Athol Daze

Athol Daze are upon us. Get out the car, drive to Athol, Idaho for an old fashioned parade and street fair, Saturday, August 11. The town will be teaming with floats, old cars, all kinds of parade entries. Citizen of the Year will be announced following the parade, along with the ever popular “Money in the Straw” game. In the City Park, to which this year’s fund raising is for, will be an auction, music by” Doug Reed and the In betweens,” arts and crafts, food booths. For those early risers, the Saddle-Up across the street from the activities, claim they make the best breakfast anywhere. You might want to find out.

Proceeds from the fund raising events at Athol Daze will be used to develop the new addition to City Park. Donations are very welcome. Athol Daze will last at least until 4:00 pm. Questions regarding the park or the parade should be addressed to Charlotte Hooper, Athol City Clerk. 208-683-2101.

Post #149 of the Athol American Legion will provide the color guard for the parade which starts at 10:00 am. Those that want to participate in that parade, must line up behind the Athol Elementary School by 9:00 am. The Legion Juniors have been selling raffle tickets since spring for the drawing to be held after the Jr’s dinner at the legion. Dinner at 6:00 pm, drawing around 7:30 pm. Cash prizes are 1st $300, 2nd $150 and 3rd $75.00 Proceeds to be used for needy Vets and their children. Party in the Park will include a beer wagon sponsored by the Sons of the Legion.

Fund raising for the City Park is the theme this year. About 3/4 of an acre has been purchased for addition to the existing 1 acre. What exists now is a flat bare lot. Some goals are a skateboard park, benches, trees and other uses to be determined. Generous donations have already been made or pledged by area businesses. Huckleberry Nursery is donating a Red Sunrise Maple tree, Kootenai Electric with $2500. Merritt Brothers Lumber $1000. Coeur d’Alene Paving with $500, Edgewood Log Homes is building two log benches and Avista is expected to chip in, too. In kind donations have been great, too. Kootenai Electric is donating the light standards and floods, Reed Enterprises, Inc. 12 yards of screened top soil, Interstate Concrete with 10 yards of concrete, Bob Rickel donated well over 30 hours with his earth moving equipment and many others from individuals. Liz Hasbrouck and Bob Pekar donated a substantial amount for playground equipment, which is already on order.

Not all activities are fun ones. The recent fire South of Athol outlined some of the dangers inherent with sloppy safety practices. Idaho Department of Lands has issued stage two fire restrictions that exclude the following practices. NO outside burning of any kind, nor any flame or combustion allowed including smoking outside a building. Propane cookers are permitted. No vehicles are permitted off road during this fire emergency. That includes dirt bikes and four wheelers. A probable cause for the recent Athol fire, since it started in the grassy swale next to highway 95, is ATV activity that was observed before the fire ignited. A discarded cigarette was discounted as the cause by Bureau of Land Management Incident Commander, Brad Wagner. The public is urged to take immediate action to report any violations to the nearest Fire Department.