was going to tool up to build my own, I should build enough to sell, too.”

7B Skis was born. With the help of friends, Marx, 48, designed and built the variety of tools and forms necessary to make skis, including innovative downdraft forms that laminate the base, of European beech and American poplar, using giant vacuum bags.

What has evolved in his Carr Creek

workshop is a ski that is wide, supple, light and cambered for that snap with a section of “fish scale” under the binding for climbing. Marx says his out-ofbounds dream ski works well in liftassisted domains, too. Powder enthusiasts will, this winter, be able to get their share of the dream.

“The Source at Schweitzer will be demoing 7Bs this year,” Marx said, “and I will have about 50 pairs for sale.” An outdoor shop in Sandpoint is also interested in handling 7Bs. 7B Skis come in a variety of sizes and two basic models: the Goat, with smooth base, and the Powder Claws, with the fish scale Marx went looking for in the first place.

To learn more, visit www.7bskis. com.

– Sandy Compton

David Marx shows off last year’s model of the Goat, right, and a Powder Claws prototype. PHOTO courtesy David Marx

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Priest Lake Search & Rescue a volunteer success

G

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16

Lost and found

etting lost is never a good thing. But when someone goes lost or missing in the Priest Lake area, a large and well-organized team is ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

Cue the Priest Lake Search and Rescue (PLSAR), a thriving, 120-member, volunteer, nonprofit organization trained to search for someone who is missing or, in a worst-case scenario, recover a body from the wilderness.

Commander Mike Nielsen, 62, is behind the group’s impressive rise, forming PLSAR in 2001 when he saw a need for a local search-and-rescue team. His persistence was rewarded with a grant from the Priest Lake Chamber of Commerce to purchase equipment; from there, the ball really started rolling.

“We have enough manpower now that we can have some depth when called out on missions,” Nielsen said.

“We’re one of the more well-trained teams in the Northwest.”

With a sizable member base, PLSAR also includes many units within the

group: a snowmobile unit, an ATV unit and a dog unit, which was added in 2010.

Sandpoint’s Randi Lui heads up the PLSAR dog unit, which consists of nine volunteer members and eight dogs.

Four of the dogs are “mission ready,” meaning they are fully trained to go out on rescues; the other four dogs are currently in training, which is a one-to-two year training and certification process.

“People are surprised by how much training the dogs – and their handlers – have to go through,” said Lui, who says the commitment level can sometimes scare away potential members. “We train 12 months out of the year – rain, snow, sun. We are a different breed.”

The dog unit has been called out on about a half-dozen searches, and also participates in an ongoing recovery search. The unit responds to calls from throughout Bonner County, and even has assisted Boundary County on occasion.

“It’s more about what’s needed, than where it’s at,” Lui said.

Nielsen echoed that sentiment, saying that although the PLSAR focuses on missions within the Priest Lake Basin,

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Volunteers with Priest Lake Search and Rescue take part in a winter survival skills training exercise, opposite, while Becca Tisdell works with a search dog, above. PHOTOS BY KAREN DINGERSON

they will respond to requests for help outside the area. “We’re here for the people; we’ll go where we’re called.”

In total, the PLSAR team has performed 49 missions, assisted 70 people and recovered 12 bodies during its 11-year existence.

PLSAR has no paid staff and receives no tax funding.

“It actually costs money to be a member,” Nielsen, who is a Bonner County commissioner, said. “We have doctors, professionals, businesspeople – they all want to donate their time.”

To raise money for training and equipment costs, the group holds an annual HuckFest fundraiser each summer at the Priest Lake Golf Course and also receives funds through financial gifts from donors – including those who give money through their wills. In a touching gesture, one contribution came from the family of a father and son who were snowmobiling when an avalanche claimed the father’s life.

“The team recovered the body,” Nielsen said. “The family set up a memorial fund, and donated the money to PLSAR.” To learn more, visit www.PLSAR. com.

– Beth Hawkins

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208-263-8414 • BonnerCountyFair@InterMaxNetworks.com • 4203 N. Boyer Rd. • Sandpoint, Idaho

B O N N E R C O U N T Y FA I R G R O U N D S 33 R V w/w ater Sites &p ower

HEDULE 2011-12 SC November 19 December 3 17 January 11 TBA February 18 March 2-4 14 28

4-H Family Fun Night April Christmas Fair Litehouse Christmas Party May Crowning of Rodeo Royalty Sandpoint Archers Skijouring Bonner County Gun & Horn Show Rodeo Meeting Carter Country Horse Seminar

WINTER 2012

13-15 27 5 11-13 TBA 18-19

PBCA Show Festival At Sandpoint 4-H Horse Judging Adult 4-H Horse Camp Swine Weigh-In Lost in the 50's

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ALMANAC

Keepers of a beloved lake

L

ake Pend Oreille got a new advocate recently, and she comes with some rather high qualifications. A marine scientist with experience as an aquatic microbial ecologist, Shannon Williamson, 36, took the reins in September 2011 from the founding Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, Jennifer Ekstrom, who left to pursue a longtime dream to write and produce environmental documentaries.

Williamson hopes to take her former life’s work as a doctorate-level researcher and integrate it with public awareness and advocacy in continuing the group’s mission to protect Lake Pend Oreille.

“It’s a pretty significant career path change into conservation and advocacy.

I was thrilled when the opportunity came to my attention,” said Williamson, who moved here from San Diego, where she was the director of environmental virology and an assistant professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute.

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With about 700 members, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper is one of more than 200 organizations worldwide under the umbrella of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a movement founded in part by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 1999.

Williamson joined another relatively new staff member in the Sandpoint office, Jace Bylenga, 28, who was hired part-time in March 2011 as the outreach coordinator. An avid outdoorsman, Bylenga says he strongly believes in the cause of protecting clean water.

Williamson, a wife and mother of two young children, is equally passionate about the cause. “I felt aligned with issues Jennifer had established,” said Williamson, explaining the group’s stance on minimal herbicides to control aquatic weed growth, particularly Eurasian water milfoil. She says viable, microbial-based control methods exist.

“It’s going to take some time and research,” Williamson said, calling it a learning opportunity. “I hope to pull from

Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper Shannon Williamson with coworker Jace Bylenga

my background and expertise in that area to come up with new solutions.”

– Billie Jean Plaster

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ALMANAC

Southern hospitality The Ogles find their calling

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riends always commented on their gift for hospitality, say Calvin and Jill Ogle, and so these native Southerners found their calling this past summer when they became innkeepers at Sweet Magnolia Bed & Breakfast.

Formerly the Coit House, the 1907 building at Fourth and Alder had been renovated and opened as a B&B in 1995. Closed since 2009, the inn was bought by the Ogles June 24, 2011, and reopened July 1 with a new name that reflects their Southern roots.

Calvin came from innkeeper stock; his grandma owned an inn in Gatlinburg, Tenn., where he worked in his youth. In his adult life, however, he was an engineer doing sales for drinking water plants. Last spring, Calvin, 51, decided he didn’t want to be on the road anymore.

“It was killing me,” he said.

Jill, also 51, helps with breakfast before heading to work at Bonner General Hospital as a medical technologist, while her husband is the full-time innkeeper.

“I like hanging out at home all day. I just do more chores,” he said.

Both, however, especially like hosting guests.

“People who come to a B&B are a different breed. They’re friendly and want to know about our lives. Everyone is sociable. We haven’t had a bad experience yet,” Calvin said.

“They all want to hug us when they leave,” Jill said, adding they get notes, letters and e-mails every day.

Their three children helped out last summer, but the two oldest, Emily and

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Sweet Magnolia innkeepers Calvin and Jill Ogle

Eddie, are back at college. Madelynn, 13, is still at home and helps do dishes, laundry and room cleaning.

The Ogles never envisioned that they would be as busy as they were in their first summer season, but it was a happy introduction to their new life.

– Billie Jean Plaster

208.255.2824

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WINTER 2012

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Ca l e n d a r November 2011

[Hot Picks]

4 One for the Road. Panida Theater hosts

ski film at 8 p.m.; presented by Teton Gravity Research. 263-9191

5 Sandpoint Films Festival. Local filmmakers’ works at Panida’s Little Theater. Film blocks begin at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

290-0597

Songs from the heart. Word’s out that the Songwriter’s Circle Concert, now celebrating its third year of existence, is a benefit worth attending. The increasingly popular concert gathers some of the community’s favorite musicians at the Panida Theater to benefit the Foundation for Human Rights Action and Advocacy.

Come at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 to enjoy performances by John Kelly, Bonnie Thompson, Peter Lucht and Heather McElwain.

Sponsored by the FHRAA, the Pride Foundation, along with local businesses and organizations. Tickets are $12 at the door.

610-1671

5 Tingstad & Rumble Concert. Presented

by Sandpoint Waldorf School, 7:30 p.m. in the Panida. 263-9191 7 Holiday Craft Faire. Bonner General

Hospital hosts annual shopping faire 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 610-1560

10 Popovich Comedy Pet Theater. Panida

hosts Las Vegas act, 7:30 p.m. 263-9191

11 Annual Harvest Dinner. Memorial

Community Center in Hope plans traditional Thanksgiving feast at 5:30 p.m. to benefit Christmas Giving Program. 264-5481

11-13 Holiday Arts, Crafts and Collectibles Show. Weekend-long show at

the Bonner Mall in Ponderay. 263-4272

12 Songwriter’s Circle. See Hot Picks.

17-19 Turkey Bingo. Bonner Mall fundraiser

benefitting Toys for Tots; 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon Saturday. 263-4272 18 Bash for Cash. Panida hosts benefit concert at 7 p.m. sponsored by The Iron Horse Riders. 263-9191 18-19 Holiday Festival of Fair Trade. 9th annual market at Sandpoint Community Hall features goods from around the world and handmade local items. 255-4410 19 Holly Eve. Sandpoint Events Center

hosts annual gala fundraiser featuring hors d’oeuvres, silent and live auctions, and entertainment including a fast-paced fashion show. 263-8956

19-23, 25-27 K&K Thanksgiving Fishing Derby. Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club’s annual

fall fishing contest. 264-5796

25-Dec. 24 Santa at the Mall. Bonner Mall in Ponderay welcomes Santa every weekend through Dec. 24 along with live local entertainment. 263-4272

Radio theater, circa 1940. Nostalgia runs high when the beloved holiday movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” is brought to life in a radio-style presentation at the Panida Theater. Presented by Sandpoint Onstage, the play features actors and actresses who, instead of memorizing lines and walking around on stage, will come up to a microphone and read the lines in character (think “Prairie Home Companion”). The idea is that the audience is part of a “radio studio” from the 1940s, complete with a choir singing local commercials. Happy days are here again!

Matinees begin at 1 p.m.; evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 9-10 and again Dec. 16-17. 263-9191 or 946-6553 A mountain of cultural films. The Panida hosts Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, a three-day

25-Jan. 1 Holidays in Sandpoint.

Traditional tree-lighting ceremony, caroling and Santa with cookies and cider Nov. 25 at Jeff Jones Town Square kicks off Downtown Sandpoint’s special events. 255-1876

DECEMBER 2011

Center hosts three-day event including Family Night for the community Dec. 1 with deco

screening event of the world’s best mountain and culture films, Jan. 26-28. This event sells out every year, so buy your tickets early! All proceeds benefit the Satipo Kids Project to help children attend school in a small town in Peru. 263-4282 Ski all night for Hank. Schweitzer Mountain Resort hosts the fourth-annual, all-night 24 Hours of Schweitzer fundraiser March 30-31, held in honor of fiveyear-old Hank Sturgis of Sandpoint, who has the rare, fatal disease cystinosis. Skiers and boarders of all ages and abilities compete around-the-clock to raise funds for cystinosis research. Last year’s event featured record performances and even a midnight marriage proposal, with more thrills expected this year. Ones to watch include three-time defending champ Matt Gillis of Sandpoint, who skied a record 202 runs in 24 hours. www.24hoursforhank. org. 263-9555 End the season with a bang. Diehard skiers and boarders would likely dread the end of the ski season except for the fact that it’s so darn fun. That’s because the Tropical Daze Weekend – an annual tradition at Schweitzer Mountain Resort – invites a bit of the wacky and wild with an outrageously fun lineup, April 7-8. It’s all meant to be a big celebration to bid farewell to an awesome season on the slopes. Watch life-size dummies careen over a giant jump – and hopefully remain intact (most don’t). And try not to get wet in the Pond-Skimming Contest. It’s simply too much fun to miss. 263-9555

rated trees, music, cookies and Santa; Holiday Luncheon Dec. 2 with silent auction; and the Gala Dec. 3. All proceeds benefit Kinderhaven.

610-2208

Fairgrounds hosts festive shopping event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring local craftspeople, food vendors, live entertainment and a visit from Santa. 263-8414

2 The Nutcracker. See POAC calendar.

3 Holiday Kick-off. Official opening of the holiday season at Schweitzer with hot chocolate, cookies and carolers. 263-9555

2 Classical Christmas Concert. Hope’s

1-3 Festival of Trees. Sandpoint Events

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See even more events in the big fat calendars at SandpointOnline.com

Memorial Community Center brings pianist Del Parkinson, at 7 p.m. 264-5481 3 Christmas Fair. Bonner County

WINTER 2012

4 Christmas for Africa. The Luke

Commission hosts 4th annual fundraising SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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See even more events in the big fat calendars at SandpointOnline.com

CALENDAR

POAC

dinner, ministry update and auction gala, 5 p.m. at Sandpoint Events Center. 263-9311 4 Solitaire. Ski and snowboard film at Panida

benefits Sandpoint Climbing Gym. 263-9191

8 Music Conservatory Concert. First Presbyterian Church hosts students of the Sandpoint Music Conservatory performing classical music and more, 6:30 p.m. 265-4444 9-10, 16-17 “It’s A Wonderful Life.” See

Hot Picks.

16 Cabin Fever. POAC opening reception, 5:30 p.m. in The Old Power House. Exhibit runs through Feb. 17. 263-6139 16-17 Holiday Soiree. Arts Alliance festive

event at the Sandpoint Center for the Arts with wine, hors d’oeuvres and music Friday, 5-8 p.m.; art vendors and activities Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 265-ARTS

17 Great Scott Cross-Country Race.

Schweitzer hosts Nordic event. 263-9555 24 Santa’s Schweitzer Visit. Santa skis

the slopes, hands out treats, and takes lastminute wishes at Schweitzer. 263-9555

31 New Year’s Eve Parties at Schweitzer.

Parties for all ages including the rockin’ concert in Taps, the teen tubing party and a “tween” party for the kids. Tickets go on sale Dec. 1. 255-3081

World-class entertainment arrives at the Panida’s door with the 28th season of the annual Pend Oreille Arts Council (POAC) Performance Series. This year’s performers hail from as far away as Russia, and feature a variety of entertainment including unique dance performances and enchanting plays.

To purchase tickets with a credit or debit card, head to the POAC office inside The Old Power House or call 263-6139. Three other ticket outlets in Sandpoint accept cash or checks only – Eve’s Leaves at 326 N. First Ave., Eichardt’s Pub at 212 Cedar St., and Winter Ridge Natural Foods at 703 Lake St. All performances take place in the Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave., and are ADA accessible; listening devices are available for free.

Eugene Ballet’s “The Nutcracker,” Friday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m.

A Sandpoint tradition! The Nutcracker Ballet features colorful sets, spectacular costumes and wonderful dancing. Young, local dancers get in on the action making this an unforgettable holiday treat. Get your tickets early, as this one always sells out! Adults, $25; youth, $10.

“The Pied Piper,” Saturday, Feb. 4, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Missoula Children’s Theatre is back for another fantastic production with this musical regarding rats, a magical piper, and the residents of the village of Hamelin – with stars of the stage you may recognize. Local students audition and perform in two public performances of this delightful children’s classic tale. Adults, $10; youth, $5.

The Good Lovelies, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m.

Mixing folk roots with western swing, The Good Lovelies is a show that’s funny and upbeat with just a pinch of sass.

Their textbook three-part harmonies, constant instrument swapping and witty on-stage banter have enlivened the folk music landscape since the three Canadian woman joined forces in 2006. It’s a feelgood, high-energy show for the entire family.

JANUARY 2012

6-27 Starlight Junior Race Series. Local race series at Schweitzer takes place on Friday nights in January. 263-9555 14 Winter Carnival Chili Cook-Off and Candy-o-Rama. The Bonner Mall in

Ponderay hosts fundraisers for the Make A Wish Foundation. 263-4272

14-16 Schweitzer MLK Weekend Celebration. Family-friendly events all

weekend at Schweitzer. 263-9555

17 Cougar Gulch Cross-Country Race.

Schweitzer hosts Nordic event. 263-9555 26-28 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. See Hot Picks.

28-29 USASA Races. Schweitzer hosts

sanctioned competition; alpine and slopestyle events for snowboarders and skiers. 263-9555

For nearly 25 years, Boston Brass has set out to establish a one-of-a-kind musical experience, providing audiences with a wide selection of musical styles. Exciting classical arrangements, burning jazz standards and the best of the original brass quintet repertoire bridges the oceans of classical formality. It’s an evening of great music and boisterous fun.

Taps. 263-9555

MARCH 2012

2 Annual Student Art Show. POAC opens

show with a reception at 5:30 p.m. in The Old Power House. Exhibit runs through April 9.

263-6139

2-3 The Follies. The 10th anniversary Angels

3-March 2 Starlight Racing. Friday night

over Sandpoint fundraiser at 8 p.m. in the Panida features zany acts including some all-time favorites. Must be 21 to attend. 877544-4399

4 “The Pied Piper.” See POAC calendar.

3 Deschutes Base Camp for Beer Fanatics. Fun competitions and activities

FEBRUARY 2012

races at Schweitzer, followed by parties in Taps. 263-9555

7 The Good Lovelies. See POAC calendar.

17-25 Sandpoint Winter Carnival. Family-

friendly events: skijoring, K-9 Keg Pull, Rail Jam and more. See story, page 47. 263-2161

24-25 Outrageous Air Show. Olympic ski-

ers join local talent in a Big Air Show at Schweitzer. Crazy themed parties follow in

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Boston Brass, Friday, March 30, 7:30 p.m.

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for this hilarious “base camp” put on by Deschutes Brewery at Schweitzer. 263-9555 10 Vertical Express for Can Do MS. Annual

Schweitzer event to benefit the Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis. 263-9555

11 Grom Stomp. Schweitzer hosts a grom-

sized slopestyle and boardercross competition for those ages 6-11. 263-9555

16-18 Stomp Games. Region’s best riders

compete for serious cash prizes while spectators are treated to phenomenal stunts at Schweitzer. 263-9555

30 Boston Brass. See POAC calendar.

30-31 24 Hours of Schweitzer. See Hot

Picks.

APRIL 2012

7-8 Tropical Daze. See Hot Picks.

20 Diamonds in the Rough. POAC opening

reception, 5:30 p.m. in The Old Power House.

Exhibit runs through June 15. 263-6139

28-May 6 K&K Spring Fishing Derby. Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club’s annual spring fishing contest. 264-5796

MAY 2012

17-20 Lost in the ’50s. Celebration includes a downtown car parade and show, concerts, car display and more. 265-LOST

WINTER 2012

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11-09-27 10/10/11 9:18 2:51AM PM

18 AM

Interview

Klaus Groenke German real estate magnate

A

Story and photos by Ralph Bartholdt

t the entrance to Klaus Groenke’s property, a 12-foot piece of the original Berlin Wall sits column-like in the lush and cool shade of trees.

Once the gate opens, a paved road winds past tennis courts and throbbing sprinklers that drench the grass under tall pines on the Hope Peninsula. The pavement ends at a log and stone house that conjures images of Teddy Roosevelt and the Yellowstone lodges of a century ago.

Groenke, 69, is a fit man of medium build, balding, with white hair and dark eyebrows and casual dress. A Berlin native, he made his fortune building low-income housing in his hometown beginning in the 1960s. He and Gisela, his wife of 43 years, have lived part-time on the Hope Peninsula since the late 1970s. They came to northern Idaho at the behest of their friends Ed and Nancy Kienholz, American artists whom the Groenkes met in Berlin, and who owned property nearby.

The Groenkes once owned 8 acres on the peninsula, but in the 1990s when some investments soured, they sold several parcels and formed a gated community with neighbors whose similar proclivity for peace, quiet and the beauty of Lake Pend Oreille’s shoreline rival his own.

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An avid reader, Berlin native Klaus Groenke has compiled hundreds of volumes in the library of his Hope Peninsula home

In his decades here, the über-German has been known for his generosity to the Panhandle Alliance for Education, for the powerful guests who sometimes frequent his property, the giant sculptures displayed on his land and the conspiracy theory tying him to weather-altering government plots.

His property is dotted with works by internationally acclaimed sculptors Mark di Suvero and George Rickey.

They grace the lakeshore along with others, including a 30-foot set of blue, metal beams that shoot skyward near the tennis courts. It is a work called “Waterfall” by German sculptor Peter Lindenberg.

As for conspiracy theories surrounding the Groenkes and their property in Hope? Groenke dismisses them with the wave of a hand.

For many Bonner County residents, especially lake residents, you are sort of a mythical person about whom little is known. Tell us about yourself.

I was born in 1942 in Berlin. Basically all my life except for three years I have lived in Berlin. Three years I spent in the early 1960s in Rhode Island. My father owned a printing business in Berlin, a small printing business, and I, after finishing high school, made an apprenticeship as a cameraman in the printing business. I returned in December 1964 and helped my father in the printing business. Then I decided I wanted to go into real estate because I had an opportunity with some friends.

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Interview We bought some land and we built basically low-income housing in Berlin, which was government subsidized. It was like low-income housing, but much higher quality. So, all my life I stayed in the real estate business. In 1968 I married Gisela; we are a happy couple now for 43 years. We have two children. Our son, Christian, is 40 and our daughter (Daniela) is 36.

As for urban legends, or rumor gone awry, one “neighbor” in particular has tied you to conspiracy theories involving the federal government.

What do you make of that?

There is an individual from Sagle (Len Horowitz), who claims to be a Harvard professor who wrote something really stupid about me. I only can say it’s stupid. Like I have this scheme to eat up energy resources and that we have symbols out here like swastikas and what not. I mean, it’s bull----. We do collect a little art, yes, I have to say. But we’re not the typical collectors. Collectors usually go in one direction and they want to enhance their money. I am not a collector like that. I go by belly feeling, by gut feeling. If I like something

and I can afford it, I will buy it.

On that topic, you have several large pieces of art by well-known artists on your property. Tell us about the pieces and your tie to them.

We have pieces from some internationally, well-known, over-the-world-known and acknowledged artists. In the front line of course is Kienholz. We own many works by him.

Also, Mark di Suvero. If you ever have been on the lake here you can see on the next point

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Gisela Groenke fishes with family friend President Gerald Ford on Lake Pend Oreille, while he was vacationing here in 1992

of the peninsula a red sculpture. It’s about 35 feet high and it’s called “Tendresse.” It is from Mark di Suvero. And then we have pieces from George Rickey here, as well as in Berlin.

Did your friendship with sculptor and painter Edward Kienholz – for whom much of the Hope Peninsula art scene is dedicated – inspire or introduce you to the local art scene, and how are you still involved with that?

In 1975, Gisela and I met the Kienholzes, Ed and Nancy. They were living part-time in Berlin. They were intrigued by the divided city.

We decided to invite them to our house for dinner. It was a quiet, awkward dinner, sort of a blind date, but during the evening we found out that we liked each other. That was in the fall of 1975, and through the winter and spring we met each other almost every week.

The following summer (we) planned a six-

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WINTER 2012

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Interview of democracy surrounded by communism?

That piece was given to me by staff that worked for me. It’s a true piece with graffiti.

I was 6 years old when the Berlin blockade happened. Fifteen years later I was with my parents coming back from Bavaria on a vacation trip, and we had, of course, to pass through East Germany to get to West Berlin.

When we arrived in Berlin, we found out they were building the wall. … You had a feeling you lived within a threat all the time. Almost 30 years later, I was sitting with George

Known for its post-modern art sculptures on the grounds, the Groenke home also includes its share of art inside, including this piece by family friend and late Hope resident Ed Kienholz

Things were never quite the same at the henhouse once Flo learned to boil water…

week trip by car from Los Angeles to Seattle to New York. That trip brought us through Idaho where we stayed at Ed and Nancy’s guest cabin for three or four days. I liked it so much that I wanted to give up the whole trip. I made sure that next year we could come back, which we did. We bought a small lot across from Ed and Nancy’s studio and built our first log house. That was completed in 1979. Since then, every year we came back for summer vacation, Christmas and sometimes in between. I have not met artists in the category of Kienholz or di Suvero or Rickey up here. I think one of the outstanding artists that I know in the local neighborhood here is Stephen Schultz.

You have a piece of the Berlin Wall outside your gate. Is that a novelty item, or is there greater meaning in that to you, someone who lived in Berlin when it was an island

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Interview reception here for President Ford (in 1992). He was standing in that corner (of the balcony); people passed him and he said hello. It was when we had rarely seen eagles in years, and there was a bald eagle and a golden eagle that landed in that tree above the president. So, they recognized the president.

Tell us about your role in supporting the local school systems and your ties to Panhandle Alliance for Education and why that is important to you.

I do donations on a lower level. We were inspired to do that by Dan Jacobson and the alliance, and also by the Lewis family. We had twice here on our property their yearly event for fundraising. Of course I think that a good school education is very important and that there is a need to support that.

