Idaho
Everything you need to know about parades, fireworks and more on the 4th of July in Idaho Falls – East Idaho News
The following is a news release from the city of Idaho Falls.
With the annual Independence Day festivities just days away, the Idaho Falls Police Department and partner agencies are sharing traffic closures, information, and safety tips to help the public to be safe and prepared for the annual 4th of July events that take place in Idaho Falls.
More than 200,000 community members and visitors will celebrate our nation’s independence during various events, including the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce Liberty on Parade, Riverbend’s Riverfest, and the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration. The City of Idaho Falls staff is proud to assist the entities that host these events on Independence Day.
Anyone attending these events, as well as residents of Idaho Falls and the surrounding areas, is encouraged to plan ahead for the impacts of these events to ensure a safe and enjoyable Independence Day.
GENERAL
Call 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency. Please keep 9-1-1 lines clear for actual emergencies. To contact public safety for non-emergent issues call (208) 529-1200. If you are attending the parade, Riverfest, or the Freedom Celebration and, due to congestion around the events, you are not able to successfully place/receive phone calls or text messages, go to the IFPD post at the events (see below) or flag down one of the Idaho Falls Police Officers or Idaho Falls Fire & EMS personnel roving through the events.
Report any criminal activity. Every Idaho Falls Police Department officer, Animal Control Officer, Emergency Communications Officer and many other IFPD staff will be working on the 4th of July. We thank the public for their patience as officers address calls for service as quickly as possible, as well as other safety and criminal concerns throughout the day.
LIBERTY ON PARADE
The annual 4th of July parade, Liberty on Parade hosted by the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 4. The parade route begins near Idaho Falls High School at the intersection of 4th Street and South Holmes Avenue, travels West on 4th Street, turns South on South Boulevard, and concludes at the intersection of South Boulevard and Rogers Street.
Idaho Falls Police Officers will be roving along the parade route and in the surrounding area on bike and on foot. A manned post of IFPD Officers will be located at 10th Street and South Boulevard near Common Cents. Look for the blue Idaho Falls Police canopy.
Pedestrian foot traffic and people lining the parade route begins hours before the start of the parade. Residents and anyone traveling within at least a mile of the parade route should expect to encounter congested traffic, crowds, and pedestrians. Motorists are asked to avoid the area if they are not attending the parade and to otherwise use caution in the area.
Parking along the parade route is not permitted after 5:00 a.m. on July 4th until after the conclusion of the parade. Anyone who leaves a vehicle parked along the parade route, or in the parade staging area around Idaho Falls High School, after 5:00 a.m. for any length of time risks being cited and/or having the vehicle towed.
The following road closures related to the parade will be in effect at the indicated times on July 4th until the conclusion of the parade.
6:00 a.m.
John Adams Parkway, including the branches that connect to 4th Street and 5th Street, from Tiger Ave to S Holmes Ave.
8:00 a.m.
South Boulevard from N Water Ave to W Sunnyside Road.
9:00 a.m. and later.
The intersection of South Holmes Ave and 4th Street will close at the start of the parade. South Holmes Ave will reopen after the parade has passed.
The intersection of South Holmes and East 17th Street will close when the parade reaches 10th street and will remain closed until the parade has passed.
RIVERFEST & FREEDOM CELEBRATION
The annual Riverfest and Melaleuca Freedom Celebration events take place at Snake River Landing. For full details from the event organizers regarding the schedule of events, parking information, etc. visit their respective websites.
Riverfest: https://riverfestidaho.com/
Melaleuca Freedom Celebration: https://www.freedomcelebration.com/
Crowds begin gathering at Snake River Landing in the early afternoon and continue to grow throughout the evening. Event organizers estimate that over 200,000 people gather in and around Snake River Landing to watch the fireworks display each year.
