On Wednesdays, there is one thing that everyone in the Wood River Valley, no matter where they are, where they live, or where they work does: read the Mt. Express. This long-time local source of news not only catches one up on the past week’s highlights, but also features a fun, long-standing tradition: Miscellany II aka Misc II. It is like Craigslist and internet trolling long before the internet. A section of the newspaper where anyone can submit free, anonymous commentary, Misc II is a must-read for anyone looking to be kept in the loop on town happenings, drama, or missed connections. In 150 words or less, submitters espouse on topics as diverse as dog poop at trailheads to the status of local hotsprings to calling someone out (though without using any names—a rule of Misc. II). To get the real scoop behind this small, but mighty section, Visit Sun Valley spoke to two lifelong locals, Spencer Cordovano and Jacob Frehling. Cordovano was born in Ketchum and is the man behind F11 films through which he has made movies with notable clients such as Matador Network, Smith, the Sun Valley Film Festival, Dropbox, and more. Frehling is the owner of …
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Locals Guide to Driving & Parking around Sun Valley
Chief Deputy for the Blaine County Sheriff’s Department, Will Fruehling, has been patrolling the streets of the Wood River Valley for over 20 years. Since starting his career as a patrol officer for the Ketchum Police Department in 1995, Fruehling has been a patrol deputy, a Sergeant, Investigator for the Idaho Department of Corrections, and was appointed to his current position in 2017 by Sheriff Harkins. As a local and a police officer, Fruehling has seen plenty of visitors come and go over the years and through the seasons. So we asked him some tips on driving and parking, what his driving pet peeves are, and Fruehling settles the Miscellany II debate between left-lane drivers and right-lane once and for all. What tips do you have for visitors who haven’t driven in snow before? Will: “Obviously, the first thing is for people to slow down when the road’s covered in snow or when the road is slick. You see these people who wiz by and then you see them right in front of you at the next stoplight in town and you’re like, they made it at the same time that I did, but they went too fast for these …
24hrs with a Local: Wellness Festival’s Heather LaMonica Deckard, August
In this monthly series, we check in with one of our adventurous locals to find out how they would spend a perfect 24 hours in Sun Valley. The dog days of summer have arrived, and with them, our favorite combination of warm days, cool nights, and long evenings that beg to be enjoyed with close friends and a favorite beverage in hand. For this August edition of 24hrs Sun Valley, we caught up with Heather LaMonica Deckard, the Executive Director of the Sun Valley Wellness Festival & Conference. This year’s conference, Sun Valley Wellness Virtual, takes place online from August 22-23. Speakers include Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams; Seth Cohen, MD, MS, Director of Infectious Disease Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center and lead of their COVID-19 clinical program; and Nora McInerny, award-winning host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking. In addition to the incredible speaker lineup, the Festival also includes guided meditations, movement classes, and sessions on finding happiness and nurturing creativity. Though hosting a virtual event wasn’t what Heather anticipated, she’s excited about the possibilities. “Because it’s virtual, participants can interact with the Festival in ways they haven’t been …
What We’re Made Of – Warfield Distillery & Brewery
At the corner of Main Street and Sun Valley Road stands the Warfield Brewery & Distillery, the only combination brewery and distillery in Idaho. This combination brewery, distillery, and gastropub opened in 2015 and has been a go-to dining and imbibing destination ever since. Whether you’re hitting the roof-top bar in the summer for drinks and to sit around a fire pit or stopping by in the winter after spotting the blue light (which means it’s snowed over three inches in town and beer specials will run until it stops snowing), the Warfield serves up food, beer, and spirits like no other. The Warfield had some big shoes to fill when taking over the building that previously housed two local institutions: The Roosevelt and Slavey’s. The property itself has been in the Werry family since 1936; the Werry siblings were even born in the Sun Valley Lodge and raised in Ketchum. In 1952, the main street saloon known as Slavey’s—or sometimes “Slimey’s” by locals due to its atmosphere and clientele—moved in. Known as Ketchum’s last “honky tonk”, Slavey’s was famous for its live music and dancing, its drinking and brawls, and its annual 4th of July tradition of a horseman …
What We’re Made Of: Hempitecture – Two Entrepreneurs and Forbes’ “30 Under 30”
Sun Valley has held its own over the years as a home to burgeoning entrepreneurs and start-ups. Joining the ranks of locally-made brands like Smith and Scott, Hempitecture is making a splash on the building industry with their hempcrete building material. And not only has the company been making strides in using their material to build new buildings across the nation, founder and CEO Mattie Mead was recently named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30”. Mead began Hempitecture as part of his senior thesis at New York’s Hobart College where he was studying architecture and environmental studies. His thesis explored more sustainable ways of building and drew upon existing examples that use vernacular (true to place) architecture like adobe in the southwest. His research eventually brought him to the UK and France where builders use hempcrete, a construction material made from hemp. It was a light bulb moment for the senior who, in addition to the thesis, was inspired to create the start-up that would become Hempitecture. It was 2012 then and industrial hemp was still federally illegal and on the Controlled Substances Act. Despite these odds, Mead was driven. “I just knew there was this opportunity that was missing from …
