Bonner County History - Sept. 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

Sept. 3, 1976 – RECALL EARLY FAIRS  

Local old-timers recalled the area’s first fairs in a fitting Bicentennial program Thursday at the Bonner County Fair. Hit of the program was lively Margaret Hunter, who presented Fair board member Mrs. Vernon Ruen with a fair book from the first area fair Hunter ever attended, a small affair upstairs over the Post Office in Sagle in 1915, years before the first official Bonner County Fair. “It was not a county meeting, but a neighborhood meeting,” Mrs. Hunter said. “We had a vegetable show and sewing, but no livestock.” Among the awards, she said, was one for the best baby. Frank Cochrane, who served on the fair board for the first county fair [1927], and has been on the board continuously ever since, was presented with a silver plate. He said the first fair was held in the old First Methodist Church where the First Security Bank now stands [in 2026, Wells Fargo Bank]. “Tables were set up to display a few farm products,” recalled Cochrane. “At the second fair, three head of Gurnsey cattle were exhibited.” Mrs. Ralph Chicks was honored as being an exhibitor in the fair continuously for the past 47 years. She said she was proud to have been a part of the fair for so long. “I hope you get bit by the fair bug,” she told the crowd. “It’s a disease from which there is no known cure. I got bit in 1929 and I’ve been coming back ever since.” The program also included the introduction of the 1976 Fair royalty, Queen Cindy Finney and King Chuck McGuire.  

75 Years Ago

Sandpoint News-Bulletin

Sept. 3, 1951 – NEU NOW IN GERMANY 

Mr. and Mrs. William Neu heard from their son, Lt. Robert Neu, who was stationed at Great Falls AFB since his recall to active duty in February, that he is in Germany and expects to be there about a month.  

•••

OUTDOOR THEATRE GOING AHEAD NOW 

The Panida theatre management announced plans to proceed with the drive-in theater on Hwy 95 three miles north of Sandpoint after Mr. Weskil cleared the way with federal authorities for  construction of the theater. Over the summer, timber was removed from the land; removal of the stumps comes next and then the grounds will be leveled before actual construction can begin. Completion of the big drive-in unit, which will handle 350 cars, is tentatively scheduled for completion in May, 1952.  

•••

CHICK SALES [OUTHOUSE] RESCUED 

Linemen are often asked to perform such out-of-the-ordinary tasks as removing cats from poles, but a Mountain States Power crew thinks it had a new high in odd requests. Recently, in routine upkeep, the outdoor plumbing at the Meegan school near Priest River [10 mi. north on Eastside Rd.] toppled over. The structure was too heavy for school maintenance crews, so school board clerk Charles Selle called the local power company, whose crew (Gordon McNew, Ray Millan and Pat McCrum) promptly set things to right in a way that would have had full approval of that old specialist, Chick Sales.

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