Coeur D’Alene Couples Plan Own Version Of Pizza Play Palace

(From For the Record, Thursday, August 10, 1995:) Chet Morris of Rocky Mountain Clear Inc. of Hayden Lake, Idaho, says he feels that some of the water distribution systems in Kootenai County are questionable but Hayden Lake Water District is good. A column in Wednesday’s business section may have implied otherwise.

Soon, you’ll no longer have to taxi a herd of screamin’ meemies to the other side of Spokane to let them (and you, of course) go nuts in Chuck E. Cheese for a special occasion.

Party Time Pizza in Coeur d’Alene may be your new destination for such diversions. Two Coeur d’Alene couples have begun construction of a 7,150-square-foot Party Time Pizza building just north of Tidyman’s at 409 Neider Ave.

With seating for 220 customers, the business will include a dining room, party room, meeting room and a play area that will include 30 video games and a jungle gym.

One of the featured toys will be a ball crawl, a bin filled with softball-size, soft plastic balls. We almost lost one of our kids once in the Chuck E. Cheese ball crawl. Forgot he was there.

Owners are Mike (the manager) and Kelly Tuntland and Bev Hanks, whose husband Duane is the general contractor. They plan to employ 30-35 people. The business should open in November.

“We think Coeur d’Alene can handle it,” Kelly said. “We’ll try to keep people in town.”

Taking advantage of the increase in peoples’ health consciousness, Chet Morris and Dan Lyden have started Rocky Mountain Clear Inc., a home and business pick-up and deliver bottled water company.

The men purify water from the Hayden Lake Water District’s aquifer source and distribute it in 5-gallon plastic bottles. The purifying process includes a dual water softener, carbon filter, reverse osmosis and an ozonator, Morris said.

“The water from the aquifer is fine; the water systems are really bad,” Morris said. “People are interested in pure water.”

Both Coeur d’Alene natives, the men have played baseball together since the sixth grade. Morris has been active in the excavating business, and Lyden works for Arco in Alaska.

For information contact Morris at 762-2591.

A theater theme is planned for Cricket on the Hearth, Coeur d’Alene’s first bed and breakfast inn. New owners Tom and Julie Nash bought the 13-year-old business, located at 1521 Lakeside Ave., from Al and Karen Hutson.

The Nashes, active in the community and summer theater productions since 1969, have added a dramatic touch to the place. Each of the five guest rooms is decorated in the manner of a particular play or type of theater. The Nashes plan to add murder mysteries and intimate theater productions.

The new innkeepers will continue accommodating special events such as weddings, meetings and ski packages.

Antiques and collectables are featured at Partners in Time, a new shop at 1715 Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene. A feature to be added to the store, next to Hilton Contract Carpets, is an antique scale display.

Owners are Kay Houser and her daughter Janell Mollett, whose daughter Catey Mollett also works in the store, making it a three-generation affair. The families came to North Idaho 25 years ago from Nebraska.

The Idaho Travel Council recently doled out grants for different tourism agencies in North Idaho. The different groups use the money for research and for travel to conventions, but the bulk is spent on commercials, fliers and print advertisements.

The Coeur d’Alene Convention & Visitors Bureau snagged $115,617 from the travel council, making it the biggest beneficiary of the state money. Sandpoint’s Chamber of Commerce pulled down $86,750, followed closely by the Silver Valley Resort Association and Post Falls Tourism, which both got around $40,000.

The council will pour a total of $379,415 in grants into North Idaho this year.

Up to 50,000 people enjoyed Coeur d’Alene’s Art on the Green and the Downtown Sidewalk Sale last weekend. The event probably is the economic, entertainment and social highlight of the year for locals as well as visitors. About half the license plates were from Washington and Montana.

Art on the Green indeed joins the Fourth of July parade and fireworks as the events that really get the locals downtown.

Some people say, however, that the art part is getting stale.

“We’ve been here 100 times before,” sighed one veteran. “Now we just go for the entertainment and make a quick trip around the booths.”