Due to the large number of people in the area, cell phone service at Snake River Landing becomes unreliable in the early to late evening and continues until after the majority of attendees have dispersed after the fireworks. Attendees should plan to be unable to send text messages or place phone calls during this time period. It is wise to discuss safety plans with children and adults in your group, including child safety, where you will meet if you are separated, and where to seek emergency assistance at the event if you cannot place a call to 911.
Idaho Falls Police Officers will be roving through Snake River Landing on bike and on foot throughout the event. A manned post of IFPD Officers will be located at the Northeast corner of Snake River Parkway and Event Center Drive starting in the early afternoon for Riverfest and the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration. Look for the blue Idaho Falls Police canopy.
As a reminder to attendees, Snake River Landing is private property and the venue is being made available for the public. Attendees are encouraged to be respectful of private property, and to be cooperative with all Snake River Landing staff, private security and City of Idaho Falls staff working to ensure an enjoyable and safe celebration. Anyone found not complying with rules or laws may be asked to leave. For the safety of all attendees and to limit potential disruption to the fireworks display, the following rules are in effect during the event:
NO PERSONAL FIREWORKS: Due to the location of the fireworks launch site and Riverfest, the highly congested and grassy areas around Snake River Landing, and for the safety of persons attending the event, the Fire Marshal has restricted any and all personal fireworks, including sparklers, from Lochsa Drive, south to Sunnyside Drive, and from the Capital Avenue River Walk west to the Porter Canal.
NO DRONES: Community members are asked not to fly drones at any of the Independence Day festivities, and are reminded that flying drones in the airspace around Snake River Landing on the 4th of July is prohibited due to helicopters already in the airspace. Flying personal drones creates unsafe situations for helicopters that have reserved the airspace with the FAA, and also for first responder use of drones in emergency situations.
NO ALCOHOL: Event organizers and property owners have prohibited all alcohol at Snake River Landing.
NO ATV’s: No private ATVs, dirt bikes, go carts or other motorized vehicles will be permitted at Snake River Landing.
WATER SAFETY: People are asked to stay out of the river, canals and water features in and around Snake River Landing, including the Snake River. The waterways may look refreshing on a hot day, but there are many hidden dangers and water levels are high and fast. Water features at Snake River Landing may contain additives that are unsafe for people and pets.
EMERGENCY TRAFFIC: Keep emergency vehicle lanes open to allow public safety personnel to respond quickly and safely. When needed, please make safe efforts to make space for public safety personnel to get through quickly, whether on foot, bike, or in a vehicle.
PARKING INFORMATION
Those attending the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration should plan to arrive early and should not expect to access Snake River Landing at the last minute. Attendees should review the Parking & Exiting Map provided by event organizers for recommended parking areas based on your destination following the fireworks. Event organizers also have specific parking plans for handicap access available on their website. When the fireworks conclude, traffic from each parking lot will flow in a pre-determined direction. Be sure to choose a parking lot that will exit in the direction you need to go after the show.
Any unmarked areas are “No Parking”. Please only park in the indicated spaces or lots to allow for emergency vehicle access throughout the event area. There is no on-street parking allowed anywhere on Snake River Pkwy, Pioneer Road, Event Center Drive, or Sunnyside between I-15 and Yellowstone Hwy, and Yellowstone Hwy between Sunnyside and Pancheri at any time on the 4th of July. Vehicles parked in these areas risk towing or citation.
Complex traffic plans have been put in place through partnerships with Snake River Landing and event organizers, the Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho State Police, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, City of Idaho Falls, and the Idaho Falls Police Department.
Traffic plans have been created to maximize safety and efficiency as people are exiting the Snake River Landing area following the fireworks. However, given the hundreds of thousands of attendees at this event, even the most efficient traffic exit plans will take time. Event attendees should plan for exiting to take up to two hours. Routes in and around Idaho Falls will be restricted, and certain parking lots will allow for faster exits to certain locations. Information about parking lot designations is available at www.freedomcelebration.com.
