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Happy Sunday, Meridian!
Welcome to issue one hundred eight. Today is showery and around 53 with gusts that could rearrange your patio furniture, but your clocks fell back overnight, so you already won an hour. Spend it wisely or on the couch.
Today: a French-named bakery from Korea lands at The Village, WinCo picks its next CEO, free dental care for veterans, six Meridian events (one of them is a murder mystery you play on your phone), the forecast, and a trivia question about that bakery. Know someone who should be reading this? Forward them the sign-up link →
Let's get into it.
In this issue
Trivia
🧠 Paris Baguette, which just opened its first Idaho shop at The Village, is a bakery chain from which country: France, South Korea, or Canada?
(Answer at the bottom.)
The ice cream shop that makes money when it's cold
28 Wishes sells ice cream in Los Angeles. Below 70°F, sales fall about 20%. The weather is out of their hands. Rent isn't.
So the owners started putting about $20 a day into Kalshi weather markets, taking the cold side. The days that keep customers away now pay something back.
This is hedging. Big companies have done it for decades, buying protection against bad weather, fuel spikes and rising rates. It used to take a broker, a trading desk, and an order size no corner shop could meet.
Kalshi opens it up. Contracts on weather, fuel prices, inflation, tariffs and regulation, starting at a few dollars. Take a position on the outcome that would hurt you. If it hits, the payout softens it. If it doesn't, the contract expires and the good month was the point.
Six picks, all with a Meridian address. Today you can chase a card-game tournament or start a murder mystery on your phone. Next Saturday has pickleball for a cause and a service-academy watch party, and next Sunday has acoustic music over brunch or a church group movie outing. A few listings skip prices or end times, so check the event page before you go.
Sunday, November 1
NOV 1 · One Piece TCG — Organized Play — 2 to 6 p.m., price not listed · 📍 Phoenix Fire Games, 94 E. Fairview Ave. · An organized-play session for the One Piece card game. The listing gives no price or format details, so check the event page before you go. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
NOV 1–DEC 1 · Meridian Murder Mystery: Solve the Case! — start any time through Dec. 1, $10 per ticket · 📍 Generations Plaza, 804 N. Main St. · A self-guided, outdoor detective game on your smartphone that starts at Generations Plaza and takes about 60 to 90 minutes. One ticket unlocks the game on one phone; ages 14 and up, or younger with an adult. Stay out of private buildings, please. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar (runs all month)
Looking ahead: Saturday, November 7
NOV 7 · Boise Pickle Palooza 2026 — 4 to 8 p.m., price not listed · 📍 The Flying Pickle, 1135 N. Hickory Ave., Ste. 110 · A pickleball event with competition that benefits the American Brain Tumor Association. The organizer's page lists no ticket price, so check it before you head over. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
NOV 7 · Army vs. Air Force Watch Party — doors 5 p.m., kickoff 5:30 p.m., price not listed · 📍 VR1 Arcade, Lanark St., Suite 100 (the listing gives both 313 and 3131 E. Lanark, so confirm the number) · Hosted by the West Point Society of Idaho and open to all service-academy alumni and guests; family friendly, with adult beverages available. RSVP to the organizer so VR1 gets a headcount. (The listing's header says 5 a.m., but the description says 5 p.m.) · 🗓️ Add to Calendar (end time is a placeholder)
Sunday, November 8
NOV 8 · Landonious: All-Acoustic Brunch at Nazca Coffee — 10 a.m. to noon, price not listed · 📍 Nazca Coffee, 6360 N. Saguaro Hills, Ste. 100 · An acoustic set from Landonious during Sunday brunch. A ticket link exists on the listing but no price is shown. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
NOV 8 · Drummer Boy movie afternoon — film at 1:45 p.m. (optional potluck at noon at the church), $8 · 📍 Cinemark Majestic Cinemas, 2140 Cinema Dr. · Friendship Celebration Lutheran Church is taking members and friends to see Angel Studios' Revolutionary War musical Drummer Boy. Recommended for ages 12 and up; tickets are limited, so register through the church link. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar (end time is a placeholder)
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✅ Alerts: we could not pull a live NWS alert feed tonight, so check weather.gov/boi for watches or warnings. The NWS Meridian point forecast we normally use was last refreshed Oct. 19, so we did not use it. Today's numbers come from Idaho News 6/KBOI's forecast and its Boise strip as of Friday and Saturday, so a later update could shift them.
Sunday, November 1 — Meridian
~53°
Showers, with west to northwest winds gusting 20 to 40 mph across the Snake River Plain. No overnight low was published, and with no fresh NWS Meridian number we cannot say whether Meridian runs warmer or cooler than Boise, so plan for a few degrees either way and bring the umbrella you will not be able to hold onto. Sunrise is about 7:21 a.m. and sunset about 5:35 p.m. (both calculated, not from NWS), now that the clocks have fallen back.
The week ahead: Monday turns drier and sunny, near 55. Snow is possible in the mountains mainly above 6,500 feet during the heaviest part of this system. NWS Boise →
Paris Baguette opens its first Idaho shop at The Village
Paris Baguette cut the ribbon on its first Idaho location at The Village at Meridian on Thursday morning, with the grand opening on Friday, Idaho News 6/KIVI reports. The bakery-cafe sells sweet and savory pastries, bread, cakes, sandwiches and coffee. Franchise owner Jay Kim said opening day was months in the making. An earlier BoiseDev report had targeted Oct. 28, so it landed within a couple of days of plan.
The story gives no street address or hours, so check The Village's store directory or the shop's own listing before you make the trip, and expect lines while it is new. Kim's explanation for picking The Village over other sites is in the article →
Source: Idaho News 6/KIVI, published Oct. 30.
WinCo names Nathan Tucker its next CEO
Boise-based WinCo Foods announced that Nathan Tucker, now its Chief Merchandising Officer, becomes president on Jan. 1, 2027 and CEO on May 1, 2027. He succeeds Grant Haag, who is retiring after 42 years and will stay on as CEO through May 1 to help with the handoff. Tucker joined WinCo in 2013 as an assistant store manager and has worked his way up through store, district, division and executive roles.
WinCo runs 147 stores across 10 states, and the company calls the plan "leadership continuity." The story does not mention Meridian, so this is our one regional item today: a Boise-headquartered grocer, with a store-manager-to-CEO arc. Read more →
Source: Idaho News 6/KBOI, published Oct. 30.
Free dental care for veterans and families, Nov. 9–14
Genesis Community Health will run a free Veterans Appreciation Week dental clinic for veterans and their immediate families from Nov. 9 through Nov. 14, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, Idaho News 6/KBOI reports. Volunteer dentists, hygienists and dental assistants provide the care, and five Treasure Valley oral healthcare offices are joining Genesis for the week.
Appointments are required and space is limited. The clinics are in Garden City and Caldwell, not Meridian, and the story gives no street addresses. To reserve a spot, contact Kendra at Genesis Community Health at 208-455-1143 or [email protected]. Read more →
Source: Idaho News 6/KBOI, published Oct. 30.
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🧠 Trivia answer: South Korea.
Paris Baguette is headquartered in Seoul and owned by SPC Group, despite the French name. Wikipedia lists more than 3,700 stores in South Korea and over 260 in the U.S. as of early 2026, which is a lot of croissants for a chain whose Idaho debut is a single shop in Meridian. Read more →
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