Food + Beverage

Bavaria in Idaho, Every Fall

Steins, schnitzel, and a lineup of festivals worth circling, the Treasure Valley's Oktoberfest season is here Article by Jana Kemp | Photography by Oktoberfest Old Boise, Meridian Oktoberfest It begins, as most great things do, with a party that got out of hand. In October 1810, Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen and invited the citizens of Munich to celebrate on the fields outside the city gates. The horse races, the food, the beer -- it went so...

Food + Beverage

Downtown, Reimagined and Alive

Meridian's downtown didn't happen by accident, it grew one project at a time Article by Tammy de Weerd | Photography by Tammy de Weerd + Provided Music spills into the streets. There is a tangible energy. People take their time, discovering restaurants and businesses they may have driven past dozens of times. For a day, downtown Meridian feels like somewhere you simply want to be. When Meridian’s Oktoberfest debuted in 2022, organizers hoped 3,000 or 4,000 people might attend. An estimated...

Food + Beverage

The Last Great Grill Night of Fall

The berry everyone buys at the farmers market has a second life, and it starts with a hot grill. Article by Tara Bruner | Photography by Provided Every September, the same thing happens. Someone shows up at the farmers market with a flat of huckleberries and the line forms immediately. People buy more than they need, take them home, and make pancakes. Maybe jam. Maybe a cobbler if they're feeling ambitious. And then the season ends and they wait for next year. Here's what most home cooks...

Food + Beverage

Four Generations, One Corn Stand

Picked and sold the same day, gone by early afternoon, this is Nampa's most reliable summer tradition Article by Jordan Gray | Photography by Jordan Gray, Candy Simpson There’s no denying the simple summertime pleasure of a fresh ear of sweet corn. And for more than three decades, Candy and Ed Simpson have been supplying that pleasure in bags by the dozen. What started as a simple way for their three children (and then thirteen grandchildren) to earn college money has grown through the years...

Food + Beverage

Potatoes, Purple Hearts, and Persistence

From a garage to a firehouse, one veteran's brewery finally found home Article by Jordan Gray | Photography by Kimberlee Miller Photography + Provided Bear Island Brewing Company may have started operations from Beth Bechtel (Westover) and husband Steve’s garage back in 2014, but the idea for the business started fermenting years before that. A Navy explosive ordnance disposal technician, Bechtel was determined to start a business when she got out of the service. With deployments worldwide...

Life + Culture

Meridian + Valley Events

OCTOBER 2026 Article and Photography by 1 — FIRST THURSDAY Downtown Boise, 5–9 PM: Art, shopping, dining, music, and family activities. downtownboise.org 1–31 — PUMPKIN PALOOZA 1133 W Chinden Blvd: Urban pumpkin patch with rides, fall photo opportunities, and family activities. pumpkinpaloozatv.com 1–31 — LOWE FAMILY FARMSTEAD 2500 South Eagle Rd.: Corn maze, pumpkins, hayrides, jumping pillow, and fall activities. lowefamilyfarmstead.com 2–4 — POTATO DAYS BOISE Idaho...

Food + Beverage

Order the Old Fashioned First

Bourbon has always rewarded patience. The trick is finding somewhere worthy of it. Article by Staff Writer There's a reason bourbon drinkers get territorial about their pour. It's not snobbery. It's experience. Once you've had one that opens up slowly, that shifts from sweet to smoke to something you can't quite name, the shortcut versions stop being interesting. Bourbon is built on time: charred oak, years of patience, and a barrel doing its work quietly in the dark. What comes out the other...

Food + Beverage

Smoke, Vines, and Timing

Idaho's winemakers spent the summer watching the sky, and thanks to timing more than luck, this year's grapes made it through untouched Article by Greg Neruda | Photography by Provided When we're swirling that beautiful white or red wine over dinner, perhaps with friends, a good conversation is to contemplate the good and bad fortunes of the lifecycle of that little cluster of grapes on its way to becoming good wine. With the blankets and waves of smoke creating misery for us all this summer...

Life + Culture

Meridian's Answer to the Backyard Oven

Inside a 1913 Meridian home, wood-fired pizza and good wine make midweek nights worth planning around Article by Staff Writer Lila McAllister still remembers walking into the 1913 house on the corner across from Meridian's post office and knowing, almost immediately, that this was the one. Owning her own restaurant had been her dream for years, but it took this specific building, worn floors, old bones, a real sense of having been lived in, to make it real. Today that house is Vintage '61 Wine...

Life + Culture

Meridian + Valley Events

SEPTEMBER 2026 Article and Photography by 2–6 — Spirit of Boise Ann Morrison Park: Mass balloon launches, Nite Glow Spectacular. spiritofboise.com 3 — IAG Artist Reception Idaho Art Gallery, Boise, 5 PM: 'Archeology: Hidden Treasures' by local artist Martha Channer. idahoartgallery.com 3 — Boise Art Museum Boise Art Museum, 10 AM–7 PM: Entrance by donation, open-studio art explorations. boiseartmuseum.org 3–5 — Kuna Stampede Rodeo Crooked 8 Event Center, Kuna: PRCA bull riding...