The Story of Sandpoint, North Idaho
Sandpoint, North Idaho, Schweitzer Ski Resort, and Lake Pend Oreille gets a lot of attention, with a new article about to come out in Country Living magazine, and me, Gary Lirette, and Sandpoint recently featured in Where to Retire magazine. Now you want to know the inside story. In the last few years we have had literally dozens of articles, television shows, news reports, etc., that have touted our area as the paradise of the West. Sure, we have some of the same issues that most communities our size have to tackle, but the good far outpaces the bad. Tourism and traffic has grown, but that has grown our business base, and it still only takes minutes to get anywhere. Crime is so low that many never lock their doors. Charity and neighborly help abound more here than most of the rest of the country, businesses keep moving here, and in spite of small town politics and the occasional Peyton Place episode, good karma tends to ameliorate the bad and make us remember just how lucky we are here in North Idaho. Besides, it's amazing how attitudes can change while driving across the Long Bridge.
Every place has at least these problems or very similar ones. Most places have so much more that detract from their ambiance. This is North Idaho. The place and the people are unique. Friendly to a fault. Great neighbors. Most people not from here have never had as many friends in their circles as they find here. Low, low crime. Quality of life. Spectacular and beautiful surroundings. More fun than should be allowed by law. Forget the petty politics. Forget the 'so-called' rising housing prices from the recent past.
One great measure of a place is how happy the people there tend to be. In a recent study, Idaho was just named the Nation's 14th Happiest State in an article published in the journal Science. Pretty cool.
We have a growing manufacturing base that is typical in Idaho. Sandpoint has the national headquarters for Coldwater Creek, over a billion in sales and 500 new stores within five years (Business Week article on Coldwater), a new aircraft manufacturer - Quest Aircraft Company, an Aircraft Towing manufacturer, Harrison Dock Builders just moved here, Litehouse Salad Dressings, Encoder Products, Diedrich Roasters, a manufacturer of coffee roasting equipment, generators, wood products, etc., etc. Others capturing a national and/or regional audience are Unicep Packaging, Thorne Research, and let's not forget to mention the tremendous expansion of Panhandle State Bank. 2009 saw Litehouse break the billion dollar mark, giving us two companies in that exclusive club. In an Article in 2004 in the Bonner Daily Bee BCEDC Executive Director Mark Williams stated, "Over the past three years, manufacturing jobs in our county have increased by 21 percent while Idaho has lost 14 percent and the nation 16 percent," That trend for Idaho overall has now increased like fold. Other national companies are moving to the area also. Last year, Buck Knives moved their national HQ to the Coeur d'Alene area. In Boise, we are creating a new Silicon Valley. Finally, Idaho set a record for exports in 2006.
According to a study published by Moody's, Idaho is one of five states that will lead the nation out of recession. (Read here).
We have a fantastic tourist industry. Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort wins accolades year after year. In fact, 2007 ski season set a record. For the 2008 season they implemented plans to put another $10,000,000 into their infrastructure, and 2009 saw the first use of their extensive man-made snow making equipment. According to weather reports, we were one of the few places that even had a ski season in 2006-2007. And we didn't even have that harsh a winter. Except for 1996, we have had wonderfully snowy, yet mild winters. People who come here from places like Minnesota and Colorado find our winters so pleasant they never want to leave. Roads are passable, and life is good. 2008 and 2009 saw record snowfall, and though Schweitzer Ski Resort had already been named to Sunset Magazine's Top 10 Resorts, for the 2007-08 season, Schweitzer was named to Skiing Magazine's Top 25, a milestone. Even better, Schweitzer was named #3 for Tree Skiing. Predictions for 2009-2010 from the NOAA are for a milder winter, and thus far, while the ski resort is getting snow, down in the valleys, the winter has seen much less snow, and temps have been enjoyable.
Summers are even better. With the second largest fresh water lake in the West, Lake Pend Oreille affords some of the best water skiing, boating, and fishing in the world. We have numerous marinas, boat docks, and boat launches. And that is only one of many, many spectacular lakes. Hayden Lake, Lake Coeur d'Alene, Lake Cocolalla, and Priest Lake are surrounded by mountains and primeval forests, and are at once serene and exciting. Read about our historical weather patterns in Sandpoint Weather.
We have hosted the NORBA bike championships, and ironman events, and have so many celebrations it is hard to keep up. (See Calendar of Events) Winter Carnival and Madcap Mardi Gras is a week-long end of winter fest. We have three (or is it four) Oktoberfests. Last year we had our first international film festival (IPIFF now called Lakedance). Many people call our area a banana belt, with the lake influencing our climate for the good.
