{"id":956,"date":"2020-08-29T14:02:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T14:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lakeandhomes.com\/blog\/?p=956"},"modified":"2021-11-13T16:32:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T16:32:43","slug":"sandpoint-a-norman-rockwell-meets-ansel-adams-classic-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/29\/sandpoint-a-norman-rockwell-meets-ansel-adams-classic-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandpoint A Norman Rockwell meets Ansel Adams classic. USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sure, it looks idyllic now \u2026<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n
By Laura Bly, USA TODAY<\/div>\n
SANDPOINT, Idaho \u2014 It\u2019s a Norman Rockwell-meets-Ansel Adams classic, brought to life every summer: the warm sunshine, the clear reaches of Sand Creek and the whoops of young boys swinging from a rope strung high in a nearby cottonwood tree.<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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$\"Ripples$ <\/td>\n $\"\"$ <\/td>\n Ripples of charm:\u00a0<\/b>Boaters cruise in Sand Creek with the Cedar Street Bridge in the background in Sandpoint, Idaho.<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n $\"\"$ <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
By Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
The surrounding region, laced with \u201crugged mountains, dense forests (and) wide, empty rivers,\u201d is \u201cfar more beautiful than I had dreamed. People laugh easily, and the laughter whispers out through the pines and over the still water,\u201d gushes Hollywood game-show host and frequent visitor Ben Stein in a recent issue of\u00a0American Spectator<\/i>\u00a0magazine.<\/p>\n
Throw in a thriving arts scene, a top-rated but low-key ski area 11 miles from town, and outdoor restaurant decks filled with tourists schmoozing over huckleberry daiquiris and appetizers of ancho chili and espresso-encrusted tuna, and no wonder this eclectic enclave, some 75 miles east of Spokane, Wash., in northern Idaho\u2019s Panhandle, is being touted as the Next Great Place.<\/p>\n
Sunset<\/i>\u00a0magazine recently voted Sandpoint \u201cbest small town in the West,\u201d the August issue of\u00a0Outside<\/i>\u00a0crowned it one of 20 \u201cdream towns,\u201d and September\u2019s\u00a0National Geographic Adventure\u00a0<\/i>includes it among 10 \u201cgreat adventure towns.\u201d Now, its 7,500 residents are bracing for changes that many fear will not be for the better. (Related story:\u00a0<\/b>If you go \u2026<\/a>)<\/p>\n
Founded as a lumber and railroad town at the turn of the 20th century, Sandpoint sits between the Cabinet and Selkirk mountains on the northwestern banks of Lake Pend Oreille (pond-dor-RAY).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Moose:\u00a0<\/b>Regular visitors at Hidden
\nLakes Golf Resort.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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One of the West\u2019s largest bodies of water, Pend Oreille also is among the deepest and most pristine. The Navy has conducted sonar research more than 1,000 feet below the surface, and more than two-thirds of its 111-mile shoreline is publicly owned. Fishermen, kayakers, sailors and water skiers flock here during the summer, and reflections of golden birches, cottonwoods and larches draw leaf peepers from September to mid-October.<\/p>\n
Most first-time Sandpoint visitors arrive by crossing a 2-mile span where the Pend Oreille River meets the lake, and the euphoria that inevitably follows is dubbed the Long Bridge Syndrome.<\/p>\n
(Some of the besotted go on to sign up for the annual Long Bridge Swim; rumor had it part-time resident Viggo Mortensen may be a contestant in Saturday\u2019s race.)<\/p>\n
Until a few years ago, the community\u2019s biggest draws were the lake, nearby Schweitzer Mountain ski area and the hometown store of Coldwater Creek, a women\u2019s clothing company that served as de facto chamber of commerce for city slickers in search of the Northwoods nirvana they\u2019d glimpsed through the company\u2019s catalogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stop and shop:\u00a0<\/b>Shoppers browse the Cedar Street Bridge, home to Coldwater Creek women\u2019s clothing store.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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But to the chagrin of some old-timers and the delight of Sandpoint\u2019s 175-plus real estate agents (many of whom moved here in the late \u201960s or early \u201970s, lived out \u201cback to the land\u201d fantasies and are now driving Cadillac Escalades), poring over \u201cfor sale\u201d signs is becoming an increasingly popular tourist attraction. One glossy brochure describes a community \u201con the verge of discovery,\u201d and demand for vacation and retirement homes is surging: Waterfront property that sold for $2,000 a foot last spring has more than doubled in value over the past year, with one Pend Oreille island on the market for $16 million. Linda Mitchell, co-owner of the Sandpoint-based Shawnodese tour boat, bemoans the fact that she\u2019s seen more lakefront construction this summer than in the past 20 years combined.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we really need is a good, hard winter to flush (the newer arrivals) out,\u201d jokes Kathy Borders, a Portland, Ore., refugee who built a lakeside home near Sandpoint eight years ago.<\/p>\n
But truth be told, she confides over sips of Cougar Crest Viognier on the Shawnodese\u2019s recent sunset wine-tasting\/bald-eagle-watching cruise, she can\u2019t wait for the temperature to plummet. Despite icy, unplowed roads and long stretches of leaden skies, there\u2019s nothing better than watching a live evening performance at the Panida Theater (a 1927 Spanish Mission Revival landmark restored through community donations), then strolling through snow flurries for a chat with friends and neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a scene out of\u00a0It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/i>,\u201d says Borders, \u201cand it never wears off.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s not the only devotee to link Sandpoint with mythical Bedford Falls.<\/p>\n
