Thursday, March 28, 2024
37.0°F

Strobel represents for real men at the fair

| August 27, 2014 9:00 PM

The culinary building is a feast for the eyes during the North Idaho Fair, with so many breads, cakes, pies and confections.

On Saturday morning I joined Commissioner Jai Nelson and Sheriff Ben Wolfinger for the enviable task of judging the apple pies. It's a tried and true process of sampling a small bite of the different pies, which are identified only by a number, with a sip of water between each sampling. The pies are judged on appearance, crust, texture and taste. Numbers are entered on individual score sheets and then tallied.

The winner of the apple pie baking contest was Dennis Strobel, proving that real men can bake a blue-ribbon pie!

About 8 p.m. Saturday evening, Pam and Rich Houser checked into their Sacramento hotel and their room on the 19th floor. Rich, Kootenai County's deputy assessor, was scheduled to appear on a panel at the National Conference on Assessment Administration the next day. Just after 3 a.m. they awoke to the swaying of the building. A little disorienting for people who don't live in a place where earthquakes are the norm. The 6.0 quake was the largest to hit the San Francisco Bay area in 25 years. The quake put the kibosh on a planned Napa Valley wine tour, but the trip and the conference went on as scheduled.

Jenni Grimmett was the rodeo veterinarian for this year's North Idaho Fair. She surprised the Saturday night rodeo audience by taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge right there in the arena.

No sooner was she drenched with cold water than Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" blasted over the loudspeakers and the good doctor proceeded to kick up her heels in an energetic clog dance, with a few "Jenni twists" for good measure. It was a definite crowd-pleaser.

The newest member of the Main Street Birthday Club arrived just before midnight Monday. Ryan Patrick Malloy weighed 8 pounds on the nose and is 21 inches tall. His happy first-time parents are Amber and Joe Malloy. Ryan will be much spoiled by his grandparents Pat Malloy of Post Falls; Charlotte Rogers-Brown, Phoenix; and Jennifer and Mario Velo of Des Moines. Welcome to the world, Ryan!

Enjoy summer's last hurrah this weekend and I'll see you in September!

Happy birthday today to Jan Berry, Peggy Sawicki, Ed Mitchell, Mike Wood and George Forgacs.

The same tomorrow to Freya Walton, Jack Reiswig, Marissa Leupold, Steve Slaney, Michelle Garcia, Becky Fletcher, Darlene Johnson, Judy DeTar, Karen Huber, Laurie Sutton, Loretta Richards, Pearl Brown and Spencer Messina.

Best wishes on Friday to Jeannie Peugh, who shares the date with Stacey Holley, Randy Marmon, Cindy Foulk, Bob Myklebust, Lori Barker, Cody Jewell, Merle Bartlett and Arvada Schmacher.

On Saturday, Bryan Williams, Luke Sommer, Cyndie Lempesis, Jarin Bressler, Bjorn Handeen, Gen Twete and Stefany Mealey make another trip around the sun.

The last day of August is the birthdate of Ron Nilson, Jill Delavan, Patti Shea, Craig Wilcox, Andrew Houser, Jamie Ostbert, Donna Euler, Mike Gerber, Nicole Stark and Rondi Renaldo.

On Labor Day Monday, Kathy McKahn is celebrating along with Terry Lee, David Mills, Kim Routh, Sharon Latimer, Missy Hansen, Paul Ebert and Travis Best.

Tuesday Sept. 2 birthdays will be marked by Bonnie Miller, John Parmann, Dale Borley, Tammy Kelly, Debbie Pohlmeier and Kelley Inman.

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2013 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.