What is a good small idaho town to raise a family? (Boise: fit in, cliquey)

[erin_harris22]

I have a family of 5 - me, my husband and our three little girls - and am interested in moving to a quaint town in Idaho. We are a young couple, both 27.
We currently are living in a tiny town in Utah and love everything about it except the fact that it is LDS and we are not. It has already caused some dirty looks and some heavy conversation about my daughters going to school. But I love the four seasons and my husband loves the fishing and hunting out our front door -practically anyway.
There are a few things that we are looking for in a town; very small (2000 give or take) everybody knows everybody TV type, a school, a cafe/ restaurant -at least one, a small market, not too far north but still woodsy, a church and a bar - I come to hate the hypocrisy of the Mormons here (no offense to those who are Mormon just the ones here- who hide their beer at the bottoms of their carts at the market ~Who are you hiding from? GOD CAN SEE YOU! - We are who we are and don't want to hide it. It isn't like we are alcoholics (but we do drink) or do anything bad. No drugs, no smoking... etc., actually at the moment we never get out of the house. So maybe not too too far from a college so I can maybe find a baby sitter. But we like to have a good time and my husband may (okay so he does) curse too much but that is who we are.
I am okay with some level of cliques as long as I can find one I fit into. I think all small towns are going to have one.
My husband works on / instals commercial doors and also windows. For like store fronts. He does a lot but I don't really know all the details... He has had 2 jobs and his titles were Glazier and service tech. (that one was for the commercial doors, which he prefers) So I don't know if he can find that in a small town but a commute doesn't bug him. Currently he is driving about 45 minutes.
I am a stay at home mom but interested in working if I can. Not totally necessary right now though.
So thanks for reading my book. Any ideas or suggestions of what I might be looking for would be great.

[kristinl5]

I saw your blog post today and thought I'd give you some towns to look at..I am a realtor in Idaho so I cannot tell you where to go due to the people who are living there...that is a violation of the American Fair Housing Act and the class of religion is protected under that law. What I can give you is some small towns in Idaho that have that small hometown feel, close to recreation and have some good prices on homes. Hope this helps
middleton.id.gov
staridahochamber.com
emmettidaho.com

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by erin_harris22

I have a family of 5 - me, my husband and our three little girls - and am interested in moving to a quaint town in Idaho. We are a young couple, both 27.
We currently are living in a tiny town in Utah and love everything about it except the fact that it is LDS and we are not. It has already caused some dirty looks and some heavy conversation about my daughters going to school. But I love the four seasons and my husband loves the fishing and hunting out our front door -practically anyway.
There are a few things that we are looking for in a town; very small (2000 give or take) everybody knows everybody TV type, a school, a cafe/ restaurant -at least one, a small market, not too far north but still woodsy, a church and a bar - I come to hate the hypocrisy of the Mormons here (no offense to those who are Mormon just the ones here- who hide their beer at the bottoms of their carts at the market ~Who are you hiding from? GOD CAN SEE YOU! - We are who we are and don't want to hide it. It isn't like we are alcoholics (but we do drink) or do anything bad. No drugs, no smoking... etc., actually at the moment we never get out of the house. So maybe not too too far from a college so I can maybe find a baby sitter. But we like to have a good time and my husband may (okay so he does) curse too much but that is who we are.
I am okay with some level of cliques as long as I can find one I fit into. I think all small towns are going to have one.
My husband works on / instals commercial doors and also windows. For like store fronts. He does a lot but I don't really know all the details... He has had 2 jobs and his titles were Glazier and service tech. (that one was for the commercial doors, which he prefers) So I don't know if he can find that in a small town but a commute doesn't bug him. Currently he is driving about 45 minutes.
I am a stay at home mom but interested in working if I can. Not totally necessary right now though.
So thanks for reading my book. Any ideas or suggestions of what I might be looking for would be great.

If you are looking for a small town in Idaho without heavy Latter Day Saints influence then look West. West of Boise are many small quaint towns in which the LDS faith is in the minority or not as influential as the religion is in the Eastern areas of the state.

[erin_harris22]

kristin15, thanks for those suggestions. I took a look at them and from the webpages you gave and a few more searches for them so far I really like the look of Star. Something I will have to look into more. Anymore suggestions, keep 'em coming.
TohobitPeak, I will keep that in mind when looking. Thanks

[kristinl5]

Yes Star is really a great little town, you've still got that small town feel to it but also you are close to things in Boise and Meridian when you need some of the "city life" I travel to Star a lot when showing homes and really enjoy going there!

[kristinl5]

What part of Utah are you? I grew up in Bountiful Utah and also lived in SLC..got out just before the Olympics (whew!!!).

[erin_harris22]

Sorry got back to you so late, we are actually in a town called enterprise. It is about 45 minutes outside of st george. But we have only been here about a year. I have not gone north farther then Cedar City. But my husband has been up north.

[millagerobert]

You may want to check out the Kamiah area and the towns along the Clearwater river from Kooskia to Lewiston. Lots of nice people and countless outdoor opportunities( sea run steelhead and salmon, big game hunting, huge chunks of public ground). Jobs can be a little scarce unless you commute to Lewiston. Lots of good info about these towns on the internet. I live in Kamiah and am a realtor, so may be a little biased, but its a great palce to raise kids. Population in town of around 1200 but large grocery store, a couple builder supply stores, hardware, drugstore, etc... look at Kamiah's chamber of commerce site. Good schools, lots of local clubs and organizations if your into that, many different churches and most people in the area live and let live. Good climate in the river valleys, you stay out of all the deep snow, but it is only a 15 minute drive to be in all the snow you want.

[solitary sister]

it's colder up in idaho than the st. george area, just to let you know.
and it's true that you will need to go northwest if you want to get away from lds people. however I have found that lds people outside of utah behave very differently. they are not so cliquey and snobbish and unfriendly. try mountain home.
there is an air force base there and so lots of people move in and out and it is just a friendly atmosphere.

[norcalmom101]

Check out Shelley, Idaho. Yes this is historically an LDS area, but you are just 15 minutes south of Idaho Falls, and just about all the friends we have made (my kids are in middle school) are not LDS, native or transplant.