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A piece by renowned sculptor George Rickey graces the Groenkes’ fireplace

My blood pressure is 20 points lower here than it is in Berlin.

Rickey, the artist, and with Gisela. We were having dinner when the wall opened and fell.

We left our dinner and we went to the wall and saw the people coming in. It was a fabulous feeling. I think that feeling of freedom at that moment was the greatest experience I had in my life. That segment of the wall is always a reminder that we once lived on an island in communism.

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You have had President Ford and his wife, Betty, as well as other dignitaries, visit your Hope Peninsula property. How did you make their acquaintance and how have those been sustaining friendships?

I was in business with one of the largest real estate developers in U.S., a family out of Dallas, the Crow family. The Trammell Crow Company was at one time, or maybe still is, the largest real estate developer in the U.S. Through him, we met President Ford, and of course, Betty Ford. On a boat trip, the Crows invited us to the Inside Passage of Alaska. We spent a week on that boat and the important guests were President Ford and his wife, and Lord Callaghan, who was the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, and his wife.

On that boat we became friends. We did give a

Klaus Groenke says he feels at home in Idaho, where he enjoys this “most peaceful area”

Is your business primarily a European venture, or is it worldwide including projects in the United States?

My business is strictly confined to Germany.

My father always said that you must do your

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10/10/11 2:51 PM

Interview business where you sit with your behind; that way you can control it better. In the 1970s we tried to build in Spain, a Sheraton Hotel in Barcelona that failed. The country was going through a change from dictatorship to democracy and for a time nothing there worked. So, I stick to Germany now where you know the law, you know your rights. It’s easier. We built shopping centers and have owned hotels and built hotels. Now we no longer own any. In 1992 we bought 27 of the best hotels in East Germany for 2.2 billion Deutsche Marks. We lost those through clouded titles. That cost us $300 million. We have built thousands of apartments in Berlin between 1968 and 1990.

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How much time do you spend here and what is your daily routine?

We are usually the whole summer here. My son lives mainly in Dallas and Menlo Park next to Palo Alto, so we travel and see him a lot.

We travel back and forth to Berlin. Next year I am going to be 70, so I will probably give the company – half of it – to employees and stay on as a silent partner. We want to travel the U.S. starting next June. We want to travel to Alaska. We love to travel by car. I love to play tennis. I play one hour, sometimes two times per day. We have lots of guests, we talk, we swim, we go for boat rides. In the winter, my family likes to ski. You have one of the best ski areas here; it’s not crowded like in Europe, and the snow is powder, not icy.

Tell us about your own, private Idaho.

Except for Berlin, which is the place where I was born, I have seen few places like this in the world, where I feel at home like this. It is the most peaceful area, and it is here where I can really come to peace. My blood pressure is 20 points lower here than it is in Berlin. It is serene. That is what it is to me.

STAMP C ou nterfeiting

Stamp Counterfeiting looks into an intriguing crime that originated in Chicago in the 1890s, when the United States was experiencing one of its economic meltdowns. A time and environment that attracted charlatans and crooks, the so-called Gilded Age attracted people to the cities where they attempted to make their fortune, some by nefarious means.

Covering the period from 1894 to 1940 in Stamp Counterfeiting, author H.K. Petschel delves into true crime stories that deal with real people, from the lone criminal operating a printing press in his living room to the larger underworld of organized crime.

Revisiting tales from his first book, Spurious Stamps, published by the American Philatelic Society in 1996, Petschel researched newspaper archives, police records and the National Archives to uncover the progression of this unrecognized crime.

A former postal inspector, the author explores the evolution of the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the symbiotic relationship between stamp counterfeiting and currency counterfeiting. His professional expertise and obsession with these “fascinating little bits of paper” come through in this enthusiastic look at the historical record of stamp swindles.

Intriguing

true crime history

The Evolution of an Unrecognized Crime

by a local

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

author!

H.K. Petschel

As a postal inspector, author H.K. Petschel investigated many of the postal counterfeits in the 1970s and authored the manual for counterfeit investigations for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. He has written and published numerous articles to bring national attention to the problem of postal counterfeits. The author of Spurious Stamps, he has long been recognized as an authority in the field. Today he lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he continues to research stamp counterfeiting when not exploring the Western mountains or Canadian north.

HKP

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ANIMALS

For the love of animals

Shelter programs blossoming under new leadership Story and photos by

S

Marsha Lutz

hortly after Mandy Evans moved here in 2008, she became Sandpoint’s most enthusiastic canine advocate. Just ask any local dog. She encouraged the City of Sandpoint to allow them in some of its parks and suggested the idea of Yappy Hour as a fundraiser for the Panhandle Animal Shelter (PAS).

She also helped establish Evans Brothers Coffee and started a family with her husband, Rick, which now includes a 3-year-old son and a baby daughter. Evans, 36, had plenty to keep her busy, but then the PAS executive director position became vacant late in 2010.

Evans stepped into that role, and since then has created programs and provided leadership to push fledgling ideas into fruition. “In August, we initiated a new program focused on streamlining our adoption process and training our dogs,” she said.

The Meet your Match program is funded by an Inland Northwest Community Foundation (INWCF) grant. Just like eHarmony or Match.com, it uses “compatibility matching technology” to test each dog’s personality and match it with the expectation and lifestyle of a potential adopter.

The Paws-to-Read program, meanwhile, began in June 2011 to assist in improving reading comprehension in elementary school-age children. A partnership between the East Bonner County Library (EBCL) and PAS, the program is based on a simple concept: Children read to dogs to improve their literacy skills, and the dogs love to listen. The children view the dogs as lovable and non-judgmental, keys to this program’s success.

“This is an exciting program that I had been interested in, so when PAS approached me about it, I was thrilled,” said Suzanne Davis, EBCL youth librarian.

Another PAS initiative to equip fire stations in the county with pet respirator masks and train firefighters in pet CPR started in July 2011.

To assist lower-income Bonner County residents, PAS established The Low Income Spay and Neuter program. The first round of funding in May 2011 from the Cadeau Foundation and INWCF assisted approximately 87 animals. Evans hopes to assist 400 animals by spring.

“The need for this program is evident based on the number of calls the shelter receives from locals who have the desire to alter their pets, but can’t afford the surgery,” Evans said.

Local veterinarians, Kathy Caldwell with Center Valley Veterinary Hospital, Bob Stoll of Animal Medical Care and Dawn Mehra with North Idaho Animal Hospital, significantly reduced their rates to work with the shelter.

“In our practice we often see the joy a pet brings into a household and believe that no one should be excluded from pet ownership, regardless of income level,” said Mehra.

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Top: Mandy Evans, Panhandle Animal Shelter executive director with Yogi, a dog awaiting adoption Above: Kailee McNamee, 7, and Maile Evans, 6, read to Azula at the Sandpoint Library

Evans has experienced firsthand the difference an animal can make in a person’s life.

Thus, she is proud to have the Pawsitive Works program that pairs at-risk youth with shelter dogs. The youth provide training and behavior modification so dogs become more adoptable, while they gain self-confidence and awareness of the importance of communication, trust and patience. The shelter dogs offer up unconditional love and provide the youth with a sense of accomplishment and responsibility.

Kids and dogs are like peanut butter and jelly – they just go together. Evans believes SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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ANIMALS “We Have Your Color”

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Mandy Evans, center, with veterinarian Chrissy Wetzel, right, and others who helped equip and train firefighters to assist pets with respirators and CPR

that educating kids on the proper care of their pets makes this union more satisfying. She and Jan Waldrup, PAS board member and chair of the education committee, initiated programs to increase animal education by arranging visits to local schools where volunteers bring in shelter dogs and teach children about the responsibilities of being a pet owner.

“Bottom line, I believe this ultimately reduces the relinquishment of

animals to the shelter,” said Waldrup.

What are the goals for 2012?

Expanding the education program to increase school visits and providing funding for school field trips to the shelter.

“Children can initiate change in the mindset of our community. They are the front line for a positive future where pets are spayed and neutered and not abused,” Evans said.

Also in the works is Senior for Seniors, a program that waives adoption fees for a senior citizen adopting a senior dog or cat from the shelter.

Research shows companion animals can help improve a senior’s physical and mental health. Senior animals are often gentler and well-trained, thus a better match for an older individual.

PAS sees an average of 1,600 animals a year; all are vaccinated, microchipped, and spayed or neutered before adoption. Revenue comes through the PAS Thrift Store, private donations and public funding.

The Wild Rose Foundation provided PAS with a new facility in Ponderay, at 870 Kootenai Cut-off Rd., in 2009, charging a low yearly lease. But the cost of maintenance continues to be a burden on the shelter. Private donations are down, so Evans is brainstorming new ways to cover these shortages.

She encourages the community to volunteer and donate what they can.

“In the morning before work, come walk a dog for 15 minutes, or sit and brush a cat. You would be doing a huge service to the animals,” Evans said.

Look up www.pasidaho.org or phone 265-7297 to learn more.

WINTER 2012

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behind the scenes

Making the town tick

Stephen Drinkard, project coordinator for the City of Sandpoint

Behind the Scenes is a new, recurring feature profiling the often unsung characters who make our town tick.

S

tephen Drinkard is characteristically humble, even when he tells you that he has helped the City of Sandpoint get $5 million in grants in the last 12 years.

He says that, at 67, he hopes to never retire because he loves what he does.

Besides helping to secure grants and coordinate numerous city improvements, Drinkard advocates for planting and maintaining trees as the city’s urban forester.

For example, he researched how to plant trees so they would grow larger and healthier while also collecting storm water on Second Avenue’s reconstructed section from Pine to Cedar. The result?

Innovative “bioswales” that are also beautifully landscaped.

If Drinkard looks like the professorial type, that’s fitting, because he has a long history in academia.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in literature from the University of California–Los Angeles, he left a doctoral program to teach at an alternative high school and an experimental college, before joining the University of Hawaii.

“I gave it all up in 1975 to go back to the land,” he said. He moved to 40 acres in northeastern Washington where he built an octagon house and kept a large garden while working odd jobs and doing stained glass.

In 1983, he decided to return to academia, this time as a kindergarten teacher at the North Idaho Learning Center (now Selkirk School) in Sandpoint for five years, followed by three years at Rocky Mountain Academy. Next he took his talents to North Idaho College

in Coeur d’Alene and later helped establish and expand its satellite campus in Sandpoint, where he taught for seven years.

Then, in 1999, former Sandpoint Mayor David Sawyer hired Drinkard as a part-time grant writer; over the years it grew into a full-time position as project coordinator and urban forester.

Drinkard coordinates projects at home, too, where he has been remodeling nonstop for 20 years.

Married to Susan since 1990, he also plays tennis, does tai chi, takes day trips on his Honda 750 and, as he puts it, makes an effort to be “a better human being.”

“I’ve been trying to grow my

Drinkard Datasheet • Formed two nonprofits: Bonner Education and Technology Alliance to promote technology in Sandpoint and, more recently, the Bonner Community Housing Agency to build affordable housing.

• Spearheaded the creation in 2005 of the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency to provide new public art and

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whole life – emotionally, spiritually and intellectually,” he said.

Meantime, he is pleased to reflect on the city’s positive developments in the past 15 years or so, such as the Healing Garden, the Sand Creek boardwalk, Hickory Street Park, and upgrades to City Beach’s marina and Travers Park.

“I’m part of that, and I feel extremely fortunate,” he said, while being quick to give credit to proactive elected officials and city department heads.

He is even more excited to participate in the “daydreaming and visioning” of Sandpoint Forward, a new economic development initiative. (See related story, page 79).

infrastructure throughout downtown.

• Successfully wrote grants for: n $263,000 in 1999 to extend sewer service on Boyer Avenue to connect the fairgrounds, jail and eventually Quest Aircraft. n A total of $160,000 to build the Sand Creek boardwalk from The Old Power House to the Panida Theater. n $50,000 in 2001 for Tom Hudson to develop an action

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Shown in a “bioswale,” Sandpoint Project Coordinator Stephen Drinkard reflects on Second Avenue’s reconstruction and other city projects he has written grants for over the years

Story and photo by Billie Jean Plaster

plan for downtown that precipitated a $500,000 block grant in 2003 to kick start rebuilding downtown, followed by $18,692 in 2005 for the Hudson parking plan. n $500,000 to widen Bridge Street in 2006. n $221,000 in 2011 from the Federal Transportation Administration to build a city visitor and Selkirk Loop interpretative center at the south entrance to Sandpoint.

SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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ART

The artist Goetzinger

A multimedia man

By Carrie Scozzaro “What do you do?” is a question often asked of an artist, a question Peter Goetzinger, 51, never knows how to answer. Draw, paint, sculpt. Do commercial illustration, murals, set designs. Create custom sculpture for residences, businesses and public spaces throughout the Northwest.

Goetzinger does a little bit of everything, a visionary of sorts.

His most recent work is a sculptural installation for the countyowned Sandpoint Airport. Located at the corner of Airport Way and Industrial Drive, Goetzinger’s signage features a cast-concrete monolith, tapered at the top, out of which water cascades gently.

Flanking either side of the piece are heavy-gauge, steel silhouettes of pine trees, which form the support for the backlit “Welcome Sandpoint Airport” sign.

When he designed it, said Goetzinger, he envisioned precision-cut metal, although his experience with the material was limited. Rather than a hindrance, the prospect of learning a new technique or improving on an existing one excites him.

“I like the challenge of working with different materials,” he said.

As he sometimes does with commissioned work, Goetzinger contacted other artists and artisans to help. In this case, he didn’t have to look too far. Albert Goetzinger, Peter’s 81-year-old father and both a plumber and welder in his native Germany, came up from Lewiston. That’s where Peter and his brother, Rolf, grew up. Rolf, who also helped with the installation, is a Spokanebased artist.

Peter also got assistance with the crowning piece of the sculpture, a 120-pound tail section of an airplane his friend Clem Hackworthy brought to him from a Washington salvage yard.

Hackworthy, who encouraged Peter to respond to the airport’s call for artists, manages sales at Ponderay Garden Center, which supplied the drought- and deerresistant landscaping at the sculpture’s base.

The airport commission was funded by monies raised several years ago by businesses and airport supporters, including $1,000 from Bird Aviation Museum founders Dr. Forrest and Pamela Bird for the winning design.

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This isn’t the first airport for which Peter has done work. Before moving to Sandpoint seven years ago, Peter lived in Seattle where he and a business partner formed New Volute, specializing in sculptural casting. A commission for SeaTac Airport’s Main Terminal and Concourse D restrooms resulted in cast resin sea creatures flowing through aluminum piping and a landscape of cast concrete clouds and glass mountains.

New Volute left its mark on numerous Pacific Northwest exteriors, yet here in the Inland Northwest, Peter has focused on indoor residential work. His client list of custom fireplaces includes Kevin and Annie Shaha, and Dr.

Nationally known artist Peter Goetzinger with a local example of his 3-D art, the new Sandpoint Airport installation PHOTO BY MATT MILLS MCKNIGHT

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ART Children’s Fireplace Enchanted trees frame this magical night scene that includes copper stars embedded in the cast concrete.

Charlie Crane and his wife, Kathy.

The Cranes’ architecture included an actual tree in their living space so Peter incorporated the tree motif by using aspen leaf impressions in the concrete.

“One of my favorite collaborators,” is how veteran Sandpointbased architect Jon Sayler describes Peter.

The two met 10 years ago when Sayler worked in Spokane.

He recounts Peter’s diverse portfolio, especially his designs for Seattle’s flagship REI store. Of all its features – 470-foot mountain bike trail, 65-foot climbing wall, indoor waterfall, custom woodwork – what most impressed Sayler when he visited the REI store were the doorways framed in 3-D tiles. Fast forward a few years. When Sayler saw those images in Peter’s portfolio, something clicked.

Since then Sayler, whom Peter describes as an “architect with an art spirit,” has brought the artist in on several projects. He gives Peter minimal details and a lot of room for creativity, said Sayler, who has dabbled in art with his custom metal furnishings, such as the glass-and-metal tables.

Peter responds well to having creative autonomy. Encouraged by their parents to draw and invent freely, both Peter and Rolf pursued art at Lewiston High School. A summer program introduced them to Utah State University, from which both graduated in 1982.

The program also introduced them to Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, Calif., the alma mater of artist Stephen Lyman, a former Lewiston classmate.

Peter sees public art as a way to promote community and continues to scout ways to do that.

Garden throne This oversized Celticinspired throne is made of cast concrete that has been tinted. Designed to endure many reigns, it features glass vases and wrought iron brackets along the top.

Crane’s Fireplace This unique fireplace design incorporated an aspen tree branch that seems to grow up from the center as aspen leaves stamped into the concrete cascade down the face. Lighting incorporated in the hearth’s mantel adds drama.

Railing post This cast concrete railing post is designed to give the home’s entryway an elegant Northwest feel, while the cap reflects its roofline. The channel supports the ironwork, and downlighting adds interest while illuminating the path.

Photos courtesy Peter Goetzinger

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Another classmate, Kelly Price – whom Peter would later marry – attended Utah State as well, intending to write and illustrate children’s books. When she ended up in San Jose, Calif., to work in a print shop, Peter relocated there from Santa Cruz and did illustration and graphic design.

Eventually the couple moved to Seattle, where Peter joined Rolf working for a scenic mural company. Clients included the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, a 12,000-square-foot, self-guided exhibit with life-size dioramas. Another client, Seattle Children’s Hospital, featured the brothers’ murals as well as soft sculpture designed by Price, who had caught the project manager’s interest with her clay-and-fabric Fly By Night series.

If it sounds like Peter was working on several projects and in several media simultaneously, he was – and still is, whether it’s with his brother or by himself.

Murals are a big part of the brothers’ collaborative work, which they promote on their Artist Brothers website (www.artist brothers.com). Museums, healthcare facilities and water tanks are three specializations. Their work in Spokane’s Shriners Hospital for Children, for example, was featured in Healthcare Design’s March 2011 online magazine article entitled “The ‘art’ of healing.”

“I’m very interested in humanizing public spaces,” said Peter.

Their water tank work, however, is also about removing the human presence, what Water & Waste Digest’s online magazine described as the brothers’ “Disappearing Act.” For 15 years

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they’ve painted tanks throughout the West: Los Angeles, Sacramento, Calif., Tacoma, Wash., Seattle, and Anchorage, Alaska. Using industrial-grade epoxy paint and 9-inch rollers, the pair works directly on a tank’s rounded surface, each structure taking one to two weeks to com-

plete in good weather.

Upcoming for Peter is a 100-footby-25-foot mural commemorating Lewiston’s 150th anniversary; it will depict three scenes in different time periods.

Peter sees public art as a way to promote community and continues to scout ways to do that. On

ART

his wish list: transforming a whole building, such as Sandpoint’s old train station.

“Problem solving,” said Peter, “is one of the most enjoyable parts of the creative process.”

Where others might see an empty building or a blank wall, Peter sees multiple possibilities.

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Community Arts

Panida Forever Major urban renewal grant boosts historic theater

By Cate Huisman

F

or people who have lived in Sandpoint over the past quartercentury, renovation to the historic Panida Theater hardly seems like new news. There have been numerous cycles of renovations since a group of concerned citizens – “the Panida Moms” – rescued the theater from imminent dissolution 26 years ago.

Over the intervening quarter century, hundreds of residents have continued to contribute to a variety of rejuvenations.

Their names are on the bricks underfoot outside and the tiles underfoot inside, and many, if they searched their sock drawers at home, would find the “I helped make the Panida cool” buttons they got when they contributed to buy the new HVAC system. That purchase gave longtime theater director Karen Bowers a break from having to rake the coals in the ancient, wood-fired furnace.

More than 25,000 people annually attend events at the Panida. “It’s the community’s living room,” said former board chairman John Reuter.

Although the theater puts on its own foreign and independent film series, its stage is more frequently filled with plays, concerts and films hosted by a plethora of community groups. But despite the phoenix-like renaissance it has already experienced, the aging building needs more upgrades if it is to continue as the city’s living room.

“In order to do any more major work, we must have a sprinkler system,” said Bill Lewis, the theater’s technical director.

Such a system is a precondition for any further building permits, and if a sprinkler system is to be installed, it makes sense to repair the ceiling and refurbish the walls at the same time.

The board also wants to install an opening between the Panida’s lobby and the adjacent Little Theater, which will give

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patrons more room to mix and an additional safety exit.

Funding work of such magnitude is no small matter, and while grants have been written for this purpose, the absence of local funds to match them has been, as Reuter puts it, “a major hiccup.”

Last summer, a critical grant from the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency (SURA) went a long way toward relieving that hiccup. The grant will provide $90,000 per year for five years. SURA sees the historic theater as key to its mission of revitalizing downtown.

“People come from all over the city, county, even from out of the area to attend (events at) the Panida,” said Eric Paull, SURA board chair.

According to Reuter, the board has been working for some time to figure out how to fund the major renovations.

“The SURA grant was a first major step in kicking that off. The goal is to match every SURA dollar with an outside dollar,” he said. Thus the urban renewal grant has become the cornerstone for a $1 million-fundraising campaign called “Panida Forever.”

Some of the SURA funding has WINTER 2012

Panida Theater Board Chair Erik Daarstad and Executive Director Karen Bowers look toward a bright future across the 1927 theater’s newly refurbished facade. Photo by Marie-DominIque Verdier

already been put to use refurbishing the theater’s marquee and its classic, Spanish colonial facade. “Everything you see from the outside should be better,” said Bowers, adding that the facelift helps the theater serve the purpose of anchoring an enlivened downtown.

The board hopes to get matching funds for a variety of other projects, including rebuilding the stage, installing a theatrical lighting system, replacing the last 144 of the theater’s 540 seats, updating the dressing rooms, repairing the floor and carpeting, and getting a better digital projector.

“It’s a credit to our entire community that we were able to secure the SURA grant,” said Reuter. “It rests on over 25 years of people in the community supporting the Panida.”

Readers wishing to contribute to this support – and to find out what projects are under way – can do so at the Panida’s website, www.panida.org.

SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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C O N S E R V AT I O N

Wolverines, martens and fishers, oh my!

Mustelid study confirms critters live in the Selkirks, Scotchmans

By Sandy Compton

T

he oceans off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula are home to rare northern right whales.

China’s Heilongjiang Northeast Tiger Forest Park is sanctuary to Siberian tigers. The American Selkirks and West Cabinets, particularly the proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness on the Idaho-Montana border, harbor the family Mustelidae – not as rare as the right whale or Siberian tiger, but elusive, secretive and seldom seen even in places where they are relatively numerous. The family includes weasels (mustela in Latin), badgers, marten, fishers, otters, mink and ferrets.

Mustelids, primarily carnivorous, aren’t shy about going after dinner, and at the top of the mustelid family is a legend of ferocity, endurance and cunning – Gulo gulo or “gluttonous glutton” – the wolverine. Rarely found below the 49th parallel these days, wolverines are called carcajou by Canadians, derived from the native kuàkuàtsheu, roughly translated as “devil dog.” Topping out at 50 pounds and capable of taking down a moose or defending food from grizzlies, this critter is worthy of the moniker.

Mess with Gulo gulo at your own risk.

A mustelid hunting we will go In the winter of 2010-11, Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) biologists Michael Lucid and Lacy Robinson did mess with Gulo gulo and its cousins, but as noninvasively as possible. To count mustelids in and around the Scotchman Peaks and Idaho’s Selkirk and Purcell ranges, they and myriad volunteers went wolverine hunting.

There must be something sexy about wolverines, for the hunt turned into a big hit with volunteers.

“This was our biggest winter project since Friends of Scotchman Peaks

Wilderness began,” said Executive Director Phil Hough. “Dozen of friends and others joined in.”

The project was a collaboration between IDFG, Panhandle National Forests and U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Community members and volunteers from Selkirk Conservation Alliance (SCA), Selkirk Outdoor Leadership Experience (SOLE) and FSPW helped with the fieldwork.

Begin with a beaver Bait stations are trees with a beaver carcass firmly attached and the added attractant of a sponge soaked with something that makes eyes water.

031-51_SMW12.indd 41

Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness volunteers, above, listen up as IDFG personnel, Lacy Robinson and Michael Lucid, brief them on bait station maintenance. From left are Deb Hunsicker, Robinson, Lucid, Sandii Mellen (behind tree), Sandy Compton and Jim Mellen.

Photo by Phil Hough A remote camera captures a marten, right, as it ponders the remains of a beaver at 6,000 feet in the Scotchman Peaks. Photo COURTESY IDFG

WINTER 2012

Below the beaver, two circles of gun brushes attached to the bole six inches apart and a round of sticky paper beneath those gather hair for DNA analysis. The rest of the “collection system” is a motion-activated, infrared camera mounted to a tree about 10 feet away from where the beaver is securely attached with rebar tie-wire. The reason for the wire?

“You want to make it as hard as possible to get the beaver off the tree,” Lucid said, “so animals have to come back. If you come back to part of a beaver, it could be a number of things. If the beaver’s gone, we’re going to see wolverine pictures.”

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C O N S E R V AT I O N Why beavers? While orientating volunteers on setting up bait stations, Robinson, the mustelid lover on the IDFG team, held up a beaver carcass and gleefully said, “This is something a wolverine can’t seem to resist.” (The beavers were purchased by IDFG from trappers who legally took the animals in Idaho.)

Scotchmans: mustelid heaven?

Last winter’s study did reveal a wolverine, and maybe two, in the Selkirks, but most surprising was the concentration of fishers and martens in the Scotchmans.

