Sandpoint, ID

Each year during the winter carnival Eichardt’s holds it’s annual K-9 Keg Pull. This was the first year I had gone, but I have always wanted to go, I just had never made it to the event. The Keg Pull starts at 10am, so my friends and I showed up about 10 minutes early. We [...]

got a phone call about two weeks before Halloween from my boyfriend asking me what I was doing Halloween weekend. I told him I had no plans which was good because he had just signed us up for the Captain’s Table annual Halloween fishing derby.

“Here We Go Bulldogs, Here We Go”, is a familiar chant you will hear around Memorial Field any given Friday night during highschool football season. It was Friday night and homecoming so my friends and I headed down to the field to catch the game.

From the chair behind my booth, I had a good view of two kids storming Schweitzer’s climbing tower, a batch of future acrobats taking advantage of the Funtastics tumbling station, and a group of ersatz drunks exhorting each other through the “beer-goggles” course. Sandpoint’s first annual Community Health and Wellness Fair was in full swing, and the turnout looked pretty good.

The Bonner County Fair is mid to late August. Like a true country fair, this fair has a few “rides” but mostly focuses on the animals and produce (think a farm’s flora and fauna). It is free admission and open to the public. There is plenty of parking. We didn’t partake of any fair food or utilize the restrooms, but I know we did see a couple food booths. We also picked up a fair book to see what activities where going on, and viewed the “what’s happening” board posted outside (the west side) of the craft and hobby building.

Each August the Bonner County Fair starts out with the annual rodeo. The rodeo is always the Friday and Saturday before the fair starts. I rounded up a few of my friends and went on Saturday night. We showed up about 30 minutes early and found that the grandstands were not full.

So you’ve grown a monster zucchini and you just can’t wait to show it off? Or maybe you’ve spent that last two years hand-stitching a beautiful quilt. Perhaps you’re sure your sow is the shapeliest porcine example in town. You’re certain your rabbit is the most adorable in Idaho? The Bonner County Fair is where you can see how your projects measure up to those of fellow citizens.

The Festival at Sandpoint is an annual event of summer music fun. Each year the line up is released in mid to late May and the mad dash for tickets begins. For eight days in August there is a different act to suit every taste. There is usually a country night, rock night, a family night, which is a great way to get the kids to the festival and each year ends with the Spokane symphony

The show begin with the usual novelty attractions. There was a boy who was incredibly flexible and put himself in a box. There were the hula hoop girls who swiveled and swayed and hula-hooped like there was no tomorrow. There were the circus ponies and the circus dogs, all doing cute little tricks. Then the show increased it’s pace with bigger attractions, like the quartet on the centrifuge wheel, and the tightrope walkers. And our daughter’s favorite: the motorcyle riding on a high wire.

People were talking about the storm, using phrases like “gully washer” and “frog choker.” A few individuals were propping up canopies and wiping rainwater from valuable artwork as a tentative crowd started milling through the fair. Several vendors, having attended to their own booths, were helping others tidy up.
Such is the life of an artist.