Be prepared for a night of fun and wonder as the Idaho Falls Figure Skating Club presents its annual gala full of talent. This year, the event will be held at Hero Arena at the Mountain America Center where performers get to show off their hard work and dedication.
The Snake River Gala not only helps gather the community but gives figure skaters a chance to show what they do. At these annual events, important and influential guests have the opportunity to inspire the community and the figure skaters.
This year, IFFSC has the special opportunity to work and perform with Mariah Bell. Bell was an Olympian and U.S. champion who started skating when she was four. At 25 she won the women’s national title and became the oldest to do so in 95 years. In Oct. 2022 she retired from competitive skating and now is enrolled at the University of North Texas. She will perform two solos with the local talent skating as well.
Leah Squires, the treasurer for the IFFSC, was instrumental in getting Bell to come to perform. She said her two daughters, who are figure skaters, have a coach in Sun Valley, who was able to connect them to Bell’s agent.
When Squires contacted Bell’s agents she said, “I felt like it was wishful thinking but when we started talking it worked out and we were able to book Mariah Bell to come to Idaho Falls.”
Squires got involved when her first daughter wanted to skate with Anna and Elsa from Disney’s “Frozen.” She said they tried every other sport, but figure skating is what interested them the most.
As a mother with figure skating daughters, Squires said body image is an important topic her family talks about.
“We in our house talk about being healthy … making good food choices to be healthy not to have a certain body type, we talk about exercising to make our bodies work the best way possible,” she said.
Squires said the club’s guest skaters like Gracie Gold and now Mariah Bell have been good examples of loving the sport and being athletes rather than focusing on looks. Squires and her husband focus on, “making our bodies the best they can be to do the activities they want to do.”
The event is March 8 at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now through ticketmaster.com.