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CHAFE PEDDLES INTO 10TH YEAR OF FUNDRAISer challenge
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en years ago a group of community activists coalesced around the idea that Sandpoint’s gorgeous location could put it on the map for endurance bicycling events and be a way to raise money for local educational efforts as well. And thus the CHAFE 150 bike ride was born. The event’s name was shorthand for “Cycle HArd For Education,” but the tongue-in-cheek “chafe” acronym was not lost on any who have contemplated the hours required on a bike saddle in order to pedal 50 miles in a single day. Today, there are actually three rides. The granddaddy is the Gran Fondo, roughly translated from the Italian as “big ride.” It’s a 150-mile loop that takes riders from Sandpoint to Bonners Ferry to Troy, Montana, and through the
Bull River Valley before returning to Sandpoint along Scenic Byway 200. That distance requires serious training, but there are two more modest options: an 80-mile ride, from Troy to Sandpoint; and the Piccolo Fondo, a 27-mile, family-friendly pedal from City Beach out to the Pack River Store and back again. Initially started by the Panhandle Alliance for Education, in 2013 the event was taken on by the Rotary Club of Sandpoint and has become a major fundraiser devoted to helping students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District on the autism spectrum. Funds are raised by entry fees, ride sponsorships that each rider gathers, and dozens of event sponsors. The goal is to donate 100 percent of entry fees to the school district; so far, the event has donated close to $200,000. “When we started, I knew that this ride could be popular over the long term,” said Sandpoint CPA Brad Williams who, with attorney Bill Berg, was an early organizer of the ride for the education alliance, and who is still involved via Rotary. “Our vision
A Grand Vision
Memorial Field improvements on track
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o far, so good. That’s the word from Sandpoint regarding the grandstand reconstruction phase of the estimated $4.3 million Memorial Field overhaul. “ ur anticipated open date for the new structure is June,” just in time for Sandpoint High School’s graduation ceremony, said Sandpoint City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton. “It’s been a tough year, however, for construction, with the winter we had,” she added. Some improvements, such as lockers, may take longer. Other augmentations to the grandstand, which will accommodate an additional 600 seats, include bathrooms, storage below the grandstand, and asphalt resurfacing. The ticket booth has been relocated and a new gateway features two, 21-foot-long seating walls covered in bricks recognizing donors who have contributed to fundraising efforts via the Friends of Memorial Field organization. rimary fundraising has been through a percent sales tax, which Stapleton said yielded .2 million in the first 2 months of implementation. “We’re actually ahead of what (had
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Crews work on the Memorial Field grandstand reconstruction, as seen in early May. PHOTO: TRISH GANNON
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