Rathdrum shines again

Getting ready for Rathdrum Days, coordinator Janice Wilcox wondered which would affect turnout for the town’s annual celebration more, gas prices or population growth.

Growth has exploded in and around the Kootenai County city in the past few years, and that’s good for the two-day community event.

But $4-a-gallon gasoline could cut either way. Fewer people from Spokane might be willing to drive across the border, but people in and around town might be staying closer to home.

Turns out she didn’t need to worry.

“It’s the biggest crowd we’ve ever had,” Wilcox, who has coordinated the event for three years, said Saturday afternoon.

While it’s hard to come up with solid attendance figures for a community event, Wilcox was sure there were twice as many classic autos as last year on the grass near the school stadium for the car show, and twice as many dachshunds – 60 – entered in the wiener dog races.

“And the crowd was probably tripled,” she said of the races. “The crowd goes crazy for them.”

Some new events probably helped boost attendance, including a street dance and beer garden downtown, and a Battle of the Bands for teens on the high school grounds drew first-timers Friday night. She expected the karaoke contest Saturday night to pack them in as it has for a couple of years.

There were politicians for the parade Saturday morning, lawn mower races in the afternoon, and a dunk tank and a climbing wall all day. Local artisans and craftspeople in booths sold jewelry and glassworks, soap and jams.

Attendees could get a free chiropractic screening or hear a pitch for a satellite dish or shoe inserts. Scout troops and athletic teams had games to raise money.

Anyone who got hungry could order funnel cakes and cups mounded with shaved ice turned into rainbows by flavored syrup.

Rathdrum Days probably isn’t much different from celebrations in towns and cities across the Inland Northwest, Wilcox said.

All of them help build communities.

In a place like Rathdrum that’s seen rapid growth in the surrounding prairie and foothills, “they help bring all of those newbies into town,” she said.

Bill Hendrix’s family has operated a shaved ice stand at the event for about 13 years.

“It gets bigger and bigger every year,” Hendrix said. And this year, with the price of gasoline, “people don’t want to go out of town to do things.”

The event is well-run, so the vendors come back and so do the crowds, said Sam Tweit, who was manning a stand selling burritos and funnel cakes.

Tweit was in Chewelah last week, and will be in Ione next week.

“Every weekend, there’s something, somewhere,” Tweit said.