Lost in the '50s this weekend

SANDPOINT - Despite a forecast calling for sun Friday, there shall be no talk of the weather.

At least not until Sandpoint's biggest weekend is over.

Barbro Wiking-Johnson has seen a host of different weather patterns settling over Sandpoint for the Lost in the '50s weekend, but she prefers not to jinx the event.

"Saturday there might be showers, but don't mention that," said Wiking-Johnson, a saleswoman at Eve's Leaves, a women's clothing store on Sandpoint's First Avenue. "That would really be pretty bad for those guys with convertibles."

Then again, she said, North Idaho weather is as variable as speckles on a river trout.

"If you don't like the weather, wait a minute," she said.

Like many business managers, owners and salespeople on the main drag, Wiking-Johnson is looking forward to the big event that includes vendors and sidewalk sales in addition to a plethora of old cars as part of a classic car show, no matter what the weather.

"I can remember when it has been so cold and wet, or so hot I was melting away," she said.

Carolyn Gleason, who started the program 25 years ago, said the original idea for the event has more to do with an era of music than the thermometer.

Rock 'n' roll, the music of the 1950s that spurred the three-day show, is still alive, well and loud.

"The whole idea is to be able to see original rock n' roll entertainment before it disappears," Gleason said. "It's universal to everybody."

Gleason, who owns Second Avenue Pizza, operates the event out of the restaurant's office with a cutout of Elvis in a golden suit blessing the office entrance.

"Kids today like the music," she said.

She rounds up between 100 and 150 volunteers throughout the year, she said, who direct traffic, erect signs, distribute fliers and generally make the three-day event run smoothly.

"I think it's an intricate part of this community," Gleason said. "It gives a lot of people a feel-good attitude toward Sandpoint."

A concert at the Panida titled "Rock 'n' Roll Heaven VI," which features tribute artists, starts at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Things really get hopping the following evening when the vintage car parade kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday.

A street dance follows the parade and a show and dance is set at 7:30 p.m. at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

Downtown will bustle with a vintage car show, Saturday morning and the show and dance at the fairgrounds continues at 7:30 p.m.

A 5K run is slated Sunday beginning at Second Avenue Pizza at 10 a.m. with a car rally set at 11:20.