At the Western Idaho Fair this week, the biggest attraction hasn’t been the politicos or the food demonstrations or the biggest pig or even the Starship ride – it’s been the weather. After baking through a miserably hot summer when 100 degrees started to seem like the norm, Boise’s been in the 80s this week, with some pleasant breezes. Sighs of relief can be heard all over town, including at the fair, where the early evenings seem to be a thing of beauty.

While performing at the fair Wednesday night, Charlie Daniels of the Charlie Daniels Band at one point set aside his fiddle and pulled out his video camera, and recorded the view of the Boise foothills behind him, which were glowing rosy against the sunset sky. Then he told the crowd that he was thrilled to be performing in Boise, a place “where the backdrop looks like a Charlie Russell painting.”

Over in the Expo Building, not far from the Vita-Mix demonstration, Congressman Bill Sali’s backers were handing out paper headbands sporting his name, with a tall, yellow feather attached and an apparent "Indian" theme. Local radio station 94.9 The River was joking about it on the radio as I headed home, saying Sali apparently was "trying to show his multiculturalism.”

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