Cisco Sonar by Bryce Neilson former Mayor of Garden City

 

Ciscos Sonar

 

Raspberry Days is coming up and I was thinking about how it all began.  It has been over 20 years ago and my memory is fading but this is what I can recall.  It may be right or wrong.  It started when Bess Huefner (as part of the Bear Lake Chamber of Commerce) approached the City about putting on an event to bring more people into town.  Bear Lake was in the doldrums since the recent failures of the undivided interest scam at Sweetwater and Bear Lake West that affected lots of people who invested in the area.

We decided to create Raspberry Days since Garden City was known for LaBeau’s Famous Raspberry Shakes.  There were still large raspberry fields around the area.  I don’t remember the year but the first festival was held on the lawn by the church.  It was a one-day craft fair and parade (I think).  I wrote about it in Ciscos Sonar on August 9, 2003.

Well, it appears that we survived Raspberry Days for another year.  It was a great event with a wonderful crafts fair.  I am sure that some visitors and kids were caught off guard when the parade was on Thursday, but it was a necessary change.  We simply out grew the Saturday event and there were too many other things to do and people to meet.  The boat parade was good to see again and the fireworks were spectacular.  There were plenty of raspberries to go around this year.  It is amazing what good precipitation and weather will do.  It wasn’t many years ago that people were predicting the demise of the Bear Lake Raspberry due to disease.  The efforts by the growers to get rid of old decadent plants and replace them will young healthy starts has paid off.  Bear Lake will always have Raspberries.

Things have changed since then.  Some people didn’t like the crowds and the associated problems, but I believe we made the right decision.  It was always about the Town providing something for our summer residents and visitors.  It used to that Raspberry Days was the big weekend, then it was the 24^th and now it is every weekend.  So, let’s embrace it whether you decide to participate or not.  It is something Bear Lake will always be famous for.