Santa's Coming To Annual Garden City Christmas Party

Santa Claus will be arriving on the Garden City fire engine

on

Saturday, December 12

11 p.m.

Garden City Conference Room

light lunch

with

door prizes and a raffle for a Christmas quilt by the Bear Lake Quilters!

The kids can sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they want and pose for pictures.

Bear Lake Winter Fishing

Ty Anderson

Garden City Fire Board Budget Hearing

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. December 4, 2015. The December meeting of the Garden City Fire District Board was held.  The meeting began at 6:15 p.m.

The 2016 Budget Public Hearing was called to order.  A motion was made and seconded to open the public hearing.  Any input from the public was requested.  There were no comments made.  The motion was made to accept the 2016 budget and was accepted by the board members.  The motion was then made to close the public hearing and was seconded.  The meeting was adjourned.

River Trails In Winter, Logan Canyon Road

Photo by Andy Stokes

Bear Lake Corridor Study 2015

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), in collaboration with Garden City and the Bear Lake Regional Commission, is conducting the Bear Lake Corridor Study. This study will build on previous planning for the region, and specifically address short term and long term traffic, parking, and bike and pedestrian issues and concerns along SR-30 and US-89 in and around Garden City.

Their first meeting was held on Tuesday, December 1, at 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Garden City Town Center – Lakeview Conference Room. The purpose of the first meeting was to: (1) introduce the study; (2) provide background information; and (3) Most importantly, LISTEN TO YOU!

The study team has developed a web map survey that UDOT is asking everyone interested to visit and share with friends and neighbors. You can provide comments directly on the web map. All you need to do is select a pin and add it to the map. The map is located via the URL: http://gis.fehrandpeers.com/bearlakesurvey.

You are encouraged to take this survey and take advantage of this opportunity to let your opinion be known. The more who respond, the better the results will be. Please take the survey.

Garden City Fire District Advice On Chimneys

That peace and tranquility of the Christmas Season can be interrupted by a chimney fire if you have a wood burning stove or fireplace.

Chimney fires, especially in older homes with old brick and mortar chimneys or newer homes with flue pipes through a roof or attic and roof can seem small or you may think you can handle it but sometimes a small crack in brick and mortar or a small separation in the flue pipe in an attic or where it passes through the roof can lead to disaster – sometimes hours after you think the chimney fire is out.

If you have a chimney fire – call 911 and report a chimney fire – Garden City Fire District (GCFD) will dispatch our firefighters to extinguish the fire and evaluate the situation for a possible attic or roof fire. We would rather respond to a chimney fire than to a structure fire hours later.
Emergency: 911

Phone: 435-994-2460
GardenCityFireDistrict@gmail.com

Something to think about!

If you have not had your chimney cleaned in a few years you could have an event just waiting to happen.

GCFD recommends having your chimney cleaned every 2 years if you use wood fires as your sole heat source

GCFD recommends having your chimney cleaned every 4 to 5 years if you are casual wood fire user.

Even though Garden City and all of Bear Lake is remote from any city of size you can still find chimney cleaning services in the local area.

DO IT YOURSELFER? GCFD has chimney cleaning tools that can be borrowed for a day. Call our office to reserve or drop by to pick up the tools (first come – first serve).

December RMS Student Of The Month And Citizen Of The Month

Student of the Month

Sixth Grade – Jayden Ward & Annie Peart

Seventh Grade – Sam Wahlberg & McKina Stacey 

Eighth Grade – Ali Jarman & Alaine Thomson

Citizen of the Month

Sixth Grade - Dixie Huffaker & Hayden Weston 

Seventh Grade – Jaedon Rowe & Kaitlyn Moldenhauer 

Eighth Grade – Kendall Stapel & Devon England

Bear Lake Monster Winterfest - Save The Date

Get out your calendar and mark January 23, 2016 as the day to attend the Bear Lake Monster Winterfest.

Most activities take place in the Utah Bear Lake State Park Marina. The event is put on by the Bear Lake Rendezvous Chamber of Commerce, Bear Lake Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, Garden City Fire District, and Bear Lake State Park.

So whether you want to take the icy plunge for charity, cook up some chili, fish for cisco, or peruse the craft fair put this on your calendar today.

Like the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bearlakemonsterwinterfest/

If you are interested in participating in any of the contests or in being a vendor for the craft fair visit the website: https://bearlakemonsterwinterfest.com/

Montpelier Christmas Events

A Live Nativity

December 17, 2015 4:30 pm
A live nativity is coming to Montpelier! This free event is held in downtown Montpelier at Gundersen True Value Hardware's parking lot. A program will be performed as well as the Christmas Nativity story.

Bar J Wranglers Christmas

December 18, 2015 7:00 pm - 10:30 pm  Allinger Theater
You loved them last year, so how about some Christmas flavor this year! Some folks call it a western music show; some call it a stand-up comedy show with masterful cowboy music; others call it the best musical experience in the west. Call it what you want to - the fact remains - The Bar J Wranglers from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, deliver some of the purest harmony, best musicianship and funniest ranch humor ever seen on stage.

