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SHELLEY, Idaho (KIFI) – Nestled in the Snake River Homestead is a gem of a monument to the pioneers and their efforts to tame the wilderness in Idaho.

Hundreds gathered to celebrate Pioneer Day Thursday at the public park, formerly known as North Bingham County Historical Park, situated at 587 East 1250 North near Shelley.

“We have food vendors and historic merchant vendors. Then, of course, we have a lot of free activities for all ages,” said Snake River Homestead President Anna Decker.

Families from across Bingham County gathered to learn about class in the one-room Allridge Schoolhouse, visit the General Store, pan a mining sluice for gems, spin wool and ride in horse-drawn wagons.

“They didn’t have electricity. We teach them about going to school in a one room schoolhouse with an outhouse,” said Snake River Homestead Vice President Lynn Cramer. “Kids today just can’t even fathom what that would have been like for children 100 years ago.”

The commemoration may have been the first of its kind at the Snake River Homestead, but the site itself is a living history book that comes alive with reenactments, recreations and intricately preserved cabins, sheep camps and other structures dating to the 1860s.

“We’re just here to carry on the dream and to continue the education about the pioneers,” Decker said.

Kids listened to the incredible, true survival story of mountain man Hugh Glass from modern-day story teller Adam Finehout, dressed for the part at a teepee.

“He was attacked by a grizzly bear, and his friends thought he was going to die so they left him,” Finehout said. “He had so many wounds on him, he had to put maggots on it to help eat the bacteria off of his flesh. He ended up killing the bear with a Bowie knife, and he crawled over 200 miles and survived.”

Visitors also received “prairie diamond” rings fashioned out of nails by Greg Adams, a real blacksmith. 

They took historical tours with volunteer missionaries and learned arithmetic on slate boards with schoolteachers.

The park is a labor of love, run by a volunteer board and members of the community. It is the legacy of Mike and Joan Winston, who organized the preservation of the historic school and cabins nearly 30 years ago.

The Snake River Homestead’s Pioneer Day celebration will become an annual tradition, held on the third Thursday of every July.

Other festivities continue Saturday in St. Anthony with a grand parade at 10 AM, car show at 8 AM and the Pioneer Day Rodeo Friday and Saturday night – honoring the contributions of the men, women and children who settled this land and left us a legacy that we can call home.

“Don’t forget where you came from, because that’s what we are – a bit of history,” Cramer said.

We will see brief isolated to scattered showers and storms this Friday and Saturday afternoon as the monsoonal moisture exits our region. Overall, most residents will experience a dry and very warm next few days ahead.

Some elevated fire conditions will occur due to the increased dryness and elevated wind gusts from these isolated storms over the Eastern highlands. Mostly clear skies to start out Friday morning, with some minor storms pushing their way out of the Northeast zone of our region. We will have a break in this activity this afternoon before more cloud coverage returns those mountain showers and storms later on.

High pressure is bringing a wave of warm, dry conditions to the majority of Eastern Idaho and Western Wyoming. Expect high temperatures today to sit in the mid to upper 90s… and these numbers will persist or grow warmer in the following week (triple-digit highs forecasted in our 8-day track!). The strongest wind gusts will be toward the central mountains, where they’ll be 25 to 35 mph as isolated storm chances pick up.

Saturday’s forecast, looking much similar to today’s forecast, will continue to see small pop-up showers in the mountains as that high pressure rides into the region this weekend. Breezy conditions will also pick up, with a potential to create dangerous fire hazard conditions and wind gusts around 35 mph. High temperatures will sit in the upper 90s with a strong UV index across most of the region, so plan to have sunscreen and create some fun summer outdoor memories.

Sunday sun will persist to wrap up the weekend, and temperatures will rise heading into the final week of July.

Heat Advisory issued July 23 at 10:45AM MDT until July 24 at 9:00PM MDT by NWS Pocatello ID

* WHAT…Temperatures 95 to 100 degrees expected across valley
locations within the advised areas.

* WHERE…Eastern Magic Valley, Shoshone/Lava Beds, Arco/Mud Lake
Desert, Lower Snake River Plain, Raft River Region, Southern
Hills/Albion Mountains, and Upper Snake River Plain.

* WHEN…From 1 PM to 9 PM MDT Friday.

* IMPACTS…Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses.
Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of
the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.

RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) – Anyone Awake is a local band from Rigby that will be hitting the road in two days for their “I Meant What I Said” tour.

They will be stopping at 17 different locations across the nation over the next 40 days.

“We’ll be gone for 40 days,” Cassius Moore, the band’s vocalist and rhythm guitar player, said. “We won’t have a home or a consistent bed for more than a night or two. And we’re going to go see the world as far as New York, Toronto, Orlando, Texas, Omaha, and that’s just to name a few.”

The band began when a group of BYU-Idaho students discovered their shared passion for music. They started out in 2023 and have since gained over 15,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Now that they are officially off on their first tour, they feel grateful to all of the supportive people surrounding them.

“This is a lame answer,” Seth Chamberlain, the band’s drummer, said. “But we’ve just spent so long on social media, like having people like, ‘we want to see you’ and I’m just so excited to go to all of them and to meet people because, it’s just so cool to finally meet people that you’ve made a difference in their life.”

The support isn’t just from online fans but local Idahoans who are excited to see some of their own taking to the limelight.

“There’s a thing called McMidnight in Rexburg and I was there and my friend stood on one of the tables and was like shouting, ‘this guy is going on tour!’,” Jeff DeSoto, the bands lead guitarist, recounted. “Then everybody was like clapping and getting excited for us. So it’s definitely crazy that just random people that you run into will show support, because it is like we’re doing something that could potentially be pretty monumental for this area in Idaho. I’ve been like really just like shocked at the support in the community.”

Here is a link to their website, if you are interested in purchasing tickets or checking out their latest album.