Taste of Downtown set for Friday

Taste of Downtown will be held Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. on the 300 block of Park Avenue, featuring ten local downtown restaurants, bars, and pubs. Arguably, Idaho Falls’ single-best food and beverage event, this is the fourth year for Taste of Downtown.

There will be live music provided by Liar & Dan. Guests can watch how different chefs, employees and owners bring everything together and enjoy food right on the spot, said Catherine Smith, executive director of the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation. “This event isn’t just entertaining and delicious, it also gives everyone a greater appreciation for our local cuisine and entrepreneurship right here in our own downtown,” she said.

Taste of Downtown tickets will be available at the event. Tickets are $1 each. Participating restaurants include: City Bagels & Bakery, BlackRock, A Street Soup Market, Villa Coffeehouse, SnakeBite, Pachangas, The Celt, Persnickety Lemon Deli, Diabala’s Kitchen, and Grandpa’s Southern BBQ. Each restaurant will set their “taste” amount, or ticket amount, for a variety of dishes available at each booth. Proceeds from this event go to the local nonprofit, CASA-Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Taste of Downtown is produced by Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation and Bank of Idaho. For more information, check out their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/IFDDC/, or visit www.downtownidahofalls.com.

Modern Home in Ammon to scheduled to open in November

An aerial view of the Modern Home store in Ammon, taken in late August. 

Here’s a little more information on the Modern Home store being built in Ammon, on Eagle Drive near Kohl’s.

“It’s a pretty new development for us,” said Alan Sparks, the owner. “It started in idea form in the fall of 2016.  My wife and I discovered Idaho Falls after a vacation and dropping our oldest son off at BYU-I. It was funny how fast we fell in love with the area and how we couldn’t get it out of our mind.”

Sparks has run two furniture stores in Arizona: Sparks Homestore in Thatcher Home Furnishings Direct in Cottonwood. “We have a great management team in place that are doing a great job running our Arizona stores,” Sparks said. “Being in the furniture business and still working for a living, we knew the only way to be able to move here was to open a new store in Idaho Falls. In June of this year that dream came true and boy do we love it!”

The name Modern Home represents a commitment they’ve made to keeping their inventory up to date, in style and current, “a place you can go to get inspired and find great deals as well,” he said. The store will open the first part of November, with hiring to begin in the first part of October.

The store is 25,000 square feet. Brands will include Tempurpedic, Sealy, Klaussner, Ashley, Benchcraft, Southern Motion, and more.

“Please wish us Arizona folks luck this winter,” Sparks said. “I am not sure we fully know what it means to go through an Idaho winter!”

New furniture store being built on Eagle Drive

The artist's rendering on Modern Home's Facebook page.

We’ve had a few readers ask about the building going up in Ammon on Eagle Drive near Hillcrest High School and Kohl’s. While I haven’t had the time to visit the friendly people in the city of Ammon building department to look at the actual plans, I have learned that it will be a new mattress and furniture store called Modern Home.

For a look at the Facebook page, here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/modernhomeidaho/. There are 537 likes as I look at it right now. Let’s see where that number is at the end of the day, once BizMojo has written them up, ha ha!

According to the information there, they will be hiring in October. As soon as I hear back from Alan Sparks, the person on the Facebook page who appears to be answering all the questions, I will have a more detailed report.

REDI names Dana Kirkham new STAR director

Dana Kirkham

REDI, eastern Idaho’s economic development organization, has named Dana Kirkham to be its Science Technology and Research (STAR) director. Currently serving as Mayor of Ammon, Kirkham will start part-time with REDI on Monday and take on full-time duties when she leaves office at the end of the year.

Jan Rogers, REDI’s CEO, cited Kirkham’s experience in local government, her background with the federal government, CIA and State Department, and her strong legislative experience. “Dana will bring impressive skills to support STAR efforts throughout the region,” she said.

REDI advertised in mid-July that it was creating a position for a person to focus on the region’s science, technology and research sector, on track to reach nearly $4.5 billion in capital investment. Support from Battelle Energy Alliance, the company running Idaho National Laboratory, and Fluor Idaho, the company in charge of cleanup work, and other high-tech industry partners made the position possible.

“Whether it is building our first-of-kind small modular reactor, expanding our work in cyber security, or strengthening our supplier and subcontract environment, the timing is right to find a STAR Director to advocate and champion our region both regionally and nationally,” INL Director Mark Peters said.

Kirkham said she will be focusing specifically on federal programs across the region. “Managing and expanding these key sectors will benefit the whole region by creating more STAR related opportunities,” she said.

INL to demonstrate solar-powered battery system for cooling buses

Motor Coach Industries supplies buses to Idaho National Laboratory and collaborates on research to make them more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Idaho National Laboratory will demonstrate a new solar/battery-powered system for cooling motor coach buses Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Energy Innovation Laboratory meeting center, 775 University Blvd.  The demonstration is being held in conjunction with a forum for industry leaders being held at INL.

The Motor Coach No-Idle Proof of Concept research initiative will demonstrate how a bus at standstill with the engine turned off – for example, waiting before loading passengers – can keep the passenger coach comfortable by drawing on solar-powered batteries to run the HVAC (heating-cooling) system.

The solar panel system charges the batteries to help power and increase the run time of the air-conditioning units. This reduces the amount of typical idle time needed by buses that run diesel-powered engines to cool the coach interiors when at standstill. The system addresses a growing challenge of federal and state regulations that require bus operators to reduce fuel emissions or face penalties.

With funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sustainability Performance Office, INL formed a research and development partnership with Bergstrom Inc., a prominent cab climate systems designer/builder, and leading bus manufacturer Motor Coach Industries (MCI) to design and modify a bus cooling-ventilating system to sharply reduce idle emissions.