Signs Understate Life, Times In Hayden Rapid Growth In Once Quiet Town Crept Up On Residents, City Officials
When the bartender at Sargent’s Restaurant and Lounge moved here from Sandpoint nine years ago, the stretch alongside Government Way was all golden fields.
“Now it’s all housing,” Marlene Pigman pined, adding she moved to Hayden because she liked its small-town feel. These days, Hayden actually has more people than her old home of Sandpoint.
One sign welcoming folks to Hayden reads “Pop. 3,744.” Another says 2,586. Nope. At more than 6,500 people as of 1995, it’s approaching twice that. Darlene Ferrians, a city councilwoman, guesses the current population may actually exceed 7,000.
City employees didn’t even realize how big Hayden was until earlier this year. The Association of Idaho Cities sent a list showing the statistic, from data gleaned by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We were surprised,” city clerk Lila Truesdell said. “I don’t think anybody ever stopped to think about it.”
Who can keep up?
New housing developments, new sewers. New faces, new growing pains. Some folks in Hayden are excited, others are overwhelmed.
Folks of both opinion can be found inside Sargent’s.
“It went to hell,” declared Bill Frank, a white-haired man wearing an eye patch and a Heidelberg cap.
“Too damn many Californians,” offered another guy. Then he stopped cold. “You’re not from …”
They say property taxes are skyrocketing due to new settlers. And traffic is so thick at once-sleepy corners, they can’t cross the street.
But the plus side of population is bigger, better businesses.
“I’ve got mixed feelings,” Pigman said, admitting she likes the larger grocery stores and tire outlets. “It has its advantages. You can’t have a beautiful area like this without growth.”
Just ask real estate agents. One had just moseyed in, took off his sport coat and sat down to a beer.
“Lots of growth, lots of money … it makes me able to pay my bar tab,” joked Dahl Knoles. When the first rumblings of the real estate boom shook the market here in 1988, Knoles could sell a home sight-unseen.
“The busier it was, the easier it got,” he said.
For a city growing so fast, Hayden still suffers an identity crisis. Even some of its own residents confuse the town with nearby Hayden Lake.
Hayden Lake is much smaller, though. Its population weighs in at 412.
“There are people who are somewhat confused as to what city they’re in, or if they’re in a city at all,” Truesdell said.
Take election time. During Hayden’s 1995 mayoral race, some people from Hayden Lake tried to vote. So did others who live outside both borders.
Businesses in Hayden proclaim “Hayden Lake” on their billboards and stationery. The post office - located in Hayden - until a few years ago trumpeted “Hayden Lake” on its sign. Clerks of the two cities constantly swap each other’s mail.
Even the state gets the two mixed up. Hayden Lake’s city clerk, Nancy Morris, said a couple years ago her city received $61,000 in liquor revenue from the state.
It was supposed to go to Hayden. “We don’t have a liquor store here,” Morris said.
Morris and Truesdell both said they’re used to it. “We just take it all in stride,” Truesdell said.
If Hayden keeps growing, will folks stay mixed up? After all, no one confuses Sandpoint with, say, Ponderay.
No one’s making any bets - except that Hayden Lake won’t share in the growth. Morris said folks in Hayden Lake like it little. Many people live there during the summer only, she said, and are drawn by the remoteness and the country club.
Folks in Hayden, though, are dealing with change.
“Every guy with a dog, a truck and a hammer was out here pounding nails,” one man sipping suds at Sargent’s said of the first building boom in the late ‘70s.
“Now it’s a cell phone. But they still have the dog.”
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