Lucid writes in his report for 2011: “Results of the last two winters’ surveys lead us to conclude there is at least one resident wolverine using the Idaho Selkirk Mountains. … Fishers were detected at 67 percent (eight of 12) of bait stations in the West Cabinets (Scotchmans) in 2011. … Two fisher kits were photographed in the West Cabinets, indicating the presence of reproductive adults.”

There were also numerous marten sightings.

Wolverines are either camera shy or more wary. The wolverine in the Selkirks took bait out of an unset live trap and left the bait in place when the trap was set. None were photographed in the Scotchmans, even though three sets of wolverine tracks were found.

Wolverines prefer natal dens in deep snow, so bait stations were set up in remote canyons and on high mountainsides – neither easy to get to.

“We reached some bait stations with snow machines,” Lucid said, “but much of our sampling area is closed to motorized use, so volunteers skied or snowshoed to set up stations.”

In spite of the apparent scarcity of wolverines, the study was extremely successful, providing valuable information that can be used in numerous ways, including winter travel plans and restrictions on the National Forest. And, as Hough said: “Part of the significance of the survey isn’t about what was or wasn’t found but the process of working

together. This has been our first full-on partnership with IDFG, and the successful outcome has us both looking at how we can do more.”

More to come In that vein, FSPW applied for a $29,700 grant from Zoo Boise to expand mustelid studies this winter. Should the grant be won, a third of the money will be used to pay a project coordinator (FSPW will pay a portion of that, also), but a majority will buy 24 additional cameras, tripling the number of potential bait stations.

Whether the grant is gained or not, FSPW, SCA, SOLE, Idaho Conservation League and others will help Robinson and Lucid look for mustelids this winter.

Lucid, Robinson and IDFG Panhandle Regional Supervisor Chip Corsi are grateful for the help of other organizations. Corsi, in his letter of support for the Zoo Boise grant, wrote, “FSPW was able to bring wolverine conservation to the forefront of the local community mindset.”

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SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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WINTER 2012

10/10/11 2:53 PM

Street wise How local

S an d p o int h ist o r y

streets got their names

By Jennifer Lamont Leo

A

s a relative newcomer to Bonner County, I am occasionally mystified at directions offered by longtime residents. Frequently I’ve been told the location of something in relation to “the old K-Mart building.”

Now, I don’t know how long it’s been since a K-Mart store actually occupied “the old K-Mart building,” but it was long gone before I ever got here. So it took some sleuthing to find out what was meant by “the old K-Mart building.” (For those of you still scratching your heads, it’s now the Big R store near the intersection of U.S. Highway 95 and Kootenai Cut-off Road.)

I experienced the same mystified feeling recently when a lifelong resident of Bonner County mentioned driving on “the Farm-to-Market Road.”

“Where’s that?” I asked.

She told me, then said, “I think it’s called Colburn-Culver now.”

Upon further research, I learned that many rural communities had an artery called “Farm-to-Market Road” as a result of an initiative by the Federal Works Progress Administration. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the WPA noticed the poor condition of many rural roads, which were iffy at best and sometimes completely impassable due to weather conditions and mud. Recognizing the need for reliable, paved roads to allow farmers to bring their wares to market, the WPA built Farm-to-Market Roads in rural areas nationwide. Bonner County’s own Farmto-Market Road connected farms with two main arteries:

031-51_SMW12.indd 43

Nancy Wray Farmin, shown with L.D. Farmin, left, and her family, husband Earl Farmin and children Rollin and Wray at their First Avenue home, described the kitchen-table meeting where many early Sandpoint streets were named. Inset: Ella Farmin, wife of L.D., for whom Ella Avenue is named.

PhotoS COURTESY BONNER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM

Highway 200 and Highway 95.

The discovery of this fact sparked a fascination with the names of other Bonner County streets and how they came about. Turns out you can learn a lot about the history of a place by the names of its streets.

Early Sandpoint townsite The earliest roads were, of course, Indian trails, which crisscrossed the region as the Kalispel and other tribes moved about to hunt, gather and trade. A few of these trails eventually came to be known by names such as the Wild Horse Trail and Road to the Buffalo. Some were traveled in the 1860s by miners on their way to seek gold in British Columbia and Montana. Today’s roads bear only a rough approximation, if any, to these early trails.

In the late 19th century, the railroads and timber industry brought about a population boom. In 1893, L.D. Farmin and his son, Earl, filed homestead rights on 160 acres bounded by what are now Larch and Pine streets, Boyer Avenue and Sand Creek. Much of what we know about the nam-

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san d p o int h ist o r y

Looking north on First Avenue at Pine Street, about 1902. Photo COURTESY BONNER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM

ing of Sandpoint streets comes from the memoirs of Nancy Wray Farmin, wife of Earl Farmin. As she recalled in 1949: “(Josephine LeHuquet and I) were invited to join Mr. and Mrs. L.D. Farmin around their dining room table with the engineer present to name the streets, or rather to give names to what would later be streets. At the time we were naming them, the streets were very imaginary; this was tall timber.”

Nancy Farmin recalled that L.D. Farmin, in keeping with the contemporary trend to lay out cities on a numbered grid,

wanted the streets running north and south to be numbered First through Seventh avenues, and the east-west streets to “be given names of trees indigenous to the locality.” Thus resulted Pine, Oak, Cedar, Alder, Poplar, Fir and Larch. The exceptions were Church Street, after the town’s sole church – then situated at the northwest corner of First and Church – and Main Street, which connected the Northern Pacific and Great Northern depots. As early as 1892, a Pend Oreille Review article noted the necessity of “a good wagon road between the depots” and that “men were already on the line which had been surveyed through the woods and have made good progress.”

Other developers soon followed the Farmins. Native Michigander John Law, whose acreage formed the southwest part of Sandpoint around the old high school, named streets after the Great Lakes – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior – plus St. Clair and Dearborn, other Michigan locales.

He chose Euclid Avenue after a prominent street of the same name in Cleveland.

Remember the ladies The first developer to name a street after himself was Ike Boyer, who received permission from L.D. Farmin to rename Seventh Avenue “Boyer Avenue.” In return, Boyer named Ella

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WINTER 2012

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Avenue after Ella Farmin. This set off a small flurry of feminine street names: Florence, Ruth and Olive after John Law’s daughters, and Lavina after the wife of another developer, J.B. Southmayd. (When Ignatz Weil developed his 80 acres south of Pine Street, he thought that the streets created by the Farmins, at 80 feet wide, were overly generous. He made his streets only 60 feet wide, as did Law and Southmayd.)

Beyond Sandpoint The date when “Farm-to-Market Road” became “ColburnCulver” is uncertain, but the latter name is more Bonner County-centric. Colburn-Culver memorializes both the town of Colburn – now extinct, for all practical purposes – and the Culver family. Brothers Howard and Frank Culver arrived in northern Idaho from Pontiac, Mich., in the 1890s. The brothers were early partners in the Sandpoint Lumber and Pole Company and owned lumber yards north of Sandpoint, surrounding the road that now bears their name. Both men later sold their interests in that company to pursue other opportunities (Howard became a bank president and Frank operated a creamery), but their influence on Bonner County development was long-lasting. Howard left a generous donation toward the building of Bonner General Hospital.

Another artery that recognizes a pioneer logging family is Selle Road. In 1895 Charles Selle, who had emigrated from

san d p o int h ist o r y

Germany to the United States with his family as a child, and his son, Gust, came to northern Idaho from Michigan. (It seems Michigan was a popular launching point for northern Idaho pioneers, perhaps because both areas had a strong lumber industry.) They each filed for 160-acre homesteads in the area where Selle Road is now located, about seven miles north of Sandpoint.

The most appealing street names often point to natural elements: Rocky Ridge, Syringa Heights, Huckleberry Avenue. It should be noted that these names ring with authenticity. Unlike many city and suburban streets that promise “Whispering Pines” but deliver only a cement culde-sac with nary a pine in sight, a Bonner County road named, say, “Baldy Mountain Road” is sure to lead to Baldy Mountain, or actually Bald Mountain, to be precise.

Other roads indicate commercial enterprises or industries that functioned nearby, such as Shingle Mill Road, Airport Way or the whimsical-sounding Popsicle Stick Factory Road, named after a factory that manufactured popsicle sticks and tongue depressors. Located near the airport, Popsicle Stick Factory Road at one time connected Boyer Avenue with Highway 95 and provided a bridge across Sand Creek (now the location of a bike and pedestrian bridge).

Scratch the surface of just about any street name, and you’ll soon find yourself on a highway to history.

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10/10/11 2:53 PM

SKIJORING

Skijoring, anyone?

Winter Carnival sport a rousing marriage of skiing and horseback riding

Story and photos by Matt Mills McKnight

Snowboarder Phillip Driggars is towed by Janae Lukezech atop Hawk during Sandpoint’s first annual skijoring event, as shown in this photo illustration. Organizer Matt Smart, left, conducts a safety meeting for participants prior to the competition

M

ix one part horseback riding with another part skiing or snowboarding, and people quickly learn the thrilling recipe for Sandpoint’s newest winter sport, skijoring.

This exciting addition to Sandpoint Winter Carnival got its start during 2011 in the outdoor arena at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, but event organizer Matt Smart explains it is actually an age-old method of transportation turned sport.

“Skijoring originated in Scandinavia about 700 years ago, when it was a means of transport during the winter months,” said Smart, who also owns and operates Mountain Horse Adventures. “It arrived in North America as a recreational pastime in the 1950s, and it’s now a specialized competitive sport, practiced in at least five different states and several countries.”

Today, the North American Ski Joring Association (NASJA) has set forth guidelines to help event orga

031-51_SMW12.indd 47

nizers develop a challenging yet safe course for competitors. All jumps on the track must remain 150 feet apart and be twice as wide as they are tall.

“Our jumps at Sandpoint are 8 feet wide and 4 feet high,” said Smart before the 2011 event. “The gates are 18 inches high, and skiers will have to manipulate or go around them while WINTER 2012

traveling the oval-shaped course. If they miss the gate they will be penalized a few seconds off their overall time.”

A timed sport, skijoring poses a certain level of danger for both the rider and skier as they negotiate the course.

“It’s a whole lot faster and more exciting than anyone gives it credit for,” Smart said. “In some cases these skiers can be traveling up to 50 miles per hour while having to make jumps and gates – all at the same time.”

Although Bonner County EMS waited just outside the course during the 2011 event, none of the competitors sustained any serious injuries.

“Things can happen during the event, but nobody hurt themselves this past year,” said Smart. “Most of the skiers were quite competent to begin with; they already had experience with backcountry or terrain parks and how SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

47

10/10/11 2:53 PM

SKIJORING

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to fall correctly.”

Cody Smith, from Spokane, Wash., has been skijoring competitively for 12 years and was the winning skier at both the event in Sandpoint and the World Skijoring Championships in Whitefish, Mont.

“Skijoring is a huge adrenaline rush.

I’ve never done anything in my life like it,” said Smith. “You’re nervous at the start – lots of butterflies in your stomach – and then you’re out the gate trying to go as fast as you can, but then, before you know it, it’s all over.”

For some participants, the 2011 event in Sandpoint was their first experience with competitive skijoring.

“I pulled into the fairgrounds on the first day of the event without a horse and rider to pull me,” said Scott Barksdale of Sandpoint, who has been competitively skiing most of his life.

“I looked for someone that resembled a cowboy and approached his trailer, once I saw it had Montana plates.”

As luck would have it for Barksdale, his horse-and-rider team helped him win his first-ever skijoring heat.

“It was such a rush. I will definitely be back this year to compete again,” Barksdale said. “I don’t know if this is a rodeo event, but if it is, I want my buckle.”

During its first year, Smart labored to get skijoring on the map in Sandpoint, but now community organizers are helping out.

“After last year we decided this had been a really great event, and we wanted to get more involved,” said

www.TaylorInsuranceSandpoint.com 48

SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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WINTER 2012

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SKIJORING

Winter blues, begone Winter Carnival livens up town Feb. 17-25

T

he 2012 Sandpoint Winter Carnival Feb. 17-25 features a cornucopia of ex-

citing events sure to draw locals and visitors to the streets of Sandpoint and the slopes of

First-time skijorers Scott Barksdale and Suzanne Pattinson visit with seasoned pro Cody Smith, as he waits on deck for his turn on the course

Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Skijoring at the Bonner County Fairgrounds kicks off the week’s events with a registration party Feb. 17 at Laughing Dog Brewing, followed by two days of horses

Kate McAlister, president and CEO of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. “We had people visit from Oregon, Washington and Montana to see the competition.”

McAlister said attendance over two days was nearly 3,000 for Sandpoint’s inaugural skijoring event.

“I didn’t even know what skijoring was until I was sitting in the booth at Bonner County Fairgrounds,” said McAlister. “I thought it was so fascinating. When the first horse and skier exited the gate I was yelling for all of them just like everyone else.”

Because the event garnered visitors from other parts of the region and promoted tourism in Sandpoint, the chamber will now be able to use tourism grant money to fully sponsor it.

“We’re going to team up with the event organizers and make sure we give the event that little extra oomph it

Photo By Al Lemire

torchlight parade each evening.

The Taste of Sandpoint, Feb. 23, is always

pulling skiers and riders around a course at

a big social event where local establishments

breakneck speeds Feb. 18-19 at the Bonner

serve up delicious samples.

County Fairgrounds.

Easily the most endearing Winter Carnival

Rail Jam and Bonfire takes place down-

event is the K-9 Keg Pull, hosted by

town Feb. 17. The event is a freestyle contest

Eichardt’s Pub & Coffee House Feb. 26. Dogs

where skiers and snowboarders put up their

of all shapes and sizes barrel down a snow-

best acrobatic moves while sliding on rails

packed course pulling appropriately sized kegs.

and other man-made features, all to the

Entry fee for all dogs is $5, and all proceeds

soundtrack of a live DJ. The

are donated to Panhandle Animal Shelter.

And many of the restaurants and businesses

fire-dance

in town will be taking part in Dine Around

troupe Bio-

Sandpoint and Shop Around Sandpoint. This

Luminesce

means bargains everywhere, all week long!

returns the

Call the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of

same night

Commerce at 263-2161 or the Downtown

with its hypnotic, pyrotechnic routine.

Schweitzer plans day activities from Feb. 20-24 and also hosts its annual Outrageous Air Show Feb. 24-25, with a

Sandpoint Business Association at 255-1876, or look up www.SandpointWinterCarnival. com to learn more.

– Matt Mills McKnight

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WINTER 2012

SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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10/10/11 2:53 PM

SKIJORING

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WINTER 2012

10/10/11 2:53 PM

SKIJORING

Opposite: With Cody Smith clearing the final jump, Nichole Burnett and Balou race down the course’s home stretch

needs this year,” said McAlister. “This is a whole new way for everyone – in town and around the region – to enjoy winter and celebrate our winter carnival with us.”

In years past Sandpoint Winter Carnival has occurred during January, but in 2012 it begins Feb. 17 during President’s Day weekend and runs through Feb. 26, (see roster of events, page 49). Skijoring will be Feb. 18-19.

“Sandpoint gets better and more consistent winter-like conditions during February,” said Smart. “It’s great for the skijoring competitors as well, because now our event will be more aligned with the rest of the regular NASJA circuit.”

Smart and friends were enthusiastic about the event but didn’t know just

how popular it would be.

“I knew it was going to be something big for our small town,” said Smart. “We got a much bigger response than expected. I didn’t know if it was going to grab Winter Carnival like it actually did.”

From phone calls and e-mails he received since the initial event, he expects more competitors this year and will be making some new additions to the competition.

During 2011 the skijoring event hosted an open, sport and freestyle division in which men and women competed together. In 2012 there will be a bigger and better freestyle portion as well as a new division dedicated solely to female competitors.

“While participating in other skijoring events around the country, I noticed a general advantage that men

automatically have with upper body strength,” said Smart. “At the event in Sandpoint I am going to level the playing field so that female competitors can choose to compete against each other for similar prizes.”

For those thinking of competing in the second annual event, though, don’t be fooled about the course’s difficulty.

“Last year’s course in Sandpoint was just an introductory version for the first year. Now that we are here to stay, we’re going to bump up the course difficulty a bit,” said Smart.

And there’s mutual excitement from skijoring event organizers and the chamber.

“It’s really become a partnership between Matt Smart and us,” said McAlister. “Hopefully this will be a mainstay in the list of Winter Carnival events for many years to come.”

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R i d in g S n o w

Ski obsessed These zealous skiers are downright maniacal about snow

By Billie Jean Plaster

O

bsessive-compulsive people get things done. They are driven, selfdirected folks. Howard Hughes, for example, produced movies, built and engineered airplanes, and ran a major airline. While most of us don’t suffer the same level of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as that famous billionaire, many do feel compelled to set goals and accomplish them.

Take skiers who schuss at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, for example. Some of the more passionate ones make it their aim to ski 100 days a year, or 1,000 runs in a season or every trail in a season or … well, the list is endless.

Who are these goal-setting skiers, and what compels them to do what they do?

Sandy Compton, 60, is the program director for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, and he also does a fair bit of writing. He started skiing in 1990 and somewhere along the line, about the time the Idyle Our T-bar was built, he made a conscious decision to ski every lift that’s running every time he heads up the mountain, with the exception of the Musical Carpet (because it’s for kids).

“I get to see the whole mountain. I would rather take a tour than see how much vertical I can get in one day,” he said. “I go skiing just for the joy of it.”

He calls his decision an “anti-OCD” one. “The only rule is I want to ride every lift. That’s the only parameter of the day,”

052-071_SMW12.indd 53

Compton said.

A common goal among Schweitzer aficionados is to ski every named trail – all 92 of them – in a season. Dave Kulis, 39, the mountain’s sales and marketing director, is one of those types.

“I take a highlighter and mark them on a trail map as I go,” he said.

His motivation comes as part of his job. After all, as they say in marketing, he has to sample the product.

Christian Thompson, 38, who grew up in Sandpoint and returned several years ago to start a career in real estate, says he does spontaneous goal-setting while skiing Schweitzer. One day he and a ski-guide buddy from Canada tried to get 30,000 vertical feet from noon to closing by doing laps on the

WINTER 2012

“I love the snow,” says Alison Murphy, left, who skis 100plus days a year at Schweitzer photo by doug Marshall

S A N D P O I N T M A G A Z I N E

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R i d in g S n o w Lakeview Triple.

“We almost made it. We got 29,000 and some change before the lift closed,” he said. Although foiled, their attempt was a noble effort nonetheless.

But when it comes to backcountry skiing, which he does 30 to 40 days a year, Thompson aims to ski every major peak in the Idaho Panhandle – four down, six to go – and do a traverse from Trestle Creek to Clark Fork.

As obsessive as that may be, Thompson, nevertheless, points the finger at Jake Ostman: “He’s the most obsessive-compulsive skier I’ve ever met in my life.”

Why? Ostman travels far and wide so he can ski 12 months out of the year, and he embarks on regular “dawn patrols” at Schweitzer.

A software developer at Coldwater Creek, Ostman, 34, goes on those dawn patrol missions at Schweitzer from November through June, up to three times a week. He gets up at 4 a.m., leaves home at 5 a.m., skins up at 5:30 a.m., makes one or two runs,

“I want to chew up all the powder I can,” says Jim Mellen, who practices nearly every discipline there is on snow, even backcountry snowboarding. Photo by Alan Lemire

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WINTER 2012

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R i d in g S n o w

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gets home by 7:30 a.m., showers and arrives at work by 8 a.m. He does the entire thing by head lamp in the dark months of winter, but after Schweitzer closes in April, he’s often in T-shirts and shorts during the longest days of the year.

Ostman made it his goal to ski at Schweitzer every month of the year – a goal that took nine years to complete. August and September proved to be the most challenging. Back on Sept. 29, 2007, he cross-country skied the summit ridge after it had snowed about 10 inches. Then, on Aug. 2, 2011, he finally accomplished his goal when he skied a strip of snow 150 feet long, 3 to 4 feet wide and 2 feet high – a remnant of the previous winter’s heavy snowfall that was still lingering at the South Bowl cornice.

“Those were the two most desperate ski outings. I never thought it could be done – never thought there would be snow in August,” Ostman said.

Ostman’s friend Jim Mellen is

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a good candidate for OCD where snow is concerned. At 63 and retired, Mellen says, “I want to chew up all the powder I can.” Mellen recently made it his goal to master every discipline there is for riding snow: alpine, Nordic, skate skiing, telemarking and snowboarding. (He even has a split snowboard for the backcountry).

He, too, tries to ski as late in the year as possible. For example, in 2011, he skied Schweitzer the 4th of July and then Beehive, farther north in the backcountry, July 5, the day after Ostman had skied it and posted photos on Facebook. Mellen returned at the end of July and skied north Twin Peak all the way to Beehive Lake without having to stop. Later that month, he skied St. Paul Peak in the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness.

Mellen sounded understated when he said, “I guess I just like snow.”

He especially loves a good storm – the harsher the conditions, the better.

“I like extreme days and enjoy it while others are running for cover,” he said.

Alison Murphy, 37, enjoys extreme days, too, perhaps because she grew up in extreme conditions – off the grid in the Upper Pack River Valley, where she had to hike or ride horses a mile uphill to get home. Her parents, who didn’t allow whining, encouraged her to be “super strong and passionate,” something she has carried through her life. A Tomlinson Sotheby’s Realtor who lives at Schweitzer, Murphy skis 100-plus days a season annually. She gets up early, heads right out with her 5-yearold son, and is typically first chair or in the first group of skiers.

“We don’t need bluebird powder days. We ski anywhere, anytime,” she said, adding that her son was even born at Schweitzer in their condo.

“I’m my very happiest on skis. It’s where I find my peace,” Murphy said.

Enthusiasm and goal-setting must run in the family. Her son’s goal is to ski five black-diamond runs this season.

“My goal is to enjoy being outside in the winter,” Murphy said. “It’s profoundly perfect.”

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WINTER 2012

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AVALANCHE CENTER

Avalanche hunters Tales from the ‘white side’ Story and photos by Kevin Davis

“B

rett, look out!” I yelled, as a foot-thick slab ejected out of the snow and barreled downhill toward him. I felt little relief as he slid behind a big tree and held on as the slab swept over it like a wave. When the powder cleared, my longtime skiing partner was gone. As I slid down the avalanche path, I saw him farther down the hill holding on to a tiny sapling.

“You all right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, wincing. “Let’s not do that again.”

Many snow junkies may be familiar with the chant, “Good Morning, this is John ‘Oly’ Olson, avalanche forecaster with the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center with an advisory for …” by hearing it on the phone hotline or reading it on their computer before heading into the backcountry for a day of sliding. The Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center (IPAC), where I also work, issues the advisory every Friday morning; that means we spent the previous day bushwhacking in the mountains digging holes in the snow. We usually drive to a trailhead, unload the snowmobiles and ride up to a basin or ridgetop, then don the skis to tromp on the snow and dig pits to do our stability assessment.

Olson once asked me: “Do you know the difference between a fairy tale and an avalanche story? The fairy tale starts with, ‘Once upon a time …’ while the avalanche story starts with, ‘No sh%#, there I was, and I thought I was going to die.’ ” Most of the time our days of avalanche hunting go by flawlessly, but others ... well, let’s just say it wouldn’t make a good fairy tale.

Sometimes the weather is all you need for a real adventure. On avalanche hunting trips into the backcountry, we

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have endured temperatures down to 20 below zero, wind blowing up to 70 miles per hour, snowfall so deep the snowmobiles would just dig a hole, fog so thick we didn’t know where we were, extreme avalanche danger that had us wondering why we were there, and rain. Weather is the architect of avalanches, and we have to go observe what its effect is on the snowpack, regardless.

Many times the adventure is just out there waiting to be discovered. Eric Morgan, firefighter and avalanche forecaster, recalled one particular avalanche cycle that occurred during a warming trend in January 2008. We knew the avalanche danger was high to extreme Eric Morgan, left, and due to “still and clear” Kevin Davis dig pits in “Staying alive in weather, that is, still the Cabinet Mountains raining clear to the avalanche terrain mountaintops. Morgan probably has more and temporarily got a report of a large dammed Lightning avalanche that occurred to do with masterCreek. By the time up Lightning Creek ing yourself than any we got there, the and was told the slide danger had passed backed up a lake that knowledge of as the avalanche would threaten to flood avalanches.” debris jam had the town of Clark Fork. been breached.

In caped-crusader What was left looked like the terminus fashion, we loaded up the sleds and of a glacier 40 feet high and was the dashed to the scene. Sure enough, biggest avalanche we had ever seen in two enormous avalanches had rumthis territory. bled down from Bee Top Mountain WINTER 2012

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AVALANCHE CENTER

Eric Morgan, left, performs a “quality check” on the way back to the sleds. This avalanche, right, temporarily dammed up Lightning Creek and was big enough to demolish a concrete building

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Back when I was just starting avalanche hunting and was still getting used to riding snowmobiles, Bill McPherson, a former Schweitzer ski patroller, and I headed off on our skis around Lunch Peak. When we got back, for some reason my old ’91 Polaris wouldn’t start. After numerous fruitless attempts to start it, we hitched it up and towed it, by the skin of our teeth, 13 miles through deep powder. While McPherson was givin’ ’er the throttle out ahead and straining just to keep us moving, I found the key in my pocket. I never told him, and I never took the key

out of the ignition again.

