Simplot Games brings excitement to Pocatello

With the kickoff of the Simplot Games, Pocatello has become the hub for high school track. Every year, the big influx of visitors brings excitement and a busy schedule for local businesses.

More than 2,000 high school athletes from around the world have come to the Gate City. Elijah Armstrong, a front-runner for this year’s games, can’t wait to show his hometown his speed.

“To be able to come in and represent my community, as well as the state, in such a premiere event, and to do it in front of my home crowd is even that much more of a blessing,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong isn’t the only one excited. Everything from hotels to restaurants have been prepping for the games. Every single hotel in the area is fully booked for the event; some have been booked for nearly a year. Some hotels, like the Best Western Pocatello Inn, let coaches reserve their rooms for this year’s games after checking out last year.

“I always try to work with the coaches for what they need, so that they don’t have worries,” said Lis Jafar, the director of sales for Best Western.

Down the street from the Best Western is the restaurant Perkins. It has extra staff on hand for the next couple of days. Casie Poppleton has been a server there for 11 years, for her the games are a great transition to springtime.

“During winter we slow down a lot,” Poppleton said. “That’s like our slowest time of the season and we know once the Simplot Games start coming, we start picking up.”

For Armstrong it isn’t a transition; the games are the best thing that happen all year.

“It’s probably the biggest event in my eyes,” he said. “Maybe there’s something else, but not that I know of.”

Armstrong qualified for the finals heat of the 3200 meter run on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 3:40 p.m. For a list of all event times and other information, go tosimplotgames.com. All events are free to attend.