Pocatello is the only town in the world with a municipal ordinance making it illegal not to smile. It started as a joke to lift people’s spirits during a particularly brutal winter, but it ended up being a major part of what Pocatello is today - a great place to live and visit. Founded by pioneers, gold miners, and settlers in 1889, Pocatello is called the “Gateway to the Northwest.”

Today, Pocatello has a rich cultural life thanks to the Palace Playhouse theatre, Westside Players Dinner Theater located in Pocatello's Historic Warehouse District, and the Old Town Actors Studio. The Idaho Museum of Natural History features collections in anthropology, life sciences, and earth sciences, while the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation showcases the area’s tribal history. In the winter, The Mink Creek Nordic Ski Complex has trails for everyone, and when the snow melts, there is hiking, biking, golf, fishing, bird watching, and so much more.

Boise, Idaho Idaho Falls Coeur d'Alene Pocatello Salmon Sandpoint, Idaho Mountain Home Meridian Nampa Ketchum Sun Valley McCall Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve Idaho Destinations: Shoshone Falls Yellowstone National Park Bruneau Dunes State Park Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area Thousand Springs State Park Sawtooth National Recreation Area Mesa Falls Ponderosa State Park Sawtooth Wilderness Lewiston St. Anthony Sand Dunes, Idaho Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area

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