Due to the greatly increased number of people in the city, remember to remain patient in slow-moving traffic. Drivers should slow down, focus on driving, avoid distractions, watch for pedestrians, and bicyclists, obey all traffic laws, special holiday parking and traffic restrictions. Community members and visitors should not move or drive around traffic control devices for any reason. Doing so can create dangerous situations for yourself and others and will likely result in further delays. Community members are reminded to obey directions from law enforcement and designated traffic officials.
Motorists traveling to or in the area of Snake River Landing should expect numerous road closures beginning Wednesday, July 3rd and continuing until early morning on July 5th.
South Tourist Park and Ryder Park serve as command posts for emergency personnel from the Idaho Falls Police Department, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, and the Idaho Falls Fire Department. In order for emergency vehicles to respond quickly in the event of an emergency, South Tourist Park and Ryder Park will be closed to all public vehicles, boats & campers/RVs beginning July 3rd at 11:00 a.m. South Tourist Park and the adjacent River Walk/Greenbelt will remain open for foot/bicycle traffic. The parks will reopen to vehicles boats and camping at noon on July 5th.
The road closures listed below will go into effect at the time shown and will reopen when traffic exiting the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration has sufficiently cleared.
Current Closures
Milligan Road South of 901 Pier View Drive is currently closed and will remain closed until after July 4th.
July 3 at 10 a.m.
Snake River Parkway from Whitewater Drive to midway between Event Center Drive and Sunnyside Road.
Event Center Drive
Lochsa River Drive from Snake River Parkway to White Sand Creek Way
July 4 at 6 a.m.
Full road closures:
Snake River Pkwy North of Sunnyside to Pier View Drive
Snake River Pkwy between Pioneer Rd and Utah Ave
Southbound Closures:
Milligan Rd.
July 4th at 8 p.m.
Sunnyside from Snake River Pkwy to Pioneer Rd.
July 4th at 9:00 p.m.
Full Closures
Interstate 15 at Sunnyside Rd. (Exit 116) off-ramp closures for northbound and southbound exits (on-ramps will be open).
Pioneer Rd. from Pioneer Drive to Event Center Drive
Northbound closures:
Pancheri Dr. & Utah Ave.
The North segment exiting the Utah Ave. roundabout
Southfork Blvd between Sunnyside and Pioneer Drive
Pioneer Drive & Sunnyside
Pioneer Road & Sunnyside
S. Yellowstone Hwy (26) at 19th Street
Sunnyside and Yellowstone
19th and Rollandet Ave
21st and Rollandet Ave
Gallatin & 25th
Eastbound closures:
Pancheri Dr., East of Skyline Dr.
W. Sunnyside Rd., near the I-15 interchange
Southbound closures:
Utah Ave & Pioneer Rd
W. Broadway Street & Yellowstone Ave (Highway 26)
Pancheri Dr & S. Yellowstone Hwy (Highway 26)
Leslie Ave & 21st St
Leslie Ave & 25th St
Rollandet Ave & 17th St.
Rollandet Ave & 21st St.
Softball & Rollandet
Riverwalk & Pancheri
Riverwalk & Bridgeport
Westbound closures:
Pancheri Dr & Capital Ave.
W. Sunnyside Rd & S. Yellowstone Hwy (Highway 91 westbound)
W. Sunnyside Rd at Rollandet
W. Broadway Street & Memorial Drive
W. Sunnyside & McNeil Drive
W. Sunnyside on the Eastside of Basic American Foods (1050 W Sunnyside Road)
W. Sunnyside west of S Koester Road at the substation
Pedestrians and bicyclists leaving Snake River Landing are asked to not cross Sunnyside in any location other than designated crossing areas indicated by event signage. Visibility is low and pedestrian safety is a significant concern. Besides causing delays to traffic flow exiting the event, there are vehicle versus pedestrian near misses each year due to pedestrians crossing traffic in an unsafe manner.
