Community gears up for fabulous '50s

SANDPOINT — Despite a forecast calling for sun Friday, there shall be no talk of the weather.

At least not until Sandpoint’s biggest weekend is over.

Barbro Wiking-Johnson has seen a host of different weather patterns settling over Sandpoint for the Lost in the ‘50s weekend, but she prefers not to jinx the event.

“Saturday there might be showers, but don’t mention that,” said Wiking-Johnson, a salesperson at Eve’s Leaves, a women’s clothing store on Sandpoint’s First Avenue. “That would really be pretty bad for those guys with convertibles.”

Then again, she said, North Idaho weather is as variable as speckles on a river trout.

“If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute,” she said.

Like many business managers, owners and salespeople on the main drag, Wiking-Johnson is looking forward to the big event that includes vendors and sidewalk sales in addition to a plethora of old cars as part of a classic car show, no matter what the weather.

“I can remember when it has been so cold and wet, or so hot I was melting away,” she said.

Carolyn Gleason, who started the program 25 years ago, said the original idea for the event has more to do with an era of music than the thermometer.

Rock ‘n’ roll, the music of the 1950s that spurred the three-day show is still alive, well and loud.

“The whole idea is to be able to see original rock n’ roll entertainment before it disappears,” Gleason said. “It’s universal to everybody.”

Gleason, who owns Second Avenue Pizza, operates the event out of the restaurant’s office with a cutout of Elvis in a golden suit blessing the office entrance.

“Kids today like the music,” she said.

She rounds up between 100 and 150 volunteers throughout the year, she said, who direct traffic, erect signs, distribute fliers and generally make the three-day event run smoothly.

“I think it’s an intricate part of this community,” Gleason said. “It gives a lot of people a feel-good attitude towards Sandpoint.”

And it brings in money to downtown businesses after a winter-long dry spell.

“It brings in revenue,” said Janni Smith, a local insurance agent. “People talk about it all over the place.”

Marsha Meury, owner of Mad Mike’s Java Joint is looking forward to the weekend.

“Very, very, very, very much,” Meury said. “It’s a huge deal.”

She hopes business will take a detour into her First Avenue shop.

A concert at the Panida  titled “Rock n’ Roll Heaven VI,” which features tribute artists, starts at 7 p.m. Thursday. Things really get hopping the following evening when the vintage car parade kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday. A street dance follows the parade and a show and dance is set at 7:30 p.m. at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

Downtown will bust with a vintage car show, Saturday morning and the show and dance at the fairgrounds continues at 7:30 p.m. A 5K run is slated Sunday beginning at Second Avenue Pizza at 10 a.m. with a car rally set at 11:20.

Gleason said she plans the Lost in the 50s celebration nonstop throughout the year.

“We try to turn her off when we see her wheels turning,” said volunteer Julie Larkin.

If many downtown businesses eagerly await the event, others are split on the event.

Rae Ann Fry, owner of Hair Unlimited said the big weekend slows her business to a crawl.

She once offered free flat-top haircuts during the event, but got no takers.

“It’s not so good for hairdressers,” she said.

Liz Parnow, who works at Outdoor Experience on First Avenue, said the weekend does not pack buyers into the store.

Instead “we get some lookers, not shoppers,” Parnow said.

That does not keep her from seeing the upside of the traffic-stopping event.

“It is good for morale,” she said. “It’s nice to have things happening downtown.”