SOUTHWEST IDAHO How To Sell BY ROGER ST. PIERRE
The stunningly beautiful landscapes of Southwest Idaho are familiar through being writ large on movie screens. Rollercoaster farming country and languidly winding river canyons butt up against the oft-times snow-capped peaks of the mighty Rocky Mountains. Award- winning Snake River Valley appellation vineyards – with wineries that
enthusiastically welcome visitors – the famed Idaho red potato and cattle and buffalo grazed ranches, many offering the ‘dude’ experience, plus very low traffic volumes add up to make this truly ‘The Great Outdoors’.
And there’s lots of open backcountry to explore – the closest cities of any size being Salt Lake City (336 miles southeast), Spokane (379 miles north), Reno (425 miles south) and Portland (430 miles west). Yet there’s no sense of being 'in the back of beyond'. Founded in 1863 as a US army outpost and now home to close on 215,000 people (616,500 in the greater metropolitan area), state capital Boise houses the corporate headquarters of several Fortune 500 companies. As a result, the town is good for shopping and has some top-class restaurants – often run by Californians who have relocated to Idaho – and a strong café society. A group of entrepreneurial caterers has introduced a much-lauded ‘Farm to Fork’ programme that encourages use of local produce, and this is reflected in the menus of many Boise restaurants.
For something a bit different, suggest your clients to pop into the busy Red Feather bar and grill, where owner Dave Kirk and his team maintain a basement worm farm, with the
wriggly creatures destined not for the plate but to help enrich the soil for the organic production of herbs and vegetables. For wine lovers, the region currently has 29 wineries (www.
idahowines.org), with more on the way.
Boise is big enough to be a city, small enough to be
32 September 2012 •
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a town. It resonates with Basque sheep- herding heritage – being that
community’s biggest outpost outside Spain – and offers a very strong year- round arts and culture programme representing its ethnic diversity. An annual local highlight is the colourful Basque festival, which takes place over the last week of each July and attracts ethnic Basques, and many others too, from not just the USA and Spain but from
around the world. There’s also a
fascinating museum,
dedicated to the history and heritage of Boise’s Basque population
that is located in a part of town called the Basque Block.
The Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial (left) sits solemnly in the grounds of the Boise Art Museum. It includes a 180-foot 'Quote Wall' with the words of presidents, slaves, philosophers, children and paupers, among others.
General Information
TIME ZONE: Mountain Time zone GMT -7 VISAS: Tourist visitors with an EC passport need to complete an ESTA application:
www.estaapply.net/uk/esta- application. CLIMATE: Southwest Idaho has four distinct seasons. Summers are desert- like hot with low humidity. Summer temperatures range from 8C (65F) low to a 36C (97F) high; winters are cold in the valley, with abundant snow in the mountains. GETTING THERE: Boise has direct air links with Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, all of which are transatlantic feeders for UK travellers. CONTACT: Boise Convention & Visitors Bureau T: 001 208 344 7777 E:
info@visitsouthwestidaho.com W:
www.visitsouthwestidaho.com
Boise also hosts the annual week-long Idaho Shakespeare Festival, founded in 1977 and centred at the atmospheric open-air Theater Under The Stars. There’s a worthwhile guided tramway tour of the city and guided walking tours are also available. Fly fishing, bird watching, hiking, mountain biking, horse riding, white- knuckle rafting and canoeing at every level, from languid paddling to shooting the rapids, are just some of the abundant outdoor pursuits.
Idaho has 3,100 miles of white water – more than any of the other states in the contiguous USA. The tumbling Payette River, one of the longest white water runs in the world, is for the adventurous, while the less active can go wild mushroom gathering or enjoy the spa resorts of easy-to-reach Sun Valley. When winter arrives, Southwest Idaho has three top-quality ski resorts, the best known of which is the aformentioned Sun Valley. Visitors at any time of the year will
Pictured: Southwest Idaho is all about the great outdoors, whether salmon fi shing, white water rafting or ranching
likely see lots of cowboy boots and ten- gallon hats and there’s a strong Native American presence too. There’s certainly enough to keep
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