Festival to light up Northridge
The Northridge neighborhood north of Hailey will hold its annual Lumière Festival on Sunday, Dec. 23, beginning at dusk. The entire neighborhood will be alit with the small nine-hour candles.
Each house will have 10 to 20 candles. Northridge resident Lee Dabney started the grassroots celebration two years ago.
This year, proceeds from sales of the candles will benefit the Blaine County Hunger Coalition. Everyone is welcome to stroll the neighborhood and enjoy the festivities.
Kiwanis delivers coats
The Kiwanis Club of Hailey and the Wood River Valley completed one of its most successful and active weeks since it was established two years ago.
Over 12 Hefty-size bags of coats, hats and gloves were delivered last week to Hailey Elementary School to be distributed to children in need. The "Coats for Kids" drive will continue into January.
Drop-off boxes are located in Hailey at Atkinsons' Market, Radio Shack/Wood River Electronics, Mountain West Bank and First Bank of Idaho, and at the Splash & Dash Texaco in Bellevue.
The club also donated three decorated trees to the Festival of Trees, held Nov. 29, thus helping to raise more than $2,500 for the Senior Center.
Kiwanis is an international organization "serving the children of the world." The local club meets each Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Senior Connection in Hailey. For more information, contact Marty Miller at 726-8866, ext. 16.
Mountain Rides has holiday schedule
Mountain Rides, the valley's only public bus service, will follow the "Saturday, Sunday, Holiday" schedule for Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Schedules are posted at various locations including all Atkinsons' Markets, the Hailey Public Library and at the Mountain Rides office at 411 Leadville Ave. Suite 3, in Ketchum, as well as on each bus.
Printable schedules can be downloaded from mountainrides.org.
Donate to visiting vets
Many of the wounded veterans who participate in therapeutic snowsports camps with Sun Valley Adaptive Sports need winter clothing while they are in the valley.
Donations can be made of new or slightly used jackets, ski pants, fleece tops, socks, hats, gloves, mittens and thermal underwear. Also needed are helmets of all sizes: children and adult.
Drop off clothing and helmets at Sturtevants in Ketchum or Hailey by Jan. 15, 2008.
For questions, contact Shauna at 726-9298 or shauna@svasp.org.
State seeks bids on Access Yes!
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is looking for Idaho landowners interested in providing access to private land for hunting, fishing and other recreational activities in the Magic Valley region.
The Access Yes! program is in its fifth year and continues to gain popularity with landowners and outdoorspeople, a Fish and Game news release states. The program compensates private landowners who provide public access to or through their property.
"Compensation can come in the form of direct monetary payments, habitat improvements and access development projects, but other types of compensation or assistance are considered," said Brad Lowe, Fish and Game's landowner-sportsmen coordinator.
The program operates on a competitive bid process. Bids are reviewed by a local sportsmens' review committee, which recommends properties for funding based on criteria such as diversity of use, size, hunting opportunities available and bid price. Annual contracts are the most common, but multi-year bids are welcome, Lowe said.
In 2007, Fish and Game enrolled 43 landowners in the program in the Magic Valley Region, providing public access to 193,550 private acres at an average cost of $1.09 per acre.
Interested landowners can go to http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/hunplanner/accessyesguide.aspx for bid applications. Call Brad Lowe at (208) 324-4359 for more information.
