Horizons, And More, May Have Broadened

Sat., Aug. 5, 2000

Kerri Thoreson The Spokesman-R

Thirty years is a long time, and for my fellow Coeur d’Alene High School classmates, we’re in reunion mode this weekend. Just a guess that Tim Shepperd’s advice to current high schoolers would be not to get elected class president in your senior year. By osmosis, that’s made Tim the official chairman of our reunion committee for the last three decades.

Ten-year reunions are pretty stressful, with everyone trying to live up to or live down the perceptions they last earned as a teenager. Lots of posturing and pretense. The 20-year reunion was more relaxed, informal and honest. My prediction for the 30th is that we will all by now be comfortable in our own skins and ready to enjoy each other’s company for the pure enjoyment of shared experiences and history.

I suspect that three decades has broadened much more than our collective horizons … all but one classmate ordered size large or extra-large T-shirts. I’ll let you know who the token “size medium” turns out to be!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time a fellow I “met” online through a mutual acquaintance a year ago. Mark McKenzie is a film editor from Minneapolis. He’s also a member of American Coaster Enthusiasts. A couple hundred ACE members held their annual summer get-together at Silverwood Theme Park over the weekend. Representing 26 states and a couple of Canadian provinces, this is an eclectic and enthusiastic gathering.

I joined the ACE folks for a behind-the-scenes tour on Saturday morning, their second day, and heard nothing but raves about Silverwood and its management team and owners. Mark has visited 52 amusement parks this year alone, so these are people with substantial basis for comparison. They were thrilled that park owner, Gary Norton, spoke to the group during their Friday welcome and gave them the background on the business. He also joined them for rides on Tremors, making it obvious that this was more of a passion than just a commercial venture. They complimented Silverwood’s marketing director, Nancy DiGiammarco, for arranging special group ride times before the park opened and after it closed.

I received this e-mail from Mark after he arrived in Vancouver, B.C., to visit yet another amusement park: “I loved Silverwood, the area and the people. Everyone was warm and friendly and I really can’t say enough about my impressions of everything this weekend but I can promise that my first trip to Idaho will not be my last!”

Kudos to Silverwood for rolling out the red carpet for this very diverse group of enthusiasts and going the extra mile in customer service. If you’d like to know more about this unique hobby of riding rollercoasters, Mark has a Web site at www.thetripreport.com or go to http://users.sgi.net/rollocst/amuse.html for a variety of links.

I spent a couple of days in Boise for the grant presentations and awards from the Idaho Travel Council, though there’s no truth to the rumor that I required a police escort. Two of Post Falls’ finest, Greg McLean and Mark Goodwin, were attending a seat belt summit and just happened to be on the same flight, coming and going. What a treat to join organizations from North Idaho’s Region 1 in honoring Bob Templin for his years of service to the Idaho Travel Council and for his dedication to promoting tourism for more years than I’ve been alive. Mr. Templin is a class act and Post Falls is genuinely grateful to claim him as our own.

Jennifer Hayes, executive assistant to Idaho’s first lady Patricia Kempthorne, explained protocol to me. Seems that the rule is that any friend of Jennifer’s who travels to Boise needs to call her parents so they can pack up another box of her belongings for transport to her new hometown. It might not be the most expedient way to relocate but it’s certainly cost effective!

Aug. 10 is the 10th Annual Post Falls Community Picnic. Begun as a gesture of appreciation from local businesses to the community, the event brings together young and old and volunteers from both the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Post Falls. If you’re curious as to whether or not Post Falls has grown too much, too fast, come see for yourself the small town hospitality of the Community Picnic … and bring the family.

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