Broncos, cruisers, development: We asked you to describe Boise in 5 words. Here’s what you said

Earlier this month, we adopted a Reddit challenge and asked you to describe Boise in five words.

Reddit hit the nail on the head, with answers varying from “Wildlife in a capital city” — an occurrence that happened just earlier this month — to “Too hot, dry and brown,” which is certainly applicable as another heatwave rolls into town.

But we wanted to know what our readers thought of the city. Here are some of the best submissions from Idaho Statesman readers:

Seasonal weather, blue football field

Submitted by Tina Quiroz

If there are two things Boise has going for it, it’s a dramatic yearly weather pattern and a nationally recognized football field.

Both of those will enter the limelight soon.

In less than a month, we’ll officially be in fall, and the temperatures will drop. While temperatures remain near the 100s heading into September, the average high by the end of the month will be just 74 degrees.

Meanwhile, the Boise State Broncos football team will return to the field Saturday with a road trip to Oregon State. Keep up on the latest Broncos news with the Statesman’s college football primer.

Downtown revving engines are horrible

Submitted by BJ Swanson

It’s Friday or Saturday night in downtown Boise. You’re trying to enjoy a night out along 8th street at one of the downtown area’s many outdoor patios.

Then suddenly… VROOOOM.

The downtown cruise. Obnoxiously loud, tricked-up wagons and modified hatchbacks and sedans roar through downtown, disturbing the peace along the way. It’s been happening for decades, but city officials recently started cracking down on downtown cruisers.

Boise cries, developers gobble beauty

Submitted by Arthur Troutner

Troutner may be a poet based on that submission — it’s dramatic but laced with truth.

Idaho has been the fastest-growing state for five-straight years, with the University of Idaho approximating that one in four residents are new to the state, according to previous Statesman reporting.

Southwest Boise residents spent the first half of 2022 fighting the city of Boise over a plan to rezone 153 acres of open land to light industrial. City officials listened to residents’ concerns and retained the western half of the rezoning area, closer to neighborhoods, as open space, but opened up the eastern half to development. Empty desert that provides open spaces and glimpses of the distant mountains is becoming the latest hotspot for development in the Treasure Valley.

Greenbelt, parks, river, foothills, Broncos

Submitted by Tom Eubanks

We asked you to describe Boise in five words, and this submission certainly fits the bill. It’s not a sentence, but it’s undoubtedly five words.

The Broncos again get a shout-out, but Boise isn’t truly Boise without the Boise River, the Greenbelt alongside it, and the many parks along the way. The 25-mile Greenbelt along the river cuts right through the city, providing easy access to over 20 parks, restaurants and other attractions.

And if you want to get out of the city, Ridge to Rivers has an online map tool that’ll tell you the conditions and distance of every trail in the Boise Foothills.

Want to join in? Submit your own five words in the survey below and we’ll continue to add the best to this story.