Year in Review: Events across the County

Soda Springs Main Street businesses air concerns over construction charges

 As a part of the 2024 Main Street construction, businesses were billed for connections to water and sewer as part of the new system.  While some businesses were excluded as a result of having replaced the lines independently of the city, most were affected by the move, which cost an average of $6,000, based on a per foot cost, plus additional associated charges.  The city gave businesses the option to pay to amount back without interest over the next 3 years, as part of the city utility billing process.  

In a session that at times became emotional on both sides of the council table, Main Street merchants expressed their frustration with the effects the construction had had on their businesses, as well as the additional strain of the recently issued construction bill.  City Council members acknowledged that the communication process between themselves and downtown businesses could have been better, and promised to learn from the experience moving forward.  

New Enders Proposal gains support 

In Ender’s news, it was a proposal that had not previously been broached at all that gained the most interest for the future of the building.  Councilmember Paul Gritton proposed that the city look into working with the State of Idaho to have Enders, and potentially the geyser facility itself, become an official state park.  The arrangement would give the bulk of the financial burden of maintaining and operating the building and the associated assets.  The geyser itself was not a part of the initial discussion, but the concept of a larger park designated area began to intrigue those in the audience, as well as the potential for increased tourism, retail acceleration, and preservation possibilities.

Members of the council seemed both surprised and delighted by the idea, and other stakeholders were also pleasantly surprised, having dreaded the potential of selling the building commercially.  Bill Horsley, of the Caribou Historical Society, though the idea was excellent.  “It’s a win-win!” he noted, echoing a sentiment shared by many.  Horsley and the Historical Society had been willing to do whatever it took to house and preserve the museum artifacts, but if this proposal goes forward, it might obviate that need.

The Ribbon has been cut— let there be shade!

After a year of planning, fundraising, meeting with officials, and keeping momentum up, the Friends of the City Park were thrilled to finally host the official ribbon cutting for the shade structures at City Park in Soda Springs.

The shade structure at Soda’s City Park was made official.

 Among those in attendance were representatives of many of the sponsors, such as the Idaho Real Estate Association, Advantage Plus Federal Credit Union, the city of Soda Springs, Broulims, and others.  The majority of the crowd was made up of parents and their children, who waited eagerly to get back to playing, this time in the shade.

Alana Burns, member of the Friends of the Park, welcomed attendees to the ribbon cutting.  “It’s going to be a little bit noisy,” Burns said, “but we’re in a playground, so I’m sure you understand.”

Friend of the Park member Laura Lind also thanked everyone for coming out to the event, and mentioned how many of the people on hand at the ribbon cutting were people she knew from spending time at the park, and appreciated the accessible nature of it.  “It has been so fun to see this playground used from the vision we originally had when we wanted to establish an all-abilities park.”

“One of the visions we had was not just inclusive play, but also bringing business to our downtown, which we are also seeing,” Lind said.

Chesterfield brings the past to life

As is tradition, the townsite of Chesterfield opened to visitors on Memorial Day in epic fashion.  A full day of food, family, history, and more greeted those who made their way to Chesterfield for the kickoff of the summer season.  While no official count was taken, hundreds of visitors throughout the day toured the town’s historic cabins and buildings, shopped at the Holbrook store, and got a good dose of history from the volunteer tour guides who were excited to talk about Chesterfield’s history.

“Wagon” rides took guests around the streets that are among the main concessions to the modern world.  As they did so, visitors caught just a tip of the iceberg of the long and storied history of the small, but very important town.

Drowning at the Flume in Grace

On May 31, 2025 at about 1:56pm, the Caribou County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communication Center received a report of a possible drowning at the Last Chance Flume.  The Caribou County Coroner confirmed the identity of the victim as Kameron Aden Bowers, 18, of Pocatello.  In the wake of this tragedy, swimmers and others are reminded to be extremely cautious of un-monitored bodies of water.  The flume has been a spot of concern for a number of years. 

After a summer off, Soda’s Geyser is back in action!

A crowd assembled in front of the until-recently dormant geyser in Soda Springs for the “re-starting” of the town’s iconic landmark.  The geyser has had a few stops and starts since it was initially discovered in 1937, but in recent memory there has not been a gap as lengthy as the summer hiatus. 

After a break, the geyser is back in action.

The event was officiated by City Councilman Paull Gritton, who began by thanking the city crew and Dan Squires.  Squires “played a big role in getting this thing done in a timely fashion.  His crew got it done as fast as possible getting this thing up and running again.  It’s not as simple as going down to the geyser store and getting parts for it.”

