Local News

Before the holiday rush, Sandpoint's late-November and December calendar is already taking shape — and it's full of the small-town traditions that make the season here special.

The Festival of Trees returns on Saturday, November 28, with its Charity and Cheer Window Walk — a community fundraiser whose decorated windows light up downtown. Friends and Family Day at The Hive on November 28 brings photos with Santa, cookies and cocoa, Christmas crafts, a fourth-grade gingerbread competition, and the first public viewing of this year's festival trees.

Summer's last hurrah came and went over Labor Day weekend, and it was a big one. Schweitzer's 33rd annual Fall Fest closed out the summer season September 4-7, filling the village with live music, more than 80 regional brews, ciders, and wines, scenic chairlift rides on the Great Escape Quad, and a full slate of family activities from the climbing wall to the summer activity center.

Some places a town just adopts. For generations, the sledding hill off Pine Street has been where Sandpoint learns to love winter — and on Saturday, October 24, the community gets to celebrate it properly. The Kaniksu Land Trust hosts the Sled Hill Grand Opening from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., free and open to all.

Expect live music, food, games, a pumpkin patch, and demonstrations from the Kaniksu Folk School — a thank-you to the community that showed up to protect the place. With the first phase of the master plan complete, it's finally time to celebrate together.

Sandpoint is getting its own film festival. The first annual Sandpoint Idaho Film Fest runs October 17-24 — a week of independent cinema across eleven categories, including documentary, animation, action sports, and locally made narrative work, competing for eighteen awards.

The week opens October 17 with a free Film Crawl starting at Matchwood, followed by a Local Idaho Filmmaker Showcase at the Little Panida Theater on October 18. October 19 brings a Sandpoint Cinema takeover in Ponderay, and October 20 goes dark with R-Night, an evening of dark films at Idaho Pour Authority.

There is a Navy submarine base in Idaho. Not a recruiting office — an actual submarine test range. At Bayview, on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Acoustic Research Detachment has been quietly testing submarine and ship designs for decades.

The Bonner County Board of Commissioners will not decide the fate of the proposed Long Bridge Marina expansion this month after all. The board continued its hearing on the conditional use permit for the third time on Oct. 7, leaving the decision to a resumed hearing Thursday, Nov. 5 at 10 a.m.

The delay came at the request of the applicant, Long Bridge Land Holding Company, LLC, represented by HMH Engineering, which opted to wait until a full board could be seated following the absence of Commissioner Brian Domke.

Bonner County's 2026 general election season opens next week. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 19, and on Tuesday, Oct. 20, local media will host a candidate forum for Idaho Legislative District 1 and the Bonner County Board of Commissioners.