Another “aha!” moment came when we got new 2008 Polaris 600 RMK sleds, which are like the old sleds on steroids. Morgan and I were at Roman Nose Lake, and after digging pits on the north aspect we headed back over the frozen lake.

Let’s see what she’s got, I thought, and gave her some throttle. Next thing I knew, I was floating beside the sled, totally detached and suspended in midair in a Matrix-like moment watching the sled veer away, then wham! I hit the ice and slid vertically on my helmet for about

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AVALANCHE CENTER

IPAC this winter Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center (IPAC) is partnering with the nonprofit Friends Group to further expand its program with alternate means of funding and a broadening network of channels for offering free avalanche classes this year.

IPAC will improve its advisories with a new website (url to be announced).

For more information, call Kevin Davis, IPAC director, at 2656686, or Scott Rulander, Friends Group president, at 255-9593. In the Silver Valley, call Dan Frigard at 783-2130. IPAC has scheduled these winter 2012 avalanche classes: • Nov. 8, Winter 2012 Forecast • Nov. 15 and Dec. 15, Beacon Practice and Avy Gear Review • Jan. 10, Fire and Ice, Risk Assessment and Situational Awareness • Feb. 10, Ten Years of Avalanche Fatalities in North Idaho Classes are held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the new Sandpoint Ranger District office at 1602 Ontario St. Idaho Parks and Recreation (IDPR) and IPAC Snowmobile Avalanche Awareness Courses for 2012 will be announced through the weekly advisory webpage (www. fs.usda.gov/goto/ipnf/ac) and the IDPR webpage (www.parksand recreation.idaho.gov). Another great local resource for avalanche training, backcountry touring and more information is www.selkirk powder.com. For all things avalanche, go to www.avalanche.org.

50 feet. I was a little shaken up. I learned that if you ride these ponies like the older ones, you’ll get bucked off. We’re all much improved riders now, but on deep powder days we still have to don the skis if Olson rolls his sled and refuses to get back on.

These weekly forays into the mountains, from December to April, are a big part of IPAC’s program since they allow us to gather information on the current snow stability, then forecast how the avalanche hazard will change according to the expected weather. Getting into the backcountry every week also maintains our skills as avalanche practitioners and enables us to test new gear, conduct new methods in rating snow stability, and validate education curriculum.

IPAC was born in Coeur d’Alene in the early 1980s. The first program director, Bob “Bones” Kasun, established an avalanche hotline so the public could call in and get avalanche conditions for the weekend. Kasun retired and I became the director in 2006. We have expanded the program to five forecasters to broadcast avalanche advisories for the St. Regis Basin, Selkirk and Cabinet mountains, and the St. Joe Mountains.

A big part of our program is education. All IPAC forecasters teach avalanche awareness courses, and they are available all winter long for a variety of learning experiences. Since 2000, IPAC has provided a broad array of free programs for snowmobilers, skiers, searchand-rescue organizations, law enforcement, schools, public agencies, and clubs – about 3,000 individuals in all from St. Maries to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Spokane, Wash., to Trout Creek, Mont.

Avalanche education nowadays is a lot more dynamic than you might think. The scope of the curriculum has expanded, and just as important as knowing the terrain and the snowpack is knowing yourself and the skill level of your group. If you know what to look for, the human factor is as easy to interpret as an incoming storm. Avalanche guru Roger Atkins described it well when he wrote, “Staying alive in avalanche terrain probably has more to do with mastering yourself than any knowledge of avalanches.”

I decided I needed to learn more about avalanches if I was going to keep tromping around in the mountains. It has helped focus my curiosity and given me a better sense of the potential consequences of my actions.

I had the good fortune to turn that curiosity into a part-time job, and even though we still get into trouble sometimes, learning about avalanches has kept us out of a lot more.

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out of control, crazy, what were you thinking, thrill seeking, for the love of snow and ice, it seemed like a good idea at the time

winter adventures.

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SUMMER 2011

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Adventures

Climbing Chimney Rock A wintry ascent

I

By Gary Johnson

t was another beautiful day in northern Idaho, and I was enjoying the moment. An airplane circled above; those inside were probably wondering what the three crazy, ant-like figures were doing in the mountains this time of year. It was March 1973, and we were at 7,142 feet on top of Chimney Rock, gazing at a most magnificent view.

Earlier that winter, friends Gary Stitzinger and Dan Kurtz, both Sun Valley ski patrolmen, started planning a climb of Chimney Rock, a massive slab of granite that lies in the heart of the Selkirks. I enthusiastically accepted their invitation to join them.

A month later we started our journey at Priest Lake by skiing from the Eastside Road, destined for Horton Ridge Lookout, where we hoped to stay.

Our packs were heavy, and skiing in took most of the day. Arriving at a rime-covered lookout tower, we were forced to camp another half mile up the ridge. Tired and at the end of winter’s light, we drifted to sleep with thoughts of the following day’s climb.

The next morning was bitterly cold. We started early to avoid avalanches on our approach to Chimney Rock. Cresting Horton Ridge, Chimney appeared like an ominous gravestone – a thought I quickly dismissed! We reached the ridge to Mount Roothaan and dropped into the Chimney drainage. The snow was stable, and in a short time we arrived at the base of Chimney’s west side. We chose to climb the standard route and were anxious to proceed, due to cold temperatures in the west-side shadows. Kurtz would lead, I was next and Stitzinger last.

Our climb went slowly because of ice-encrusted ledges, but Kurtz was doing a great job of leading and placing protection, making it easier for Stitzinger and me. The exposed, icy climb required three, 80-foot pitches. At the rappel platform, it was another 80 feet to the summit. This final pitch required an “airy step” to the north side of the rock, where I contemplated returning to the safety of the rappel point and waiting for my friends to summit.

This step, although less than 2 feet across, drops 350 vertical feel to the valley below!

I made that “little step” and successfully bridged the gap. I heard Kurtz yell that he had made the summit; I came shortly after, followed by Stitzinger. It was all smiles and hugs on the narrow

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summit, where cairns marked the exploits of past climbers.

Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake stretched on the horizons – a glorious moment!

We spent a brief 30 minutes in the cold wind on top, taking photos and eating a quick snack before heading back to the rappel point and our return to the “real world.” After two challenging rappels, we returned to camp on Horton Ridge, ate a big dinner, and went to sleep as the sun faded over Priest Lake.

Sweet dreams were the order of the night.

It was all downhill the next day for the trip back to the van. We parted ways and, nearly 40 years later, as I reflect on those three challenging, adventuresome days, I still marvel at the sight of Chimney Rock and its surroundings.

WINTER 2012

Gary Johnson, right, and Dan Kurtz summit Chimney Rock (inset) in 1973. photos by Gary Stitzinger

Safer, saner option Try a snowshoe climb of Gold Hill Trail No. 3. The 3.5-mile trail is easy to follow and offers fabulous views of Lake Pend Oreille and Schweitzer Mountain Resort. Roundtrip takes about three to four hours in the winter, depending on snow conditions.

From Sandpoint go south on U.S. Highway 95, cross the Long Bridge and take a left on the Bottle Bay Road. Go 4.7 miles to the, trailhead marked by Forest Service signs.

Gary Johnson, 64, is a Bonner County marine deputy who retired after nearly 40 years fighting forest fires in Alaska and the Lower 48. A longtime smokejumper, he and his wife, Diane, have climbed many northern Idaho peaks at all times of the year.

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Paddling Clark Fork A winter’s diversion of unexpected direction By Kevin Davis

I

t hadn’t snowed for two weeks in February 1994, and the ensuing weather pattern looked bleak; no snow in the forecast and my will to live was waning. I reluctantly retired the skis in the shed.

Walking in with an armload of firewood, I tripped on the canoe and got an idea. I stoked the fire, sat down with a map and devised a plan for a winter paddle.

Instead of being bummed out that it’s not snowing, get out on the lake and enjoy the sunshine, I thought. So I rallied a couple of friends, who didn’t share my enthusiasm for the plan but agreed to shuttle me, my dog Lou and my canoe to Bull Lake, where I would embark on my paddle back to Sandpoint.

We piled into my truck with all my gear and headed east. Approaching Bull Lake, I said, “Uh, problem, why didn’t anyone tell me Bull River doesn’t flow out of Bull Lake? Plan B, take me to Noxon.”

On the road, I absently watched the scenery pass by, not registering that there was a solid layer of ice on the Clark Fork River. It suddenly caught my attention as I gazed out over a vast expanse of Arctic-looking terrain.

Safer, saner option “Do you have a plan C?” Paddle the shorelines of the many beautiful Rick asked, with a sneer. bays, deltas and sloughs on Pend Oreille where “Take me to the Cabinet Gorge Fish Hatchery,” I you will be closer to shore and protected from said. the wind and weather. Green Bay, Bottle Bay, This was far short of my Oden Bay, Pack River Delta and the Clark Fork intended trip, but at least Delta, and Sagle and Denton sloughs, are all I knew the water flowed places where you will find a parking area with a downhill from there. After put-in and great places to explore on the water much cajoling and many laughs, Lou and I pushed in the winter. off downriver. That night we camped at the end of Kevin Davis, 43, is a U.S. Forest the Clark Fork Delta, where Service hydrologist and the river meets the lake, avalanche forecaster who and listened to tundra says his adventurous days swans whistle in the diminishing light. have waned. Now a husThe next day we padband and father of two, dled to Deadman Point. In he is still trying to find the the shadow of the loomsource of the Bull River. ing Green Monarchs, Lou seemed content to scan the 62

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Kevin Davis captured this sunset at Deadman Point on Lake Pend Oreille during a February 1994 winter paddle

hillsides while I gained a decent respect for the grandeur of the sculpted terrain. That evening we were entertained by three loons plying the waters eastward, following their calls that echoed down the precipitous cliffs beyond.

The next day broke calm and clear, and as I looked at the cold, watery expanse before me, I realized I had paddled us into a situation.

What could go wrong? I thought. With nary a living thing in sight, we shoved off and headed right up the gut of the lake. Man, did I ever appreciate the sun that day. We stretched our legs on Pearl Island, then set a course for Anderson Point.

Lou had been doing so well, especially for a big dog trapped in a tiny canoe. The wind picked up rounding the point, as did Lou’s anxiety. Waves slapped the bottom of the boat and, startled, Lou stood up in the canoe, nearly capsizing us.

“Not an option!” I yelled, politely whacking him on the head with the paddle.

He sat down, and I was quickly reminded of our tenuous existence out in the middle of a big, icecold lake. Looking westward toward our destination past wave after wave, I decided it would be best to head for Fisherman Island. After a harrowing crossing, Lou and I landed safely in Oden Bay and strolled reassuringly on dry land at Sunnyside.

WINTER 2012

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6

Adventures

Kite-skating the lake To the edge of the ice By Joshua Burt

O

h jeez. Oh no, not now. Come on Josh, release the bar and pull in one of the two lines.

The giant kite whisking me gleefully across January ice at breakneck speeds is now spinning out of control in what I call a “death spiral” and pulling me ever faster to the ice’s edge.

How far out am I? There certainly weren’t any marks on the frozen portion of Lake Pend Oreille from the dozen or so folks skating between Memorial Field and the Long Bridge that blustery, winter afternoon – probably because I was much farther out than they were.

I crossed large fissures where new ice had frozen onto the existing sheets and created these frozen, bubbly mounds. I still found myself heading straight out toward the jet black, icy, cold, open water lapping at the edge. The sun fell closer to the horizon, and the cold wind continued to blow.

Come on, I’ve been kite-skating for three years.

This situation was sure a lot easier to control at McArthur Lake two years ago. Back then, McArthur had suddenly and completely frozen over like black glass during an early Arctic cold blast.

No water’s edge.

Hand over hand with the thin cord trying to slice open my gloves, I pulled on one of the 50-meter guide lines of my 3-meter traction (or foil) kite while also trying to control my ice skates that were shaking violently with speed wobbles like a boarder’s skateboard careening down a large hill. This same kite – when artfully used – works just like a sail. I control it remotely to use the wind to shuttle me around the ice, like a kiteboarder does in the water or a kite-skier does on snow.

Finally, at last!

The kite surrendered; its baffles deflated, allowing it to fall gently to the ice below. It still took me about a hundred feet or more to stop because of my momentum.

Breathe.

I turned and looked back. The hockey players off Third Avenue Pier were mere dots against a backdrop of Sandpoint encased in winter on this January day. Cars slowly shuffled by on the Long Bridge, transporting working people back to their warm homes and loved ones. The sun began to fall

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below the horizon, leaving behind a cloudless sky Joshua Burt likes to with pastel hues of blue, pink and orange. skate with or without Probably no one noticed my plight that brought wind power on Lake me hundreds of yards past where anyone else Pend Oreille had skated on this ever-changing ice sheet that’s photo BY dave reseska here today, gone tomorrow. I gathered my kite and headed back toward shore, stopping just shy of the pier. I laid the control Safer, saner option Lose the kite bar down and straightened the lines, then placed my little and skate the lake at Third Avenue Pier. block of wood on the kite to keep it from blowing away in Originally from New Hampshire, Joshua the evening breeze. I skated Burt, 34, came to Sandpoint from Oregon to ski back to the bar, gave it the bum at Schweitzer five years ago – 500-plus slightest tug and whump!

The kite inflated and took skiing days later, he’s still at it. When not skiing to the sky. I’m off once more, he entertains himself with mountain biking, leaving the town and pier and skijoring, boating, cross-country skiing, hockey players behind backcountry skiing, hiking, gardenfor one more lap to ing, kite-skating (of course) and the Long Bridge and generally loafing around with back before darkhis girlfriend, Chelsie, and dog, ness sets in, the breeze dies and it’s Neha. He can be found working time to go home. at Ivano’s or on a barstool at Man, I love kitePucci’s Pub after a hard ski day. skating.

WINTER 2012

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Skiing the ancients Old-growth pow at Myrtle Creek

By Chris Park

W

e push through tangled alder, maple and brushy conifers for a short distance, concentrating on route-finding, when slowly we become aware of a massive trunk.

As we venture farther, the brush thins out and travel becomes easier. Old-growth cedars, hemlocks, firs and even a few giant white pines surround us.

The snow sweeps up mammoth trunks on all sides, accentuating their graceful ascent skyward.

Two massive avalanche paths shoulder up to this relatively small, secretive, old-growth forest like hulking bodyguards, sweeping clear a protective perimeter. Above are cliffs, another no-go zone, but within the forest we find a backcountry skier’s paradise.

Boyish face gleaming as we begin our 1,200-foot ascent, Joe Sweeney, 51, embodies the quintessential qualities of a Northwest outdoorsman. He is as comfortable scribing fine joinery in a timber frame or dragging logs with a team of horses as he is carving neat turns on telemark skis. Compact and muscular, quick with a smile and story, Sweeney has been coming here for two decades. Years ago, his two boys, in a moment of Safer, saner option The next youthful imagination, named best thing would be kicking and gliding through this domineering cleft of rock old-growth cedars at Roosevelt Grove, acceslooming over us Myrtle’s Turtle. On this overcast, sible by snowmobile about 15 miles northeast of midwinter day, his wife, Nordman on Road 302 in the Priest Lake area.

Jodi, 49, and her son Orion, But the easiest to get to without a snowmobile 28, join us. or superhuman effort is the Ross Creek Cedars, Myrtle’s Turtle resides just south of Bull Lake off Highway 56 in near the headwaters of Sanders County, Montana.

Myrtle Creek in Boundary County. To get here, we drove the West Side Road Chris Park, 45, started north past the Kootenai adventuring early in life in National Wildlife Refuge the mountains of Colorado. headquarters to Road 633.

Scenic beauty, small town From this intersection we charm and abundant recresnowmobiled to the nomotorized travel boundary ational opportunities drew him and hiked the remaining 1.5 to Sandpoint in 1989. He co-owns miles to our camp, about 13 Misty Mountain Furniture and homesteads on miles total.

Baldy Mountain with his wife, Lizbeth.

Joe gives me the lead, and I choose a route that 64

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Joe Sweeney descends in knee-deep powder through Myrtle Creek’s old-growth forest. photo by chris park

allows us to run fingers over deeply creased bark before making a switchback between the vortex of giant cedar siblings. We hike past a great-grandfather white pine, the largest I’ve ever seen. The first limb on its colossal trunk is 100 feet above us.

We slowly continue up, necks careening skyward. It’s quiet other than a few birds, the wind and the sizzling of snowflakes as skis slice through the powder. Traveling in this primeval environment keeps regular banter to a minimum. This fairytale landscape brings on a sense of wonderment, a heightened awareness of the passage of time, reminding me that I occupy this earthly realm but only briefly.

The terrain becomes steeper, snow deeper. The forest thins where avalanches pouring off the sheer flanks of Myrtle’s Turtle have culled all but the toughest. We weave through boulders and small cliffs, memorizing the topography in anticipation of our descent. Snowdrifts, cross-loaded by the wind, firm on top and soft below, trigger the little hairs on the back of my neck. To go farther would be to venture into the dangerous arms of the flanking bodyguards.

We ski the ancients for two more snowy days: floating knee-deep powder turns on 1,200 vertical feet of protected 35 degree slope, interspersed with Goliath trees, spaced 20 feet apart, charging the terrain over and over until darkness or fatigue requires a happy retreat back to the crackling wood stove in the 12-by-12-foot wall tent.

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Adventures

Skiing to the valley An ill-advised adventure from Schweitzer By Cate Huisman

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he spring of 2008, with its plethora of snow, seemed to provide the perfect opportunity to descend into the valley from Schweitzer Mountain Resort on skis. My friends Alan and Karen Millar remember the “adventure” that resulted as something we did “because there was enough snow.” As it turned out, there weren’t a lot of other good reasons.

Our descent began on some lovely open slopes that we had scouted from Schweitzer’s network of cross-country trails. One photo-worthy telemark turn followed another for ... well, Alan remembers this portion of the trip as lasting very little of the time, while Karen recalls it simply as about 50 feet.

What turned out to be the last (and not much past the first) pleasant set of nifty turns led us far out on a ridge that overlooked our destination in the valley below. We knew even as we were admiring ourselves during these turns that we weren’t going where we wanted to go and that we would pay for it eventually.

The ridge ended in a maze of tight trees and steep cliffs, from which we had to traverse back into a gully, at the bottom of which we all had a chance to be grateful that our parents had insisted we learn to do kick turns when we were little.

This was followed by an opportunity to remember fondly that they had insisted we learn to sidestep as well.

From there we were into survival skiing – somewhat unstylish, not to say desperate, turn-like motions in an attempt to move downhill on skis through a mixture of wet cement and breakable crust without running into anything.

Eventually this brought us to a narrow, unplowed road that sloped generally downhill and north and offered the possibility of zigzagging into the valley – if not to where we had left the car, at least to the same altitude. So we followed it, although even this did not prove easy going.

Frozen snowmobile tracks gave some relief from the unappealing snow conditions elsewhere. But there were few options for turning or slowing down once our skis were slotted into the tracks, a condition Alan described as “very committing.” As we whizzed by in our very committed state, we gazed longingly at the attractive slopes below us. But on

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Skiers like Alan Millar, the rare occasions that we were in control enough above, don’t necessarto take a test turn on these slopes, our findings led ily smile through all us to quickly sidestep back up to the road. their adventures.

Our commitment also led us into the tail end photo by Cate Huisman of a group of moose that evidently had decided the road provided the best option for them as well. We made several sudden and ungraceful stops as Safer, saner option Others lookwe saw brown rumps disap- ing for such open-slope adventures should forget pearing in front of us, and about skiing this route down from Schweitzer, the annoyed ungulates regno matter how much snow there is. Instead, istered their displeasure by leaving behind several small skiers wanting a backcountry adventure from Schweitzer’s out-of-bounds area would be wellpiles of steaming poop in the track we were careening served by spending a day with Selkirk Powder down.

Company (263-6959, www.selkirkpowder.com). In Finally, after some alarmaddition to providing a lift back to civilization on ing performances around a a snowcat, their guides check the slopes and idenfew hairpin turns, we “skied” tify the best lines on any given day, so you never out into an open field west have to ski in wet cement or breakable crust. of the highway. We were way north of our car, but the snow here was well-consolCate Huisman, 58, first learned to idated and high enough ski more than half a century ago, to cover the tops of and she still finds the Arlberg most fencing, leavtechnique useful now and ing us a relatively then. She has had worse adeasy route back to our parking spot. ventures on skis than this one.

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6

A kayak rappel

In quest of winter whitewater

By Nick Bandy

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t least once a month year-round, I kayak – rain or shine, sleet or snow. Although Sandpoint’s winter season is amazingly beautiful and exciting, I’m always anxiously awaiting kayaking season. I pore over topographical maps and whitewater and waterfall guidebooks, searching for something that has been overlooked.

This impulsive behavior led me and my usual partner in crime, Jonah Breuchaud, 28 at the time, to trudge through the steep, snowy Cabinet Mountains one February morning to chase down a waterfall to kayak.

Three hours later we found it, flowing out of a small pool surrounded by granite cliffs about 35 feet down into a larger, clear pool on Wellington Creek. One problem made it just short of perfect.

A log 3 feet in diameter was pinned vertically in the waterfall.

We formed a plan to go back to the pickup, get our gear, pull the log out and be flying down the falls in our kayaks by early afternoon.

Eventually we made it to the rim of the cliffs again, after post-holing our way through the waistdeep snow, thanks to the now-75-pound packs we carried. We picked a spot that was more stepped than it was vertical for our rappel down to the waterfall. The mist from the waterfall turned the cliff to ice, and the added Safer, saner option Paddling weight of our packs threatanywhere around Lake Pend Oreille in late fall ened to peel us off the wall as we slid down the rope. I just after the season’s first snow is truly a beauwould have given two weeks’ tiful sight worth seeing. pay for a pair of crampons at that moment.

Nick Bandy, 26, has spent the last eight years Finally, with sore shoulders gaining a degree in construction management and hands, we made it to the and working as a carpenter. Using kayaking as bottom of our waterfall and jumped into action, only to his way of exploring the beautiful realize Breuchaud had forgotSelkirk and Cabinet mountains, ten his neoprene socks and he spends the majority of his booties – vital for staying time outside. He is currently warm in the bone-chilling living in Moscow, Idaho, winter water. Deciding that attending the University of hiking boots were better than nothing, Breuchaud forged Idaho to study hydrology. ahead into the pool, looking

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Jonah Breuchaud, left, and Nick Bandy ready for some winter whitewater. photo by Aslan Summerday

like a safety flare in his bright-orange dry suit in the midst of the snow. With every second, the icy water burned and stole the heat from his feet. After a minute or two of trying to secure the rope around the log, he couldn’t take it any longer. He now had no feeling from his ankles down. I watched nervously, glad to be on shore.

With the log standing unfazed, Breuchaud stumbled back to shore, worried about how his numb feet would carry him out of this frozen cauldron.

Our exit strategy was this: I would load up with all the gear the two of us had carried in and quickly ascend the rope we rappelled down, while Breuchaud did his best to scramble up a different, slightly less vertical slope on his phantom feet.

Then I could drop the rope down to him. Turns out, while I was struggling to ascend the rope with tremendously heavy gear, a rush of adrenaline induced by pain and panic propelled Breuchaud up that hill before I could even get to him. We walked together in the cold until we saw the pickup, waiting warmly and patiently for us, as if it knew we would be frozen by the time we returned.

First thing, we turned on the heat. Second, we grabbed our extra pairs of socks and the beer we had packed. Knowing that we had made it out safely, we cheered an exciting day. A small part of us still feels a pinch of failure, but the experience left an open invitation for success that will taste much sweeter the next time.

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[photo essay]

winter love Are you passionate about winter? Many living here near the 49th parallel are, but even more are likely to be passionate in winter. The images in this winter’s photo essay celebrate all kinds of love, from romantic to ruminant (turn the page, you’ll see what we mean).

Enjoy the love!

Marie-Dominique Verdier :: Aloha on the Slopes

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winter love

photo essay

Karl Neumann :: Snowshoe with Sadie Jason Duchow :: Pressing Engagement

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photo essay winter love

Matt Mills McKnight :: Heart of Winter Sally Sutherland :: Bullish About Love

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winter love

photo essay

Patrick Yahoo Gold PatrickOrton Orton :::: Ullr Love Patrick Orton :: Grounded

Marsha Lutz :: Cold Heart

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Adaptable Architects

Drawing on creativity, hobbies, goodwill to combat industry slowdown

Just like many of us, Sandpoint’s professional architects have tightened their belts as the economic recession continues to drag down the real estate and construction industry.

But when you factor those long Sandpoint winters into the equation, it begs the question: Are Sandpoint architects starving?

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By Beth Hawkins

Some of the town’s architects, from left: (top row) Bruce Millard, Sean Fitzpatrick, Brad Granfield, Rob Stoicheff, Jon Sayler and Krister Allen; (bottom row) John Hendricks, Kris Contor, Joseph Wythe and Bill Klein Photo by Marie-Dominique Verdier

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ARCHITECTS

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Real Estate

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Hendricks plans to sell the unique tarve, no. But they have storybook plans online – that is, when learned to adapt to the “Great he finds enough time. Ironically, just Recession” by utilizing their natwhen things slow down and he gets ural talent for creative thinking. time to work on his cottage stock That trait holds true for Bill Klein, plans, an ongoing project comes began architect in the Sandpoint ging for his attention. area for 33 years who is riding “There’s always something to out the economic – as well as winterkeep us busy,” he said. time – storms by turning to his passion To view a sample stock plan, visit for creating artwork, including painting www.HendricksArch.com and click and sculpting. He doesn’t rely on his art “On the Boards.” to help pay the bills (as he says, “You For Jon Sayler, who moved to don’t do art to put food on the table, you Sandpoint from Spokane seven do it because you like to do it”), but he years ago, winter is traditionally is an optimist and believes that today’s his busiest time of the year. “After challenges are temporary.

