words by Hayden Seder Now back for its fourth year, the annual Sun Valley Food & Wine Celebration is the area’s premier food and wine event. The brainchild of the Sun Valley Culinary Institute (SVCI), which offers affordable, professional culinary education, the Sun Valley Food & Wine Celebration is five days of VIP experiences and public events, including the gala opening dinner, private chef dinners, cooking classes, demonstrations, tastings, lectures, and more. Join SVCI January 27–31, 2026, for an unforgettable culinary experience. The Chefs Each year, SVCI is thrilled to welcome exciting new chefs as well as the return of favorite culinary masters to the Sun Valley Food & Wine Celebration, which has seen the likes of James Beard Award Winners, Chopped champions, Tournament of Champions participants, acclaimed restaurateurs, and Food Network celebrity chefs. This year’s lineup of seventeen chefs is no exception, and includes Barton Seaver, one of the world’s leading sustainable seafood experts and educators; James Beard Award nominee Brother Luck, nationally recognized for his appearances on Top Chef, Chopped, and Beat Bobby Flay; and Kelsey Barnard Clark, the fifth woman and first southerner to win the title of Bravo’s Top Chef and a 2024 James Beard Award …
Searching for Sun Valley
What We’re Made of: Sun Valley Mustard
written by Hayden Seder Whether you’re new to Ketchum or have been here for years, chances are you’ve come across an iconic glass jar of Sun Valley Mustard. One of the longest running local brands in the area, Sun Valley Mustard (SVM) has been operating for over forty years, switching hands five times in the brand’s lifetime. Its latest trio of owners have invigorated new life into SVM, while simultaneously tapping into the brand’s original ethos, creating a blend of old-school Ketchum vibes with new marketing, products, and innovation. Sun Valley Mustard’s History SVM started as a hobby for local Lois Allison, who had a delicious multigenerational family recipe that friends and family couldn’t get enough of. They encouraged her to jar her mustard, which she did, originally simply calling it “Lois’s Mustard.” Eventually demand required her to ramp up her production of mustard, and in 1984, she opened her first mustard “factory” in a small room in the Colonnade Building in Ketchum and changed the name to Sun Valley Mustard, turning her hobby into a true entrepreneurial endeavor and changing the face of condiments in Sun Valley forever. Over the years, and throughout several different ownerships, SVM gained …
Environmental Resource Center + Sun Valley Trekking Huts
written by Hayden Seder In downtown Ketchum, next to Java and across from Rickshaw, there’s a small white building that houses the Environmental Resource Center (ERC). While this unassuming building may not look like much, the nonprofit organization it houses has been operating in the Wood River Valley for over 30 years, connecting people to nature through education and action. In addition to their current initiatives and programs, the ERC is now the new stewards of the Sun Valley Mountain Huts as well, opening up further possibilities of connecting locals and visitors with the area’s natural surroundings. History of the ERC The ERC got its start 32 years ago as just a handful of passionate locals who believed that environmental action and education were imperative to sustain the beauty of our area. What that looked like has changed greatly over the years, from leading beaver dam tours back in the day to starting some of the earliest conversations around recycling the Wood River Valley and ride-sharing, which then ultimately transformed into the start of Mountain Rides. While the forms it’s taken have varied over the years, the mission of the ERC to provide education and inspire action to cultivate a …
Get to Know Every Ice Rink in the Wood River Valley
written by Hayden Seder For those visiting the Wood River Valley this winter season, put away the skis and sleds for a day and try a different winter activity: skating! Whether you’re a complete beginner or a pro on the ice, lacing up a pair of figure or hockey skates can be a great family friendly activity. There are three rinks to choose from, from a completely free outdoor rink in Ketchum to the historic Sun Valley Ice Rink in the heart of the Sun Valley Village and the Campion Ice House in Hailey. Whether you visit all three or just stick to one, you’ll be sure to have fun! Campion Ice House Prior to the building of the Campion Ice House in 2015, Hailey made do each winter with a free, outdoor natural ice sheet, first at Roberta McKercher Park and then the Hailey Rodeo grounds. But the community wanted an enclosed ice arena, and thus the Campion Ice House was born, providing an affordable skating facility in Hailey as well as a home for the local Sun Valley Suns amateur ice hockey team. The facility runs numerous events and programming, including learn-to-skate clinics, a curling league and clinics, …
What We’re Made Of: Satori Sake
Written by Hayden Seder In a small garage space by the airport in Hailey is the production facility for Idaho’s first sake brewery: Satori Sake. While the Wood River Valley may not seem like the most obvious place to launch a sake business, for owner and brewmaster Shin Hasegawa, quitting his job in tech, moving to the Wood River Valley, and tapping into his Japanese heritage ended up being a “satori” moment for him—and one that sake lovers in Southern Idaho have responded to with enthusiasm. How It Started Like so many others who move to the Wood River Valley, Shin was looking for a change. After leaving his home of Tokyo, where he trained as a sushi chef, he moved to California and worked as a sushi chef before eventually relocating to the Bay Area to work in tech. Though he had left Japan, he brought a piece of home with him, through making fermented foods at home: beer, kombucha, miso paste, soy sauce, and kimchi. Eventually, he quit his job and moved to Ketchum in 2020, unsure what his next move was. His “satori” moment (satori is the Japanese Buddhist experience of awakening) came on the chairlift, when …
3 Reasons to Travel to Sun Valley for Opening Day
If you’ve never experienced an Opening Day in Sun Valley—don’t you think it’s about time? Here are 3 reasons to travel to Sun Valley for this double-holiday.