As soon as the Bar J Wranglers take to the stage, listeners leave behind their busy life and settle into a time long ago - a time of the singing cowboy.

This concert will be held at the Bear Lake Middle School. Reserved seating is not available for this concert since the venue may change due to demand.

General seating tickets are $22 for adults, $15 for youth ages 8-17 and $10 for chidren 7 & under.Buy tickets here.
A special dinner option with choice of prime rib or Cornish game hen including drink, dessert and tip is available for an additional $20 per ticket. The dinner will be held at 6:00 PM at the Oregon Trail Center before the show. Ticket holders who purchase the dinner option will receive first option to select their seats at the concert before the general public is admitted at 7:00 PM.

Good Stuff

McDonald’s? Really?

By John Brown, The Man

I can’t remember the last time I emoted over hamburgers.

Yeah, I’ve been to Smash Burger (way overpriced) and Five Guys (good) and Carl’s Jr. (no scantily clad women to be seen; talk about issues with truth in advertising), In-and-Out (what’s the appeal?), and a hundred other chains and non-chains. Burgers were burgers. Big whoop.

Of all these, McDonald’s was way down at the bottom. I have never gotten excited about McDonald’s hamburgers. I worked for McDonald’s back in the early 1980’s, and the food wasn’t bad then, but the burgers have gotten progressively uninspiring as the company has turned to various methods of pre-cooking everything. To me McDonald’s has simply been the place you went for filler. Except for the Egg McMuffin, which I’ve always enjoyed.

But last week my daughter wanted McDonald’s, and since I’m not a totalitarian despot, I took her there. We went to the one by the Layton Hills mall. Inside, to my surprise, I found three, tall touch screen kiosks. I thought, oh, neat, a way to cut the ordering queue. But it was more than that.

McDonald’s has rolled out a new Make Your Own Burger offering that allows you to select the type of bun, cheese, and toppings you want with a quarter pound patty. And the toppings aren’t just the standard pickle, onion, and ketchup. Oh, no. There are three types of buns to choose from. Three or more types of cheese. You can get raw onions or grilled. Guacamole, sautéed mushrooms, two types of mayo, bacon, and more. The lettuce is a leaf, not some iceberg chop.

So I selected the artisan bun, sharp white cheddar, sriracha mayo, ketchup, pickle, lettuce, tomato slice, grilled onions, and sautéed mushrooms.

The results?

I was shocked. The beef was juicy. The onions were perfect. The mushrooms, perfect. The sriracha mayo gave it the perfect little zing. Folks, it was so good that within the week, I went back for another in Logan. I have never gone back with any sort of anticipation for a chain burger, anywhere. And the second sandwich was just as good as the first. I am now an official McDonald’s make your own burger fan.

If you’ve become bored with burgers, if you consider them last-resort filler, as I did, or if you’re just wanting to try something new, let me recommend you go to, yes, McDonald’s. You do need to be aware that not all stores offer this new option. For example, in Logan, only the south McDonald’s has it. So check to make sure the one you’re going to has it, and then see if you don’t agree that McDonald’s hasn’t finally come out with a great new offering.

Misting On The Lake

Photo by Vanessa Longfellow

Laketown Resident Robert Thomas Early 1944 - 2015

Robert Thomas Earley, 71, died November 24, 2015 at his home in Laketown, Utah, from pancreatic cancer.

He was born March 10, 1944 in Logan, Utah, the youngest child and only living son of George W. and Phoebe Jones Earley. He has two sisters, Donna Smith of Midway, Utah and Jennie Hemmert of Liberty, Idaho.

He lived in Laketown, Utah his entire life and this is where he learned the value of hard work in his youth; milking cows, moving pipe, hauling hay, building sheds and working on various ranches in the area. This work ethic followed him through his entire life. He started working at Leefe, Wyoming at age 18 and stayed there until the plant shut down in 1986. He then worked for Rich County School District until 2012 and retired when he was 68 years old.

He was a member of the LDS Church and served in various callings.

He married Renee Thornock on June 14, 1963. They had four children, Del Robert Earley (Linda), Harrisville, Utah, Wayne George Early (Carol) Laketown, Utah, Brent Allison Earley (Jesi) Provo, Utah and Barbara Reva Fairbourn (David) Aurora, Colorado.

He is survived by his wife, Renee, his children, 2 sisters, 12 grandchildren, 4 step grandchildren and 2 step great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, his infant brother, Lamar J., two brother-in-laws, Alfred Smith and Don Hemmert and a sister-in-law, Sharon Schutte.
Bob will be missed for his infectious laugh and the twinkle in his eyes when he is telling an untruth or teasing someone, or when he’s just pulling off another one of his famous pranks.

Funeral services will be held Monday, November 30 at 12:00 pm at the LDS Chapel in Laketown, Utah. A viewing was held Sunday, November 29th at 5:00 pm in the Laketown LDS chapel and on Monday at 10:00 am prior to the services. Burial will be in the Laketown cemetery.