Online registration for summer programs sponsored by the Ketchum Department of Parks and Recreation opens Friday, April 25 at www.ketchumidaho.org/registration.

The department prides itself on having the most affordable youth program in the Wood River Valley, John Kearney, recreation division supervisor, said. The cost is $880 for activities four days a week for 10 weeks, and the program is designed for children entering the third grade and up next fall.

Children participate in more than 30 different activities, including golf, tennis, mountain biking, art programs, gardening, birding and swimming. More than 300 joined the program last summer.

In addition to the Monday through Thursday program, there are "Friday Adventures" available at an extra cost. "Adventures" range from a Frisbee golf extravaganza on Bald Mountain to caving near Shoshone to rafting on the Salmon River.

The program is open to all, including summer visitors. You have a choice to register your child for individual activities, a daily program, two days a week, a five-week session, or for the entire summer.

Adult programs include coed soccer, coed softball, women's soccer and ultimate Frisbee. Almost 400 adults participated in the programs last year.

"The program emphasizes learning," Kearney said. "We pride ourselves on being more than a daycare service. Many children learn to hit a tennis ball or to grow cilantro for their first time during our summer program."

The program is based out of Atkinson Park and uses the park with its lawn, soccer fields, pump track and tennis courts, as well as Zenergy and the Bigwood Golf Course. "It creates a very safe campus here," he added.

Summer programs will run June 9 - Aug 15. Additional information is available by calling 726-7820, emailing John Kearney or here on the City website. 

John Glenn and Denise Simone from the Company of Fools theater company appear on "For a Cause."

The Wood River Valley's first community radio station, KDPI 89.3 FM, celebrates its first anniversary Friday, April 18. The station, broadcasting from 620 N. Main St. in Ketchum, offers an eclectic mix of locally programmed and hosted talk shows, a few syndicated shows and a lot of music. KDPI is a 501c3 organization, and is listener-supported, sponsored and locally owned.

 

Volunteer DJs host a variety of shows including Southern roots, blues and jazz, heavy rock, world music, jam bands, Brazilian bossa nova beats and most every kind of music in between.  Talk shows cover the work of local 501c3 organizations, health and nutrition, sports, humorous news, relationships and attitude along with interviews with musical acts performing regionally.

 

Founder and General Manager Mike Scullion says he's "proud of the work we've done, the music we've broadcast, the thoughtful interviews we've conducted and the community events KDPI has supported through interviews and awareness."

 

Local politicians, musicians, artists, health providers, wellness experts and a host of other guests have all been in the chair and on the air in the studio. They are a testament to the KDPI's mission to "inform, educate, and engage."

 

The renewed appreciation for local voices, public access and community participation is what gives the station its unique flavor and appeal. With local relevant media sources becoming scarcer, radio continues to be about stuff we all care about. Having a friendly voice waking you up or letting you know about an important meeting or event strengthens the cultural health of the valley.

 

A radio-thon to raise funds to place the KDPI antenna on top of Bald Mountain will take place on the air from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, April 18 with a party from 5-8 p.m. to follow at the station at 620 N. Main Street.

Ketchum-based healer Rodney Blount and DJ Julie Johnson talk on "Our Health Culture."

 

KDPI can be found on the dial at 89.3 FM and streams live 24/7 at www.kdpifm.org.  To become a member, and help support community radio, go to 89.3 FM or KDPIfm.org to donate or tune in. You also may donate by calling 928-6205.

 

Dan DuGan is program director of KDPI. She also hosts "The Southern Lowdown" and "For a Cause." Mayor Nina Jonas appears on "For a Cause" at noon on the Tuesday following each Ketchum City Council meeting. Her next appearance will be April 22. 

Canada Thistle

The City of Ketchum will begin spot-spraying noxious weeds in City rights-of-way with low-toxicity herbicide on Monday, April 21. The City will spray only specific weeds identified by the state of Idaho as "noxious." No entire rights-of-way will be sprayed and notices will be placed in affected areas 72 hours in advance, Juerg Stauffacher, parks and natural resources superintendent, said. 

 

It is safe for humans and animals to come in contact with the spray as soon as it is dry, he added. However, the City is taking extra precautions. Signs will be posted suggesting that people avoid the weeds for 72 hours after spraying. A special dye will allow people to see sprayed weeds easily, he added.

 

Residents who prefer to pull noxious weeds adjacent to their properties by hand may do so by notifying the City parks superintendent at 726-7820. The Parks Division may lend tools and provide garbage bags on request. It also is available to assist in identifying noxious weeds on public and private property and to answer questions about City policy.  

 

For more information on noxious weeds, click here or visit the Blaine County Weed Department.

Get out your costume and plan to party to the tune of live music at Warm Springs during the last days of the ski season this weekend. The 2014 Flashback Day'z (Where were you in '88?) begin today at Apple's Bar and Grill at the base of the Warm Springs  lifts. There will be live music through the weekend. 

 

The City of Ketchum is doing its part to make it easier to get there, waiving two-hour parking restrictions on selected streets near the Warm Springs ski lifts through Sunday, when the mountain closes. 

 

In keeping with the City's commitment to sustainability, the parking-limit signs are covered with reusable sandbags. "We are encouraging people to take the Park & Ride bus from the lot near the YMCA," Mayor Nina Jonas said.

 

Free Mountain Rides buses leave the Park & Ride lot at 22 and 52 minutes past the hour and leave Warm Springs on the hour and half hour. Free buses also will leave the River Run Parking Lot at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour beginning at 8:45. They will run until 4:45 p.m. Thursday and Friday and until 6:5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.  

Five Sage School students will go before the City Council Monday, April 21, to ask the City to prohibit performances by traveling circuses that include exotic or non-domesticated animals.

 

The request is an outgrowth of a spring term independent study, the Student Elephant Project, in which the five pupils studied the effect of circus life on animals.  They are sixth grader Sam Laski, seventh graders Harrison Blamires and Will Griffith and ninth graders Evathea Drougas and Kayla Chaffey. Their project advisor, Maya J.B. Burrell, will accompany them to the meeting.

 

"Traveling circuses are detrimental to animal welfare due to the adverse effects of captivity and transport," the proposed ordinance reads.

 

"The Elephant Student Project kids are still optimistic enough to believe that the only reason exotic-animal circuses are invited to perform in our community is because people don't know the truth," Maya Burrell, advisor to the project, wrote in a letter to the City Council.

 

The use of domesticated animals such as horses and dogs in the Wagon Days Parade and other events would still be permitted.

Ketchum will receive approximately $800,000 per year for street improvements and maintenance for the next two years if Blaine County voters approve a two-year road and bridge levy on May 20.

 

The levy is designed to raise $5.3 million each year. Half of the funds raised within each city would be returned to the city.

 

The City of Ketchum would hold public meetings to gather input from citizens, City staff and transportation specialists to determine how levy funds would be spent in Ketchum.

 

Potential uses of the levy funds include:

• Sidewalks improvements in such locations as Main Street and First Avenue
• New bike lanes
• Acquisition of public rights-of-way
• Transportation studies and engineering
• Public street improvement projects, such as a roundabout at Warm Springs Road and Lewis Street and partnering with the Idaho Department of Transportation to widen the Trail Creek bridge to three lanes
• Purchase of street maintenance equipment

Ketchum's Comprehensive Plan identifies one of our core values as being a "Well Connected Community." Elected officials and City staff understand the importance of providing safe routes for vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles.