Huckleberries

Jennifer Drake didn’t like “the feathers” at first.

The chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission was 20 years old when two giant feathers were installed on Northwest Boulevard on May 14-15, 2002.

“I’m not sure why I didn’t like them,” Jennifer told Huckleberries. “I thought the placement was bizarre.”

Jennifer’s assessment of the aluminum feathers, properly known as “The Guardians of the Lake,” changed after she moved away for a while. “They were one of the first things I saw when traveling to Coeur d’Alene from the Spokane Airport,” she said. “They became a symbol. They meant home.”

The feathers were created by Washington artists Keith Powell of Grand Coulee and the late David Govedare of Chewelah – two 25-foot replicas weighing 800 pounds apiece. The one on its side depicts an osprey tail feather. The one standing simulates a feather from an eagle’s wing.

Govedare is also known for sculpting the metal runners at Spokane’s Riverfront Park and the wild horse monument at Vantage, Wash. “The Guardians of the Lake,” he said in 2002, was meant to convey “feathers that floated down out of the sky and landed on the beach.”

The feathers haven’t gotten their due.

Perhaps it was the placement in the median strip of busy Northwest Boulevard, near Riverstone’s entrance. Or maybe it was the early, unrelenting criticism by Bob Paulos, a former Coeur d’Alene Press publisher and op-ed columnist who couldn’t believe the 2002 price tag: $50,000.

In one column, Paulos compared the feathers to a “a fourth-grade arts project.” And then ap-hollow-gized to local fourth-graders in his next column, claiming they would have done a better job. Paulos suggested that any money left over from the project be used to print “a couple of hundred thousand brochures” to explain to visitors what the feathers meant.

“The concept of public art in town was brand new,” Jennifer Drake said. “A lot of people were afraid to say they loved the feathers. Or they stood back and waited for their friends to react.”

“The Guardians of the Lake” was to be the first part of a greater vision. Govedare talked of adding a 50-foot canoe carrying people of various races past the feathers. A final piece of the series was to be added much later at Independence Point: a large, pearl necklace.

The canoe and the necklace didn’t materialize. But “Guardians of the Lake” launched dozens of public works of art that have further improved the quality of life in this special place.

Golden Anniversary

You Are an Old-timer If … you recall what Tom Robb was doing before he and two partners opened the iconic Iron Horse 50 years ago. Robb, then 31, had taught accounting and business at North Idaho College for six years. Earlier, he and future partner Phil Graue had taught at Coeur d’Alene High.

Graue and Barbara Renner were running Prof’s Coffee Shop in the Coeur d’Alene Mall before they went into business with Robb, opening the Iron Horse on June 2, 1972. In a Coeur d’Alene Press article weeks earlier, they had announced plans to convert the old Manor House into a restaurant with a railroad theme. Robb would manage the place. Renner would handle the kitchen, menu, and catering.

“I always wanted to own my own business and be my own boss,” Robb told the Press.

The Iron Horse expanded into the adjacent two businesses and is still going strong 50 years later despite the challenge of COVID. Robb told the Press two years ago he had no plans to retire.

Graue, who’d long since sold his interest in the business, died at age 96 in July 2015.

In 1985, Renner became manager of the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo but remained Robb’s partner until 1991. In 2012, she was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs Hall of Fame.

Grandpa’s Knife

Tom Morgan was working on a bicycle chain last week when he reached into his pants pocket for his grandfather’s old three-blade knife. But this time he paused. Tears came to his eyes. Until that moment, he didn’t realize that his Grandpa Buster Morgan had given him the knife 48 years ago as of tomorrow, Monday. On his sixth birthday, Tom remembers his grandfather cutting an apple and feeding him pieces. His grandfather ate his slices off the blade. Grandpa Morgan, who owned 120 acres off Brunner Road in Athol, then folded the knife and gave it to Tom. “A boy should have a good pocketknife,” Grandpa said. “Be careful and don’t cut yourself.” Tom has lost and found the knife several times over the years. Also, he's “whittled a million sticks, cut thousands of hay bale strings, and (eaten) countless apples off the blade.” His grandfather died two decades ago. “It’s just a dirty old knife,” Tom said, his voice catching.

Huckleberries

· Poet’s Corner: Engaged on his cell phone/while driving his Beamer,/unhappily thus did/he fracture his femur – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“I-90 Business Call”).

· Bumpersnicker (on a blue GMC truck with a camper shell at I-90 & 4th last Sunday): The Labor Movement: The folks who brought you the weekend.”

· My 2 Cents: Cheers to Pastor Steve Findley of the Coeur d’Alene Church of Christ. On Tuesday, he delivered a benediction in which he prayed for Mayor Jim Hammond and the council members by name. He asked God to magnify the good that they do. And he applauded their willingness to rush into harm’s way for the benefit of the Lake City. No politics. No lecturing the council on who’s a Christian and who isn’t. Only blessing. May his kind increase.

· Quotable Quote: “One benefit of growing up without the internet was that I actually believed, for a significant chunk of my life, that my thoughts and personality were completely unique in the world,” Katrina Wright Swaim of Coeur d’Alene.

· Bumpersnicker II (on a blue Toyota sedan in the parking lot of the Canvas Church polling precinct on Seventh Street): “Apathy Is the Best Whatever.”

· Believe it or not, that newfangled roundabout at Fourth & Kathleen was somewhat controversial when the city announced plans to build it 20 years ago (May 17, 2002).

Parting Shot

The siren call of Hudson’s Hamburgers lured Seattle University undergrad Caleb Lynch off I-90 and into downtown Coeur d’Alene last weekend. Luck found him on a stool next to goodwill ambassador Sandy Emerson. Caleb, son of an Irish father and Irish-American mother, told Sandy that his best friend in Bozeman urged him to stop at Hudson’s on the way back to Seattle. Later, Sandy invited Caleb to join him on a walking tour of the waterfront. At the end, Caleb said, “They thought of everything. Fantastic.” And the Hudson’s burger? As good as advertised. “I never thought I would eat a burger as good as my uncle’s,” Caleb told Huckleberries Monday. “My uncle (Michael Seymour of County Tipperary, Ireland) raises cattle and makes his own burgers. Hudson’s rivals those.” His Irish eyes were smiling.

D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.