Pocatello festival honoring ‘two community powerhouses’ to be held Saturday

POCATELLO – A festival that celebrates the memory of a historic neighborhood once forgotten by the Gate City will honor two community members this year who worked to ensure it didn’t remain forgotten.

The Bonneville Neighborhood Association will host its Lasting Legacy Festival on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Purce Park, located at 401 North 7th Avenue.

Although the entire festival is held in remembrance of Pocatello’s Historic Triangle Neighborhood, this specific celebration will honor Ken Monroe and Janelle Kaneaster, who both advocated for the Triangle’s memory before their respective passings.

“This year’s festival will be in memory of two community powerhouses that sadly we have lost,” said Catherine McCarthy, director of community engagement and marketing with Neighborworks Pocatello, which coordinates with the city’s neighborhood associations.

The Historic Triangle Neighborhood, which was bordered by Center Street to the south, South 8th Avenue to the east, the rail yards to the west and Oak Street to the north, was the most diverse neighborhood in Idaho at its height. The neighborhood, home to Black, Hispanic, Asian, Italian, Greek and French people, first began to form at the turn of the century, but was cleared out over the course of the 1950s and 1960s through urban renewal policies.

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Monroe, who interviewed with EastIdahoNews.com about his experience growing up in the Historic Triangle Neighborhood around three months before he died in March 2024, went to the Bonneville Neighborhood Association in February 2021.

McCarthy said he approached the neighborhood association, “about the fact that that Triangle Neighborhood was becoming somewhat forgotten … and it was a big part of Pocatello’s history.”

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And Kaneaster, who led the Bonneville Neighborhood Association since before McCarthy started at Neighborworks, and up until her death on Aug. 7 of this year, was integral to the organization, she said.

“(Kaneaster) has been an integral part of the Bonneville neighborhood for years. … She really stepped up in a lot of their projects here, and in putting the Lasting Legacy Festival on,” McCarthy said.

Additionally, Kaneaster was one of the people who pushed to have the old Bonneville Community Park renamed Purce Park, after one of the city’s most influential married couples, John and Idaho Purce. The group also worked to have the park improved, seeing new playground equipment installed last year.

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At the event, the officers with the Pocatello Police Department will be serving free hamburgers and hot dogs to attendees, and the Lamb Weston Fry Truck will be serving french fries. The Bonneville Neighborhood Association will serve ice cream from its cart.

The first 200 people to attend the Lasting Legacy Festival will receive a T-shirt for the event, this year honoring Monroe and Kaneaster.

Additionally, there will be a celebration of life for Kaneaster on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the senior center, about a block away from Purce Park.

McCarthy spoke highly of Monroe and Kaneaster, and said it’s important for this year’s festival to celebrate both of their accomplishments.

“They were two very involved individuals who did a lot in every direction for our community and really spent every day bringing forth their passion for Pocatello and improving the area and looking out for their neighbors,” McCarthy said. “It’s a very hard loss for our community.”