Christmas, we’re usually hammered “I’ve seen all circumstances,” Klein and have our heads to the desk,” he said. “I was here when Jimmy Carter was said. “Winter’s busy, spring’s busy – president – and this is worse than that.” we get a breather in July.”

His business now survives with Busy or not, Sayler acknowledges smaller projects on the drawing board. that he has had to adapt to the new “I see more remodels and turning economic realities. “This is my 33rd garages into mother-in-law apartments. year of practice, and I’ve never seen You don’t see the million-dollar homes anything like this,” he said, refercome through the door like you used to. ring to the slowdown. “This is the But it’s cyclical – it’ll come back.” biggest one ever – in ’07 and ’08 we John Hendricks, meantime, has Top: When Bill Klein isn’t working on architectural were going like crazy. Then came built a handsome portfolio of stunning projects, he makes art, such as the painting in the January of ’09 and we thought our mountain lodge-style homes as owner background. Above: To bide his time during work slowphones were cut off. It was like of Hendricks Architecture; in fact, he downs, John Hendricks creates storybook cottage-style someone turned off the switch.” designed an Idaho Club showpiece that stock plans like this one above He keeps his staff of three occuwas recently featured on the cover of pied with projects from clients livTimber Home Living magazine. But ing outside the area – Walla Walla, Boise, Spokane and other Hendricks, who moved to Sandpoint from Seattle five years locales – and has also taken on more commercial projects. ago just as the recession was digging in its heels, says the Kris Contor of Architecture 311.5, the firm that designed days of grand-scaled homes are but a distant sketch on the the building that houses Ivano’s Ristorante, also keeps up the drawing board. His company is now picking up smaller projpace with projects located outside the Sandpoint area. ects – more remodels and the like.

“We’ve done a winery down in Walla Walla, projects in “We used to build 10,000-square-foot houses,” he said.

Moscow, a house down in California,” said Contor, who has “The biggest we have now is about 4,500 square feet. People been an architect in Sandpoint since 1993. “We’ve been are thinking about things like energy efficiency more than pretty lucky, staying busy. But I don’t see things improving they used to.”

Hendricks had to cast his net beyond the local community for too much in the near future. Homes are so cheap now, it’s easier to buy than build.” new projects, attracting clients from across the country. “With It’s not just Sandpoint that’s experienced a steep downthe recession, we’ve had to widen and branch out,” he said. turn in construction projects. For the region as a whole – from Projects now come from as far away as Florida and the Lewiston north to the Canadian border – architects in general East Coast, but his passion still lies in designing mountain have seen a big decline in the amount of work that comes homes. Hendricks fills in the lag time between projects, and satisfies his penchant for creating magnificent homes, by cre- their way.

“Competition is fierce, and projects are scarce,” said Steve ating whimsical, storybook-cottage style stock plans (home Roth, president of the Northern Section of the American designs pre-drawn by an architect).

Institute of Architects’ Idaho chapter, which includes Bonner “When you design stock plans yourself, it’s all your own County. “Not all of us are doing very well at the moment.” ideas, so you can come up with some really interesting Although Roth is based out of Coeur d’Alene and deals designs,” he said. “The pay’s not as good, but it keeps us mainly in commercial projects, he said architects from farther having fun.”

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R _ E outside the northern Idaho area are vying for anything that comes up. “It’s not just the local guys anymore,” he said. “Everybody’s fighting for the same thing.”

Over the next few years, Roth believes the climate for architects will improve. “I don’t see an improvement in the near future, but I do think things will get better.”

To become a licensed architect in Idaho, a traditional five-year education is followed by approximately three years of experience. After that, it’s a matter of applying to the NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards) on a state-by-state basis. At that point, an exam is followed by accreditation if successful.

Sandpoint’s Tim Boden, 52, headed off to the University of Idaho to earn his degree and become a licensed architect after working in Sandpoint as a painter and builder in the 1980s. Boden groomed Schweitzer ski trails and split firewood just to make ends meet; he recalls that it was virtually impossible to make a living in the area. Hence, he made his decision to further his education and become an architect.

As owner of Boden Mountain Architecture, he maintains a positive outlook despite the economic downturn.

Perhaps because this Schweitzer-area resident can easily turn a slow workday into an awesome ski day, Boden stays hopeful about Greater Sandpoint in general and has noticed that things are ever-so-slowly beginning to improve.

“Sandpoint and Schweitzer are desirable areas to live, with beautiful amenities that other places don’t have,” he

Energy-efficient features, such as solar panels, shown above on Tim Boden’s home at Schweitzer, are gaining popularity in the recession. Courtesy photo

said. These unique qualities continue to draw newcomers to the area, just as they did back in 1980 when Boden moved to Sandpoint.

Because of the area’s outstanding scenery and outdoor activities – as well as recent media coverage due to Sandpoint’s designation as the country’s “Most Beautiful Small Town” by Rand McNally and USA Today in 2011 – Boden has noticed a sense of immediacy among those who are contemplating a new home in the Sandpoint area.

“Some of these baby boomer folks who have lived through the downturn are ready to live their dream and do what it takes. They’re not getting any

younger,” he said.

Boden points out that the recession has brought positive changes to the building industry. “The downturn is making people take a look at their lifestyles,” he said. “They’re pulling the plug on luxurious, large homes that aren’t lived in year-round. They may be building a second home, but they’re doing it with a lot less money.”

As a result, clients want smaller, higher-quality, more efficient homes.

“That’s a good combination, because it’s going to be a better-built home,” he added.

Boden advises clients to build above today’s standards for energy efficiency and use materials that are low-maintenance. At his own home at Schweitzer, Boden installed solar panels that heat the home’s hot water for eight to 10 months out of the year. “Little things like that are actually kind of exciting,” Boden said. “The downturn is helping people make a difference.”

Energy efficiency has always been a cornerstone of Bruce Millard’s architecture business in Sandpoint – long before it was a trend. He agrees that the downturn has put a positive spin on smarter energy design.

“The great thing is that intelligent stuff doesn’t happen when there’s lots of money going around; it happens when people start looking at where they can save and start thinking about energy efficiency,” Millard said.

His Studio of Sustainable Design specializes in ecologically designed homes, and while his business has slowed considerably from where it was several years ago, he still has proj-

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architects

Real Estate

A proponent of sustainable living, Bruce Millard enjoys raising a large garden. Photo by Beth Hawkins

ects on the table. The big difference between today’s clients and those that he dealt with several years back is that they are building with cash rather than money from bank loans.

“They’re looking at the building process in a different manner – they’re extremely careful with their money and spending it with future energy costs in mind,” he said. In addition, clients are seeking more rural locations to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

The notion of living off the land is also what keeps Millard occupied during slower times: “I spend a lot more time in my garden, trying to build greenhouses for myself and thinking about the future.”

Plus, it gives him time to relax in more exotic locales. Given the fact that times are tough, though, he vacations south of the border where it’s “warm and cheap.”

Architect Brad Granfield moved to Sandpoint full-time just two years ago, working on primarily residential projects both here and in Florida where he retained his license. “I have the advantage of working in two places while living here,” he said.

Being a relatively recent arrival has its disadvantages: “Longtime residents have their hand in the cookie jar more than us newcomers,” he said. Granfield fills in the gaps with projects in Florida and working on construction and woodworking proj

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Granfield agrees with the notion that a movement is afoot for “smarter” homes, adding that clients want to incorporate more eco-friendly features into their homes due to an increased awareness of the “green” industry movement. And architects such as Granfield are the ones helping to promote it. “We’re going beyond the tried-and-true methods of construction,” he said.

Joseph Wythe, 81, is considered the grandfather of architecture in Sandpoint, and while he is officially retired he still dabbles in design work.

“I still take on projects that are of interest to me,” Wythe said. “The economy affects us all. I am working with one couple who needs to sell their homes elsewhere before they can proceed with their project in Sandpoint.

And another couple is trying to work with an extremely low budget.”

Wythe agrees that energy efficiency

John Hendricks donated his time last winter to design the future band shell roof for the Farmin Park Pavilion. Courtesy artist’s rendering

is a big factor in a home’s design and a long-term investment. He built a log studio for his wife and insulated it so well, they only had to use a 1,500-watt portable heater to keep it warm.

“Building for energy efficiency means higher construction costs, but that’s made up very quickly,” he said.

Besides smarter ecological design, another positive spin that came about

from the recession is when Hendricks and his staff had time to do pro bono (translation: free) work last winter when the firm designed the new band shell roof for the Farmin Park Pavilion.

“From a business point of view it certainly doesn’t pay the bills, but it’s for a good cause,” Hendricks said.

The result of his donated architectural work is a beautiful, sweeping arch design that has already been approved by various committees for construction, and is being funded by Sandpoint Rotary and the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency.

As Sandpoint architects continue to stay busy – whether it’s enjoying the ski slopes or uncovering artistic talents at the easel, building smaller and smarter homes or helping the community at large – the economic and seasonal downturns have made their marks on the community, and some of it has indeed been for the greater good.

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education

Real Estate

Making the grade For many buyers, ‘How are the schools?’ is key to buying

I

n the era of contention over “No Child Left Behind” and with documentaries such as “Waiting for ‘Superman’ ” depicting the failure of the American public school system, education is a hot topic among parents with school-age children. And particularly when those parents are in the market to buy a home – or relocate for a new job – the quality of schools can be a primary factor in real estate buying decisions.

Debbie Ferguson, associate broker at Century 21 RiverStone, realizes the important role that education plays for her clients.

Ferguson works with a lot of potential Coldwater Creek employees who often visit the local public and private schools when considering a move to the area. Most clients have done their homework and typically know which schools have the best test scores. Ferguson believes education here has improved during her career in real estate.

“In the ’80s, I was on the school board here, and it was at that point in time extremely difficult to pass any levies to help support the construction of schools or the improvement of programs,” Ferguson said. “In recent years we have had a good success rate of passing levies, and I think that’s in large part due to some great leadership in the school board as well as the current superintendent.”

Continued improvements and recent recognition for the Lake Pend Oreille School District (LPOSD) back up Ferguson’s assertion that education has improved locally. In fact, the LPOSD has had improving ISAT scores five years running.

That’s a factor that adds to the area’s curb appeal for young families. Superintendent Dick Cvitanich said he is frequently contacted by prospective homebuyers asking about the quality of local schools.

“I think that the information that I’m able to share with them about standardized test scores, class size, ACT/SAT scores, and the kind of support we get from the community at levy time is very impressive to them,” he said.

Indeed, the community has rallied behind its schools in recent years. In March, despite a struggling economy, school district voters approved a two-year, $13.6 million supplemental levy by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin. The school district also enjoys backing by a robust nonprofit group, the Panhandle Alliance for Education, which has

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created a permanent endowment for education and each year provides more than $100,000 in grants directly to teachers for classroom projects.

That kind of community support is key. “It’s really clear to me that parents do not want to move into a community that doesn’t support their schools,” Cvitanich said.

Clark Fork Junior/Senior High ranks among the recent educational achievements in the district.

Awarded the Bronze Medal for the fourth year in a row in the 2010 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools list, the award criteria looked at whether students’ reading and math test scores were better than expected and factored in the number of economically disadvantaged students.

Clark Fork High’s impressive ranking and small class sizes provided enough motivation for one family to speed up plans to move here from Sherwood, Ore. Jeff and Ann Calhoun were originally going to wait for their daughter, Kayla, to graduate from high school before relocating, but her academic struggles caused them to seek an alternative to the large high school she had been attending.

“It was a large, upper-middle class area. It was a great school if you were a good student, but she was a struggling learner and she just kept getting put behind, overlooked, because of too many kids,” said Ann Calhoun.

With an enrollment of 140 students, Clark Fork High allowed Kayla more one-on-one time with her teachers and even extra support from the school’s principal, Phil Kemink.

“The teachers actually knew who she was, instead of being just a name. She was struggling and they knew immediately. They put her through some testing and really worked with her strengths and her weaknesses,” Ann Calhoun said. Kayla graduated in 2010.

Local educational choices go beyond the traditional schools. In 2001 the Sandpoint Charter School – an alternative, publicly funded school – started with about 45 seventh graders. The school grew to include sixth through eighth grades, then WINTER 2012

2010 Clark Fork graduate Kayla Calhoun, now a student at Toni and Guy Hair Academy in Coeur d’Alene, visits with her former principal, Phil Kemink at the award-winning school.

Photo by Trish Gannon

By Amie Wolf

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education added high school for a total enrollment now pushing 300 students. The school promotes an experiential and exploratory curriculum that appeals to many parents.

Sandpoint also offers several private school choices. One option for a spiritually oriented education is the Sandpoint Junior Academy, operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for students up through 10th grade. The Sandpoint Christian School, meanwhile, has classes for preschool through 12th grade.

Ferguson says clients think educational choices are important: “Any time you have people feel that they have options is very positive. Not every school climate fits every student, so it’s great to have some options.”

One private secular school that has been a magnet for families is the Sandpoint Waldorf School, practicing an educational philosophy based on the holistic teachings of Rudolf Steiner, a European educator and philosopher from the early 1900s. Art is infused throughout the curriculum, and teachers stay with the same students for a number of years.

“We really wouldn’t even have considered moving here if there wasn’t this thriving Waldorf School,” says Paul Lambert, a retired firefighter who moved here from Boynton Beach, Fla., in August 2011 with his wife, Olga, and their daughters, Katya, 6, and Polina, 2. Katya attends kindergarten.

“They allow, especially during the early childhood years when it’s important, children to be children. They really create a magical childhood for these children, and that’s what I wanted for our

Paul and Olga Lambert wouldn’t have considered moving to Sandpoint without its thriving Waldorf School. Photo by Billie Jean Plaster

children,” said Lambert.

With so many Waldorf schools around the United States, it does help that Sandpoint has other appealing qualities for real estate shoppers. According to Waldorf’s school administrator, Michael Soulé, “There are families that are looking for a small community, a beautiful community like this that’s artistic and creative, where there is a Waldorf School.”

Lambert agrees: “They have Waldorf schools in plenty of other towns, and Sandpoint is what influenced us also. We love it here.

We think this is not only a wonderful place to grow up in as a child but also to live in for us.”

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Downtown revitalization

Real Estate

Sandpoint Forward

Groups collaborate for downtown revitalization

By Cate Huisman

T

he time for study is over. The time for action is now.

That’s the consensus of a committee of citizens who include representatives from city government, the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency (SURA), the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation (BCEDC), the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association (DSBA) and local businesses. They have teamed up to sound a call to action called Sandpoint Forward.

The removal, in the early 1990s, of the railroad tracks along Fifth Avenue opened up new possibilities for development, and since then Sandpoint has been studied aplenty. In 1999, the city planning director’s office used funds from a regional economic development grant to conduct an initial downtown revitalization study.

Three years later, the Tom Hudson Company conducted a more sophisticated study, and three years after that, the same firm conducted a study of parking needs downtown. In 2006, University of Idaho architecture and design students conducted a study of the city and how it could respond to the rapid growth at that time. The city’s current Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2009, followed more than a year of intensive scrutiny by citizens and the city council.

But the studies didn’t zero in on who was actually going to do the things they suggested. A few of the studies’ suggestions were implemented, says Eric Paull, chairman of SURA, including some work on downtown streets to make them a more pleasant place for pedestrians. But the studies suggested many other things that have yet to be implemented.

“There’s a sense of urgency now with the byway coming

072-090_SMW12_RE.indd 79

As the Sand Creek Bypass nears completion, Sandpoint Forward aims to revitalize downtown. Photo by Jerry Luther

in,” said Paull.

To get things going, the steering committee has hired Mark Rivers, of Brix and Company in Boise, to act on that sense of urgency.

“Ideas pour out of him like water,” said Stephen Drinkard, project coordinator for the City of Sandpoint and its representative on the steering committee.

Rivers is known for having conceptualized BoDo, a publicprivate project in downtown Boise, and he has been involved in other civic projects in Glendale, Ariz., and Medford, Ore. His mission is specifically not to do another study or make another plan; his mission is to make things happen.

Rivers divides his efforts into what he calls hardware and software tasks. Hardware refers to developing real estate, and in this arena he may be identifying potential developers, setting up deals, or putting together public-private partnerships.

Software includes economic and community development.

This will include instituting a formal process to recruit and retain new businesses and provide customer service to them.

The committee has pointed Rivers toward several areas of potential. Everyone is enthused about the idea of returning some sort of higher education presence to downtown.

“We’ve always thought of ourselves as a college town without a college,” said Drinkard.

Rivers believes Sandpoint is a natural location for a lifelong learning institution because of its retiree population and the growing popularity of “edutourism” – travel for the purpose of learning.

A second source of potential is the town’s attraction for artists.

“We’re known as an art town,” said Drinkard.

Rivers concurs: “The arts is a huge piece of it, as an economic driver as well as an amenity.”

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The committee wants Rivers to identify how Sandpoint can take its integration of the arts to a higher level.

One idea is to attract more world-class performing artists not only to perform, but perhaps to stay a few weeks and offer workshops for visitors as well as multiple performances.

Then there is the stunning locale and consequent repeated accolades for “most beautiful town.” Distance from large population centers is a major issue for Sandpoint.

“But people will drive out of their way for something special,” said Rivers.

He thinks Sandpoint could become a food and wine destination or attract national-scale recreational events. He also believes that the opening of the bypass will provide an opportunity to strengthen the pedestrian appeal of downtown streets, especially as the big trucks – with their conversation-stopping noise and enjoyment-stopping smell – are removed from the downtown equation.

Another plus is the town’s legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship. “I’ve been amazed at the can-do culture in

Sandpoint, the professionalism, the sophistication,” said Rivers.

Creating or attracting more entrepreneurs is a key component of Sandpoint Forward, as is keeping them downtown.

“We want to retain the good downtown anchors; we don’t want any more leakage,” said Paull, referring to businesses that have moved out of downtown. Keeping the hospital, bringing city government back, and attracting new businesses are all important. The initiative’s website, www.sandpointforward. com, which went live this past August, is designed to show businesses why Sandpoint is an attractive place to locate.

Current economic conditions, of course, are a challenge. The comp plan and new zoning rules encourage mixeduse developments that include retail, office and residential components; these are considered important to creating a vibrant downtown. But Rivers notes that mixed use development is particularly difficult to finance.

Nevertheless, Sandpoint has gotten Rivers excited. He sees the community’s cooperation and initiative as a

Redevelopment timeline 1999 Planning Director Kevin Clegg conducts

a downtown revitalization study.

2000 The Sand Creek boat moorage is devel-

oped, and a boardwalk is built from The Old Power House to Bridge Street. The last waterfront homes on the east side of the creek are removed, making way for Seasons at Sandpoint.

2001 Idaho Transportation Department wid-

ens Fifth Avenue to accommodate traffic along U.S. Highways 2 and 95 and from Idaho State Highway 200.

2002 Tom Hudson and Lorraine Roach, econom-

ic development consultants from Moscow, conduct a revitalization study that comes to be known as the Hudson Study.

2003 Jeff Jones Town Square is built and

named in memory of late city attorney.

2004 The Fifth Avenue overlay is added to

the city’s zoning plans, requiring that new businesses along the widened avenue be oriented to encourage and accommodate pedestrians.

2005 The Hudson Company prepares a park-

ing study that assesses the adequacy of parking spaces downtown. City council approves the creation of downtown and northern urban renewal zones. Longtime grocer Harold’s Foods closes.

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Downtown revitalization

Real Estate

huge asset, including the three-agency collaboration that brought him here.

For its part, the city and its downtown businesses are ready.

“The Sandpoint Forward initiative is a big focus for DSBA now,” says Chris Bessler, DSBA vice president. “There are a bunch of physical improvements that are coming together downtown that can really help give this revitalization effort a big boost. It’s great timing for the downtown to take a big step forward.”

Opposite: Consultant Mark Rivers is helping guide downtown revitalization efforts for the City of Sandpoint. Photo by chris bessler

From your Tree house to your Dream house

2006 University of Idaho architecture and

design students study the challenges of rapid growth in Sandpoint and present plans for waterfront development and

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downtown revitalization. On the block of the former Harold’s Foods, construction begins on the Sandpoint Financial Center, now the tallest downtown building.

2007 Bridge Street pedestrian bridge opens.

2008 After a half century of controversy,

construction begins on the bypass along Sand Creek.

2009 Sandpoint City Council eases require-

ments for the number of parking spaces that downtown businesses must provide. The council adopts the new comprehensive plan.

2011 The waterfront boardwalk is extended to

Walk-Behind

the rear of the Panida Theater, and an arch

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is installed to welcome visitors to Sand Creek. Public transportation, the SPOT bus, begins. Panida receives first year of SURA funding for upgrades. New commercial zoning regulations are adopted for downtown pursuant to comprehensive plan. Sidewalk widened on west end of Farmin Park; reconstruction on Second Avenue, including bioswales for stormwater management, is completed.

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82

marketwatch

Marketwatch: Discounted prices pulling in more buyers

C

ould it be that the local real estate market has finally rounded the corner toward recovery? While it’s still too early to make that call, more buyers are definitely stepping forward to pluck value-priced homes and land according to local sales data.

The number of residences sold throughout Bonner County rose 17 percent from April to September, compared to the same time period in 2010, featuring overall home prices that remain attractive for buyers.

The median sales price in Sandpoint was $171,500 which contrasts greatly to a similar time period in 2007 – just four years ago – when the median sales price in Sandpoint was $257,375. That’s a decrease of more than $85,000.

The elephant in the room is the excess inventory of bank repossessions and foreclosures, making the current situation a positive for the buyer – hence, the shopping spree. However, there are signs indicating

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that the market may start turning around in the seller’s favor.

“I think what’s happening is that we’ve hit the bottom of the pricing – you’re still going to find deals, but I just don’t see things going down much more,” said Terry Stevens, president of the Selkirk Association of REALTORS®. “We’ll probably plateau out as the banks start getting back into lending. I think we’re about 12 to 18 months from seeing an increase on fair market inventory.”

Although that timeframe may be holding some sellers back, MLS President Jerri Anderson urges those who have been waiting on the fence to forge ahead and enter the market. Anderson reports that she is seeing “good offers” come in for homes that are realistically and competitively priced.

“Waiting another season for things to improve won’t benefit the seller,” Anderson said, adding that winter can be a great time to show a listing. “On a bluebird

day in January, a view property can be spectacular.”

In fact, for Stevens, winter can be his busiest time of year, with closings often in January. “Clients look through the summer, make an offer in the fall, and close in late fall and early winter,” he said.

Stevens believes that there are several factors at play in forecasting a positive housing market, such as the strong Canadian economy. He feels the finalization of big road construction projects such as the Sand Creek Byway and the upcoming paving of Idaho State Highway 200 from Trestle Creek to Clark Fork will provide big boosts to the region.

“Once they have the roads done, it’ll make it easier for people to get back and forth,” Stevens said. “We’ll start seeing some improvements. There are a lot of things going on in Bonner County that are going to have a positive effect.”

– Beth Hawkins

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market trends Residential Sales By Area

Schweitzer

All Areas 2010

2011

% Inc/Decr

2010

2011

% Inc/Decr

11

9

-18

Sold Listings

320

373

17

Sold Listings

Volume - Sold Listings

$81,942,240

$86,890,020

6

Volume - Sold Listings

$3,133,200

$2,118,000

-32

Median Price

$187,450

$168,000

-10

Median Price

$285,000

$205,000

-28

Average Sales Price

$238,204

$232,949

-2

Average Sale Price

$284,836

$235,333

-17

Average Days on Market

343

224

-35

% Inc/Decr

Average Days on Market

148

154

4

2010

2011

% Inc/Decr

2010

2011

Sold Listings

51

58

14

Sold Listings

56

42

-25

Volume - Sold Listings

$13,365,685

$11,350,759

-15

Volume - Sold Listings

$8,962,226

$6,543,465

-27

Median Price

$187,900

$171,500

-9

Median Price

$141,500

$140,000

-1

Average Sale Price

$262,072

$195,702

-25

Average Sale Price

$160,039

$155,796

-3

Average Days on Market

140

147

5

Average Days on Market

167

167

0

2010

2011

% Inc/Decr

Bonners Ferry

Sandpoint City

Real Estate

Selkirk Multiple Listing Service Real Estate Market Trends

Hope/Clark Fork

Sandpoint Area 2010

2011

% Inc/Decr

Sold Listings

166

189

14

Sold Listings

12

12

0

Volume - Sold Listings

$49,116,756

$50,386,969

3

Volume - Sold Listings

$2,918,790

$4,954,300

70

Median Price

$232,500

$190,000

-18

Median Price

$224,950

$167,500

-26

Average Sale Price

$295,884

$266,597

-10

Average Sale Price

$243,232

$412,858

70

Average Days on Market

150

164

9

Average Days on Market

148

190

28

Based on information from the Selkirk MLS© for the period of April 21, 2010, to September 28, 2010, vs. the time period for April 20, 2011, to September 28, 2011 - Real Estate Stats for Bonner & Boundary Counties. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed!