What We’re Made Of: Art Connoisseur – Meredith Skillman
It’s no secret that the art and culture scene in Ketchum is akin to big cities like New York City. There are numerous concerts like the acclaimed Sun Valley Music Festival symphony performances and big names in indie, rock, jazz and more from the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. There are plays put on by the Company of Fools and the Spot and annual cultural events like the Wood River Studio Tour. But in terms of everyday art in Ketchum, nothing represents the scene better than Ketchum’s numerous art galleries. Displaying mediums from photography to sculpture and more, there’s a little something for everyone and it all caters to a sophisticated demographic. It was for this cultural scene that Meredith Skillman, the Gallery Registrar at Gail Severn Gallery, decided to call Ketchum, Idaho her home. “There aren’t many places in the U.S. where you can get the small-town experience and also work in art galleries,” said the North Carolina native who moved to the Valley seven years ago. Skillman had originally intended to be a musician like both her parents, even majoring in vocal performance at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but switched to art history after …
Cozy Up By the Fire: The Best Outdoor Fire Places in Town
No matter the time of year, there’s nothing better than cozying up to an outdoor fire. In a contained environment, there’s something magical about the mesmerizing, heat-providing flames dancing around. While campsites are often the best places to take-in this original caveman television, there are alternative ways to get your fix. There are plenty of Ketchum and Sun Valley establishments with their own outdoor fireplaces for patrons to gather around while enjoying a drink, waiting for a table, or after a long day on the mountain. We’ve compiled a list of the best outdoor fireplaces in town enjoy. The Warfield This restaurant, distillery, and brewery serves up elevated pub fare in its two-story establishment. The first floor is indoor dining (with its own cozy indoor fireplace section) but the second floor is dedicated to its rooftop dining, complete with its own bar and three outdoor fireplaces to gather around pre, during, or after-dinner. Outside Magazineeven described the rooftop bar as “the best spot in town to catch sunsets, especially while enjoying a Toothy Grin British Bitter.” The rooftop operates from roughly May through September, making it a go-to spot for long summer days! Rickshaw A funky neighborhood spot serving Asian fusion, Rickshaw …
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.
Sun Valley Bike Path Sightseeing Tour
The Wood River Trail aka “the bike path” runs over 20 miles between the Wood River Valley from Bellevue up to Sun Valley. The area encompassing Ketchum and Sun Valley is full of unique and historical sights, all easily viewed in a day by foot, bike, or any other way you choose to explore the bike path! We’ve put together a Sun Valley bike path sightseeing tour guide with all of the must-see spots along the scenic byway. There are a number of ways to go about this sightseeing tour. We’ll leave the navigation up to you! Spur Sculpture Located just off the bike path between St. Luke’s hospital and Ketchum, John Grade’s sculpture Spurwas commissioned in 2016 by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts with significant support from the City of Ketchum as part of a larger project celebrating Craters of the Moon National Monument during the 2016 National Park Service Centennial. Spurwas located at Craters during that summer before relocating to its current long-term site. Based in Seattle, artist John Grade visited Craters of the Moon several times before beginning work on Spur. He was fascinated by the park’s extraordinary geology, and using a technology called LIDAR, he digitally mapped …
INTRODUCING THE SUMMER INTERN: A Young Seattleite’s First Taste of Sun Valley
Living the dream is a phrase which we hear frequently, but truly experience rarely. Yet the stars aligned and here I am, the summer intern, in mountain paradise. For the next four weeks I am going to be giving you the first person, no holds barred experience of getting to know Sun Valley. Classic mountain biker pose at the top of Bald Mountain w/ Teddy Oram For those of you who haven’t met me, which I would imagine is most of you, my name is Asa Redfield. On June 15th I pulled into Sun Valley riding my golden steed of a car with minimal knowledge of the area or even the state of Idaho. I’m here answer an ad for a summer internship on behalf of an online-marketing role with a local start-up called PlayHard GiveBack whose mission is, you guessed it, to help others keep playing hard while simultaneously giving back. It’s a pretty rad company and you can check more of them out here: Play Hard Give Back. En route to Sun Valley from Seattle! (Taking pictures while driving is not recommended…) So basically it’s been just over two weeks now that I’ve been living here in Sun …
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