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Clinging to one’s faith in Jesus Christ — no matter how much or how little faith — can help weather questions and doubts, said Elder Clement M. Matswagothata, a General Authority Seventy, at a BYU–Idaho devotional Tuesday, March 10, in Rexburg, Idaho.
Elder Matswagothata shared his experiences, teachings and testimony about navigating doubts and questions while still continuing to build faith.
He also emphasized the importance of building upon one’s faith and taking questions and doubts to the Lord. With patience in the Lord’s timing, these questions will be answered because “God is not silent.”
“Do not let one unanswered question cancel a hundred answered prayers,” Elder Matswagothata said. In times of trouble, “keep walking with Christ.”
‘Does God still speak?’
Growing up in Botswana, Elder Matswagothata had been raised in a place where heaven had “often felt close.”
Though Elder Matswagothata was not born into the Church, his family members had always been committed to the Lord. Through their firm faith, he learned his own.
With this conviction, Elder Matswagothata sought to deepen his knowledge of God. Reading passages from the Bible about prophets that spoke to their people, he wondered, “Does God still speak?”
This questioning resulted in an urgent search, leading him to contend with religious leaders about personal belief. But his faith was not won with words. ”I always walked away feeling empty inside,” he recalled.
While Elder Matswagothata was warned against meeting with missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he saw an opportunity.
“I asked them the same question I had asked many in the past: ‘Do you believe in a God who speaks — like He spoke to Adam, to Moses, to Isaiah, to Elijah and to my favorite prophet, Samuel?’”
The missionaries then relayed the experience of Joseph Smith, another young boy who had the same question.
Elder Matswagothata received a “settled, confident, personal witness” that “God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith and called him to be a Prophet.”
Learning by the Holy Ghost
Elder Matswagothata explained that testimony is “spiritual knowledge placed into a person’s heart and mind by God,” and it is not perfect knowledge.
“The Lord has never required omniscience as the price of discipleship,” he said.
To wondering disciples, he assured them that “faith and questions can coexist,” but they still require “some steps of faith.”
The real enemy to faith in Christ is not questioning, Elder Matswagothata said, but to “drift.”
This slow, turning away from the Savior happens when people “decide to skip once, then twice, then often — until what used to feel normal and natural, like praying daily and searching the scriptures, starts to feel distant,” he said.
To counter drift, covenants “keep us connected to Jesus Christ,” even when faced with spiritually turbulent times.
Elder Matswagothata then shared his own faith-testing experience.
As a missionary, he met with a man that pressed him on the Church’s restriction on priesthood and temple blessings, noting that Elder Matswagothata was of African descent. He had never heard of the restrictions before.
“It felt as if everything I had known about God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the witness of the Holy Ghost was suddenly harder to reach,” he said.
Seeking comfort, Elder Matswagothata met with his mission president, who invited him to return and bear testimony to the man. He did.
In that moment, “I felt the Lord’s reassurance fill me — almost from head to toe — with ‘peace … which passeth all understanding,’” he said, citing Philippians 4:7.
This experience taught him that unknowns should “not erase what the Holy Ghost had already taught.”
Anchoring faith
“The adversary will always raise questions faster than we can answer them,” said Elder Matswagothata.
“A resilient testimony isn’t built by collecting perfect answers — it’s built by staying with Christ” through study, prayer and acting in faith “and allowing Him to teach you according to His will and timing.”
Elder Matswagothata offered three “anchors” of faith in Christ.
First, stay close to the Savior.
Second, stay grounded in truth by looking for it in “trustworthy places,” such as teachings of living prophets and apostles and scriptures.
And third, stay with the Spirit by choosing “music, media, friendships and habits that invite the Spirit to be with you.”
Elder Matswagothata cited Jesus’ words in John 6. When Jesus taught “a hard saying,” many disciples went away.
Jesus asked the twelve apostles, “Will ye also go away?”