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Natives and Newcomers

Natives and Newcomers

By Amie Wolf Photos by Marie-Dominique Verdier This edition of Natives and Newcomers, a regular department that highlights opinions of two Sandpoint natives alongside two new arrivals, features a twentysomething, an octogenarian and two in between. Regardless of their age, all of them have a common interest – exploring and utilizing the amazing outdoor playground that is Sandpoint.

Their activities range from paddle boarding and hiking to farming and geocaching. Whatever the season, chances are any one of these interviewees can be found in the mountains or on the lake.

Natives Joe Weisz

Joe Weisz, 85, may not have been born in Sandpoint, but his roots here

run deep. The oldest of 10 siblings, he moved to Kootenai, Idaho, from St. Paul, Minn., at age 3 when his father got a logging job here in 1929. Following in the family tradition (his grandfather worked at Humbird Mill), Weisz worked in the logging industry from age 12 until he retired in his mid-40s. He received a purple heart in 1945 for his service as an Army rifleman in World War II and returned to Sandpoint to marry Lois, his wife of 64 years. Three children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren later, he enjoys raising cattle, farming and woodworking.

How do you think the new bypass will affect Sandpoint?

Well, it’s going to get rid of a lot of the truck traffic. That’s good. It shouldn’t make any difference in affecting the downtown businesses. In fact, it might be better to have more parking down there.

If you could change one thing about Sandpoint, what would it be?

Get rid of the bureaucracy. That’s what stops everything. … I believe in the free enterprise system. You’ve got to turn the people loose that want to do something. You’ve got all these restrictions and nobody can do anything, at

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the city level, the county level, the state level and the federal level.

What’s the best thing about living in Sandpoint?

We’ve got everything here, really, the mountains, the streams, the rivers and the lake. This is beautiful country, no doubt.

What’s kept you in Sandpoint?

Probably our place here. We bought the first 40 acres in 1948 and then we got 160 more in 1968. We bought it from Bob Sherwood so we call it “Sherwood Forest.” It used to be the old Sandpoint ski hill. They started that in 1938; they had a cable, and then when the war started they shut it down. Then they put a rope tow up. I worked in the old logging camp in Priest Lake country.

That was during the old Humbird days.

Diamond Match had the big mill there in Dufort. All we cut back then was white pine. It all went in the match saw.

We used to call the crosscut saw the old “misery whip.” I worked there way back in 1946 to 1948 after I came back from the service. When I was younger I worked at the old Eagles pool hall.

It was right there next to the Panida Theater. I was 14. I hated that job. …

All them old lumberjacks coming in, mean sons of a gun!

Rachel Nordgaarden Born in Boise, Rachel Nordgaarden, 44, moved to Sandpoint at age 4 with her parents, Steve and Sydne Van Horne.

After college in Moscow and living in Boise for a few years, she returned to Sandpoint so her son could also experience growing up in a small town surrounded by the mountains and the lake.

When not working in sales and marketing at GuestMark International, she can SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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Natives and Newcomers

traffic – especially the livestock trucks – driving through town will certainly make walking downtown more pleasant.

If you could change one thing about Sandpoint, what would it be?

Although I am very thankful for the dog parks that Pend Oreille Vets and Dover Bay provide, it would be a great addition to see a dog park in town that is fenced, where the dogs can roam free.

Any advice for a friend considering moving here?

Explore what is available from local shops and what the outdoors have to offer. Be prepared for each change of season and all that comes with it. be found outside year-round, hiking, mountain biking, rollerblading, skiing and snowmobiling, often with her husband, Duane.

How do you think the new bypass will affect Sandpoint?

What’s the best thing about living in Sandpoint?

I think the view travelers will have of our special town and the lake will encourage people to stop. Not having the truck

I love the change of the seasons and the opportunities of things to do in the mountains and on the lake.

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072-090_SMW12_RE.indd 86

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Natives and Newcomers

What has kept you here?

The same thing that brought me to move back and raise my son here – the mountains, the lake, the people and the opportunities to experience things that are not as readily available in other areas or larger cities

NEWCOMERS

variety of outdoor hobbies including camping, hiking, paddle boarding, kayaking, geocaching and riding her motorcycle.

How do you think the new bypass will affect Sandpoint?

I think the bypass is going to have a positive effect on Sandpoint; it

will make downtown a destination.

Pedestrian-friendly downtowns are more relaxed and enjoyable, and when people feel good, they tend to spend more time exploring and getting to know the area.

If you could change one thing about Sandpoint, what would it be?

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I would build a gondola from Schweitzer into Sandpoint. It would be so nice to be able to park below and not have to drive or take the bus up! I also think it would be mutually beneficial for businesses in town and on the mountain.

throughout the Selkirk and Cabinet mountain ranges, the thousands of acres of national forest that envelop us, a great farmers market and the never-ending summer calendar of festivals and events, there is never a dull moment.

Any advice for a friend considering moving here?

How did you adjust to living here?

You will need a snow blower at some point, so you might as well get one now, instead of waiting for the first big storm because by that time everywhere will be sold out.

Oh, and do not stand under the sloped side of a metal roof after it has snowed.

What’s the best thing about living in Sandpoint?

Summer! Between Lake Pend Oreille, miles of fantastic trails

We went from living in the city to living in the country, so I am finding the art of planning ahead to be an adjustment. … I am lucky to have great friends, family and neighbors to give me advice and help!

Elizabeth Malone A Texas native, Elizabeth Malone, 28, moved to Sandpoint in September 2010 from New York City, where she performed in offBroadway shows. Her favorite

*

acting role to date was playing Sonya in Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya.”

A drama instructor at the Monarch School in Heron, Mont., Malone also dreams of someday performing and teaching theater in the Middle East.

Besides acting, Elizabeth spends her time hiking, climbing, skiing, traveling and watching independent and foreign films.

How do you think the new bypass will affect Sandpoint?

I moved here a year ago and the bypass was already in progress.

Living in a small town is new for me, having lived in New York City for about nine years. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

If you could change one thing about Sandpoint, what would it be?

I think I could use even more of the arts. I’d like to see more people coming together to create music, art and, of course, theater. I went to school for theater in New York and have been working as an actress for nine years. I would like to collaborate with local artists, musicians, filmmakers and theater artists to create work that rivals (what’s in) the cities.

Any advice for a friend considering moving here?

I have found Sandpoint to be a place where people come together from all over the country and find opportunity and community. I would advise them to really go for whatever it is they are planning because there will be people here to help.

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What’s the best thing about living in Sandpoint?

The best part for me is being surrounded by mountains and water.

Every day there is somewhere new to discover if I so choose. As a Christian, I have found it so much easier to grow spiritually in this

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Natives and Newcomers

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How did you adjust to living here?

My roommates told me the ins and outs of Sandpoint life. I found an amazing church within a month, Grace Sandpoint. I have now been here over a year, and I still find out new things about the area every day, which keeps me excited about being here. For moving from a place of millions to a few thousand, I feel I have adjusted quite well.

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Photo by Danièle Huguenin

OUTDOORS Cross-Country Skiing. For groomed and maintained trails, you can kick and glide or skate on 32 km of scenic groomed trails at Schweitzer (2639555); Round Lake State Park has 3 miles of various groomed trails for diagonal stride (263-3489); Farragut State Park (683-2425) has more than 7 km of groomed trails, 25 miles south of Sandpoint on Lake Pend Oreille.

Groomed trails (15 km) are also maintained at Priest Lake Nordic Center (443-2525) and connect to Hannah Flats for more than 40 km of trails. Right downtown, locals often ski or snowshoe the two miles of flat lake shoreline alongside the proposed Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail. It’s accessed north of City Beach just beyond Seasons at Sandpoint.

Backcountry and Snowshoeing.

For terrain that’s pristine and ungroomed, there are nearly unlimited options on the public lands surrounding Sandpoint up national forest roads: Roman Nose, accessed outside of Naples, about 22 miles north of Sandpoint; and up Trestle Creek, about 12 miles east off Highway 200. For info on those or other areas, call the Sandpoint

Ranger District (263-5111) or the Bonners Ferry Ranger District (267-5561) for maps and current conditions, including avalanche advisories. For a backcountry experience with guided know-how, take an excursion from Schweitzer via snowcat with Selkirk Powder (866-4643246). For rental gear, try Schweitzer’s Ski & Ride Center (255-3070); or in downtown Sandpoint, the Alpine Shop at 213 Church (263-5157) or Outdoor Experience, 314 N. First Ave. (2636028). More snow sport information online, at www.SandpointOnline.com/rec

Winter Guide

Winter Guide 2012

or www.fs.fed.us/ipnf.

Sleigh Rides. Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, 16 miles northeast of Sandpoint on Upper Gold Creek Road, offers sleigh rides in a rural setting for groups and couples. www.

WesternPleasureRanch.com (263-9066).

See story, page 8. Stillwater Ranch also provides sleigh rides in a country setting for groups and weddings, south of Sandpoint in Sagle on Dufort Road. www.

StillwaterShires.com (263-0077).

D O W N H I L L S k iing and R iding High in the Selkirk Mountains above Sandpoint, Schweitzer Mountain contains 2,900 acres of terrain beckoning skiers and snowboarders to ride 300 inches of powder, the average annual snowfall. The Inland Northwest’s largest ski resort, Schweitzer is a mere 11 miles from downtown. Uncrowded slopes offer 2,400 vertical feet among the 92 named trails, two open bowls, treed glades and three terrain parks. Select slopes are lit for night skiing part of the season. Four high-speed chairs serve the mountain: “Stella,” Idaho’s only six-pack chair; quads Great

Escape and Basin Express; and the Lakeview Triple. The mountain also has three double chairs, a T-bar, a beginner’s Musical Carpet, tubing, and snowshoe and cross-country trails. www. schweitzer.com (800-831-8810 or 263-9555). See story, page 53.

Other downhill ski choices exist within a couple hours of Sandpoint. Serviced by a gondola, Silver Mountain Resort is in Kellogg, about 85 miles southeast of Sandpoint. Open ThursdayMonday and holidays, Silver features five chairs, one surface lift and tubing. Top elevation is 6,300 feet; vertical is 2,200 feet; and

091-116_SMW12[WinterG-Eats].indd 91

there’s 1,600 skiable acres with 73 named trails.

About 98 miles northwest of Sandpoint sits 49 Degrees North, outside of Chewelah, Wash., open Friday-Tuesday and holidays. The top elevation is 5,774 feet, with 1,851 vertical and 2,325 skiable acres. The mountain features 75 trails, five chairlifts, a surface lift and the brand-new Nordic Center.

And finally, for an experience off the beaten path, there is Turner Mountain, 80 miles northeast of Sandpoint near Libby, Mont. Turner is a small, littleknown ski area admired by many skiers for its steep runs. Open

WINTER 2012

Photo by AlAN Lemire

Friday-Sunday and holidays; top elevation is 5,952. The mountain has one surface lift and 25 runs, with 2,110 feet of vertical.

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Winter Guide

Clark Fork

Map Š TerraPen Geographics. Purchase full size maps at Maps & More | 100 Cedar St at First Ave | (208) 265-8883 | www.SandpointMaps.com 92

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Winter Guide

Athol, with 4,000 scenic acres alongside the southern tip of Lake Pend Oreille.

Camping and groomed cross-country ski trails available (683-2425). Round Lake is located 12 miles south of Sandpoint just west of Highway 95 on West Dufort Road.

Round Lake is a small, scenic lake; camping, fishing, sledding and cross-country skiing are all available (263-3489). Priest Lake State Park is located north of Coolin alongside the clear waters of Priest Lake. Camping, cross-country skiing, ice fishing and snowmobiling available (4432200). www.IdahoParks.org.

Photo by patrick Orton

Snowmobiling. It’s one of the most popular and fun ways to reach the wondrous wintry backcountry. Snowcat trails around Sandpoint and Priest Lake in the Selkirk Mountains are renowned; for more information, contact Winter Riders, www.SandpointWinterRiders. com (263-1535) or Priest Lake Trails & Outdoor Recreation Association, www.priestlake.org (443-3309). For guided rides at Schweitzer, contact Selkirk Powder. www.SelkirkPowder. com (263-6959 or 888-Go-Idaho).

State Parks. Three state parks are within close range to Sandpoint – Farragut, Round Lake and Priest Lake.

Farragut is located four miles east of

Walking. For a two-mile walk on cleared paths with dazzling views, the Pedestrian Long Bridge runs alongside Highway 95 over Lake Pend Oreille.

You’ll also find paved, cleared paths at Travers Park on West Pine Street; City Beach downtown; and the Dover Bike Path along Highway 2 west. Paths also at Lakeview Park through and around the Native Plant Society Arboretum; and overlooking Sand Creek at the Healing Garden next to Bonner General Hospital.

Wildlife Refuge. Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles north of Sandpoint near Bonners Ferry, has more than 2,000 acres and abundant wildlife including elk, deer, moose and bear, plus migrating birds. Hiking trails to waterfall and around pond, auto tour routes. www. fws.gov/kootenai (267-3888).

BILL JONES DISTRIBUTORS Proudly serving North Idaho since 1951

Photo by patrick Orton

Celebrating our 61st Anniversary in 2012!

Stirrup

some fun

• Private Log Cabins • Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides • Bed & Breakfast Stays • Cross Country Skiing

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Reservations: (888)863-9066 www.westernpleasureranch.com

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S hopping

Winter Guide

Downtown retailers are going all out in the Sandpoint Shopping District, where shoppers will discover a fine array of eclectic shops and galleries with clothing, art and gifts galore. www.DowntownSandpoint.com.

Highlights include the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market with retailers such as Carousel Emporium and MeadowBrook Home & Gift, art, and food such as Cedar St. Bridge Café, all in a beautiful log structure spanning Sand Creek. www.CedarStreetBridge.com (255-8270). Just down the street is Coldwater Creek in its flagship store at 311 N. First, with a wine bar upstairs and live music on Fridays and Saturdays. www.coldwater creek.com (263-2265). Antiques abound at Foster’s Crossing, a mini mall with lots of collectibles, on Fifth between Cedar and Oak streets (2635911); and MarketPlace Antiques & Gifts, open daily, at Fifth and Church (263-4444). Just out of town, Bonner Mall in Ponderay has many stores large and small, and often hosts events; it’s on Highway 95 two miles north of Sandpoint (263-4272).

Photo by Chris Guibert Photo by Hurley Dean

Sandpoint WaterLife Discovery Center. On Lakeshore Drive, the center offers interpretive trails and self-guided tours of fish habitat and an educational interpretive area on Pend Oreille River. www.fishandgame.idaho.gov (769-1414).

Fishing. Dedicated fishermen don’t let a little cold weather stop them. When the water freezes, there’s great ice fishing on Lake Pend Oreille at the north end of the Long Bridge in front of Condo del Sol. Main prey is perch, though bass and trout also are caught. Ice fishing is also popular on smaller lakes: Cocolalla, Mirror, Gamlin, Shepherd, Round, Antelope and Priest.

Lake Pend Oreille’s deep waters rarely freeze and even in midwinter charter fishing boats pursue its trophy rainbow trout and mackinaw, which often go over 10 pounds. Try Diamond Charters

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(265-2565), Eagle Charters (264-5274), Pend Oreille Charters (265-6781) or Seagull Charters (266-1861).

Ice Skating and Sledding. It takes several days of sustained below-freezing temperatures without too much snow, but when conditions are right, local ice skaters flock to Third Avenue Pier, where the street terminates at Lake Pend Oreille. Another favored skating

spot is the Sandpoint City Beach or Sand Creek below the Cedar Street Bridge; city crews often help by clearing snow from the ice. Or head out to Round Lake State Park, south of Sandpoint, where there is often a bonfire blazing. Park staff maintain both regular and speed-skating rinks. To get there, drive 10 miles south on Highway 95, then west two miles on Dufort Road (263-3489). If it’s sledding you want,

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Winter Guide

Schweitzer maintains its Hermits Hollow Tubing Center; sessions last 1.5 hours and reservations are recommended (255-3081). And a second fine sledding hill is at Round Lake State Park, with a 1,000-foot run to the lake.

INDOORS Art Galleries. Truly an arts town, Sandpoint has numerous galleries and artists’ studios in the area. Downtown make a walking tour of galleries; on First Avenue check ArtWorks, First Light, Hallans, Hen’s Tooth and the Cedar Street Bridge. Swing west to Sixth and Oak for Redtail Gallery and Sandpoint Center for the Arts. Art lovers may also visit revolving art exhibits in year-round gallery locations sponsored by the Pend Oreille Arts Council. Locations include The Old Power House, 120 E. Lake St.; Panhandle State Bank, 414 Church St.; Starbucks, 108 N. First Ave.; Northern Lights, 421 Chevy Street in Sagle; Mountain West Bank, 476655 Highway 95 in Ponderay; and STCU, 477181 Highway 95 in Ponderay. www.ArtinSandpoint.org (263-6139).

Museums. Enjoy many fine displays depicting old-time Bonner County at the Bonner County Historical Museum.

Featured exhibits include “Canoes for the Journey” about fur trader David Thompson and a Salish style “sturgeonnosed” canoe unique to this region. Other exhibits tell the stories of communities with an emphasis on homesteading, logging and railroads. An extensive research archive has information helpful to genealogists and those curious about the area. Open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Saturdays in summer only). Located in Lakeview Park, 611 S. Ella. www.bonnercountyhistory.org (2632344). The Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center was founded by Dr. Forrest and Pam Bird. He invented the respirator and many other inventions. The museum is the home to original patent models from the 1800s; inventors’ products and prototypes that have changed the world; authentic signatures from

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Hallans Gallery Photo by Dann HAll

Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Orville Wright and Charles Lindberg; a gift shop and exhibits on aviation including 21 aircraft, as well as antique cars. Located in Sagle about 17 miles southeast of Sandpoint off Sagle Road on Bird Ranch Road. Open year round; call for an appointment dur-

ing the winter months. Admission is free (donations welcomed). www.birdaviation museum.com (255-4321).

Movies. The Bonner Mall Cinema is a six-plex theater inside the Bonner Mall on Highway 95, featuring new releases daily (263-7147). The historic Panida Theater

Sweet Magnolia

Bed & Breakfast

S

weet Magnolia ...

... a touch of Southern hospitality in the heart of Sandpoint.

208.263.2425 www.sweetmagnoliabandb.com WINTER 2012

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Winter Guide

downtown at 300 N. First shows foreign and independent films most weekends (263-9191). Check www.SandpointMovies. com for movie listings.

Athletic Clubs. Sandpoint West

passion for PERFECTION

Sandpoint’s award-winning winery Tastings and tours daily Wine bar and Bistro Rouge Café Live music Friday night

open daiLy | 220 CedaR STReeT 208.265.8545 | poWine.Com

Athletic Club, 1905 W. Pine St., has a 25-meter indoor pool; courts for racquetball, wallyball and basketball; a weight room with various machines, a sauna and spa. Open daily. www.

SandpointWest.com (263-6633). Also, Natural Fitness at Superior and Ella has cardiovascular, weight and circuit machines; open weekdays (263-0676).

The Integrative Athlete, 506 Oak St., is a training facility specializing in functional movement and holistic training (946-4855). Curves at 110 Tibbetts Ln. in Ponderay (255-1661) caters to women, as does Evolution Fitness, 30736 Highway 200, Ste. 104, in Ponderay (255-7010). Second Wind Fitness, 1527 Baldy Park Dr., offers a pay-as-you-go system and personal trainers (290-2081).

Yoga. Sandpoint’s active yoga commu-

You Bring The Party

We’ll Provide The Place… Free!

BIRTHDAYS • HOLIDAYS • PARTIES

Laughing Dog Brewing Open 11 to 7pm daily • 208-263-9222

1109 Fontaine Road, Ponderay, ID

photo courtesy of LaughinG Dog

nity is well-represented by the number of studios, practitioners and types of yoga offered. The following offer classes regularly: Downtown Yoga, 119 N. First Ave. (255-6177); Hope Memorial Center, 415 Wellington Pl. in Hope (264-4581); Inquire Within, 516 Oak St. (255-7903); The Integrative Athlete, 506 Oak St. (9464855); Gardenia Center, 400 Church St. (255-4450); Mudita Yoga, 525 S. Florence Ave. (610-8470); Natural Fitness, 1103 Superior St. (263-0676); Sandpoint West Athletic Club, 1905 Pine St. (2636633); Twisted Root Yoga, 323 Pine St. (963-9642); and The Yoga Studio, 1309 Ponderosa Dr. (290-8789).

Spas. Get pampered at The Spa at Seasons, in downtown Sandpoint, www.

SeasonsatSandpoint.com (263-5616); Wildflower Day Spa, www.thewild flowerdayspa.com (263-1103); Su Geé Skin Care, 324 S. Florence Ave. (2636205); or Solstice Well Being Spa and Wellness Center at Schweitzer Mountain. www.SolsticeWellBeing.com (263-2862).

Brewery Tours. Take a tour and taste

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handcrafted ales at Laughing Dog Brewing in Ponderay, open MondaySaturday at 1109 Fontaine Dr. www.

LaughingDogBrewing.com (263-9222).

Downtown, see brewing in action at Sandpoint’s own craft brewpub,

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If you watch the weather forecasts to avoid storms and hazardous conditions, a winter drive offers the special beauty of snowy landscapes. Most well-known is the International Selkirk Loop, a 280-mile National Scenic Byway wending through the majestic Selkirk Mountains of Idaho, Washington and British Columbia.

Budget time to enjoy the small towns along the way. www.SelkirkLoop.org (888-823-2626).

The Pend Oreille National Scenic Byway, 33.4 miles of lake and mountain views on Highway 200, meanders east to the Montana state line along the rocky shores of Lake Pend Oreille. To make a 150-mile loop, continue east into Montana, then north on Highway 56 through the Bull River Valley to Troy, then back east and south on Highway 2 through Bonners Ferry.

The Highway 2/41 Pend Oreille River scenic route goes west on Highway 2 through historic Priest River and Newport/Oldtown; then south on Highway 41 through the Blanchard Valley. Brochures with maps are available at the Sandpoint Visitor Center, Third and Oak.

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T he S P O T B us From Dover to Kootenai with stops in Sandpoint and Ponderay, the SPOT bus route serves residents and visitors who are commuting or enjoying a night out on the town. The bus circles its route hourly every day, 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with extended hours until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Stops are marked with the SPOT bus sign – many at or near motels in Sandpoint and Ponderay in order to provide rides for their guests. The best part: It’s free! When ski season is under way, catch a connector to the Schweitzer bus. Check schedules online. www. spotbus.org (597-7606).

Winter Guide

DRIVING TOURS

PHOTO BY Cate Huisman

MickDuff’s, open daily at 312 N. First. www.mickduffs.com (255-4351). Not a brewer but noted for its regional selection is Eichardt’s Pub, 212 Cedar St. (263-4005).

Winery & Wine Bars. The Pend d’Oreille Winery, Idaho’s Winery of the Year in 2003, features tours, wine tasting, a gift shop, live music Fridays, and Bistro

WINTER 2012

Rouge menu daily, 220 Cedar St. www. powine.com (265-8545). Two more wine bars, all within easy walks downtown, are the Coldwater Creek Wine Bar, upstairs at 311 N. First Ave., also featuring live music and a great menu to complement wines (263-6971); and Enoteca La Stanza, inside Ivano’s at 102 S. First Ave., serving exotic martinis and Italian food. (263-0211).

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Archer Vacation Condos

4

x

x

54

x

x

x

x

19

x

x

x

x

60

x

83

x

x

68

x

x

25

x

50

x

x

62

x

x

75

x

x

167

x

x

Meeting Rooms

Kitchen

Bar or Lounge

Restaurant

Pool on site

Spa or Sauna

No. of Units

Lodging

Lodging

x

Beautiful 3-bedroom, 2-bath waterfront condos on Lake Pend Oreille in Hope.

Discount ski and golf tickets available. See ad, page 58.

10kVacationRentals.com/Sandpoint/index.htm

877-982-2954 / drarchers@msn.com

Best Western Edgewater Resort

x

208-263-3194 or 800-635-2534

Dover Bay Bungalows

x

Waterfront bungalows at beautiful Dover Bay in Marina Village. Fully furnished with lake and mountain views. Fitness center, marina and hiking/ biking trails. See ads, page 38. DoverBayBungalows.com

208-263-3083

GuestHouse Lodge

Free breakfast with waffles. 24-hour hot tub, free wireless Internet. Family suites. Schweitzer ski packages. At the base of Schweitzer Mountain, 2 miles from lake.

208-263-2210

Holiday Inn Express

x

The newest hotel in Sandpoint. 100 percent smoke free. The Ponderay location is at the base of Schweitzer Mountain next to Slates Prime Time Bar & Grill, close to Walmart. See ad, page 97. HIExpress.com

x

Downtown location, high-speed Internet. Free breakfast, themed spa suites.

Silverwood, ski and golf packages. Kids stay free. See ad, page 93.

Hotels-West.com

x

Accommodations for weddings, retreats and banquets. Lakeside with swimming and docks. Views of lake and mountains for an unforgettable Idaho vacation. LodgeAtSandpoint.com

x

Fully furnished condos and on-site athletic club on Lake Pend Oreille.

Stay and play packages. See ad, page 54. POSResort.com

x

Indoor pool and hot tub. Close to downtown Sandpoint. 5th Avenue Restaurant and Mitzy’s Lounge on property. Kids stay and eat free.

