County Spotlight: Bannock County

Bannock County is home to many amazing agricultural, industrial, and web-based businesses that help to drive our local economy. Among these are ON Semiconductor, Amy’s Kitchen, Great Western Malting, and the FBI’s Western Datacenter just to name a few. But, today we’d like to highlight what many in the area are most proud of.

Bannock County is home to Idaho State University! GO BENGALS!!! Founded in 1901, Idaho State is a Carnegie-classified doctoral high activity research institution that attracts more than 12,000 students from around the world. Idaho State offers high-quality education in more than 250 programs and is the state’s designated lead institution in health professions. The university has nine colleges, a Graduate School, and a Division of Health Sciences. With the academic support of its colleges and the division, the University offers a broad spectrum of degree levels and provides residency training in the health professions. New knowledge is created through biomedical, energy, ecological, translational, clinical, rural, and health services research. Teaching, research, practice, and community partnerships provide interprofessional education and excellence in patient care. University clinics provide an environment for learning, inquiry, and comprehensive health care service to the community.

In September 2015 the Portneuf Health Trust donated an 80-acre state-of-the-art facility known as the Portneuf Wellness Complex to Bannock County. It was designed to enhance and improve the health of Southeast Idaho residents. It includes multiple multipurpose areas for public use including: the Portneuf Health Trust Amphitheater outdoor concert venue which has the ability to seat over 10,000 people, a six-acre pond stocked with fish where the public can paddleboard, kayak, swim, and fish, 4 sand volleyball courts, 2 basketball courts, a bicycle pump course, 3.4 miles of paved walking paths, and 20 acres of multi-purpose fields where we host cross country meets, soccer and football games, and tournaments. The adjacent Event Center includes a horse racing track, outdoor rodeo arena, indoor rodeo and riding arena, and an RV park capable of hosting over 100 campers per night. In total, the Bannock County Wellness Complex and Event Center hosts over 1,200 events per year.  If you haven’t visited the area put it on your list of things to see next time you are in Bannock County.