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Happy Monday, Meridian!
Welcome to issue ninety-five. Today is sunny and around 70, though Boise's live strip says 74, so dress for a range. A cooler, rain-chancy stretch shows up Tuesday night.
Today: scammers are impersonating Idaho Power, SH-44 is about to get wider just west of us in Star, and the week ahead has a sourdough workshop at The Village, a singles night on Main Street and a grand opening on SW 5th. Know someone who should be reading this? Forward them the sign-up link →
Let's get into it.
In this issue
🧠 Trivia: Downtown Meridian's 1906 Meridian Exchange Bank, at 109 E. 2nd St., was designed by the Boise architecture firm behind the Idaho State Capitol and is on the National Register of Historic Places. After the bank moved out by 1938, the building went through some very different careers. Which business moved in right after: a dry cleaner, a dentist's office, or a hardware store?
(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.
Eight picks, every one with a Meridian address. Monday is a toddler craft hour, Tuesday is bread, Wednesday is a singles night on Main Street, and Thursday has a free preschool playdate and late-night karaoke. Saturday is the big one: a grand opening on SW 5th, a trunk-or-treat contest on Main and a student-run haunted house. Several listings skip the cost, so check the event page before you go.
Monday, October 19
OCT 19 · Toddler Time Arts and Crafts Class — 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. · 📍 Treasure Valley Arts, 1530 W. State St., Suite B · A short arts-and-crafts class for toddlers at the studio. Cost wasn't listed. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
Tuesday, October 20
OCT 20 · Cooking Class: Sourdough Breadmaking Workshop — 6 to 8 p.m. · 📍 The Village Classroom, 2350 N. Eagle Rd. · A hands-on bread workshop in the classroom at The Village at Meridian. Cost wasn't listed. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
Wednesday, October 21
OCT 21 · Christian Singles Night — 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. · 📍 Cafe + Play, 232 N. Main St. · A social night for Christian singles at the downtown cafe and play space. Cost wasn't listed. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
Thursday, October 22
OCT 22 · FREE Playdate at The Learning Experience — 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. · 📍 The Learning Experience, 6241 N. Linder Rd. · A free play morning for young kids and families: meet the teachers, see the classroom in action, and kids can join age-appropriate activities, with a snack and lunch included. RSVP is required. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
OCT 22 · Thursday Night Karaoke — 9 to 11:55 p.m. · 📍 3161 E. Ustick Rd., Suite 110 · A weekly karaoke night; the listing gives only the address, not a venue name. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
Saturday, October 24
OCT 24 · Trunk R'Treat Championships — starts at noon · 📍 335 S. Main St. · A trunk-or-treat competition downtown. The listing gives no end time or venue name. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
OCT 24 · Valkyrie Arms Training Grand Opening Event — 3 to 9 p.m. · 📍 272 SW 5th St., Suite 400 · A grand opening for a firearms training business. The listing doesn't say what's planned or what it costs. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
OCT 24 · HOSA Haunted House 2026 — 6 to 8 p.m. · 📍 1789 E. Heritage Park Ln. · A haunted house put on by HOSA, the health-careers student group. Cost wasn't listed. · 🗓️ Add to Calendar
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The latest National Weather Service forecast for Meridian we could pull (issued Wednesday, so it's a few days old) lists no watches or warnings, and Idaho News' Friday outlook mentions none either.
Monday, October 19 — Meridian
70°
Low tonight: 42°. Sunrise is around 8:02 a.m., sunset around 6:57 p.m. (both calculated, not from NWS).
Sunny. NWS says 70, but Idaho News' live Boise strip says 74 for today, so plan for 70 to 74 and leave the jacket optional.
The rest of the week (NWS, with Idaho News): Tuesday drops to near 62, mostly sunny (the Boise strip says 64), with a 20% chance of showers Tuesday night and a low near 39. Wednesday is near 61 with the same 20% chance. Idaho News says rain chances run Tuesday night through Thursday, heaviest across south-central Idaho and the mountains, with highs in the low 60s.
Nearly 400 Idaho Power accounts hit by scammers
Idaho Power says almost 400 customer accounts have seen fraudulent activity, including unauthorized service requests, fake payments, customer impersonation and unauthorized account changes. Customers report calls from out-of-state numbers with area codes 224 (Chicago), 470 (Atlanta) and 725 (Las Vegas), plus emails and texts about supposed planned outages. Fake websites, like energexespower.com, advertise low monthly rates to collect personal and financial information, then vanish quickly.
Some customers have paid deposits and fees to people threatening to shut off their power. Bogus charges may show up on a card or bank statement under the names "Stallion" or "PayEnergy." The Attorney General's office is working with Idaho Power investigators to find the source. The article doesn't mention Meridian specifically, but Idaho Power serves the Treasure Valley, so it's worth a heads-up. Don't give personal information to unknown callers or sketchy websites, and if you've been targeted, report it at ReportScamsIdaho.com. Read more →
Source: Idaho News / KBOI, published Oct. 18.
🗳️ Quick one: scam calls are a shared hobby of the worst people. How many have found you?
Nearly 400 Idaho Power accounts have been hit by scammers. Has a fake utility call, text or email ever reached you?
SH-44 is getting widened to five lanes in Star
The Idaho Transportation Department is widening State Highway 44 in Star to five lanes between SH-16 and Star Road, with better pedestrian pathways on the south side. It is the last section of SH-44 in the area to be widened, and it ties into the SH-16 and SH-44 interchange construction that's already underway. Initial work starts this month, most of the work comes next spring, and completion is expected in late 2027.
This is a Star project, not a Meridian one, but it's one of the pieces of the west-side puzzle that decides how long your commute to the west takes. The article doesn't spell out lane closures or detours yet. Read more →
Source: Idaho News / KBOI, published Oct. 15.
Meme of the Day
Brought to you by Meridian Local Scoop. What's faster than word of mouth? The Meridian Local Business Spotlight! Keeps you up to speed on what's happening around town — and connects local businesses to our community.
🧠 Trivia answer: a dry cleaner.
Elite Cleaners moved into the old Meridian Exchange Bank building after the bank left by 1938. The bank was built in 1906 as a branch of Capital State Bank in Boise, designed by John E. Tourtellotte & Company, and it merged with the Bank of Meridian in 1912 to form the First National Bank of Meridian. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and later renovations removed the second floor, so it looks little like the original. A cigar shop opened there in 2014. Read more →
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