Located halfway between Ketchum and Mackay up Trail Creek is Idaho BaseCamp, an oasis for both children and adults to explore the outdoors through education, workshops, and experiences, all while staying in one of the camp’s funky yurts or camped out in the maze that winds through the riverfront property. Founded in 1998 by Mathew Gershater, Idaho BaseCamp is an educational non-profit specializing in the building of one’s knowledge of environment, community and individual impact upon nature. In our modern world, connecting to nature has become even more of a priority, something that Gershater and Idaho BaseCamp recognize and seek to remedy through group and individual experiential and academic study. 5thGrade Outdoor Adventure Program While Idaho BaseCamp is a resource for people of all ages, the camp is particularly dedicated to educating our youth. Their 5th grade outdoor adventure program is free to every 5th grader in the Blaine & Cuter County School to make sure that youth in the area can have a chance to create a connection to Idaho’s wilderness and work on BaseCamp’s core values: personal responsibility, courage, and respect for all. Students spend three days and two nights at BaseCamp, starting the day with morning mindfulness in …
Grab a Seat: Where to Catch a Show in Sun Valley
Over the past few years, the Sun Valley area has burst to life with new and remodeled locations to experience one of the most vibrant cultural calendars in the West.
Here are just a few of the spots to catch your next show or performance in Sun Valley.
From Farm to Table: Sun Valley’s Freshest Dining
Here in Sun Valley, we are lucky to have innovative community groups, markets, and restaurants that pushed the idea of farm-to-table dining and experiences quickly to the mainstream. Are you ready to know what fresh tastes like? You can find it here.
Oh, Kale Yeah! It’s Time for the Wood River Farmers Markets
Life rolls at a more relaxed pace in the mountains, and those minutes between when an event is supposed to start, and when it actually starts, is what we like to call “Ketchum-time.” There’s always some wiggle room…which means a little extra time on the trail, or for a lingering lunch with friends. Or, at least, so I thought. Turns out that “Ketchum-time” doesn’t apply at the Wood River Farmers Markets. “You should have been here earlier,” one farmer told me when I looked sadly at an empty bin labeled ‘broccoli.’ “Those sold within the first thirty minutes.” When it comes to supporting local producers—and eating the freshest, tastiest fruits, meats, and vegetables—the people of this Valley don’t mess around. It’s ‘be there or be square,’ and I’ve learned my lesson. Ketchum Farmers Market The Wood River Farmers Markets hold two markets each week through the summer. The first, on Tuesdays from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, is hosted at the River Run Parking Lot on Serenade Lane in Ketchum. Dozens of local vendors set up for four hours and offer locals and visitors the change to purchase locally-grown produce, meats, and dairy products alongside artisan crafts and flowers. Food …
What We’re Made Of: Wood River Trails Coalition
Originally founded in 2011 under the name the Wood River Bike Coalition, the Wood River Trails Coalition (renamed so in 2019) is a non-profit trail stewardship organization working to create, maintain and sustain the Wood River Valley’s network for all users. With so many locals and visitors alike using the trails for walking, hiking, biking, and enjoying with dogs and horses, trails in the area take a pretty good beating every year. According to the Wood River Valley Trail Study from 2012, the Ketchum Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest alone sees over 90,000 user days annually, 35,000 of those being visitor user days. Harsh winters mean that trails need even more maintenance after the snow melts to ensure they are up to snuff for summer outdoor enthusiasts. It is with the help of the Wood River Trails Coalition that this is made possible. Partnerships With more than 500 miles of single-track trails for various uses, land management agencies are tasked with the job of maintaining this vast area. Without predictable annual funding to pay for a proper trail crew to maintain current trails and begin projects on new ones, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have a difficult …
What We’re Made Of: Company of Fools
The Company of Fools (CoF) theater group has been putting on world-class stage productions in the Wood River Valley since the group relocated to Hailey in 1996. Founded in Rusty Wilson’s unheated garage in Richmond, Virginia in May 1992, Wilson and original CoF members Vicki Bodin, John Glenn, Denise Simone, Robert Throckmorton and Joel Vilinsky took inspiration for their name from an essay by visual artist Cecil Collins, “The Vision of the Fool”. Collins describes the fool as embodying truth, joy, creativity and a childlike wonder of all that is magical and mysterious. The CoF went on to launch three productions in their four years in the garage before Wilson and Simone relocated to Hailey to continue their work on the stage of Hailey’s Liberty Theatre, the Fools’ home. In November 2012, the CoF merged with the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, becoming part of what is now the largest arts institution in the state of Idaho. And now, over 20 years later, the CoF is recognized for its award-winning theatre and arts education programming it has brought to the community. The group and the individuals who make it up have been consistently recognized for their contributions to the arts; …
Sun Valley: A Pro Skier’s Summer Playground
Pro skier, Andy Mahre and his pro photographer fiancé, Shannon Skouras, traded in their skis in favor of mountain bikes & paddleboards to seek-out the post-snow side of things here in the Sun Valley area. Dive in for a deeper look at how these two took on our summer playground.
A Day in The Dirt with Sun Valley’s Osberg Ridge Trail
To be honest, the Osberg Ridgeline Trail doesn't make any sense. It's too perfect. It's too remote, yet too close. It's singletrack is too flowy, too rolly, too buffed out and way too scenic to be so close yet so far away. It's too easy to be a backcountry trail and it's too far from town to be… well it's almost too much of everything to be real. But it is. Sitting in the middle of nowhere, 3,000' above the valley floor, unspooling from east to west, following a prominent ridge system that divides Baker Creek and Warm Springs Creek with views for tens if not hundreds of miles, this newest addition to the Sun Valley region's singletrack motherload is a mind blower.
This is The Sun Valley Museum of Art
Nothing is more synonymous with the art culture of Ketchum than the Sun Valley Museum of Art. With its constant rotation of art exhibitions, music, lectures and workshops, educational outreach and more, it has a presence in every part of the Valley in every aspect of art, serving more than 40,000 patrons every year. SVMoA, as it’s known to locals, was founded in 1971 as The Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities making it the oldest arts organization in the Wood River Valley and the largest in the state of Idaho. The Sun Valley Museum of Art has a long and storied history in Ketchum with the original campus of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities established on land deed by Bill Janss, owner of Sun Valley Company from 1964 to 1977. The property that is now home to the Sun Valley Community School was the original home of The Center; before that, it was the site of kennels for the Sun Valley Resort’s sled dogs. The Sun Valley Museum of Art has always provided a well-rounded experience of the arts, even in the early days offering art exhibitions, classes in photography, printmaking and ceramics, …
Galena Lodge: Where You Should Take Your Family This Summer
Galena Lodgehas all the ingredients for an awesome and memorable family day in the mountains. Take advantage of mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding, great food, cool vibes and breathtaking views all at the special Galena Lodge.