Art communities are everywhere, and with over 400 local artists, it is no small surprise we have two Artwalks, a Plein Aire Art fest, an Arts and Crafts fest, and many galleries and studios. In fact, this year our group sponsored a new five day art event in support of the Lakedance Film Festival called the Sandpoint Art Break at the Cedar Street Bridge Mall. On the Hope Peninsula the world-famous artists Edward Kienholz and Nancy Redin-Kienholz settled over a quarter century ago, and so many have followed that if you live here and don't have at least a handful of artist friends, you probably are a hermit.
The music scene is constant. We have many venues, many bands and artists, and lots of styles. One of our most popular places is the Panida Theatre. Every kind of play, comedy, and music reverberates within those walls. Writers also make our area home. Ben Stein and Mark Furmann live here. So does Viggo Mortensen. Lots of others, but we don't like to mention too many of them. They like their privacy, and we like them, so we respect their lives. Most important of all our musical activities is the world-renown Festival at Sandpoint. This is our 25th year celebration, and the lineup in the past have included names like Lou Rawls, Jim Messina, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Bennet, The Beach Boys, The Bellamy Brothers, Natalie Cole, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Neil Sedaka, George Benson, The Doobie Brothers, Al Jarreau, The Pretenders, The Robert Cray Band, Peter Frampton, Little Feat, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Los Lobos, Tanya Tucker and many more. The range is from Jazz to Country, Symphonies to Blue Grass. And it is always, very, very cool.
So it is no wonder that jobs are plentiful. Entrepreneurs are creating wealth for themselves and the community. We have consistently had lower unemployment than the rest of the nation though, like the rest of the country, we are suffering. However, our current rates are not unprecedented. Historically winters have been hard in North Idaho, but Idaho has had lower unemployment than the rest of the nation, even during this recession. See our Historical Unemployment Data. Construction may be driving the boom, but retail, manufacturing, engineering, internet and virtual companies, and intellectual endeavors are creating a place that many envy, and few can copy.
There are so many events and festivals that it is hard to keep up (see Calendar of Events). Besides Lakedance, The Festival at Sandpoint, and the ArtWalks complete with live music, there is Lost in the 50s, with its vintage car parade, the Wooden Boat Festival, the Arts and Crafts Fair, The County Fair, Winter Carnival, Mardi Gras, boat races, bike races (the NORBA Nationals were held here), The Long Bridge Swim, live music everywhere every week, five (or is it six?) wine bars, five (or is it six?) new top restaurants, chili cook offs, the Holly Eve Gala, events and concerts at the Panida, as well as free music and concerts everywhere for every event, gun shows, horse shows, the Taste of Sandpoint, Schweitzer Summer Celebration and concerts, Oktoberfests, and much, much more. In fact, this has been our busiest event year ever. Schweitzer had a record season, and so did Sandpoint. The message is clear. On my North Idaho Business radio show, we featured Mayor Ray Miller, the editor of the Bonner Daily Bee, David Keyes, and the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Amy Little, on a show we called our State of the Village. With record numbers of people visiting and enjoying our community, as well as record numbers of things to do, our future looks bright indeed.
So, as you read in the first part of this web page, we have gotten quite a lot of press, due to everything we have going for us. The Herbert family was featured on Extreme Home Makeover, and recently, our amazing Dr. Bird was featured on 60 Minutes. We are continually getting very positive press, and while we have had good growth, our community is far from the fastest growing in Idaho. We are growing at an even pace, and we are maintaining our wonderful, small town atmosphere.
Shopping isn't bad either. So, we don't have the mega malls, and some of our stores and shops cater to tourists. But we have unique offerings, eclectic little places where you can find unique North Idaho styled wares and furnishings. We have great ski and winter wares. We have fantastic sporting goods. Some of the auto dealers not far away are rated #1 in the nation for price and service. And we have good big box stores like a Super Wal-mart, Home Depot, and Safeway. Yokes is a great regional supermarket, a Super One is being built, and smaller places like Merwyn's Hardware have a surprisingly varied selection of merchandise. A short drive away is Coeur d'Alene (We call it CdA) and Spokane, which have every conceivable kind of offering, from antiques to Target. Nope, shopping ain't bad.
