HUCKLEBERRIES: Bear with me here

In the beginning, there were five.

On Nov. 21, 1978, Pat Mitchell, then 16, and four Coeur d’Alene High buddies stripped down to skimpy swimsuits at Sanders Beach and ran into 40-degree Lake Coeur d’Alene.

And that collective act of insanity unofficially birthed Coeur d’Alene’s famous Polar Bear Plunge.

The quintet — Mitchell, Brian Hunt, Rob Langstaff, Bry Riba and Ken Kohli — planned to jump into the lake again New Year’s Day 1979. But subzero temperatures stopped them cold.

Now, 500-plus greet the new year by running, diving and submerging in the lake off Sanders Beach.

Twenty-one years after that first frigid dip, Mitchell was bewildered as to why anyone followed him.

“I kind of shake my head because it’s a pretty stupid thing if you think about it,” Mitchell told the Coeur d’Alene Press on Dec. 28, 1999, only days before plunging into the new millennium.

Mitchell offered these tips for Polar Bear newcomers:

• Stand on a towel to keep your feet warm before the event

• Wear aqua socks

• Have a spotter nearby with dry clothes

• Arrive early to find good parking (to prevent a long walk back to the car afterward)

• Don’t stay in the water long

In December 1999, Mitchell, an unsuccessful mayoral candidate six years before, challenged Mayor Steve Judy to usher in the millennium by joining him for a dip. And issued this tongue-in-cheek threat if the mayor refused: “I’ll run against him in 2001.”

Sadly, Ken Kohli, one of the five original Polar Bears, was killed in an airplane crash in Montana on July 26, 1996. At the time, Kohli was the spokesman for the Intermountain Forest Association.

His boss, IFA executive director Jim Riley, told The Press that Kohli enjoyed taking his three children to Sanders Beach for the annual plunge: “Ken was very proud of his legacy as one of the originators of the plunge,” Riley said. “His legacy lives on.”

The annual Polar Bear Plunge takes place at noon on New Year’s Day at Sanders Beach.

Garden spot

Imagine Coeur d’Alene’s downtown with a large botanical garden gracing the western end, sandwiched between City Park and Second Street.

In December 2004, businessman Duane Hagadone offered the city $21 million to fund his dream: $4 million for the garden, $15 million for maintenance over 25 years and the rest for infrastructure.

“I’m basically building this for the community,” Hagadone told a packed crowd at a City Council workshop Dec. 13, 2004. “If this isn’t good for Coeur d’Alene, we’ll take it off the table.”

He placed one condition on his plan: The city had to abandon a block and a half of Sherman Avenue.

And that was a sticking point.

After weeks of controversy, Hagadone pulled the project when the council proposed a city advisory vote. He feared the vote would distract from two important funding measures set for a February ballot: one for a new library and the other for public works projects.

Afterward, Hagadone said: “How disappointed can I be? The City Council just saved me $20 million.”

Black (Not So) Happy

Black Happy fans rode an emotional roller coaster in the fall of 1994.

First, came news that the Coeur d’Alene band had recorded six songs with Seattle producer Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog). And that the band was fielding calls from major record labels. Then came the downer a month later: The eight-man band of four and a half years was breaking up.

Black Happy didn’t want to drop a lump of coal in its fans’ stockings before Christmas, singer/guitarist Paul Hemenway told The Press on Dec. 22, 1994, but word had leaked out.

So, what happened?

The Seattle recordings provided a clue: “It was far and ahead of the best stuff we’d ever done,” said Hemenway. “But a lot of people who like Black Happy would be shocked if they heard it.”

“The band was changing directions,” he said, “Veering from its blend of hard rock and funky horns into something a lot more raw and edgy.” Members felt they had lost focus. In its salad days, Black Happy played regularly in Seattle, and its music outsold all other Northwest bands but Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

The band parted amicably. Said Hemenway: “We’re still brothers.”

Marathon Man redux

During Yuletide 1999, Coeur d’Alene’s Marathon Man was behind the mike again, motivated by a 7-year-old boy named Johnny who didn’t believe in Santa Claus.

For a third consecutive year, Gary Allen of Rock 94 ½ FM worked 80 hours straight — from 6 a.m. Friday, Dec. 17, to 1:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 20 — to raise cash, food, toys and clothing for Christmas for All and Toys for Tots. He did so with a picture of Santa nonbeliever Johnny nearby.

