STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Several Masons showed up in their regalia.
And more than 200 Wood River Valley residents showed up, as well, as leaders of D.L. Evans Bank dedicated what they called the finest bank they’d ever built.
“We wanted to build it as a show piece,” said John V. Evans Jr. during a grand opening ceremony Thursday evening that lasted about 45 minutes.
The new 6,100-square foot wood and brick bank, located at 609 S. Main St. in Hailey, had been planned earlier but was delayed by the recession of 2008, Evans said.
That was nothing, however for a bank that weathered such hardships as grasshopper invasions, the Great Recession and two World Wars. Today the bank started by former sheepherder and state senator David Lloyd Evans has more customers than ever and more capital than ever before, said Evans.
“We started 114 years ago with $25,000 in capital—I don’t think you can buy a front door for that today,” he added. “The bank’s grown to $112 million in capital, making it the largest community bank in Idaho.”
The bank had its topping off ceremony in September 2017, opening three months later in December.
“We’ve got a lot of money to loan out and we need to loan money to pay for this!” Evans quipped. “And , rates are low. At 4.5 percent, they’re ridiculously low.”
The Masons representing the Grand Lodge of Idaho Af & Am came from as far away as Boise, Arco, and Mountain Home at the request of the Evans family.
They performed a ritual that involved corn for nourishment, wine for refreshment and oil for joy.
The Branch Manager Kelli Young, whose bank does $50 million worth of business in Hailey each year in addition to the $50 million at DL Evans’ Ketchum branch, took over.
She stuck her tongue out, a picture of pure concentration, as she readied a pair of giant red scissors to cut the ribbon in front of the entrance. She raised her arms in jubilation as the ribbon fell around her feet.
Young recalled visiting Hailey as a youngster with her grandmother and seeing a sign where the Post Office is today that said, “Welcome to Hailey the Friendly City.”
“That’s always stuck with me and that’s why I’m here today,” she said. “Hailey’s such a strong vibrant community.”
Chamber President Todd Hunter said that kind of spirit endeared him to D.L. Evans when he and his family moved to Hailey four years ago to take over Idaho Lumber.
“Kelli Young with her big personality stopped by and she knew my back story. I’ll go into another bank and they call up my information and say, ‘How are you doing, Michael?’ Michael is my first name that I don’t ever use,” he recounted. ”Even more than the scenery here we noticed the people here. I don’t think people come here without saying how they wish they lived here. Small town feel is what this bank is.”