Giant die to live on in Cd'A

A wickedly wet and snowy fall and winter delivered more than floodwaters to downtown Coeur d’Alene this spring.

In mid-March, a giant game piece, one half of a pair of dice, washed ashore on City Beach near Independence Point.

Removed by city workers, the big die will soon return to Independence Point.

This time, it will bear a message on a plaque: “A Gift from Lake CDA, Spring 2017.”

After piquing great interest and intrigue, the dotted metal square turned out to be a large tank someone had placed stickers on to make it look like a game piece. The floodwaters had picked it up from a distant beach, carried it across Lake Coeur d’Alene, and deposited it on the shore near Coeur d’Alene’s City Park.

“After it washed up on City Beach we had brought it over to the dirt lot at Memorial Park,” said Sam Taylor, the city’s deputy administrator. “Our intent was to refurbish it and place it in a park area.”

Taylor said the decision to repurpose the object at Independence Point came from the city’s Parks and Recreation director, Bill Greenwood.

“We just thought it was a novel approach to addressing something that washed up on shore that already had an interesting backstory, having had the stickers on it then, too,” Taylor said. “Bill’s idea for the plaque is a nice touch, too. It lets us tell a little story and becomes part of the local lore.”

The game piece will be buried partly in the ground, Taylor said, likely on one of its corners so it doesn’t tip.