words by Hayden Seder

For the size of the Wood River Valley, it is home to an extraordinary number of events, from private dinners held for donors to local nonprofits to wedding receptions to one of the annual events that’s a draw for the area. And behind those events are the many businesses that make them possible, including whole teams of caterers, interior designers, planners, and more. The Salted Sprig, with its new location at 700 N Main Street in Ketchum, is providing a much-needed amenity for the area: a bespoke full-service event space, along with the company’s beloved custom catering and deli takeaway.

How It Started

Salted Sprig founder Courtney Barnard had never even been to Ketchum when she moved here to take over a former business and start her own three years ago. Courtney had a long history in the restaurant business, working in every capacity—from management to hosting to wine buying to working on a line—but had yet to try owning. She also has a number of food allergies and restrictions, which limits where she can eat out, so the notion of starting a food-inclusive business was appealing. She was living in Wisconsin before moving here, where she was introduced to Kellee Havens through mutual friends, the former owner of The Haven, a catering business and dining space, which Havens was looking to sell.

After being introduced, and despite owning a business not being in Courtney’s short-term plans, the two hit it off and Courtney started the process of buying The Haven and turning it into her own business, The Salted Sprig. Courtney vowed to never start an actual restaurant, staying in the catering lane that The Haven had already established in Ketchum. Courtney kept the same model but modeled her food and approach around being health- and allergen-conscious.

The New Salted Sprig

For three years, The Salted Sprig has operated out of the same flagship space that The Haven once did, next to the UPS store in Ketchum. The space operates on a three-year lease, but by year two, Courtney had already not only found success in her new business and town but was outgrowing the current location. She started looking around for possible new spaces to move into after the lease ended and eventually toured Salted Sprig’s new home, formerly the site of numerous restaurants over the years, including most recently Barrio 75.

At first, Courtney wasn’t sold on the space—to say it is bigger than the flagship location is an understatement, and Hotel Ketchum (who rents the space) wasn’t sure if having an event space would be a good fit. But ultimately the new home was a go, and Salted Sprig officially took it over in October 2025, spending the next few months in both spaces as they made the move, and opening in January 2026 for events.

The event space had previously been home to Barrio75, an upscale Mexican restaurant, so the interior obviously needed to be transformed quite a bit to become a “flex space” that can be built for any event. There were originally a number of interior, false walls, which limited both natural light and room for moving around within the space, so those came down first. Courtney intentionally kept tones neutral, which again helps the space be flexible for any event. “I always like spaces that feel like they’ve morphed to an event instead of events being in a space, so for me, the whole flexibility of a true ‘flex space’ was really important,” she says.

The result is an open space/main dining area, a long bar on one end, three restrooms, an outdoor patio, a side yard, an interior fireplace, and an exterior fire pit. A formal seated dinner inside can accommodate up to 175 people, while a casual, unseated reception indoors can host 200+ and an indoor/outdoor combined can have 375+ guests.

Courtney also uses the space’s kitchen to continue her full-service custom catering for off-site events, with menus that are fully customizable to fit dietary restrictions and limitations. The space is also home to her popular deli takeaway, where she sells extra dishes from her off-site events, meaning what’s in the deli changes all the time.

Events

For events hosted at Salted Sprig, Courtney offers full-service packaging, which can include bar and catering services, indoor and outdoor seating, and obviously the space itself. Clients are welcome to transform the space themselves, with their own team, as they see fit, though there are in-house furnishings Salted Sprig provides as well as an events coordinator, who clients can work with to make the space what they want.

Already Salted Sprig’s event space is in high demand. Since opening just a few months ago, the space has already hosted numerous events, including a concert, several DJ sets, bat and bar mitzvahs, seated dinners, and cocktail parties on the deck. On the docket are corporate retreats, welcome parties and rehearsal dinners, milestone birthday parties, brunches, and baby showers. So far, Courtney hasn’t even bothered worrying about marketing—word of mouth seems to work just fine, either from meeting potential clients herself or from other events-based businesses in town sending people her way if their business isn’t the right fit.

“I think Ketchum is really unique,” she says. “None of us here compete; everybody’s really working toward helping each other. If we have events we can’t take or others have them they can’t take, we all pass and refer business really strongly.”

It seems that Salted Sprig has filled a niche for bespoke event spaces in Ketchum, yes, but Courtney would argue that her niche is truly being health- and allergen-conscious, which is more unique for the area. As someone with nine food allergies and restrictions, she’s all too familiar with attending events and having nothing to eat, so it’s important to her to provide for those people. “We just like to be an option for people,” she says. “If that’s something people have, it doesn’t freak us out. I’m happy to talk through menu buildouts for those restrictions anytime. And we have had a lot of business from that. Being seen in a food space can be hard.”

Salted Sprig Events

In addition to being an event space for outside events, The Salted Sprig has plans to host more of its own events, like a wine club or happy hours. Already since moving into their new space, they’ve started a monthly supper club, a five-course prix fixe menu based on a different country’s cuisine. The menu is not revealed beforehand, and courses have wine and beverage pairings available. These dinners are capped at a low number and are available for signup through The Salted Sprig’s website.

To learn more about The Salted Sprig and stay up to date on any future events, visit https://www.saltedsprig.com/.