SandpointHotels.com

x

x

75 luxury homes and condos in Sandpoint and on the lake. First-class properties at affordable rates. Plan your perfect vacation. Boat rentals, tee times. See ad, page 5. SandpointVacationRentals.com

x

x

Mountain accommodations, stay and play packages. Spectacular mountain and lake views. Outdoor heated pool and hot tubs. See ad, page 115.

Schweitzer.com

x

x

Beautiful Victorian home with unique rooms and antiques. Located in downtown Sandpoint. Within walking distance of many local shops and businesses. See ad, page 95. SweetMagnoliaBandB.com

x

x

x

Sandpoint bed and breakfast on 30+ acres of wilderness with spectacular mountain views. Less than 2 miles from downtown. A chic, elegant setting for a romantic couple-getaway, reunion or corporate meeting. SandpointRetreat.com

x

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Luxury lakeside homes, cozy mountain cabins and lovely condominiums in the heart of Sandpoint. See ad, page 56. Vacationville.com Deluxe spa suites with private, jetted tub for two in bath. Gas fireplace, AC, kitchenette, free wireless Internet. Sandpoint.org/waterhouse

208-255-4500 / Fax 208-255-4502

La Quinta Inn

x

x

x

x

x

208-263-9581 or 800-282-0660

Lodge at Sandpoint 208-263-2211

Pend Oreille Shores Resort

x

208-264-5828

Sandpoint Quality Inn

x

x

208-263-2111 or 866-519-7683

Sandpoint Vacation Rentals 208-263-7570 or 866-263-7570

Selkirk Lodge

x

x

208-265-0257 or 800-831-8810

Sweet Magnolia Bed & Breakfast

5

208-265-2425

Talus Rock

6

208-255-8458

Vacationville

60

x

2

x

x

9

x

x

x

Private cabins sleep 2-8. Lodge rooms with private baths, rec room, horseback riding and meals available. See ad, page 93.

WesternPleasureRanch.com

50

x

x

x

New accommodations, stay and play packages. Spectacular mountain and lake views. Outdoor hot tubs, access to heated pool. See ad, page 115.

Schweitzer.com

208-255-7074 or 877-255-7074

Waterhouse B&B 208-263-0828

Western Pleasure Guest Ranch 208-263-9066

White Pine Lodge 208-265-0257 or 800-831-8810

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Downtown Sandpoint on the lake. Indoor pool, sauna, fitness room, hot tub.

All rooms with lake view. Dine at Trinity at City Beach. Also 22-site RV park.

SandpointHotels.com

x

x

x

WINTER 2012

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EATS & DRINKS Cheesy comfort foods a winter delight

By Carrie Scozzaro Photos by Matt Mills McKnight

I

f you could catch time in a bottle, it might look like cheese.

For longer than recorded history, humans have been perfecting the art of cheesemaking, aging and preserving milk from goats, cows, sheep and even buffalo. Infinite variations now exist, ranging in texture from creamy soft to firm, from pale gold to orange, even blue! A sampling of Sandpoint restaurants found cheese in abundance, served in, on, and around a plethora of dishes, especially those comfort foods we seem to crave during colder months.

Some research shows that salty Feta cheese may have been one of the first cheeses produced by early humans.

At Ivano’s Ristorante (102 S. First Ave.), Jessica Lippi recommends the Formaggio Milanese for a Tuscan twist on Feta, served here grilled with seasoned bread crumbs and crostini bread.

At Spuds Rotisserie & Grill (102 N. First Ave.), Chef Peter Mico serves variations on the classic grilled cheese, using sourdough, 12-grain sprouted wheat, even kalamata olive bread. For cheese, he experiments with smoked Gouda, Fontina, even Manchego. Add a bowl of homemade soup and you have a hearty meal.

Mozzarella makes an appearance at several area restaurants, including Pend d’Oreille Winery (220 Cedar St.) where it’s house-made every three days and served very simply with olive oil, black pepper and fresh oregano. Perfect with a glass of 2011 Rosé. Get your fill at Second Avenue Pizza (215 S. Second Ave.), where mozzarella is joined by tangy Asiago and Feta as options on your create-your-own pizza.

Ricotta is an unexpected addition to the Long Island White Pie at Babs’ Pizzeria (1319 Highway 2), voted 2010 best pizza in Bonner County for their – appropriately – New York style

Feta stars in the Formaggio Milanese at Ivano’s Ristorante, where it’s served grilled with crostini

pizza, even though ricotta is not actually cheese; it’s the whey by-product of cheesemaking. Remember that when you go to Tuesday Trivia Night at MickDuff’s Brewing Company (312 N. First Ave.), a place known for its decadent Gorgonzola-smothered, handcut fries.

Gorgonzola is just one of the sauce options at Pend Oreille Pasta & Wine (476534 Highway 95, Ponderay), which offers the kind of comfort food you can also enjoy in the comfort of your own home. How about dinner for two including salad and bread for

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WINTER 2012

under $10?! If you would rather dine with a view of City Beach, try Trinity at City Beach (56 Bridge), where the Gorgonzola and shrimp linguine melts in your mouth.

Most cheeses only require a little thermal encouragement to melt down into gooey goodness. Di Luna’s Café (207 Cedar St.) features the Cadillac Mac ’n’ Cheese – sharp white cheddar, medium cheddar, Romano and ricotta cheeses, topped with buttered bread Continued on page 102 SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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Serving Sandpoint & Drinks

Chef Q&A with Eddie Sneva and Katie Jimenez

Eats

Dover Bay Café Chef Eddie Sneva, 26, and Pend d’Oreille Winery Chef Katie Jimenez, 25, have plenty in common. They both worked at Coeur d’Alene’s Brix Restaurant and are fans of “Kitchen Confidential” author and “No Reservations” host Anthony Bourdain. And they competed against each other in the Sandpoint Summer Sampler’s 2011 Celebrity Chef Cookoff when Jimenez defeated the two-time defending champ. Here is our (in print) rematch of these two wellrespected contenders.

– C.S. PHOTOs BY Billie Jean Plaster

Background

Food trends you like or dislike?

Your dream ingredient?

And when you’re not working?

EDDIE SNEVA

KATIE JIMENEZ

A Lewis & Clark High School graduate, Sneva moved to Coeur d’Alene to work at Brix, then Cedars, then Crickets. His sous chef experience led him north to Sandpoint, where he worked at Café Trinity, which he helped transition to Trinity at City Beach. And he was part of the startup for Gary Peitz’s new restaurant, Dover Bay Café.

A pastry competition at a local fair sparked Jimenez’s teenage interest, which she fed with cookbooks from the local library. After working her way up from dishwasher to cake decorator to baker, Katie was off to Le Manoir Culinary Institute in Gouvieux, France. “After a threemonth, mind-blowing experience across the seas, I came back a naive 18-year-old with a culinary certification and was ready to take on about anything.”

Sneva, who always has on hand Sriracha chili, cilantro and lime juice, likes Asian-Mexican fusion. Dislike?

Foam!

“Eat and buy local!” said Jimenez, which she knows may cost more. “But I know the farm my food comes from, and it helps the community. It’s a win-win!”

Real Japanese Kobe beef, said Sneva, who admits his favorite food is pizza.

A whole pig, said Jimenez, who is just looking for an excuse to dig a hole in the ground and try it.

Hanging out with friends.

Being mom to young son, Joree Miguel.

Chef Recipe House Pizza Dough

Bloom yeast in ¾ cup warm water for 3 to 5 minutes. Add in wine, oil, honey and dissolved

Makes 4 crusts

salt solution. In large bowl combine yeast mixture and flour till incorporated. Continue kneading

475 grams (about 17 oz.) flour

in bowl till all dough comes off the edges. Knead dough till smooth. Spray inside of a medium

¼ oz. yeast

bowl and top of dough ball with nonstick spray. Proof in a warm place (top of a warm oven

¾ cup warm water

works well) approximately 40 minutes or when doubled in size. Punch and repeat. After second

⅓ cup white wine

proof, portion dough into four like-size balls and roll out on flour surface. Par bake at 450

⅛ cup olive oil

degrees for 4 minutes. Finish with desired toppings and bake till cheese is golden on the edges.

1 TBS. honey

Enjoy!

– Katie Jimenez, Pend d’Oreille Winery

1 tsp. salt dissolved in ⅛ cup warm water 100

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waterfront dining•fresh seafood • steaks • salads

Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner View Atmosphere Experience…

5 8 B R I D G E S T R E E T A T C I T Y B E A C H S A ND P O I NT I D A HO | 2 0 8 .2 5 5 . 7 5 5 8 W W W . T R I NI T Y A T C I T Y B E A C H. C O M 091-116_SMW12[WinterG-Eats].indd 101

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& Drinks Eats

Sweet tooth be satisfied

O

f all the food senses – savory, salty, sour, bitter and sweet – the latter seems most tied to our sense of guilty pleasures. As the saying goes: spinach before ice cream. Yet being an adult means you don’t have to ask permission for dessert first or to make it your main course. Sandpoint’s restaurateurs are happy to indulge your sweet tooth.

If you’re feeling really decadent, try the unexpected pairing of chocolate and beer at Eichardt’s (212 Cedar St.) in the hearty Guinness Chocolate Tort or at MickDuff’s (312 N. First Ave.),

MickDuff’s pairs beer with chocolate in its Knot Tree Porter brownie and tops it with ice cream.

PHOTO BY Matt Mills MckNight

which uses its own Knot Tree Porter in a huge brownie topped with three scoops of ice cream. At Di Luna’s (207 Cedar St.), Karen Forsythe recommends the doubly chocolate Black Magic Chocolate Cake, made with espresso.

Walking around town? Satisfy your cravings and get a little pick-me-up with specialty espresso drinks like Black Forest Mocha at Cedar St. Bridge Café (334 N. First Ave.). Out for a drive? Cruise through Bongo Brew Hut/Earth Rhythms (830 Kootenai Cut-Off Rd., Ponderay) and pick up gluten-free baked goods.

While you’re out that way, check out Miller’s Country Store (1326 Baldy Mountain Rd.) where Nanette Miller makes scrumptious fruit pies with melt-in-your-mouth flaky pie crusts every Thursday from scratch. Tuesdays and Fridays mean fresh cinnamon rolls, while English-style scones are served daily.

Slates Prime Time Grill & Sports Bar (477272 Highway 95, Ponderay) is a fun sports bar with equally fun desserts. Try the homemade Mud Pie: Oreo cookies, Kona and French vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate fudge, whipped cream and candied almonds.

Plenty to share!

– C.S.

Cheese continued from page 99 crumbs and more cheese. Brody’s Pizzaria (468810 Highway 95) melts cheese into a light Alfredo sauce for dine-in or carryout pasta. Nearby at Stacey’s Country Kitchen (469000 Highway 95), adults can indulge in a hot ham and Swiss while the “little folks” get cheese first in a kid-portioned, country mac ’n’ cheese with bite-size ham.

Cheese is also one of the stars of Philly cheesesteaks, which you won’t have to drive across country to get. Joe’s Authentic Philly Cheesesteaks (102 Church St.) gives you the option of provolone, white American, Swiss, pepper jack or Cheez Whiz (yep, that’s authentic Philly-style).

And it wouldn’t be cheese nachos without melted cheddar and Jack cheeses, piled high on stone-ground corn tortillas with shredded chicken, tomatoes and ranchero sauce. That’s just to get you started at Jalapeno’s (314 N. Second Ave.). Shredded, melted cheese also pulls together everything from deep-fried chimichangas to slightly crunchy fish burritos.

Nachos go Greek at new restaurant Little Olive (124 S. Second Ave.), which finds a use for Feta on everything from salads to gyros to lamb burgers, even nachos featuring a salsa-like dip of cucumbers and tomatoes called gazpacho. And as they note on the menu next to their Saganaki – battered Feta served flaming at your table – opa!

Or as we like to say, Hooray for cheese!

Crepes, Fresh made Gelato

www. CedarStBridgeCafe . com

On the Bridge Downtown Sandpoint

Tasty Panini Sandwiches, Soups & Salads, Savory & Dessert

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Delectable Pastries & Cakes,

A Unique Setting, Organic Coffee & Espresso Drinks,

Best Burgers In Town

WINTER 2012

10/10/11 3:21 PM

& Drinks

H

ow wired are you? We’re not talking caffeine, but rather about being plugged into the technology superhighway of Sandpoint dining. Live music tonight? Look online.

Reservations? E-mail them. Loved your meal (or not)? Post it now. Menus, special events, locations, hours of operation, even reviews by other customers – just a click away on your computer or mobile device.

Start with www.SandpointOnline.com, where a restaurant and nightclub directory provides a searchable database of places by several categories. Website links jump to places like Spuds Rotisserie and Grill, which daily posts its homemade soups, so you can plan accordingly or even place a takeout order.

Forty-One South allows reservations on its website and also sends monthly newsletters via e-mail, notifying customers of such specials as weekend wild game nights.

In addition to its website, Laughing Dog posts regularly on Facebook, which brewmeister Fred Colby said is a good fit for his customers and allows his staff to quickly update events, promote special beers, etc.

Justin Dick of Trinity at City Beach gives five reasons why he uses social networking to promote local events, partnerships with local nonprofits and other businesses, and interesting food stories: It’s easy to use, everyone uses it, feedback is instantaneous, it creates a personality for your brand and it’s free!

“I am a firm believer that broad-based business partnerships are essential to success in Sandpoint and [Facebook and] Twitter allows for that networking,” he said.

The (rapidly growing) list of Sandpoint locations that also regularly use Facebook includes Connie’s Café, Di Luna’s, Earth Rhythms/Bongo Brew Hut, Joe’s Philly Cheesesteak, Little Olive, MickDuff’s, Miller’s Country Store, Pend d’Oreille Winery, Pita Pit and Second Avenue Pizza.

In the realm of social media, some of the giant directory and rating websites have a good – though not complete, and sometimes outdated – representation of Sandpoint restaurants. Search “Sandpoint Idaho restaurants” at www.Yelp.com, and you’ll come up with 61 local restaurants with ratings.

If you search by “most reviewed,” you’ll see

Sandpoint’s dining scene is wired, starting with the directory at SandpointOnline.com

MickDuff’s with 26 and Eichardt’s with 20 reviews, and solid 4-star ratings.

Another prominent rating site is www.

TripAdvisor.com, which has ratings for 20 local restaurants. Google Places has a mapbased search; this summer Places stopped scraping third-party reviews from other sites and now has its own review tools with 80-plus reviewed restaurants.

Some people use rating sites as reprisal for some silly, perceived offenses – “the decor really needs an upgrade” grumbled one rater

as he penalized a local establishment with a single star. Users can help bring balance to the cyber world by rewarding those restaurants that have food and service they appreciate.

Finally, beer drinkers can download a brand-new, fun mobile app from www. untappd.com, and then check in with their smart phone to let friends know just what and where they’re enjoying a frothy one. Local pubs and brewers are already listed. Want some pretzels with that?

– Carrie Scozzaro and Chris Bessler

Bulk FooDS-Deli-BakeD GooDS Breads Scones Pastries Cookies Pies Cinnamon Rolls Coffee Teas Canned Goods Spices Beans Rice Pasta Flour Nuts Dried Fruit Christian Books Housewares

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Eats

Wired for noshing and nightclubbing

Hours: M-F 8:30-5:30 Sat. 8:30-2:00

Join us on

208-263-9446

1326 Baldy Mt. Rd., Sandpoint, iD 83864

MillersCountryStoreSandpoint.com

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News and events foodies need to know

A

big Sandpoint welcome to The Little Olive Restaurant (124 S. Second Ave.) that moved into Blue Moon Café’s location when it moved to Cedar Street Bridge. Run by husband-wife team of John and Tullaya Akins, Little Olive features Mediterranean food lunch through dinner, a huge beer menu, even takeout.

Laughing Dog Brewing (1109 Fontaine Dr., Ponderay) brewmeister Fred Colby reports that Laughing Dog is sold in 32 states now, and is the first Idaho beer to (legally) transport to Canada. They installed five new 30-barrel fermenters (that’s 1,000 gallons) in the fall, with four more 60-barrel fermenters on order. Wow! If wine is more your thing, pop upstairs to Coldwater Creek Wine Bar (311 N. First Ave.), a favorite local

It’s always fIner at the 219er!

Full service bar serving Sandpoint and North Idaho for over 75 years

ever-changing array of appetizers for $5, including antipasto and assorted cheeses.

Or try Coldwater’s blend, coffee customroasted by local Evans Brothers, perfect with fresh-baked pastries.

Just down First Avenue, Pita Pit (116 N. First Ave.) owners Jeff and Tasha Walker won’t have far to travel to check on their newest business venture.

They’ve taken over The Loading Dock (202 1/2 N. First Ave.).

So, that amazing woodfired pizza you thought went away when the place (formerly) closed in winter – it’s now pizza-time year-round!

They’re even offering local delivery.

If you were thinking Tullaya and John Akins, new restaurateurs at Little Olive, specialize about ordering out Thai in Mediterranean fare. Photo by Matt Mills McKnight food, remember that Bangkok Cuisine (202 N. Second Ave.) does all hangout featuring live music Friday your favorites, like tangy Pad Thai with and Saturday nights. Happy hour 5-7 crunchy bean sprouts and crushed peap.m. Monday through Thursday means nuts. Special party? Call (265-4149) to select wines-by-the-glass and an

Slates is the Place SlatesPrimeTime.com Slates

A Five Star Dive Bar

• Serving the best hometown meals • Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner 7 days a week

Hwy 95

& Drinks Eats

The Local Dish

Kootenai Cutoff

• Prime Rib Special Friday & Saturday • Happy Hour 4-7 pm daily

208-263-1381

477272 Hwy 95 N • Ponderay, ID

219 First Avenue Sandpoint | 208.263.9934 104

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Eats

& Drinks

find out about catering options.

As if their 5 for $5 lunch specials weren’t enough, Connie’s Café (323 Cedar St.), added weekly dinner specials like Whiskey Rib Eye with choice of homemade soup or all-you-can-eat fish fry. Every Saturday is prime rib, blackened or oven-roasted, perfect with a glass of Five Rivers merlot.

Specials abound at Forty-One South (41 Lakeshore Dr., Sagle), too, which changed over to a winter menu.

Beef tenderloin stroganoff is back, joined by seafood cioppino, a vegetarian Napoleon, and a cowboy steak bone-in rib eye, dry-rub marinated overnight and grilled to perfection.

Head to the other side of the lake and go to Dover Bay to rediscover Dover Bay Café, under new ownership and headed by veteran chef Eddie Sneva (see Chef Q&A, page 100).

Beautiful views year-round complement

great happy hour specials, a full bar and mouth-watering menu. How about St. Louis-style pork ribs slow-cooked in Dos Equis and lime or some crispy calamari? Try the killer Bloody Mary made with house-infused pepper and herb vodka garnished with asparagus spears, greens beans and a skewered jumbo prawn. D-lish!

– C.S.

The amazing wood-fired pizza from The Loading Dock is now available year-round, thanks to new owners who plan to keep it open throughout the year. Photo by Matt Mills McKnight

Fine Italian dining serving Sandpoint for over 27 years

Cyber restaurant guide What’s cooking around town? Find the right food to hit the spot online in

SandpointOnline.com’s database-driven restaurant and nightclubs guide at www.SandpointDiningGuide.com.

There you’ll find every local establishment – more than 100 restaurants, nightclubs and taverns. The guide is searchable by a tasty menu of criteria: type of cuisine, typical cost and amenities such as live music, kids menu, meeting room, waterfront dining, etc. Give it a click.

Now join us at Beyond Hope during Summer Dinner served 7 nights a week Corner of First and Pine

208-263-0211

www.IvanosSandpoint.com our new ub Look for sa Cl

LaRo

N

TUSCIA TIVO

APERAR B

Opening Soon 105 S. First Ave.

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1 Monarch Mountain Coffee 2 Cedar St. Bridge Café 3 Connie’s Café 4 Earth Rhythms/Bongo

To Bonners Ferry Canada

y

Brew Hut 5 Joe’s Philly Cheesesteaks 6 Miller’s Country Store & Deli 7 Mojo Coyote 8 Stacey’s Country Kitchen 9 Bangkok Cuisine 0 Chimney Rock Grill - Di Luna’s Café = Forty-One South q Spuds Rotisserie & Grill w Trinity at City Beach e A & P’s Bar & Grill r Eichardt’s Pub & Grill t MickDuff’s Brewing Co. y Slates Prime Time Grill & Sports Bar u Babs’ Pizzeria i Brody’s Pizzaria o Ivano’s Ristoranté & Caffè p Jalapeño’s Restaurant [ The Little Olive ] The Loading Dock \ Pend Oreille Pasta a Pita Pit s Second Avenue Pizza d Tango Cafe f Coldwater Creek Wine Bar g Laughing Dog Brewing h Pend d’Oreille Winery j 219 Lounge

70

g

Map not to scale!

SA

ND

Larch

CR

EE

LAKE PEND OREILLE

K

Fir

Poplar

Bonner General Hospital

Alder

Main

hr

Cedar St.

w City Beach

o

[ S. Second Ave.

S. Fourth Ave.

Division

u

Bridge St.

a q

Pine St.

To Dover Priest River

First Ave.

1 Visitor Center

Boyer

d

Third Ave. PARKING

Oak

Fourth Ave.

3

Cedar Street

2 Bridge p f tPanida Theater j e 95 ] Second Ave.

Cedar

Lake St.

091-116_SMW12[WinterG-Eats].indd 106

Elks Golf Course

Bonner Mall

\

Baldy Mountain Rd.

Pine

SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

Kootenai Cut-off Rd

6

Church

106

To Hope Clark Fork

4

Schweitzer Cut-off Rd

To Schweitzer

Fifth Ave.

Eats

& Drinks

Downtown Sandpoint Dining Map

s

Marina

=i To Sagle 8 Coeur d’Alene

WINTER 2012

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Bangkok Cuisine

9

Brody’s Pizzaria i

Cedar St. Bridge Café 2

DINING GUIDE

and breads – or bake your own pies at home with Miller’s pie fillings. Miller’s is sure to be a favorite new store in town! 263-9446.

Restaurant index by type of cuisine Locate alphabetically in listings

Bakeries, coffee & desserts

1 Monarch Mountain Coffee

208 N. Fourth Ave. Sandpoint’s original coffeehouse and roastery was established in 1993. Open at 7 a.m. daily. The casual and friendly atmosphere is the perfect place to meet with friends, enjoy the local flavor of Sandpoint, surf the web with free Wi-Fi, or kick back in the outdoor sidewalk cafe. Featuring premium espresso drinks, a drip coffee bar, and a wide variety of teas, as well as handcrafted milkshakes and real fruit smoothies with all-natural ingredients. Now offering breakfast. Monarch’s high-quality Arabica beans are roasted in-house. Join us on Friday evenings for open mic night with beer, wine and appetizers. MonarchMountainCoffee.net. 265-9382.

cafés, delis & fast food

2 Cedar St. Bridge Café

On the Cedar Street Bridge. Family and friends love to gather at this European-style café, located in the heart of downtown Sandpoint inside the renowned Cedar Street Bridge.

Experience exceptional coffee and tea drinks, premium crafted gelato, delectable cakes and pastries, fine chocolates, and tasty panini sandwiches all in a unique and warm setting. Enjoy the view of Sand Creek while you use the free Wi-Fi. 265-4396.

3 Connie’s Café

323 Cedar St. Historic hospitality! Connie’s Café, the landmark Sandpoint restaurant, reopened its doors after a comprehensive remodel. New owners Dave and Penny Libbey are proud to lovingly

= number on Dining Map (p 106)

restore this northern Idaho icon to its former glory. Their approach is to maintain Connie’s legacy of a 1950s coffee shop with breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings that are of the highest quality while highlighting the quirky nature of this long-standing eatery. 255-2227.

4 Earth Rhythms/Bongo Brew Hut

800 Kootenai Cutoff Rd., Ponderay. Serving breakfast and lunch, using only fresh, organic ingredients to create wonderful meals that are healthy, quick and convenient. Order food to go at the Bongo Brew espresso drive-through in the front or come in to the beautiful café and enjoy a meal surrounded by a market of local products, gluten-free goods and unique organic groceries.

Don't forget to grab a take-home dinner on your way out. 255-4863.

5 Joe’s Philly Cheesesteaks

102 Church St. Joe’s proudly serves authentic Philly cheesesteaks. Each cheesesteak is made from a generous portion of grilled steak and your choice of onions, peppers and mushrooms and your choice of cheese from Whiz to pepper jack, all served on an Amoroso roll brought in from Philadelphia. In addition, Joe’s expanded its menu to include hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, BLTs, vegetarian options, grilled-cheese sandwiches, smoothies and milkshakes. Open Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call ahead and it will be ready for you to take while you play outdoors or sit in front of a cozy fire. A complete menu is available at www.JoesPhillyCheesesteaks.com.

263-1444.

6 Miller’s Country Store & Deli

1326 Baldy Mountain Rd. Wholesome goodness is what the newly opened Miller’s Country Store and Deli is all about. Check out their selection of fine deli meats and cheeses, extensive selection of bulk food items, and delicious fresh-baked pies

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Dining Guide

e

Babs’ Pizzeria u

A & P’s Bar & Grill e

7 Mojo Coyote at Schweitzer

10000 Schweitzer Mountain Rd. Located inside the Selkirk Lodge. Enjoy a fresh Tully’s espresso and treat your sweet tooth to a warm scone. The menu features fresh-baked pastries, breakfast burritos and lunch specials as well as beer and wine. www.Schweitzer.com. 263-9555.

