Bonner County History - May 3, 2026

Brought to you by the

Bonner County Historical

Society and Museum

611 S. Ella Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864

208-263-2344

50 Years Ago

Sandpoint News-Bulletin

and Sandpoint Bee

May 3, 1976 – CHAMBER CORNER 

Dedication of the new Area Information Center is set for Friday at 2:00 p.m.  President Bob Farmin will MC the Dedication. Vern Bromgard will raise the American Flag; Merle Parsley, representing the Governor’s office will raise the State Flag, and a Canadian representative will raise the Canadian Flag. Monument dedication will be by Artist Roy Reynolds and Dave Wall of the K & K Committee. Mayor Les Brown and Junior Miss Cheryl Wooden will cut the ribbon for the Building dedication. Malcolm Shaw of the Bonner County Historical Society will dedicate the Time Capsule.  

•••

INTO THE SWING OF SPRING 

Senior citizens Earl Shrake, Caarl Grottke, Bill Anderson, Les Bruder and Ode Cox, all members of the Bonner County Senior Citizens’ Council, donated time this week to help landscaping efforts at the Senior Citizen Center at Main and Forest.  

•••

BAND, DRILL TEAM TO BE IN PARADE 

About 90 SHS students will travel to Wenatchee, Wash. for the annual Apple Blossom Festival. The SHS Ponderettes Drill Team, led by captains Sue Self and Marla Spielman, will wear uniforms promoting the parade’s Bicentennial theme. Providing the music for the Ponderettes will be the 60-member German-clad Bulldog band in their green lederhosen, white shirts, suspenders and Tyrolian hats, led by drum major Rick Franck. Junior Miss Cheryl Wooden and princesses Karen Holm and Mindi McCormick will grace the Sandpoint Community Float, which has a showboat theme. 

75 Years Ago

Sandpoint News-Bulletin

May 3, 1951 – BIRTHDAY PARTY GIVEN 

[Wade] Gary Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wade Brown, celebrated his 10th birthday Friday with friends who spent the evening at his home roasting wieners and marshmallows, singing and playing games. Guests were Kurt and Bruce Brown, Jackie Baker, Delbert Hanson, Bobby Miller, George May, Joe Haynes, Bobby and Ricky Hanson, Gary and Leroy Michael, Michael McFarland, Jimmy Wyatt, Robert and Frank Slette, Michael Winslow, Judy and Douglas Brown, Phil Rogers, Miss June Slette, Mrs. Virginia Boyle and Gary’s grandma, Mrs. A. Slette. 

•••

PIANO RECITAL 

At the spring piano recital of pupils of Ruth W. Adams held in the Baptist church, duets were played by Wayne and Winona Meredith, Dorothy and Velma Warren, Kay and Dale Selle, and Dwight and Bobby Miller, who also played solos. Others in the recital were Celia Mae Paris, Sandra Spealman, JoEllen Walker, Linda Miller, Paul Tillberg, Dennis Eckwortzell, Dewey Johnston, Stephen Spealman, Wilma McIntosh, Myrna Heath, Darold Sauer, Carol Kiebert, Shelly Lea Gill, Lola Jean Stevens, Chester Morrell, Gary Windecker, Mary Weaver,  Betty Lou Swafford, Ruth Tribe, Deen McFarland, Jake Tifft, Jean Linsday, Jane Sauer and Charlene Dietzel.

For more information, visit the museum online at bonnercountyhistory.org.