Small Towns Start Jumping As Summertime Rolls Around
Small towns come alive during the summer months, especially when they throw big parties too good to miss.
That’s not to say they’re dead the rest of the year; just that no one notices them during the other 51 weeks.
Here’s your chance to celebrate in Boundary County and Tekoa.
Boundary County, Idaho’s northernmost county, is marking its 28th-annual Kootenai River Days in Bonners Ferry through July 8. The fun starts off with the Selkirk Saddle Club rodeo tonight and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. There will be an oldfashioned parade at noon Saturday.
Sunday night boasts the biggest concert ever staged in the county - Perfect Stranger will perform at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available through G&B, (800) 325-SEAT.
There’s more: a three-day juried art show, Loggers Fest, an old-time fiddlers’ jam session and a river raft race.
For more information, directions or help on lodging and camping facilities, call (208) 267-5922.
Tekoa, in Whitman County, presents its annual Slippery Gulch Celebration with the usual fanfare of events.
There are two dances tonight: one for adults at the Tekoa Jaycee Club with band Four on the Floor (21 and older only, 9 p.m.) and one for teens at the high school that runs from 7 to 9 p.m. for students in grades 6-8, and from 9 p.m. to midnight for those in grades 9 and above and up to age 20.
On Saturday, you’ll find a fun run, a parade, a car show, theater, more dancing and (on Sunday) a watermelon race on horseback. That would be worth the drive alone.
You can get more information by calling (509) 284-5782.
Something different
Colville, Wash., is having a cultural diversity celebration Saturday and you’re all invited. In its third year of Fiesta ‘95, sponsored by the Upper Columbia Human Rights Coalition, organizers promise a bigger and better fete.
Dinner is from 5 to 7 p.m. and features a menu of authentic Mexican cuisine from the regions’ best chefs. Fuego will entertain with its hot salsa music at 8 p.m. It all happens at the Northeast Washington Fairground.
Tickets are available at the door; adults pay $10, students and seniors are $8, kids pay $6 and families get in for $30.
Art and music
Let’s start with the music. The Corbin Art Center is holding a Folk Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. You’ll find every kind of music, dance and costume here, not to mention crafts.
The lineup includes music from Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Vietnam and America. Some of the dances will be taught, and it’s all free.
The art center is located at 507 W. Seventh. Call 625-6677 for more information.
If your tastes tend more toward the classics, don’t miss An Afternoon of Classics with Sharon Daggett and Deanna Stover, two professional sopranos. The music selection will range from Broadway works to opera.
The program is free, sponsored by the Spokane Public Library. It will be held at the downtown library at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The first of the KPBX Kids Concerts is today from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Riverfront Park Clock Tower. The Dixie Dandies will perform.
Now, the art: Spokane painter Kathleen Cavender will demonstrate her work in the Cheney Cowles Museum shop from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Cavender is a fourthgeneration, self-taught artist.
Or, you can head to Metaline Falls, Wash., for the grand opening of Four Corners Gallery from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Artist and owner Rheta Deal has assembled a vast collection of art objects from artists and craftspeople throughout the West.
The gallery is located at 218 E. Fifth.
Don’t be shy
Those contra dancers are at it again this weekend and everyone is invited to join in their fun. This time, its the 10th-annual Lady of the Lake Summer Dance at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Moran Prairie Grange.
The dance, part of the sold-out Lady of the Lake Music and Dance week in Coeur d’Alene, is a chance for those of you who missed out on the camp to learn a little folk dancing.
A variety of dances will be taught, including contra, square, English country and even some Latin and Balkan dances. Featured callers and musicians include Tony Parkes and Brad Foster, both from Massachusetts, Bob McQuillen from New Hampshire and Barbara Greenberg from New Jersey.
Admission to the dance is $5 for members of the Spokane Folklore Society and $7 for the general public. Tickets available only at the door. Call 838-2160 for more information.
Horsing around
The Sandpoint Saddle Club is celebrating its 50th anniversary during its annual horse show this weekend. Saturday will feature English-style riding and Sunday is Western. It will be held at the Bonner County Fairgrounds and is free for spectators.
More Indian history
The Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane and the Spokane Leonard Peltier Support Group are holding an open discussion titled Twenty Years After Oglala at 4 p.m. Sunday at 224 S. Howard.
Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the firefight on the Pine Ridge Reservation between law enforcement and Indian men, women and children. Peltier has served 19 years in prison for a crime some say he didn’t commit.
The discussion will include a showing of “The Spirit of Crazy Horse.” Call 482-7932 for more information.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GETTING OUT OK, now that summer’s official, we can all safely head for our favorite beach and leave our parkas and umbrellas behind, right? Ignore the weather forecasters and go anyway just to celebrate the season. Take a picnic, a blanket and a bag of clothes - jacket and swimsuit included - to any of a plethora of sandy places where water laps the shores and park yourself for the afternoon. It’s still early in the season so no one really expects you to actually get in the water. Take a book and sunscreen and get in the mood appropriate for the next couple of months.