Priest River officials optimistic about community's future

PRIEST RIVER - The final shift at the JD Lumber in Priest River will leave the mill for the last time Friday.

The mill was sold to Riley Creek Lumber of Laclede and there is little hope that the plant will ever operate again. Its night shift did not even get the extra 60 days of employment they originally expected. Management laid those employees off in early August, shortly after the sale was announced, citing adverse market conditions.

Contrary to rumors, Priest River officials and residents said the town is not about to lie down and play dead. True, they said loss of about 200 jobs in a town of less than 1,800 people is a serious blow. However, the recent economic upheaval is only one of many tough times this timber-dependent community has weathered in the past.

"I have lived in Priest River for all of my nearly 40 years," says Mayor Jim Martin. "Long enough to see mills close due to the poor lumber market, buyouts, and others due to fire.

"In every case, someone from outside of the area would come to town and claim that the town was finished, going to dry up, become a ghost town. And in each case, the town survived with its resilient attitude, hard work and determination."

Martin is focusing now on supporting affected families in any way possible, and the community as a whole is doing the same. The mayor has involved himself and the city in the attempt to replace as many of the lost jobs as possible as fast as possible.

In the past, the effort to recruit jobs and diversify the community's timber economy has been left primarily to the Priest River Development Corporation - with much success. The PRDC's industrial park, developed since 1980 in Bodie Canyon west of town, is almost full. Its economic impact at last report was nearly $2.4 million.

According to Martin, a scout for a business capable of employing 50-75 people recently came to look the town over, and scheduled a return visit with a view toward possibly moving the company to Priest River. A representative of a smaller business employing 25-30 people has also visited, he added, and businesses needing no more than four or five employees are expressing interest.

"They don't have the labor force but like the area; we've got the people," Martin said.

He also hopes that some of the affected JD employees will take advantage of the retraining offered through the Idaho Department of Labor, and said the city is also looking into grant possibilities with its director.

Priest River's last big economic downturn, during the national recession of the early 1980s, did indeed nearly strangle the town. A 1981 chamber survey found that 79 percent of western Bonner County's wood products jobs were lost and about 48 percent of all jobs. The figures did not take into account the area's independent loggers. The town was not attractive either, which did not help recruit new business.

Those days are long gone. The city, the chamber, businesses, organizations and individuals have all worked hard in the years since to improve Priest River's shabby and deteriorating downtown. A new park has been added and the old one improved. Voters gave the nod to a library district, and a fine, new library resulted. Storefronts have been spruced up, infrastructure improved, and a couple of important historic buildings completely renovated or restored.

Two will be holding open house during an upcoming Oktoberfest celebration, which might be Priest River's first, on Oct. 4. One is an authentic historic restoration which earned its owner, Seattle architect Brian Runberg, an Orchid award from the Idaho Historic Preservation Council and a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification as a green building - one of the few in Idaho.

Runberg calls the Beardmore Block "The state of Idaho's most environmentally sustainable historic building,"

His work to restore Priest River's largest and most impressive commercial building was a labor of love costing an incredible amount of money - the art deco structure was built by his great-grandfather in 1922. Runberg says the Beardmore will open for business with four tenants before year's end. Only the movie theater on the north side, where Nell Shipman once performed, remains to be restored. Runberg and Pend d'Oreille Winery have released several historically themed wines to help fund the restoration as a non-profit effort named the Rex Theater Foundation.

Directly across High Street from the Beardmore is the Seven Planet coffee shop, also fronting on Main Street and also hosting an open house on Oct. 4. Slated to be an Internet cafe eventually, if all goes well, the former NAPA Auto Parts building now boasts a new wood-crafted store front and a steel water feature inside with its name, Seven Planet, inscribed in the world's seven major languages.

"We did a complete revitalization of the building inside and out," said Gary Dickson, the manager, naming himself and two friends as the construction crew. The building is owned by Leif Youngberg of Sagle.

Runberg, Youngberg and Dickson joined forces in conceiving and planning Saturday's Oktoberfest celebration, although others have become involved since. Runberg describes it "as a symbolic inauguration for a new chapter in the downtown."

The event gives the community a chance to see completed restorations of the Beardmore Block and Seven Planet building an opportunity for the community to see the completed restorations and for the owners to reintroduce these beautiful buildings to the historic downtown," he said.

Portions of the downtown streets will be blocked off that day. There will be food and craft vendors and street music from noon to 8 p.m., and a beer garden and wine tasting will take place on the deck of the River Pigs Inn. That building has a new tenant in the person of Ray Dilcox, who will open on the restaurant on the east side of Main Street as the Priest River Inn on Nov. 3. It will specialize in Italian dishes, he said.

Local businesses and individuals have joined the community's food banks in the effort to fill shelves for the winter. Donations sought have included non-food items like toilet tissue and dish soap. The Southern Baptist church, Joy in the Morning Women's Ministry, and God's Provision thrift Store have come together to sponsor the formation of a new group to help the community. In addition to providing for specific needs, according to family size and food preference, Our Father's Cupboard will attempt to stock hygiene and cleaning needs to help people get by when needed, and promises anonymity if desired. The organization will also act as a resource center supplying information about other kinds of help, such as energy assistance and ride sharing, even ways to stretch money to make it go farther. As a former mayor once commented, Priest River never shines so bright as when its own are in trouble.

So, is Priest River in danger of going down like some endangered wildlife species when the last whistle blows at the JD Lumber mill? Not likely. In Martin's words, "There's too much positive going on.

"I believe in seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty," he added.