A lot going on as summer winds down

When it rains it pours, as they say.  Of course, sometimes it doesn’t rain and the weather is just perfect, as it was across the valley this last week.  While the Toponce fire on the one side and the Wyoming fires on the other did add some high cloud cover, the temperatures were just right for one last week of summer fun before it changes in earnest.  When you drive west into Bannock county, or east to Bear Lake, make sure to avert your eyes from the some of the precocious trees that are already firing up their fall colors.  If you keep telling yourself “it’s still summer,” maybe it’ll work, at least for awhile.

As school gets underway and the sports seasons launch into gear (find Jody’s return to the action on page 12 of this issue), communities across the valley got in at least one more “just one more” community event.  

In Grace, the Chamber of Commerce along with the city sponsored a Community BBQ night of music and gathering at the city park.  DJ Eclipse brought people out to sing and dance, and Chamber members, along with members of the Fire Department cooked up food for hungry citizens.  A large bouncy slide helped make the park even more fun than usual.  See pictures on page 2.  

In Bancroft, The Bar held a Saturday cookout and fundraising raffle for local mother four Viki Morrison, who is battling a rare cancer along with its complications (page 4).  The Bar was filled with donated items from local and area businesses that were raffled to raise funds.  The Trading Post set up a grill outside to keep people fed, and the event brought a lot of people out to pitch in.

In Soda Springs, a “pop up concert,” for lack of a better phrase, was held at Kelly Park featuring a number of local musicians (on page 10).  The venue proved to be a great place to listen to music, let kids play outdoors, and try some of the food trucks on hand.  In addition to Soda Sip and Zander’s Panqueques, the new “Wildman Waffles” was on site to serve up its house specialty.

The Project Warmth Golf Classic also took advantage of the remaining good weather to raise money for SEICAA’s energy assistance program.  The Oregon Trail Country Club was packed with teams “working” their way through the course to help bolster the area’s biggest winter heating aid program.  (See page 2)

While there is no doubt that winter will be upon us before we know it, it has to make its way through fall first.  Luckily, there are a lot of fall events in the hopper—from harvest festivals to Halloween and all things between.  For now though, we can keep pretending the summer isn’t quite done yet…