The geyser is one of the iconic features of the town, and one of the main stops for tourists who come through on their way to the national parks and other areas.  Informal observation of the number of visitors coming through was added to with a guest registry book that now sits inside the restroom at the geyser.

Dan Squires, who was instrumental in the geyser repair project, spoke about some of the technical aspects involved.  “Earlier this spring, I’m sure a lot of you knew that the geyser was not working right.  It didn’t work well all through the winter.   We weren’t exactly sure what was wrong with it—myself, Justin Hansen, Mike Veile, and Trevin Barfuss—we got together one day and decided to come look at it and see if it was a control issue or a valve issue, or what we had going on.  We came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t a control issue, but a valve issue.  The valve itself was buried under the buildup from the geyser.”  

Following his remarks, Squires was given the reward of retiring the “closed” sign that has been in front of the geyser for months.  

Looking for “another 9/12”

There had not been a specifically planned 9/11 commemoration event last week, but after the shocking murder of Charlie Kirk by a 22 year old Utah man earlier in the week, an event was put together to try to go some way toward providing a public way to express the grief and anger of many residents, as well as to try to seek some measure of hope.  The event was a mixture of patriotic national commemoration and devotional discussion.

The event included a number of participants from around the county, including John Beer, Alana Burns, Naconna Gentry, Kate Lauck, Daniel Larsen, Rick Hatch, Ryan Carpenter, Carrie Yost, and Jared Hunsaker.

In addition to the prayers, comments, devotional readings, and thoughts shared, the evening ended with a group candle lighting ceremony and moment of reflection.  

Large Crowd turns out for Grace Clinic groundbreaking

The ground was finally broken on the construction part of the new Grace Clinic in October.   CEO Kent Loosle welcomed the crowd to a temporary pavilion set up in the Grace City Park.  He acknowledged the members of the board, city and county officials, Hospital Ambassadors, the Grace HS Band, and CMC employees.

 Mayor Jackie Barthlome gave an overview of the history of Grace’s doctors, after which Brett Smith spoke, followed by Kent Loosle, who noted “In the last two years, we have seventeen new providers in the network. Today, we’re builders, and tomorrow we’ll be builders.  Our goal is not just to build the clinic, but to build a whole new hospital.  And to build a new hospital, we’ll need the support of the community.”

Following the remarks, city and county officials, hospital employees from Grace, and others joined in the ceremonial turning of the shovel.  Afterward, the crowd mingled and ate burgers while the Grace High School Band played through the evening.   

New Skating Rink ready for the weather!

Volunteers and hockey enthusiasts helped members of the City Recreation Department lay out the rink and the undersurface of what the city hopes will be a gem for winter activities for those who love to get out on the ice, or those who have been waiting to try it out.  While there has been a skateable surface at the west side of Kelly Park for many years, which has been maintained by the hockey faithful, this new structure improves both the quality and longevity of the rink.

Jessica Thurman and Amber Torgesen were joined by a group of helpers throughout the day on Friday as they laid out the materials for the perimeter, gridded out the area beneath the mat surface, and then rolled out the polyvinyl 120 feet by 80 feet that will constitute the base layer for the ice.  

The new structure is certainly impressive, and worth a drive to Kelly Park in Soda to see firsthand.  Congratulations to the Rec Department and a host of amazing volunteers who helped make it happen.

“The Community is what makes it happen!” 

Mayor LuCus Spencer spent his last December presiding over the Teuscher Square Lighting as mayor, but it’s not a tradition he has any plans of missing in the future.

“Oh, I’ll be here next year!  My kids come down here every year.  We’ve been doing this ever since we moved here…seventeen years ago.  It’s a great thing for the community that everyone looks forward to.” 

City Clerk Debbie Swensen added that “our volunteers who stepped in made all the difference in keeping the hot cocoa running and things moving.”

The Lighting of the Square is one of the singular events of the year in Bancroft, and also the surrounding county.  This year volunteers came from Soda Springs, Grace, and other parts throughout the county.

The hotdogs and hamburgers were donated by CMC and the Grace groups and cooked “for donations.” According to city officials, they were able to raise more than they even expected, and will be using those funds to help rebuild the Volunteer Fire Department in Bancroft.  As a result of the summer fires in town, there was significant damage to some of the equipment, which will need to be repaired or replaced.