Dedication Ceremony Was An ‘Amazing’ One

Post Falls was singularly honored with the visit by the folks from our sister city, Herborn, Germany, last week. Their whirlwind trip included a cruise on Cavanaughs River Queen, tours of the Silver Valley and the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Casino; culminating with their band performance at the Grand Pavillion dedication.

It was a hot night, I’d had a hectic day and I really just wanted to go home after work and put my feet up, but I felt an obligation to make an appearance at the event. It took only a few minutes of seeing the hundreds of people having fun and celebrating the cultural exchange for me to get into the swing of things.

The American Legion opened the ceremony with the dedication of the new flag pole and military memorial. Volunteers were recognized, and the Herborn band entertained young and old.

Parents with small children and senior citizens all danced and clapped and reveled as dusk fell on the park overlooking the river. I looked around at the magnificent facility built by volunteers with a vision and at my friends and neighbors. It was a good night to live in this wonderful town.

There are several of us wives of Lions Club members who know the thousands of hours of hard work and the level of dedication it took for over a year to make the Grand Pavillion a reality. When I saw how much enjoyment that simple structure would bring to the residents and visitors to our community, I thanked my Lion. It’s a lasting, living legacy that they’ve given to Post Falls.

The Herborn Band ended the evening with the most moving rendition of “Amazing Grace” I’ve ever experienced. Amazing it was.

As promised last week, the one person who ordered a size medium T-shirt for the CHS Class of ‘70 30-year reunion was Kathy Vandenberg Epstein, although Kathy Humphries and a few others certainly could fit in the smaller size.

And just because NIC’s Roger Wise and Coeur d’Alene Recreation Director Steve Anthony, my buddies from way back when, told me they read my column regularly, here’s their mention.

And to correct a misstatement from the last column, Tim Shepperd was not senior class president, he was ASB president. Details, details. He still had to chair the reunion committee three times, ha ha.

One of the most fun moments of a weekend filled with fun moments … we had a barbecue on Saturday night down by the river at Templin’s Marina. So here we are, Coeur d’Alene Vikings a generation removed, a hundred strong seated at picnic tables.

Midway through the meal we see a large group of people, dressed to the nines walking down the hill and right through the middle of our gathering, heading to the east side of the lawn for a group photograph. Their conversations came to a halt as they made their way down the sidewalk, looking straight ahead and somewhat uncomfortable.

Turns out we were sharing Templin’s with Post Falls High School’s classes of ‘79, ‘80 and ‘81 reunion. Was it Trojans in Viking territory or vice versa? Either way it was a hoot to think of all of us middle-aged people still very much aware of a rivalry that spanned quite a few decades.

You could tell they were 10 years behind us in school, though. Their party was noisier and lasted much later than ours.

Sheesh. I kudoed all over the place last week about Silverwood’s extraordinary hospitality for the roller coaster enthusiasts’ gathering.

That was certainly an accurate observation, but I confused David Norton with his father, Gary. It actually was David who dazzled the enthusiasts with stories about the park and stood in line to join them for rides on Timber Terror. I know how it feels, David. People get me and my dad mixed up all the time, too. He’s the one with the mustache.

With wild fires burning all around the region, it’s a subject that’s of much interest to a lot of people in these parts. Ramona James of the Idaho Department of Commerce, Division of Tourism sent along an e-mail this week to let us know that www.visitid.org has added information on the fire status and links to fire-related Web sites. Say a little prayer for the smokejumpers.