Sandpoint, Idaho Guide to North Idaho Information and Media

A Beautiful Partnership

TEACHING ACCEPTANCE AND CREATING FRIENDSHIPS AT SHS

“GOOD MORNING SANDPOINT HIGH SCHOOL! TODAY FOR LUNCH WE HAVE A TURKEY SANDWICH WITH A SIDE OF MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY. WHAT JOKE DO YOU HAVE FOR US, ANDREW?”

Every morning at Sandpoint High School, a similar opener resonates through each classroom as familiar faces deliver the morning video announcements. The well-known student-led newspaper Cedar Post has created a community within their classroom; a heartwarming community, to say the least. The Cedar Post staff collaborates with the Life Skills class (Sandpoint High School’s class for special needs students) in order to brighten each morning with a joke and a friendly smile.

Samuel Diercks, a 2018 Sandpoint High School graduate, and Bruin Jones, a senior this year, were the masters behind initiating this collaboration. It initially began when the Cedar Post staff wanted to bring a specific student on to tell a joke. “He always had a joke for us,” Diercks said, “but we technically weren’t allowed to have non-Cedar Post members on the announcements.” After a while, though, “we decided to break the rules a little.”

TRUCKS, MUD AND ADRENALINE

MOUNTAIN MAFIA RAISING NEW MOTOCROSS EVENT IN NORTH IDAHO

Mac Miltz really just needed to borrow a trailer, and he knew Ben Spinney had one. Simple enough.

But once the two got to talking on their drive from Sandpoint to Spokane, ideas began to churn.

“We started talking about this concept and idea, and between other jobs we kept working on it,” Miltz said. “Then Grey (Whittier) came on board, and within a year, a year and a half, we ended up finding the right piece of property, and that’s how it all jumped off.”

And so born was Mountain Mafia Entertainment, a company “deeply rooted in outdoor adrenaline sports,” as they describe it on their website. The company’s main event—Mountain Havoc, coming up on its sixth year in June—is the subject of a six-episode series called “Mountain Mafia,” originally on the MotorTrend Network and now available on Amazon Prime.

SANDPOINT’S PARTY OF THE YEAR!

NOTHING'S MORE FUN THAN GETTING LOST IN THE '50S!

Hints: - Vintage cars on parade cruisin’ through Sandpoint, gleaming in the sun ... - Nighttime streets packed with bobby-soxers and cool dudes with slickedback hair, rocking out to Rockin’ Robin...

Yes! You got it on one! It’s time for the 34th Annual Lost in the ‘50s, when the whole town turns out to turn back the clock! Unpack those poodle skirts and penny loafers, and block out the weekend of May 16 through 18. It’s the party of the year—and you’re invited!

In case you wonder how this retro-event started, it was 34 years ago by Carolyn Gleason. With an interesting idea to bring some old-time rock ‘n’ roll to downtown Sandpoint, she organized the very first Lost in the ‘50s. Since this was in the digital dinosaur years of pre-social media, Carolyn actually walked from door to door inviting people with vintage cars to bring them to the event.