This weekend is ART IN THE PARK!!!!
Come experience local art in the park this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Musicians, artists and food magicians will entice all sences. Wander around, shop and people watch. It’s a great opportunity to experience all of Boise’s cultural diversification.
Check out the details…..
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Hewlett-Packard Co. says its third-quarter profit jumped 14 percent, beating Wall Street’s expectations. Strong laptop sales and a robust international presence continue to lift the technology bellwether.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company’s fourth-quarter outlook was also slightly better than investors expected.
HP says it earned $2.03 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the May-July period. That’s up from $1.78 billion, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time charges, HP earned 86 cents per share, three cents higher than the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Sales were $28.0 billion, a 10 percent increase over last year and higher than the $27.4 billion analysts were expecting.
The Shakespeare festival has long been a Boise favoirite. The performances are amazing, the location along the river cool and allowing homemade picnics the best! This summer treat continues to amaze with the addition of Macbeth- for more, check out the link below:
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A316335
Western Idaho Fair
It’s that time of year again, the Western Idaho Fair fills the valley with lights, screams, and the smell of carnival food. This is an annual event held at the fairgrounds located off Chinden and Glenwood, one that children and adults alike have come to enjoy. Admission prices are $7.00 for adults, $4.00 for children. There are special prices available for seniors, families, and children this year at the Western Idaho Fair. For more information about the festivities, visit http://www.idahofair.com/. Admission tickets, concert tickets, and wristbands are all available on the website. The Expo Center will be filled with vendors of all sorts. Pygmy goat show, tattoo show, gun show…the list goes on and on. Head out to the Western Idaho Fair and play your heart out.
Boise River
The Boise River is a great place to enjoy a day in the sun and stay cool while doing it. Floaters will put in at barber Park, located just 6 miles East of downtown. That is where the fun begins.
On any given summer day you’ll find hundreds of floaters drifting along the Boise River in rafts, inner tubes and kayaks. The Boise River is a draw because of its tranquil beauty and serene feeling of the great outdoors and its immediacy to downtown and the Boise Park System.
As you float along the Boise River note that there are two small waterfalls. Be careful as they will sneak up on you and have toppled many floaters over the years. It is unlawful for floaters under the age of 14 to float the waterway without a life jacket and strongly encouraged for all. Be safe and be smart while enjoying this natural treasure.
The Boise River floating experience ends at Ann Morrison Park. The City of Boise has constructed two take-out points on either side of the foot bridge. From here it is a great opportunity to enjoy more fun in the sun as you relax under giant shade trees and BBQ the afternoon away.
Idaho State Capitol Building
One of the shining jewels of the City of Boise is the Idaho State Capitol Building. The Idaho State Capitol building has housed more than a century of state governors and legislators and stands proud in our great city. In this post we’ll share many of the facts around this great piece of architecture linking us to our past.
Location: In Boise between State and Jefferson Streets, 6th & 8th Streets
History: For almost two decades, Idaho’s territorial government was housed in various private buildings around downtown Boise. After failed efforts to get the federal government to fund a capitol building, the territorial legislature finally agreed in 1885 to appropriate $80,000 for a territorial capitol. The red-brick structure, located on the block between Jefferson and State and Sixth and Seventh streets, served not only the last four years of territorial government (1886-1890) but the first twenty-two years of statehood. In 1905, as the state’s population mushroomed with the advent of federally funded irrigation projects, a Capitol Building Commission was authorized. In addition to receiving detailed instructions from the Legislature on where and how to build the new Capitol building, the commission was expected also to build a new, separate structure to provide heat and electricity. Nothing was said about indoor plumbing, though the territorial capitol was served by an outhouse. All was to be paid for from the sale of public lands designated for this purpose in the statehood admission act, plus the $66,003.35 then in the Public Building Endowment Fund, for a total of $350,000. Despite the provisions of the 1905 law, the final cost was $2,098,455.05 for the structure and $130,833.10 for interior furnishings.
The Boise architectural firm of J. E. Tourtellotte and Company won the competition to design the new capitol; construction began in the summer of 1906, The capitol’s central section was completed late in 1912, and offices were moved over at that time. The 1913 inauguration of Gov. John M. Haines was held in the new building. Tourtellotte and Hummel-successor to the original firm-had already been awarded a contract to design east and west wings. Their construction began in1919; the whole capitol was completed by the end of 1920.
The state Capitol building is nearing its 100th birthday, and plans are being made to renevate the whole building in time for its centennial bash in 2005. The estimate for the renovation is between $35 and $65 million. The Idaho Capitol Commission has been directed to launch a private fund-raising drive to try to recruit corporate and other donors to help cover the coasts. The Commission is also looking a other fund-raising ideas such as the sale of special license plates. While still in the planning stages, there may be a whole new floor open to the public in the top of the dome area, and magnificent new vistas of downtown Boise from new public rooms on the Capitol’s south side. Much of the restoration work will involve overhauling the heating and air conditioning systems as well as the plumbing and electrical systems. Repairs will be made to the fragile “scagliola,” or faux marble laid by Italian artisans, doorknobs, light fixtures, legislative chamber furnishings, and even the sandstone exterior.
Interesting points: The major external construction material was sandstone, obtained from a quarry on Table Rock just east of Boise that the state purchased for use on the capitol. Labor in cutting and moving the stone came from inmates at the state penitentiary, which was just below the quarry.
Idaho’s Capitol building is the only one in the United States heated by geothermal water. The hot water is tapped and pumped from a source 3,000 feet underground.
Four types of marble were used for the Capitol’s interior: Red marble from Georgia, gray from Alaska, green from Vermont, and the black marble is from Italy. Chandeliers were purchased in Chicago that would accommodate both gas and electric lighting.
Statistics: In 1905, the Idaho legislature passed the bill authorizing construction of the Capitol building. The architects of the Capitol Building were J.E. Tourtellotte and Charles Hummel. The dome and central parts of the Capitol were built first, from 1905-1912. The wings (House/Senate chambers) were constructed during 1919 and 1920. The original cost to construct the Capitol was $2.1 million. Replacement costs today would be over $100 million, with many materials considered irreplaceable.
From the first floor to the eagle atop the dome, the Idaho Capitol building stands 208 feet tall; the floor area of the building when completed was 201,720 square feet. There are over 50,000 square feet of artistically carved marble in the building. The eagle atop the dome stands 5 feet 7 inches, and is made of copper with bronze plating.
Currently, the Idaho State Capitol Building is undergoing a massive expansion project which includes underground wings on both the East and West sides of the building. Our legislature has been temporarily displaced; they are located, when in session, just East of the Idaho State Capitol Building in the old Ada County Court House.
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