8 Stacey’s Country Kitchen

469000 Highway 95, Sagle. Serving delicious home-style cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner - at affordable prices. Stacey’s Country Kitchen breads their own chicken strips and cooks homemade soups, chicken-fried steak, seafood, hashbrowns and more. Call ahead for on-the-go hot meals ready when you arrive, to eat in or take out. Enjoy a cold beer or glass of wine. On weekends, Stacey’s offers prime rib and seafood specials. Also serving ice cream and milkshakes, plus kids’ menu. Open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. 265-5095.

Eclectic or fine dining

9 Bangkok Cuisine

202 N. Second Ave. Enjoy authentic Thai food in a welcoming atmosphere. All of Bangkok’s dishes, including a wide variety of vegetarian, are cooked to order using the freshest ingredients with no added MSG. Bangkok offers a fine selection of wine and beer as well as Thai tea and coffee. All desserts are made on-site. Takeout also available.

Enjoy your meal on our sidewalk dining area.

Open for lunch Monday-Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Sundays. 265-4149.

0 Chimney Rock Grill

10000 Schweitzer Mountain Rd. Enjoy the warm fireplaces, comfortable lounge-style seating in the bar, and a diverse selection of cuisine – from high-quality steaks and hearty pasta dishes to SANDPOINT MAGAZINE

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Dining Guide

Coldwater Creek Wine Bar

f

Connie’s Café

3

Di Luna’s Café

-

Earth Rhythms/Bongo Brew

scrumptious salads and exquisite seafood. Located inside the Selkirk Lodge at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. Schweitzer.com. 263-9555.

- Di Luna’s Café

A Sl i ce o f N e w Yo Rk

Now opeN SUNdayS 12:30 To 8:30

208.265.7992

Sunday & Monday Football pluS $2 beer

corner oF HWy 2 & diviSion

Sandpoint’s Best Thai Food • Peanut sauces • Curry • Stir frys and soups • Wine and beer • Vegetarian choices • Now Catering

207 Cedar St. Di Luna’s is an American bistro café offering hand-cut steaks, homemade soups and vegetarian cuisine. Open for breakfast and lunch, Wednesday through Sunday, serving breakfast all day. Open until 9 p.m. on Saturday with live music. Specializing in theme catering menus, Di Luna’s catering staff works with customers to take the hassle out of special events so they can enjoy the experience along with guests. At Di Luna’s they love good music, so they host dinner concerts and bring in the best acoustic musicians from around the country. DiLunas.com. 263-0846.

= Forty-One South

41 Lakeshore Dr., Sagle. Waterfront fine dining located at the south end of the Long Bridge in Sandpoint. A popular spot for locals, tourists and business travelers. An elegant lodge setting and exquisite service paired with innovative, classical cuisine make for one of North Idaho’s premier dining experiences. Forty-One South has a beautiful outdoor patio overlooking the pristine waters of Pend Oreille, cozy wood-burning fireplaces and a full bar and extensive wine list. Open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Private dining room and off-site catering available. Reservations recommended. 265-2000.

q Spuds Rotisserie & Grill

Eat in or take out

208-265-4149 • 202 N. 2nd Ave.

102 N. First Ave. Since 1995. Located on the beautiful Sand Creek waterfront, Spuds offers the freshest of lunch entrees including house-made soups, salads and designer sandwiches. Spuds

4

Eichardt’s Pub & Grill

r

Forty-One South

=

also offers a stuffed potato menu featuring a wide variety of fresh and innovative toppings.

Winter hours of operation are 11 a.m. till 4 p.m. daily. Spuds will be closed for dinner during the winter months, with dinner resuming in the spring. www.SpudsOnline.com. 265-4311.

w Trinity at City Beach

58 Bridge St. Enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille. Waterfront dining with an outstanding menu features seafood, steaks, salads and appetizers. Full bar serves an extensive selection of wines, beers and cocktails featuring a daily happy hour. Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Located at the Best Western Edgewater Resort adjacent to Sandpoint City Beach. www.trinityatcitybeach.com Visit Trinity on Facebook and Twitter. 255-7558.

Pub-style

e A & P’s Bar & Grill

222 N. First Ave. A traditional tavern located downtown on Sand Creek, serving “the best burgers in town” and pub fare. Taco Tuesday every week. Pool and dart leagues run every week throughout the year. Enjoy the friendly atmosphere, food and drink. Located on First Avenue in downtown Sandpoint. 263-2313.

r Eichardt’s Pub & Grill

212 Cedar St. A comfortable pub and grill, Eichardt’s is located downtown in a charming, historic building. This relaxing pub mixes casual dining with seriously good food. There’s something for everyone – more than a dozen beers on tap, good wines including oak cask

35

Wines by the glass &

the best ambiance in town

Happy hour Monday – Thursday, 5-7 Live music every Friday and Saturday Gourmet appetizers every day

WINE BAR

Eat In or Take Out

Pizza, Pasta, Sandwiches, Salads

468810 Hwy. 95 • 265-2448 108

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Mon-Thurs 11-9 Fri & Sat 11-11 Sun 11-5 208-263-6971 Upstairs at 311 N. First Avenue, Sandpoint

WINTER 2012

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o

Jalapeño’s

p

Joe’s Philly Cheesesteaks

local red wines, and regional touring live music. Upstairs you’ll find a game room with a pool table, darts and shuffleboard. Eichardt’s has been nationally recognized and locally supported since 1994. Open daily at 11:30 a.m. for smokeless dining. 263-4005.

t MickDuff’s Brewing Co.

312 N. First Ave. Enjoy MickDuff’s fine handcrafted ales in a family dining atmosphere, offering a variety of top-of-the-line beers ranging from fruity blondes to a seasonal porter.

MickDuff’s also brews a unique-style root beer for those young in age or at heart. The menu is packed full of flavor with traditional and updated pub fare. You will find toasted sandwiches, hearty soups, gourmet hamburgers and much more at this cozy brewpub located in downtown Sandpoint. www.MickDuffs.com. 255-4351.

y Slates Prime Time Grill & Sports Bar

The Little Olive

]

[

The Loading Dock

signature appetizer, Raspberry Chipotle Wings, or sample the Stromboli, a pizza pocket of sorts.

Also offering gluten-free pizza, pasta, desserts, and take-and-bake pizza. Open Monday through Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

Come for Sunday and Monday football and $2 beers. Some outdoor seating available. 265-7992.

MickDuff’s Brewing Co.

t

= number on Dining Map (p 106)

i Brody’s Pizzaria

468810 Highway 95, Sagle. Brody’s brings great pizza, salads, pasta, calzones and hot wings to the Sagle area, featuring eat-in, takeout and take-n-bake pizza made with fresh, quality ingredients. In addition, Brody’s offers a rotating selection of delicious salads and savory pasta dinners.

Conveniently located on Highway 95 adjacent to the Travel America Conoco, Brody’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 265-2448.

o Ivano’s Ristorante & Caffè

102 S. First Ave. Serving the community for more than 27 years, Ivano’s Italian dining accompanied by classic wines and gracious atmosphere add to the enjoyment of one of Sandpoint’s favorite restaurants. Pasta, fresh seafood and steaks, veal, chicken and vegetarian entrees round out the fare. Gluten-free menu. Dinner served seven nights a week starting at 4:30 p.m. Off-site catering is available for weddings, family get-togethers and large gatherings. www.IvanosSandpoint.com.

263-0211.

477272 Highway 95, Ponderay. Located in front of the Holiday Inn Express serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week with mouth-watering prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights. Some of the best burgers, steaks, salads and pasta in the area. Watch your favorite team on one of 20 HD TVs, full bar and happy hour every day from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. www.SlatesPrimeTime.com. 263-1381.

Regional/ethnic

u Babs’ Pizzeria

5

Dining Guide

Ivano’s

p Jalapeño’s Restaurant

314 N. Second Ave. Authentic Mexican food in a fun and friendly environment serving traditional and unusual south-of-the-border specialties, plus even a few gringo dishes! This popular dining establishment also boasts a full cantina bar with

1319 Hwy 2. In a great location at WestPointe Plaza, Babs’ Pizzeria bakes New York-style pizza in an open kitchen with dough hand-made fresh daily and four sauces to choose from. Try Babs’

hoagies, hamburgers, fries & shakes

Authentic Philly Cheesesteaks Known for Great Food at Great Prices

JoesPhillyCheesesteaks.com 102 Church St. Sandpoint. 263-1444

Great Mexican Food Awesome Atmosphere 314 N. Second Avenue Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 Phone: 208-263-2995

Di Lu n a ’s CAFE

~ Eichardt’s Serves up the Best of Northwest Microbrews, Food and Local Live Music ~

American Bistro Dining & Catering For delivery call

16 Micros on Tap • Oak Cask Red Wines Upstairs Game Room Open Daily From 11:30 am

208-255-4863

830 Kootenai Cut-off Rd. Mon-Sat 8 – 4

208.263.0846

www.DiLunas.com 207 Cedar Street

right behind

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Full Lunch and Dinner Menu

Conscience Foods Café

212 Cedar St. • Sandpoint • 263-4005

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Miller’s Country Store & Deli

6

1

Monarch Mountain Coffee

Pend Oreille Pasta

\

Pita Pit

a

traditional frosty margaritas that complement any dish. The banquet room seats up to 35 of your closest friends. And when the weather’s warm, Jalapeño’s invites guests to dine on the outside deck. Conveniently located in the historic Elks building in the heart of downtown Sandpoint.

263-2995.

[ The Little Olive Mediterranean Restaurant

(208) 597-7499 www.littleolivefood.com 124 S. 2nd Ave, Sandpoint Follow us on Facebook

(Little Olive Food) for upcoming events and updates, as well as specials.

124 S. Second Ave. One of Sandpoint’s newest restaurants welcomes its guests to enjoy Mediterranean cuisine. Enjoy lunch and dinner in a quaint, comfortable setting. The menu is a mix of Greek-inspired dishes that are made with the freshest ingredients available.

Dressings and sauces are made in-house daily.

The beer and wine menu is one of the most extensive in the area, featuring more than 45 beers. Enjoy half off a bottle of wine every Monday night. Patio seating is also available. www.littleolivefood.com. 597-7499

] The Loading Dock

Wood Fired Pizza Gourmet Deli Convenience Store Free Delivery Bridge & First Ave in Downtown Sandpoint, 265.8080

200 N. First Ave. Now open all year. Come try the thin-crust, wood-fired pizza with fresh gourmet ingredients in this cozy spot at the corner of Bridge and First. The Loading Dock also features hot dogs, hot wings and a gourmet deli case filled with an assortment of salads, pasta and desserts. Their convenience store is filled with favorite beers, wine and soft drinks.

Come down to The Loading Dock and find seating for all seasons with a patio overlooking Sand Creek. Now offering free delivery.

265-8080

\ Pend Oreille Pasta and Wine

International Wine Selection Artisan Cheeses & Breads Fresh Pasta Dinners To Go Gourmet Deli

www.pendoreillepasta.com 476534 Hwy 95 Sandpoint • 208.263.1352

Complete carry-out fresh pasta dinners 110

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fresh baked breads • cheeses • olives

wine • beer • gift baskets • catering

sausages • ravioli • gourmet sandwiches

Second Avenue Pizza

s

Slates Prime Time Grill

y

476534 Highway 95 (one block south of Walmart). John and Valerie love to help their customers select from their outstanding selection of fine wines and artisan cheeses.

Market food items include international wines at competitive prices, ravioli and olives, bulk olive oil, and many gourmet grocery items.

Fresh homemade pastas and sauces made onsite may be purchased as part of a complete dinner package including salad and fresh, daily-baked artisan bread. Custom quality catering for large and small events. www.PendOreillePasta.com. 263-1352.

a Pita Pit

116 N. First Ave. “Fresh Thinking, Healthy Eating.” A place with great-tasting food that’s healthy, fresh and still served fast. Pita Pit uses lean, savory meats that are grilled to perfection, a large choice of crisp, fresh veggies and exotic toppings, including their own zesty signature sauces. Try the gyro, chicken souvlaki, a vegetarian falafel, or one of the breakfast pitas.

Now offering free delivery daily and serving local beer and wine. 263-8989.

s Second Avenue Pizza

215 S. Second Ave. Try the piled-high specialty pizzas at Second Avenue Pizza loaded with fresh ingredients on homemade dough, or one of the excellent calzones, specialty salads and sandwiches. Beer and wine also served. Rice crusts and soy cheese now available for specific dietary requirements. Take-and-bake pizzas also offered. For an out-of-this-world pizza experience, come to Second Avenue Pizza!

Open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 10

Free Delivery

Now Serving Beer & Wine!

116 N. First Ave • 208.263.8989 PitaPitUsa.com

WINTER 2012

10/10/11 3:22 PM

Spud

q

Stacey’s Country Kitchen

8

p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Free delivery available 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Complimentary Wi-Fi. www.SecondAvenuePizza.com. 263-9321.

d Tango Cafe

414 Church St. Located in the atrium of Panhandle State Bank. Tango has become a favorite among locals for breakfast and lunch creations, including signature omelettes and original lunch specials. Other highlights include fresh salads, scrumptious baked goods and a full barista bar featuring Evans Brothers Coffee. In addition, Tango has a dinner takeout menu for a skiers’ weekend or a family sit down. Tango also offers extensive catering for that special event. Wi-Fi connected and space for private meetings. Open Monday to Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. 263-9514.

Wine Bars & Lounges

f Coldwater Creek Wine Bar

311 N. First Ave. An upscale wine bar with over 35 wines by the glass, gourmet appetizers, lunch, scratch made desserts and soup, full coffee bar, local and regional micro brews and free wifi. A cozy atmosphere with a central fireplace and great views of downtown Sandpoint. Live music every Friday and Saturday night. Located right above the Coldwater Creek clothing store on first avenue. 263.6971

Tango Cafe

d

Trinity at City Beach

w

219 Lounge

Dining Guide

Spuds Rotisserie & Grill

j

g Laughing Dog Brewing

1109 Fontaine Dr., Ponderay. Take a tour and taste handcrafted ales at Laughing Dog Brewing, open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The brewery produces ales, IPAs, stouts and many more, including the hoppiest beer you’re going to find anywhere, Alpha Dog. Sample all the ales on tap and view the 15-barrel PUB brewing system. www.LaughingDogBrewing.com. 263-9222.

h Pend d’Oreille Winery

220 Cedar St. Sandpoint’s winery produces local, award-winning wines. The tasting room is open daily, plus a gift shop with items for home, garden and life. Quality and elegance in vinting is the trademark of Pend d’Oreille Winery – Idaho’s 2003 Winery of the Year. The winery hosts frequent special events, has live music on Fridays, and offers its new Bistro Rouge menu daily. www.POWine.com. 265-8545.

Space available for private parties www.monarchmountaincoffee.net 208.265.9382 • Open Daily 208 N. 4th Avenue • Sandpoint, ID

j 219 Lounge

219 N. First Ave. Full-service bar offering beer, wine and cocktails. A “locals” favorite proudly serving Sandpoint for over 75 years. Enjoy a cold glass of “219er beer” brewed by local, awardwinning brewery Laughing Dog. Open seven days a week, 365 days a year from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Pool table and flat screen TVs. Stop in for a coffee, a drink, a game of pool and a good time.

263-5673.

= number on Dining Map (p 106)

Rice crusts & soy cheese now available

“Out of this W orld” • Delivery • Sandwiches • Calzones • Specialty Salads • Homemade Dough • Beer/Wine • Take & Bakes

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

The Carolyn

6 am to 9 pm daily

in Sagle

(next to Starbucks)

215 S. 2nd Ave.

263-9321

SpudsOnline.com x 265-4311

(208)265.5095

102 N. First Ave, Downtown Sandpoint

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Advertiser Index Air Idaho Charters 13 Albertson Barlow Insurance Services 86 All Seasons Garden & Floral 37 Anderson, Dr. Steven DDS 87 Anderson’s Autobody 32 Archer Vacation Condos 58 ArtWorks Gallery 37 Bill Jones Distributing 93 Bonner County Daily Bee 54 Bonner County Fair 17 Bonner General Hospital 14 Bridge Assisted Living, The 44 Caribou Creek Log Homes 75 Carousel Emporium 50 Century 21/Riverstone 23 CO-OP Country Store, The 45 Coeur d’Alene Casino 40 Coldwell Banker 83 Coldwell Banker, Cocolalla Creek Ranch 76 Columbia Tractor 81 D.A. Davidson 24 Dan Fogarty Custom Builder 84 Dover Bay 38 DSS Custom Homes 30 DSS Home Preservation Services 86 Eve’s Leaves 12 Evergreen Realty 6 Evergreen Realty, Charesse Moore, Realtor 46 Family Health Center 87 Festival at Sandpoint 48 Flying Fish Company 26 Fritz’s Fry Pan 27 Hallans Gallery 37 HessTronics 89

Holiday Inn Express Horizon Credit Union Idaho Sash & Door Intermountain Community Investment Group International Selkirk Loop Jensen, Brian CPA Keokee Books Kinney Construction Koch, Dr. Paul E., Walmart Vision Center KPND Radio Land of Starry Night La Quinta Inn Laughing Dog Brewing Litehouse Foods Local Pages, The Maps & More MeadowBrook Home & Gift Meyer’s Sport Tees Mountain Spa & Stove North Idaho College North Idaho Orthopedics Northern Quest Resort & Casino Northwest Handmade Paint Bucket, The Panhandle State Bank Panhandle State Bank Loan Center Pend Oreille Shores Resort Pend d’Oreille Winery Petal Talk Pucci Construction Redman & Company Insurance Resort Property Management ReStore Habitat For Humanity

97 17 82 52 55 86 94 84 51 89 49 93 96 18 80 56 19 54 74 56 4 90 34 32 9 49 54 96 27 81 26 55 59

River Journal, The 58 Sandpoint Building Supply 78 Sandpoint Business & Events Center 20 Sandpoint Magazine Subscriptions 112 Sandpoint Movers.com (Handyman Services) 84 Sandpoint Online 113 Sandpoint Orthopedic and Sports Medicine 71 Sandpoint Property Management 42 Sandpoint Sports 16 Sandpoint Storage 88 Sandpoint Super Drug 51 Sandpoint Vacation Rentals 5 Sand Stallion, The 12 Scherrhaven Studio 37 Schweitzer Mountain Resort 115 Selle Valley Construction 75 STCU (Spokane Teachers Credit Union) 13 Stamp Counterfeiting 29 State Farm, Dale Reed 86 Summit Insurance 28 Sunshine Goldmine 16 SWAC 59 Taylor Insurance 48 Ted Bowers Construction 84 Timber Frames by Collin Beggs 84 Tomlinson Sandpoint Sotheby’s 2, 3, 116 Jay Watson Construction 84 Vacationville 56 Western Pleasure Guest Ranch 93 Wildflower Day Spa 51 Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market 51 Zany Zebra 29 Zero Point 15

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WINTER 2012

10/10/11 3:22 PM

Marketplace Ace Septic Tank Service

“Where a Flush Beats a Full House.” Portable toilet rental, construction/all occasion, permanent or temporary. Septic tank pumping, residential and commercial. 263-5219 Your Buick, GMC truck dealer. New and used sales and leasing. Full service, parts and body shop.

Highway 95 N., Ponderay, 263-2118, 1-800-430-5050. www.AlpineMotors.net The best skin care Sandpoint has to offer! Extensive menu of facial and body treatments.

Full-body waxing. Serene, relaxing environment. Geneé Jo Baker, certified esthetician. sugeeskincare@yahoo.com, 324 S. Florence Ave., 263-6205.

See what life is like with alpacas!

Shop for wonderful alpaca fiber hats, scarves, sweaters, rugs, throws and yarn. Open year-round, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 1635 Rapid Lightning Rd., 265-2788. www.

FromTheHeartRanch.com

A marketing communications firm providing Web design and hosting, search engine optimization and marketing, graphic design, public relations, editorial and media consultation.

405 Church St., 263-3573, 800-880-3573. www.keokee.com

North Idaho Insurance A full-service, independent insurance agency serving northern Idaho since 1978. Business or personal risks: property, liability, workers comp, bonding, home, auto, life and health. 102 Superior St., 263-2194. NorthIdahoIns.com Vacation rental management and home watch services for seasonal residents of Sandpoint, Schweitzer, Hope and Priest Lake. Excellent 24/7 customer service.

Fair and affordable prices. 290-6847, 877-667-8409. www.northridgevacationrentals.com Over 26 years of rental management experience.

Tenant screening, rent collection, accounting, maintenance and marketing.

Residential, commercial and mini storage.

Friendly, prompt service. 204 E. Superior, 263-4033. www.RLPropertyManagement.com

Scandinavian countries represented in this specialty shop. Kitchen items, table tops, candles, electric candleholders, books, cards, rugs, pewter Vikings, mugs, Danish iron candleholders and year-round Christmas.

319 N. First Ave., 263-7722.

Free pickup for quality furniture donations. Find treasures, weekdays 10 to 5, Saturdays 10 to 2. Proceeds benefit LPOHS students, senior citizens. Volunteers welcome! 101 N. Boyer, 263-3247.

Special gifts for special people. Vera Bradley bags, Big Sky Carvers, Baggallini, Tyler and BeanPod candles, souvenirs, balloon bouquets, Hallmark cards, books, gift wrap, stationery. 306 N. First Ave., 263-2811.

Offering the latest bestsellers, office supplies, machine supplies and free delivery in Sandpoint.

Order online. 201 Cedar St., 263-2417. www.Vanderfords.com

Go to www.shopsandpoint.com, for web links to trusted services, merchants, artists, craftspeople, farmers and green building. Fun reading about government, recycling and more! Complete local information source with no pop-up ads.

Get in the Marketplace! To advertise here, call or e-mail: 263-3573 ext. 123 or adsales@keokee.com

... there’s a lot goin’ on!

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www.sandpointonline.com

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10/10/11 3:22 PM

Sandpoint of View

He lived for the here and now Remembering Scott Daily and his life lesson

By Rick Bass

S

ix-hundred words are not enough, but if you’re going to write about Scott Daily, get used to understatement.

Six-hundred words isn’t enough, any more than 43 years was.

He belonged to us here in the Yaak before he belonged to Sandpoint.

Man, we hated to see him go. He came out here to be a writer. He had read some of my stuff. He knew there was a place called the Yaak that was full of magic. He and his then-girlfriend Sherrie left Harrisburg, Pa., in 1996, and came out here with the same mix of destiny and impetuosity that’s possessed by comets.

They arrived with the spring microburst of that year, the one that felled tens of thousands of trees and knocked out power for days. He had come to hear a reading in the valley and had gotten stranded a few hours shy, because of that incredible storm, but made it in the next day.

He fell in love with this wild blue valley, settled in, built rock walls, wrote a few little incredible essays, one of which appeared in this magazine (“Life Lesson: Live for the Here and Now,” Summer 2009), and then used his creative writing talents to write grants for a fledgling little grassroots group he and I and a few other folks helped form, dedicated to – no surprise here – the wild.

The clock is ticking. Three hundred and seventy-four words left.

He built a little cabin, planted a little garden, had a couple of daughters, fed them on peaches, took them to Jerry Fest. There was no need to blow up the TV; there had never been one in the first place. He learned the name of every flower, met every hermit up here, embraced the Yaak experience with an enthusiasm and brio that made even those who were sometimes disposed to

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think unkindly of hippies and progressives admire his zest and zeal, his lifeforce. He got people’s attention.

He helped us pack out elk and moose, he worked in a sawmill, he raised mushrooms (but of course), he cut firewood, he kayaked the Yaak River, he fished, he spent a fair bit of time at the Dirty Shame, he played pranks on people, he dogsledded, he skied to the tops of snowy mountains, even though he had never skied before, and never to the best of my knowledge worried about whether coming down would be difficult. In short, he possessed the best of ourselves: He lived life every day the way we want to but too many days do not.

You all remember the night he passed on, even if you don’t know it yet. It was the summer-ending thunderstorm, the 28th of August, a Sunday evening, the first day of the new moon.

I think you die the way you live, and he died fighting, on the tail end of that spectacular electrical storm, after asking for one more bacon cheeseburger from Eichardt’s. When told that there probably wasn’t going to be time to get one, he said “Darn,” and looked out the window for a moment at that wildly reddening sky. None of us can still believe it.

He was a shaman, a wizard, he pos-

Scott Daily, husband to Sherrie and father to Abby and Meghan (shown above), lived a brief but productive 15 years in the West, as a grant writer, community organizer, and permaculture landscape and design practitioner

sessed the sorcery held by all of us – the ability to love this physical world, and our imperfect selves, our imperfect one-anothers in it, in the here-and-now, and fully, without reservation, aflame with imagination, always imagination, always seeing things for the biggest and best they can be.

The Yaak taught him that. We gave him to you and you took really good care of him. We have unfinished business, in the Yaak and in Sandpoint, and will be working to help take care of his wife and daughters now. When he was dying we told him, promised him, we would have his back. The old ridge runner’s promise. Help us keep it.

Six-hundred words are not enough.

The late Scott Daily was a Sandpoint Magazine contributor who helped found the Yaak Valley Forest Council and KRFY 88.5.

To help the Daily family with the tremendous bills they incurred during Scott’s illness, make checks payable to Sandpoint Charitable Support Fund and mail to: Sandpoint Charitable Support Fund • 217 Cedar St., No. 335 • Sandpoint, ID 83864.

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Dedicated to:

the exceptional

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10/10/11 3:22 PM