Idaho Day event tonight in Idaho Falls

IDAHO FALLS — The Bonneville County Heritage Association will host the second annual Idaho Day event March 4 at 7 p.m. at the Civic Auditorium in Idaho Falls. Admission is free and the public is invited.

The program, based on this year’s theme of “Idaho Heroes,” begins at 7 p.m., and individuals from both the state and county levels will be recognized. Specifically, territorial governor Edward A. Stevenson will be honored for his work preventing the dismemberment of Idaho, and Emma Edwards, the first and only woman to design a great seal of a state, will be celebrated.

Local individuals and businesses will also receive Hero Awards; the list of recipients is below.

“This Idaho Day event will be educational and entertaining. We will be honoring ten people and businesses as Heritage Heroes that have contributed so much to Idaho and Bonneville County for so many years,” said Bonneville County Heritage Association chair Ann Rydalch.

For entertainment, more than 100 students from Dora Erickson and Westside elementary schools will present music under the direction of Idaho Falls School District 91 elementary music specialist Jennifer Korenke-Stanger. The Idaho Old Time Fiddlers will also provide music before and after the program.

Earlier this year students citywide were invited to participate in a contest demonstrating their state pride in a variety of mediums. Winners of the student contest will be announced at the event and receive cash prizes, and entries will be displayed in the lobby.

Preceding the program a silent auction will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m., where attendees can bid on donated items from local merchants. Proceeds will benefit BCHA and its programs.

In 2014 the Idaho legislature established an Idaho Day to be commemorated annually on March 4, the date President Abraham Lincoln designated Idaho a state in 1863. Though not a legal holiday, Idaho Day is an annual celebration based on legislation authored by state representative Linden Bateman, a member of BCHA, encouraging Idahoans to celebrate state heritage.

For more information visit www.bonnevilleheritage.org.

Hero Award recipients:

· Richard Adams for his family’s early stagecoach line

· Johnson Brothers Planing Mill Incorporated for their 110 years of family business

· LaDean Harmston for Museum of Idaho volunteer work

· Representative Linden Bateman for authoring the Idaho Day legislation and for his years teaching history and serving as state legislator

· Post Register for 136 years of publishing

· Chesbro Music Company for 100 years of family business

· Idaho Falls Rockettes for their 1946 efforts as a fast-pitch women’s softball team

· D.V. Groberg Company for 87 years of family business

· Idaho National Laboratory for 67 years of historic research and technology deployment

· Farr Candy Company for 105 years of family business

Receiving Achievement Awards will be author and volunteer Mary Jane Groberg Fritzen, Bill Rigby for preservation of O. E. Bell Building and the Bonneville County Commissioners for their continued preservation of the historic county courthouse.