BMW Northwest 2020 Magazine - Flipbook - Page 27
PHO TOS: MICH A EL EDMINSTER, C A ROL WA LLER, STE VE DONDERO
In October,
if schedules allow, Manfred and I like to
take a fall trip to Sun Valley, Idaho. The
lure? Fifteen hundred struttin’ mutton.
This ultimate road trip takes you and
your BMW from Seattle, 650 miles along
I-84 against a backdrop of pine-covered
mountains and golden aspens on the way
to Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual Trailing
of the Sheep festival. Held the third weekend of October each year, ‘Trailing’ is one
of most unique festivals in North America,
and happens at various locations in Sun Valley, Hailey and Ketchum, a town that was
once home to more sheep than any place
in the world except for Sydney, Australia.
But the festival is not a reenactment of a
time before Sun Valley emerged as one of
America’s top destination ski resorts. This
is the real deal—and residents participate
in the town tradition that celebrates the
sheep that still move through Ketchum's
Main Street as part of their annual migration to winter pastures. It’s also a celebration of the Basque heritage and culture of
the herding and ranching families.
From spring to fall, hundreds of sheep
owned by local ranchers roam the hills
just outside the town. Sheep herders live
in wagons alongside watching over them,
their trusty sheepdogs keeping the herd
together as they move to greener pastures. Come fall, they bring the sheep
down before winter sets in, and the cycle
repeats in spring, after the snow melts.
Manfred and I love the history and the
culture, and it comes with five days of
colorful folk dancing and music, sheep
shearing demonstrations, felting and wool
workshops, cooking classes, and chances
to talk people who have spent their lives
caring for the animals on the range.
Though sheep ranching has been part
of the town’s history since the 1860s, the
Trailing of the Sheep Festival got its start
24 years ago. A 22-mile bike trail had just
been built on the historic sheep trail and
railroad bed that used to ferry sheep out
of the valley and bring skiers to Sun Valley.
But bicyclists were not happy about having to ride over the little brown souvenirs
the sheep left behind.
“Our phone started ringing off the hook
with people calling, saying, ‘Your sheep
are on our bike path,” says Diane Peavey,
who owns the Flat Top Sheep Ranch with
her husband John.
John, who was running for a seat in the
state legislature, knew he had to quell the
firestorm. So, he educated the community
on the historic traditions of the trailing
of the sheep and invited residents to join
his herders as they directed the animals
past multimillion-dollar homes, across the
sheep counting bridge, over the Big Wood
River and into a sheep camp between Ketchum and Hailey.
A few dozen people came out the first
year, and a few dozen more the next year.
As interest ramped up, Sun Valley Chamber director Carol Waller sensed the makings of a festival.
It now attracts 25,000 visitors from
as far away as Wales and India, and has
received accolades around the world,
including recognition as one of the Top
Ten Fall Festivals in the World by USA
Today; Seven Best Fall Festivals in the
US by National Geographic; A Fall Festival
Worth Traveling For by Forbes.com and
The Travel Channel’s Ten Amazing Fall
Festivals Worth a Road Trip. It’s even been
called one of America’s Wackiest Fall Festivals by Huffington Post.
hile many of the
events are free,
inclu d ing t he
Sheep Folklife
Fair on Saturday,
workshops and
classes and dinners require paid admission. Popular ticketed events include Sheep Jam dinner and
dance and the Sheep Tales Gathering, which
has featured speakers such as Mark Kurlansky, author of “Salt,” “Cod,” and “The Basque
History of the World.” The dinners sell out
ahead of time, so purchase your tickets online in advance and try to arrive on Thursday, a day early to pick up event tickets for
the weekend.
A ‘must-do’ on Friday night is For the
Love of Lamb, a restaurant walkabout,
held at various participating restaurants
in downtown Ketchum. A $20 passport
provides the opportunity to sample small
plates of lamb served up umpteen different ways—from a Lamb & Carrot Stew
with Mint and Walnut Pesto and Pomegranate Seeds to Lamb Samosas, Lamb
Curry, Lamb Sausage, Lamb Barbacoa,
Lamb Kafta, Lamb Chili and Lamb Meatballs with Grilled Pita, Tzatziki Sauce and
Greek Salad.
Even if you don’t think you like lamb,
give it a try. Guaranteed you’ll change
your mind! Pick up your passport ahead
of time so you can figure out which restaurants you want to hit up first. The 7
passport samples are enough to satisfy an
appetite, so when the event ends, we head
to the Limelight Hotel, which offers free
live music, and the perfect place to nurse
a Sage Gimlet.
Then, it’s across the street to Ketchum’s
new state-of-the-art Argyros Performing
Arts Center for an evening of sheep tales
from ranchers and celebrity speakers.
On Saturday we head to the park in Hailey
to watch music and dancing featuring
the Oinkari Basque Dancers, Peruvian
Dancers, Boise Highlanders Pipe Band
and even the Polish Highlanders—all
ref lective of the cultures of those who
have herded sheep in the mountains of
central Idaho.
Come prepared to shop and have lunch.
We get a jump on Christmas gift shopping by visiting the 80-some vendors
there who offer everything from cheese
made from sheep’s milk to beautiful
shawls made from alpaca wool. This is
not your typical festival food. Should we
have braised leg of lamb with heirloom
tomatoes, mushrooms and eggplant or an
incredibly delicious lamb burger? And, we
never pass up the sheer madness of watching sheep shearers give ewes a buzz cut.
After lunch, we grab our lawn chairs and
binoculars and head to a nearby canyon
to watch in awe as sheepdogs work to pen
feisty sheep who want no part of being corralled after roaming free for five months.
BMW Northwest Life 2020
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