Dann Hall, 56, a photographer and owner of Hallan\u2019s Gallery, describes himself as a \u201cremigrant\u201d \u2014 a homegrown kid who struck out for distant horizons but found himself drawn back to Sandpoint\u2019s spectacular scenery and \u201chonest, veneer-free people.\u201d Today, he sells prints of the evocative black-and-white photographs taken by his late father, Ross Hall. The best seller is a portrait of downtown Sandpoint on a snowy winter\u2019s night in 1934. The title:\u00a0It\u2019s a Wonderful Life.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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$\"\"$ <\/td>\n \u00a0\u00a0THE SANDPOINT FILE<\/td>\n $\"\"$ <\/td>\n $\"\"$ <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Population:<\/b>\u00a07,378
\nArea:<\/b>\u00a06.8 square miles
\nPopulation density:\u00a0<\/b>1,085 per square mile
\nElevation:<\/b>\u00a02,085 feet
\nMedian resident age:\u00a0<\/b>36.5 years
\nMedian household income:<\/b>$32,461
\nMedian house value:<\/b>\u00a0$174,500
\nAverage July temperature:<\/b>\u00a081.2 degrees
\nAverage January temperature:<\/b>21.0 degrees
\nAverage snowfall in January:<\/b>15.5 inches
\nPrecipitation average per year:<\/b>33.3 inches
\nMuseums:\u00a0<\/b>1
\nArt galleries:\u00a0<\/b>20
\nArea golf courses:\u00a0<\/b>3
\nNearest city with population over 50,000:<\/b>\u00a0Coeur d\u2019Alene, Idaho, 45 milesSource: Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Jimmy Stewart might have felt at home here, but so does another celebrity with a more tarnished image. Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman moved to Sandpoint after the O.J. Simpson trial, joining a large contingent of other officers. Fuhrman\u2019s presence exacerbated Northern Idaho\u2019s reputation as a haven for racists and extremists: Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler lives in Hayden Lake, about 40 miles south of Sandpoint, and the 1992 shootout at white separatist Randy Weaver\u2019s Ruby Ridge compound took place north of town, near Bonner\u2019s Ferry.<\/p>\n
But along with self-deprecating jokes (\u201cHow do you know it\u2019s springtime in Sandpoint? Mark Fuhrman is out planting gloves\u201d), many Sandpoint residents work hard to dispel the stereotypes. The Web site of Church Street House, a B&B in town, links to that of the Bonner County Human Rights Commission. Popular bumper stickers, meanwhile, include \u201cDiversity Is Natural\u201d and \u201cIdaho Is Too Great For Hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community activism takes other high-profile forms in Sandpoint. The Shawnodese is stocked with brochures for the Rock Creek Alliance, a non-profit group trying to block a proposed Montana silver and copper mine 25 miles upstream from Lake Pend Oreille. And downtown shoppers browsing for fleece jackets or cannabis incense sticks can\u2019t miss the windows plastered with full-page newspaper ads taken out by opponents of the Sand Creek Byway.<\/p>\n
The three-year project would divert lumber trucks and other commercial traffic away from Sandpoint\u2019s increasingly noisy, congested downtown \u2014 already saddled with an average of 60 trains a day, thanks to the convergence of several freight lines in the area. But the bypass also would fill in part of Sand Creek, the setting for those Norman Rockwell-esque whoops on summer afternoons.<\/p>\n
Some longtime residents fear the worst. \u201cI want to protect my little corner of the world,\u201d sighs Panida Theater executive director Karen Bowers. \u201cBut it\u2019s inevitable that we\u2019ll become another small town that\u2019s turned into a place for the rich and the people who can\u2019t afford to live there anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others, like Hidden Lakes Golf Resort owner Richard Villelli, are convinced Sandpoint can still avoid the fate of such places as Aspen, Colo., and Jackson, Wyo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are what they used to be,\u201d says Villeli, whose fairways boast eight resident moose. \u201cBut we\u2019re not going to be what they\u2019ve become.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, anyway, the small pleasures of Sandpoint prevail. Little girls tackle a faded hopscotch court in front of the Great Stuff gift shop, and Eichardt\u2019s pub pours $1 microbrews on Thursday nights. On the picnic grounds at the annual Festival at Sandpoint, a resident osprey making a victory lap with a fish in its mouth will draw as much applause as the performers (who have included the likes of Judy Collins, B.B. King and Tony Bennett).<\/p>\n
And at the Beyond Hope RV Resort, a half-hour drive away along the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, families who\u2019ve been returning every summer for the past three decades still listen for the satisfying thwack of a spring-loaded wooden screen door. It is the sound of their past \u2014 and, they hope, of their future.<\/p>\n\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sure, it looks idyllic now \u2026 By Laura Bly, USA TODAY SANDPOINT, Idaho \u2014 It\u2019s a Norman Rockwell-meets-Ansel Adams classic, brought to life every summer: the warm sunshine, the clear reaches of Sand Creek and the whoops of young boys swinging from a rope strung high in a nearby cottonwood tree. Ripples of charm:\u00a0Boaters cruise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sandpoint-accolades"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/08\/sandpoint-boat-inside-1.jpg?fit=180%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdz2Zu-fq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1670,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956\/revisions\/1670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}