‘Sunny And Crowded’ Parade Aside, It Was A Normal Summer Saturday In Cda

Its ancestors, brown and sleek, once carted tourists across the city’s popular lake.

And Ed Anderson couldn’t take his eyes off it.

The third-generation Lake Coeur d’Alene resident was gazing at his 1966, 21-foot wooden cruiser - the last one built by Yandt Boat Works founder Bob Yandt Sr.

It was a smaller version of the water taxis that once lined this lake’s shore, waiting to ferry passengers. “A part of this area’s history,” he said, stumbling slightly as the dock beneath his feet swayed.

Anderson was among 50 boat owners who lined the floating boardwalk at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Saturday for the 14th annual Wooden Boat Show.

The event - like many others - was delayed until noon so tourists wouldn’t be drawn downtown during a 10 a.m. march by Aryan Nations members and supporters.

But “when I got here at 12:30 p.m., it was just like any other summer day: sunny and crowded,” Anderson said.

The same message was heard throughout downtown.

Minutes after the uniformed racists left, downtown was awash in shoppers, sunseekers and afternoon amblers - a Saturday, many said, like most others.

College-aged men and women played hackysack. Adults in sunhats shopped. Musclebound teenagers shot hoops.

By midafternoon, City Beach was so packed with hundreds of sunbathers, the water so crowded with children, frustrated lifeguards repeatedly bellowed “Don’t hang on the buoys!”

Along Sherman Avenue, a store owner sat on the sidewalk in a wooden chair, watching the crowd.

A man in his 40s wearing Lee jeans and a golf shirt scurried by, jangling a set of keys that hung from an aluminum golf ball.

The store owner laughed.

“Nothing unusual here,” he said.

At City Park, tourists, locals and the occasional off-duty news photographer wandered among booths set up for a crafts fair. They bought T-shirts and beads, iron art and music on compact discs.

Mike Martinez spent much of the day huddled over a 2,000-degree kiln, demonstrating raku, a Japanese form of glazed pottery.

“It’s been great,” he said. “We’ve made some sales. No one has even mentioned that other thing.”