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Happy Saturday, Meridian! 👋
Good morning — welcome to issue seventy-nine. Today is sunny and 82 with a low near 52 tonight, which is about as good as Oktoberfest weather gets. Inside: the downtown festival that's happening right now, a free robotics workshop for kids at the library, a chance to name a snowplow, what Idaho's water experts think the winter looks like, a short events list, the full forecast, and a trivia question about an old downtown building. Know someone who'd like this in their inbox? Share the Scoop →. Let's get into it.
In this issue:
🏙️ Trivia: A downtown Meridian building put up in 1913 became a library branch in 1930. What was it originally built as — an interurban train depot, a bank, or a creamery? (Answer at the bottom.)
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Events
A short list this week, and we'd rather say so than pad it: most of what else is on in Meridian already ran in recent issues, so you're getting the new stuff. Today is the big one, and it's free.
Saturday, October 3
🍺 Meridian Oktoberfest — 10 a.m.–9 p.m., free admission ($5 wristband for alcohol, 21+) · 📍 Idaho Ave. and 2nd St., Downtown Meridian · About 70 vendors, four local breweries, live music and contests. Full rundown in the story below. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
🎲 Gundam TCG ST-11-14 Release Event — 5:00–10:00 p.m., cost not listed · 📍 Phoenix Fire Games, 94 E. Fairview Ave. · A release-night event for the Gundam trading card game. Check the Facebook page for entry details. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
Tuesday, October 6
🐴 Kuna Trail Riders monthly meeting — 6:00–7:00 p.m., cost not listed · 📍 Idaho Pizza in Meridian (street address not listed) · The club's regular monthly meeting. The Facebook page doesn't say whether guests are welcome, so ask before you show up. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
Thursday, October 8
🤖 STEAM Lab at Orchard Park Library — free weekly workshop for ages 6–12 every Thursday · 📍 Orchard Park Library, Meridian · Start time not published, so call the library before you go. See the story below. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
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Weather
✅ NO WEATHER ALERTS showed in the forecast text we checked Friday evening.
Saturday, Meridian (National Weather Service):
82°F
Overnight low near 52°F
Sunny and dry. The warm streak continues: Sunday sunny near 84, Monday around 85, and Tuesday a little cooler at 81. One honest caveat: the NWS forecast text was last updated Tuesday, so we cross-checked it against Idaho News 6's live Boise-area forecast, which has Saturday at 84 and Sunday at 88 — hotter than the NWS Meridian numbers. Plan for the higher end: mid-80s today, upper 80s tomorrow. Sunrise is about 7:45 a.m., sunset about 7:22 p.m.
News
Meridian Oktoberfest takes over downtown today
Downtown Meridian turns into a beer garden with a pretzel problem today. Oktoberfest runs 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Idaho Avenue and 2nd Street, with about 70 vendors, four local breweries pouring, and organizers expecting more than 15,000 people. Admission is free; alcohol requires a $5 wristband and you have to be 21 or older.
Boise Edelweiss plays from noon to 3:45 p.m. and Soul Patch takes the stage from 7:30 to 9 p.m. There are kids' crafts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Generations Plaza, plus eating and skill contests scattered through the day. Chamber CEO Sean Evans says the goal is a fun community experience and another reason to spend time downtown. The coverage doesn't say anything about parking or road closures, so give yourself extra time and plan to walk the last few blocks.
🗳️ A question for the room: it's the weekend, so no news hook — just a quick one about the roads we all grumble over.
Which Meridian road do you actually plan your day around?
Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 1.
Kids are building robots at the Orchard Park Library
If your kid has ever taken apart something that wasn't theirs, this one's for you. The Orchard Park Library hosts a free STEAM Lab every Thursday for ages 6 to 12, led by Boise State University students through the school's Microelectronics Education and Research Center. The students, Jyoti Shrestha and Daniel McConnell, serve as CHIP Ambassadors and spend the hour on robotics, engineering and electronics.
Parent Cody Templeman told Idaho News 6 the workshops help kids “find the passion that they have in certain things.” McConnell says a lot of the kids have never seen robotics before and are “very excited about engineering.” The story doesn't list a start time, so check with the library before you head over.
Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 2.
Name an ACHD snowplow and win $100
It's 82 degrees and the Ada County Highway District wants you thinking about snow. ACHD's annual Name A Plow contest is open through Friday, Oct. 9, and two winning names will go on snowplow blades, with a $100 gift card for each winner. You submit through ACHD's website at achdidaho.org/community-resources/name-a-plow.
Entrants must be Ada County residents 18 or older, and adults can submit on behalf of kids. The article doesn't mention Meridian, but Meridian sits in Ada County, so you're eligible. Your odds of a Snowy Plow McPlowface sequel are unknowable; your odds of being the person who names it are about one in however many people enter.
Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 2.
Another warm winter? Idaho's water experts weigh in
A regional item that matters to anyone who waters a lawn here: Idaho water experts are watching a strong El Niño develop, and the early read is another unseasonably warm winter like last year's. About 75 percent of the water in Idaho's rivers and lakes comes from mountain snowpack, and last year's below-normal snowpack forced farmers and ranchers to tap reservoir storage two months earlier than usual.
Erin Whorton, a hydrologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, put it this way: “There is hope, but I think we should be mentally prepared for another warm winter because El Niños consistently tend to be warmer in the Pacific Northwest than usual.” Translation: enjoy the sunny 82 and keep your expectations for the ski season modest.
Source: Idaho News 6, published Oct. 2.
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Trivia answer: an interurban train depot. The building was put up in 1913 as the Interurban Depot, a stop on the Boise Valley Traction Company's electric line, which was a crucial part of industry in early Meridian. The company stopped running in May 1928, leaving the structure empty and for sale. In 1930 a local group called the Occident Club bought it and converted it into a library branch, then added the eastern two-thirds of the building when it needed more room. These days it's home to commercial businesses rather than books. (Source: City of Meridian history walking tour.)
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