“Every time I got tired, I just kept looking at his picture,” Gary told The Press after his ordeal ended.

Johnny told Gary that Santa wasn’t coming to his house, bluntly stating, “There is no Santa Claus.”

In raising $25,000 in cash and gifts, Gary introduced Johnny and other kids to Santa. Donations brought by children to the KHTQ-FM station delighted Gary. Said he: “This is for the children.”

Not even a Grinch who made crank calls near the end of the marathon dampened Gary’s spirits: “I’ve been doing this long enough that I know that 99.9% of the people are good-hearted.”

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: By midway on the/route he’d chosen,/his nether regions/all had frozen — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“A December Stroll”).

• Happy Birthdays: What are the odds that two members of a family share the same birthday? How about four? On Dec. 21, 1959, The Press pictured Coeur d’Alene father Jerold Lee Miles, 28, and his three children: Shelley, 3, Jerold Lee II, 2, and Bradley, 1, on their collective birthday that day. Only mother Sally had a different birthday, June 4.

• On This Day: On Dec. 29, 1964, Christy Steinley was shown in The Press walking with her Shetland, “Teeney,” near the Dalton Gardens home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Steinley. She had turned 4 the day before and was wearing her Christmas cowgirl hat. She walked her horse because she wasn’t allowed to ride her pet by herself. Chris Steinley Holloway, as many of you know, directed the North Idaho Fair when she grew up.

• Did You Know … that artist Jane DeDecker of Colorado altered her final version of “The Explorers” in beating out 125 other submissions for a Coeur d’Alene art contract? Her work at McEuen Park shows three children walking across a log. Originally, the $85,000 piece featured three boys. But the public wondered during the selection stage: “Where’s the girl?” So, a girl replaced the third boy. DeDecker’s popular artwork was installed Dec. 15, 2014.

• Parade of Homes: In December 1984, the North Idaho Building Contractors Association selected Pine Villa West (near Ponderosa School at Post Falls) as the 1985 Parade of Homes site. NIBCA limited costs to $65,000 to $90,000 per house (or in 2024 dollars $197,372 to $273,286). In 1984, the fledgling program attracted 3,800 people to the Loch Haven area in Hayden. The builders wanted the Parade of Homes to become an annual event.

Parting shot

So beloved was legislator Jim Stoicheff that Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and four former governors, of both major parties, helped pack Sandpoint’s United Methodist Church at his funeral 25 years ago. Known for his loud polyester jackets, trademark whistle, frugality, bipartisanship and congeniality, Democrat “Stoich” put issues and people above party politics, especially kids and the elderly. In dedicating the 2019-20 Idaho Blue Book to Stoicheff, then Secretary of State Lawerence Denney wrote: “I can’t help but wonder what we in government service could accomplish if we all displayed the character and civility of Jim Stoicheff.” A former teacher, coach and principal at Southside Elementary near Cocolalla, Stoicheff was the floor leader for seven of his 14 terms: three in the Senate, 11 in the House. Stoicheff, 72, was preparing for his final session when a heart attack claimed him Dec. 18, 1999. Where have all the statesmen gone? Long time passing.

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.

    In 2004, a design concept shows the proposed Hagadone Gardens.
  

    In 2004, Jim Coleman of JUB Engineers addresses a City Council workshop about the proposed Hagadone Gardens while Duane Hagadone, right, listens.
  

    In 1994, Coeur d’Alene band Black Happy announces its breakup.
  

    In 1999, Gary Allen of Rock 94 ½ FM stages a radio marathon.
  

    In 1959, Jerold Lee Miles, 28, shares a Dec. 21 birthday with his three children, from left: Bradley, 1, Jerold Lee II, 2, and Shelley, 3.
  

    In 1964, Christy Steinley, 4, walks her Shetland, Teeney.
  

    In 2014, Tim McCormick, left, and John Kinkade install “The Explorers.”
  

    In 1984, builders select Parade of Homes sites, from left, Kim Riley, Roger Stewart, Dave Volking, Paul Stewart and Jim Crowe.
  

    In 1999, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and four former governors attend Jim Stoicheff’s funeral, from left, Don Samuelson, John Evans, Phil Batt, Kempthorne and Cecil Andrus.