Teton Volkswagen receives Gold Pin award

Teton VW execs Mario and Dave Hernandez receive the Gold Pin award

Teton Volkswagen of Idaho Falls has received the Volkswagen’s Gold Pin Award, one of three dealers to receive it in an area that covers Texas and the Rocky Mountains. The award, one of only 10 awarded world-wide this year, recognizes Volkswagen dealerships for sales and service not only to customers but to the community.

This isn’t an award dealers nominate each other for, said Darren Bush, VW’s regional officer from from Dallas, who came to Idaho Falls Tuesday to bestow the honor upon Mario and Dave Hernandez, who started Teton VW in December 2012. District directors send nominees to Volkswagen of America in Herndon, Va., where the first cut takes place. Winners from there get sent on to Wolfsburg, Germany, where the leadership decides. Nominations are unknown to the dealer until the dealer is approved as a recipient.

The certificate that comes down is in German and contains the word “ausgezeichnet,” which four years of high school German allows me to recognize as meaning “excellent.”

Shaddow Domain moves to Broadway address

The parking lot door at Shaddow Domain's new address.

Julie Oliver has moved her store, Shaddow Domain, to 341 W. Broadway, where Dave’s Bike Shop was before it shifted west into the old Catmull’s furniture store.

The business is not new to Idaho Falls. Oliver had been at 175 South Eastern Avenue for 14 years, selling “curious things to curious people.”recognizes some people are never going to visit her store, Shaddow Domain, 175 S. Eastern Avenue.

“We moved so we could have a larger space and be more involved in the downtown area,” she said.

Oliver recognizes that her store is not for everyone. A person who is freaked out by pentagrams, Wiccan accoutrements or books about the occult — and there are a few — are not her target audience.

Nevertheless, she's keen to stress she’s not a devil worshiper, just a small retailer and good neighbor. She would like to encourage anyone with an open mind to stop by for a visit. "We're not scary," she said. "The hardest thing is to get people in the front door. It's just a fun place."

The store stocks hard-to-find items including Cards Against Humanity, Wicked Jester Tees, Ben Ny Theatrical Makeup and Living Dead Dolls. It also carries a wide variety of incense, candles, figurines and novelties.

The move back to Broadway will be a near-homecoming of sorts. Before starting the store, Oliver worked for 20 years at Chesbro Music, on the second floor, where all the sheet music is kept. Working at Shaddow Domain gave her more face time with the public, which she likes.

Nobody has ever given her flak, and obviously there's a market for the shirts, incense, candles, dolls and novelties that Shaddow Domain sells. The store's Facebook page has 2,544 likes.


"People are looking for so much different stuff," Oliver said. While she is glad to have more space and a prime spot on Broadway, she still wants to keep a friendly feel to the store. "If it got huge, it would lose something special," she said.

Fun run for veterans planned May 28

The Greater Idaho Falls Association of Realtors is hosting a 5K Run/Walk & 8K Run on Saturday, May 28, to benefit 208 CARES, an organization that builds homes for Idaho veterans.

The event will be at 10 a.m. at Mountain River Ranch, near Ririe. The entry fee is $25 on or before May 20 or $35 after that. The race will start and end in the Mountain River Ranch parking lot. Registration the morning of the race will be from 9 to 9:45 a.m.

T-shirts are guaranteed to those who register by May 20. Prizes will be awarded to the first two men and women who finish.

Following the race, there will be free wagon rides, climbing wall, car show, music, food and prize drawings. To honor Memorial Day, there will be a memorial service followed by a military plane flyover.

For more information, call Julie Anglesey at (208) 589-6867 or email her at julie@homesineasternidaho.com.

Mountain River Ranch is located at 98 N. 5050 East and can be found online at www.MountainRiverRanch.com.

Site plan filed for motorcycle dealership

Indian is a motorcycle brand that predates Harley-Davidson by a few years, but has struggled commercially. The brand was bought by Polaris in 2011.

Eagle Rock Indian Motorcyle has filed a site plan to build a dealership in Idaho Falls at 845 Milligan Road. The 1.9-acre location is off Utah Avenue, just north of the Taylor Crossing on the River office buildings.

Other than the address, the information on the business’ Facebook page is sketchy: “Eagle Rock Indian Motorcycle is a start up retail business for the sale and service and new and used Indian Motorcycle.” Efforts to reach the business owners are ongoing.

Here’s a little bit about Indian Motorcycles, though. The company dates back to 1901, when bicycle racing promoter and former bicycle racing champion George Hendee of Springfield, Mass., hired Oscar Hedstrom of Middletown, Conn., to build gasoline engine-powered bicycles to pace bicycle races. Hedstrom completed the first motorized bike in May and shipped it to Hendee. The machine, and the other two bikes Hedstrom built in 1901, proved to be powerful and reliable, establishing the company’s reputation for outstanding performance. Later that year the company’s first factory was established on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield.

As a brand, Indian was a longtime competitor with Harley-Davidson in the U.S. motorcycle market. Chiefs, Scouts, and Junior Scouts were all used in World War II, but none could unseat the Harley-Davidson WLA as the motorcycle mainly used by the U.S. Army. The company went bankrupt in 1953.

In the years that followed, however, Indian’s legend was valuable enough for companies to want to revive the name. The latest iteration was formed in 2006, in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, where it manufactured Indian Chief motorcycles in limited numbers, with a focus on exclusivity rather than performance. In 2011, Polaris Industries, parent-company of Victory Motorcycles, announced its intention to acquire Indian. The company’s production facilities were moved to Spirit Lake, Iowa, and in March 2013, Indian unveiled its new 111 cubic inches (1.82 L) "Thunder Stroke" engine and began to sell the newly designed motorcycles based on it.

BMW of Idaho Falls plans move to Sunnyside Road

BMW of Idaho Falls plans to relocate from Northgate Mile, across from the Idaho Livestock Auction, to Sunnyside Road by spring 2017.

BMW of Idaho Falls has announced plans to move to Sunnyside Road. The Northgate Mile dealership, part of the larger Ron Sayer Auto Group, is the latest Idaho Falls car dealer making the move to the south side of town.

The $2.3 million dealership will be just east of Teton Volkswagen, on 2.6 acres off Pioneer Road. It will be the fifth to relocate to the area since Teton Toyota built its facilities in 2008. Smith Chevrolet and Smith Honda opened new showrooms and service facilities on the other side of the road in October 2014.

General Manager Rick Williams said said they hope to be moved in by spring 2017. They anticipate being able to offer twice their current inventory, about 200 cars. The  showroom will hold 16 cars, Williams said, and the shop area will be greatly expanded.