Sun Valley + IKON Pass
No matter how much you might love your home mountain, there are always other resorts to try out. And if you’re a powder hound, you might just spend your winters hopping from ski hill to ski hill, going where the meteorologist says the next dump will hit. This kind of winter adventuring is a heck of a lot easier with the IKON Pass, a multi-resort ski and snowboard season pass that gives you access to a whopping 50 resort destinations across five continents, 10 countries, 15 states, and four Canadian provinces. The 2023–2024 season, marked the first year that the Sun Valley Resort was a part of the Ikon Pass, adding itself to the list of iconic mountains one can experience as a pass holder. Sun Valley also joined the Mountain Collective Pass for the 2023-2024 season. Sun Valley is no longer on the EPIC Pass. For the 2024-2025 season, Sun Valley continues to be on the IKON Pass & Mountain Collective Pass. What Are the IKON Pass Offerings? For the 2024-2025 season, the original namesake IKON Pass gets you unlimited access at 17 destinations and up to seven days each at 42 destinations. Included in those 17 with …
What Not to Miss at the 29th Annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival
Aside from the brilliant transitioning leaves, The Trailing of the Sheep Festival is the highlight of Sun Valley’s fall season. Celebrating sheep and sheep herding traditions, Trailing of the Sheep offers a unique glimpse in to a part of Idaho’s past. Five days of dancing, music, wool classes, lamb dinners, sheep dog trials, and the famous Big Sheep Parade will tantalize the spectrum of senses.
What We’re Made Of: Kika MacFarlane
There’s a good chance you haven’t heard the name Kika MacFarlane, but you’ve likely seen her work in various spots across the Wood River Valley. The art director, designer, illustrator, and animator based out of Hailey has worked with various local companies and businesses, creating such fun works as the mural on the backside of Sturtevant’s in Hailey, a colorful bench that sits outside The Wylde Beet restaurant as well as a T-shirt for them, the art wrap for The Community Library’s bookmobile, posters for the Alpine Ski World Cup, or the new logo and branding for local women’s mountain bike apparel Wild Rye. After studying design and liberal arts, Kika went on to design graphics in-house for Patagonia and Stio, then eventually cofounded her own studio, Two Toes Creative (with cofounder Tala Schlossberg, who lives in New York) where she makes animated videos, designs for purpose-driven brands, and leads creative retreats. Prior to moving to the Wood River Valley three years ago, Kika was based in another mountain town, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Though Jackson had a similar vibe to Ketchum, her and her then boyfriend (now husband), who grew up in the area, felt ready for a change and …
One Activity Day- Biking
Written By Hayden Seder Summer may be over, but fall is the best time for biking anyway: With the summer crowds gone, roads, paths, and trails are easier to navigate and the cooler, damper air makes the trails that much grippier and easier to rip! Morning: Fuel Up If you’re hoping to make the most of your bike-themed day, a hearty breakfast is the first order of business. Make a quick stop at Wrap City for one of their several breakfast wraps (the most basic of which, the Sunnyside, is eggs, bacon, and cheese, with each wrap adding on to these basic ingredients) that you can take on the go so you can get on the trails! For coffee, stop by Lizzie’s on your way north to the Adam’s Gulch trailhead. Mountain Biking: Adam’s Gulch For your first bike foray of the day, head to the Adam’s Gulch Trailhead, located about one mile north of Ketchum. There are numerous trails within Adam’s Gulch itself, but there’s also the ability to connect to all kinds of other trail systems, making this the perfect spot for all manner of biker to dip a toe into the plethora of mountain bike rides in …