Bancroft hosts Pioneer Day Fun!

The tradition of Pioneer Day festivities in Bancroft continued as scheduled this year, with a full slate of events including the busy Pioneer Day parade, hometown cooking at the Trading Post, Kids and Family Races at the football field, the iconic Bancroft Rodeo, a street dance featuring the Hatch Band and an impressive collection of line dancers, and nighttime fireworks that ended a great day celebrating the legacy and heritage of the Gem Valley in style.  

Just past the halfway point of the year, the City of Bancroft has already been through a lot, with changes on the city council (due to the relocation of Nate Eiman out of the area and Rick Hatch out of the city limits), as well as the fires that dramatically impacted everyone in the Bancroft area, and Caribou County as a whole.

In the same way that agencies, residents, and volunteers from all around the county came together to help in the immediate emergency of the fires, people poured into Bancroft to celebrate the pioneering spirit and grit of the town.

The parade was led by Grand Marshal Kareen Crockett of Chesterfield, and saw an assortment of floats and participants that included county and city officials, local and area businesses, and some entertaining surprises.  As always, there was more candy than is probably healthy, although who’s counting sugar calories on a holiday other than dentists?

The Trading Post was open to a massive crowd for the afternoon, with food and drinks being served up to the assembled hungry guests.  For the many who return to their roots on Pioneer Day, it was a chance to rub elbows with seemingly the whole town as there was little free space anywhere in the building itself or between the vendor stalls set up in the lot next door.  Vendors from Bancroft as well as surrounding areas sold a variety of items, including jewelry, clothes, decorations, crafted items, food, and a lot more throughout the afternoon.

A fundraiser and sale of donated items took place as well during the afternoon for the Kofoed family.  Karen Kofoed’s home—the oldest remaining home in the Bancroft townsite—was badly damaged during the June fires.  She is currently living with her family in Lava Hot Springs.  Her son Tommy is beginning the daunting work of serving as the general contractor on a restoration/rebuilding project which is in its early stages.  The extent to which it might be necessary to completely gut the upper levels of the house are not fully clear yet, but the combination of smoke and fire damage and then countless gallons of water pouring into the attic during fire suppression mean that it is primarily the “bones” of the house that can be saved to restore the house from.

In addition to the costs of rebuilding/restoration beyond what insurance will cover, daily living expenses and other financial obligations are being borne by the Kofoeds, who have had a gofundme drive organized on their behalf.  Information can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/aid-the-kofoed-family-in-overcoming-disaster  . 

The afternoon saw the action move over to the North Gem field, where first up were the standard kids races, with coin payouts for the winners.  Kids of increasingly advanced years crawled, toddled, ran, and then sprinted through increasing lengths of field until the contests turned more…unique.  Races of four family members at once, six family members at once, races done backwards, piggyback races, wheelbarrow races, and more kept everyone laughing until right up to the start of the Rodeo.  

The Rodeo, in its 127th year and celebrated as Idaho’s oldest running amateur rodeo, started solemnly with empty saddle tributes for Tracy Josephson, Blaine Smith, and Stanley Wistisen (see page 11).  The rodeo itself was a lively event, with mutton bustin and a host of junior and peewee events in addition to the bronc and bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, and more.  A list of results is on page 12.

A number of vendors were on site at the rodeo as well, and Connections Credit Union—which has recently been spending one day a week in downtown Bancroft to provide residents in-town access to an ATM and other banking services—packed up their hot dog cooking operation from the parade route and moved the Mobile Banking Unit down to the rodeo grounds.

For many people, the end of the rodeo was the perfect time to head home for a quick nap while the hottest part of the day burned itself out.  By the time the street dance got underway at Teuscher Square, the weather was just about perfect.  The Hatch band, truly a family endeavor, played a mix of country and rock tunes for those who wanted to dance, or just enjoy a nice sit and visit.  It was a nice image to behold as the town came together out in front of the east side buildings that had also been damaged by the fire and danced the evening away.  Everyone got in on the act, from 8 months to, well, more than 80 years old, and one of the largest street dance line dances going spontaneously picked up every few songs.

As the sun fell below the mountains to the west, foot traffic headed down the street to the field for an impressive fireworks display that lit up the night sky and brought smiles to the faces of all the kids and kids at heart that made their way down to celebrate Pioneer Day, Bancroft, Caribou County, and living life in the best places to be!