Health is another of our wonderful assets. While quality of life is an oft-mentioned term nowadays, we have it here. We live it. Fresh air, some of the tastiest water in the world, and good health facilities. We have a decent local hospital for our size. Bonner General does most of what a population needs. However, a very close drive away is Kootenai Medical Center, world-class in many areas of health care. And Spokane is known throughout the Inland Northwest for some of the finest medical facilities anywhere. Recently, Idaho was named the Nation's 8th Healthiest State.
Traffic is generously bearable. Traffic jams are things of the past. We have good roads, a local airport, and Spokane's Airport is better than airports servicing cities two or three times larger. It takes about an hour and a half to drive from downtown Sandpoint to the Spokane Airport. How long does it take to get to LaGuardia or San Francisco airports during traffic. We are in the process of getting Highway 95 widened all the way to Canada, and the Sand Creek Byway is under construction going around Sandpoint. Even in the much larger cities of CdA and Spokane, the roads have already been improved for future growth, and traffic jams are bearable and infrequent.
Hunting is a dream for the sportsman here. We have wildlife that has disappeared in other parts of the country. Fishing is also great. Our lakes have more and bigger fish. You can hike for hours without seeing another human being. We are surrounded by National and State Forest lands. Estimates are that these two entities hold 75% of the land. That insures we will have limited growth in the future, and make hunting something that will be a sport for much of the population as long as it is legal.
Certainly, with so many rivers and lakes, Idaho is a fishing Mecca. Check out our Lakes Guide and our Rivers Guide. Our own Lake Pend Oreille has a surface area of 148 square miles. With 111 miles of coastline, it is 65 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth deepest in the US.
While we don't have that much in the form of college or university education, CdA and Spokane have some fine universities. We will have our own university soon. One of the founders of Coldwater Creek, David Pence, has donated $20 million for the establishment of an extension of the University of Idaho to be built here within the next three years. The state has put up matching funds, so our own college will be here soon. We also have a very good K-12 school system, and very well behaved students. We win accolades in many areas. Arts thrive in our schools, and we have programs that other schools have abandoned because of budget cuts. When is the last time you heard of a high school that had a Men's Glee Club. Ours has one. And we have so many state championships in virtually every sport, that if you aren't a supporter, you probably don't live here. We have programs for teaching high school kids to pilot airplanes, a non-profit dedicated to instructing young film students, a culinary program, and much more dedicated to the education of our youth and adults.
Sports and outdoor recreation are big here. We take our bike riding seriously with hundreds of miles of off road trails, and one of the most extensive paved bike trail systems in the region. We hike, parasail, bowl, run, and sail. You name it, we do it. Try cross-country skiing, horse riding of all kinds, kayaking, Mogul skiing, water skiing, biking, sky diving, scuba diving, jet skiing, boating, volleyball, archery, spelunking, snowmobiling, basketball, softball, Frisbee golf, regular golf...wait...let me catch my breath. Jack Nicklaus just bought Hidden Lakes Golf Course and community and renamed it Idaho Club. It was already an award-winning course, but now with Jack at the helm... And rumors are that Arnold Palmer will soon be gracing our rolling hills. And all with a population that would make Mayberry proud. There are approximately 8,000 people in Sandpoint, and under 50,000 in the county. We may have a larger population up on Schweitzer in the winter, and in the other parts of the county during the rest of the tourist seasons, but still, only a few of us. Another gratifying aspect of our community is that we have literally dozens of State Championship trophies in virtually every sport, from wrestling to softball, football to volleyball. And high school isn't the only winning we do here. Though the Boise State/Oklahoma game has been called the most exciting win in collegiate history, Boise State has been in the top twenty for the better part of the last decade, not just their fifth place finish in 2007. Boise State continued in 2008, and went undefeated in 2009. Sandpoint High School won state championships for both boys and girls soccer in 2009, and the football team went to the state championship at the Kibbie Dome, and missed by less than a touchdown. Not bad. Not bad.
Let's not forget the parks. We have miles of trails, sure, but we also have City Beach, numerous city parks, and the Bonner Healing Garden. Just make sure you bring a doggy bag, and not for the take-home.
And let's not forget that we have great communities all around us: Historic Hope, Coeur d'Alene, Spokane and Seattle, Washington, Creston, BC, Bonners Ferry, Montana, Boise, Hells Canyon and the Snake River. We have wine growing regions, mountains, and so much more. Not only do we have two Starbucks, and two wine bars, we even have our own award-winning winery: Pend Oreille Winery.
But we have one thing that makes us truly special. We have our neighbors, our friends, our families. The best in the world, in the world's best place.
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