“Everyone faces a ‘Will ye also go away?’ moment. How will you answer yours?” asked Elder Matswagothata.
God’s work will move forward–on a worldwide and personal level.
“Here I stand — a simple man from the African continent — bearing witness of eternal truths and watching that inspired prophecy unfold.”
Idaho
Grocery Outlets to close in Idaho Falls, Pocatello after company announces poor earnings – East Idaho News
IDAHO FALLS — Two local grocery stores are closing their doors, along with 34 others across the country, after their CEO announced last quarter that sales were unacceptable.
On Friday, the Grocery Outlets in Idaho Falls and Pocatello announced on Facebook that they’ll be closing their doors by March 21.
The Idaho Falls Grocery Outlet first opened its doors in July 2022, and the one in Pocatello opened in April 2023.
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EastIdahoNews.com contacted the operators of the Idaho Falls Grocery Outlet and was referred to corporate. They did not respond to a request for comment.
However, on March 4, Grocery Outlet CEO James Potter spoke during an earnings call with investors, on the closure of the stores in Idaho and across the country. Potter told investors during the call that the company’s fourth-quarter results were “unacceptable.”
“Our outlook for 2026 reflects a business with more work to do than we expected,” Potter said. “I own this, and I own fixing these issues.”
Potter said 36 stores were identified as lacking a viable path to sustained profitability despite the company’s support. The majority of the identified stores were located on the East Coast.
“However, it’s clear that we expanded too quickly and that these closures are a direct correction,” Potter said.
According to a list on Gordon Brothers’ website, a third store in Idaho will also close in Smelterville, located in Idaho’s panhandle. The investment firm’s website shows that all 36 locations are available for sublease.
With these closers, Potter said the company hopes to bring back $12 million and free up resources to assist other stores in different markets.
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IDAHO FALLS — A local event can be your one-stop shop if you are looking for a Mother’s Day gift, Easter basket fillers, and spring or summer decor.
The Spring Bazaar is returning to Bonneville High School this year on Saturday, March 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s free to enter. You can “shop, eat, mingle, and repeat” at the craft fair, according to the flyer.
The first 100 people through the door will get a free cinnamon roll from Mrs. Powell’s.
“It’s a great opportunity to get out of the house because the weather is getting nice and spend some time with your girlfriends and your family,” said Haylie Rowberry, the event coordinator.
A fun giveaway will be happening during the day, and it will be a scavenger hunt.
“We did something similar last year, and it was a big hit, so we thought we would try it again,” Rowberry told EastIdahoNews.com.
Here’s how the scavenger hunt works. DJ Guido — who runs the music at the event — is giving away an item from a vendor every hour. Participants have to find the booth selling the item, get a claim ticket to win and bring it back to him.
There will be 120 vendors at the Spring Bazaar. New this year is a business called Cow Friend Soap, which is a bath and body booth. Another one is Turtle Tea, which sells boba drinks. Then there’s Beau & Bows, which sells matching hairbows and neckties for the whole family.
See the list below of all the vendors that will be there.
“I love that it’s an opportunity to support the local community and support small businesses and local entrepreneurs,” Rowberry said.
There are junior vendors, who are under 18, like Brysens Ball Claws. It’s 3D printed golf accessories.
There’s also one vendor who is Deaf, and he’s an artist, Rowberry said. His name is Frankie Grant.
“He does drawings and postcards. He makes his own bookmarks and kids’ painting kits. He is very talented, and so I am excited to have him this year,” she said.
There will be Girl Scout cookies there, too and plenty of food vendors to choose from.
The Spring Bazaar has grown in popularity over the years. Rowberry said she’s created a slogan for the event, “Spring Bazaar: where shopping turns into traditions.”
“The Spring Bazaar has become a tradition for many. I have talked to several families that have been coming for years and years, and they look forward to it every year,” she added.
Rowberry puts on the Fall Bazaar, which will be happening in November.
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