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“Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue”

A Community Speaker Series event, in partnership with the Sun Valley Writers Conference. Registration is required to attend. When Pamela Churchill Harriman died in 1997, she was often written off as a courtesan and social climber known for her glamorous life and many erotic adventures. But in her delicious and comprehensive new biography, prize-winning author Sonia Purnell helps set the record straight in the captivating story of a woman who was at the center of power over five decades and two continents. In conversation with The Community Library’s director of programs and education, Martha Williams, Purnell will share the details of Harriman’s glittery and strategic life: how at age 20, as Churchill’s beloved daughter-in-law, she became a “secret weapon” during World War II, and how, later in the United States, she hand-picked Bill Clinton and helped propel him to the presidency.

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Carry the Load (05/16) – Ketchum, ID

Carry the Load, a national nonprofit based in Dallas, Texas, will be in Ketchum, ID today! Starting at 4 or 5pm at Ketchum Fire Station, we will do a short 1 mile walk honoring fallen veterans and first responders for Memorial May! We hope you can make it out to represent Ketchum and the broader community of Idaho!

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“Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal that Shocked the Nation”

No episode in NYPD history surpasses the depravities of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two decorated detectives who covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins in 1980s Brooklyn. For more than ten years, the two moonlighted as the mob’s early warning alert system, leaking names of mobsters secretly cooperating with the government and crippling investigations by sharing details of surveillance, phone taps and impending arrests. When evidence of their wrongdoing arose in 1994, FBI officials failed to muster an indictment. The allegations lay dormant for a decade, but finally led to a resolution in 2009, nearly thirty years after their crimes took place. Join us for an event with Michael Cannell, author of “Blood and the Badge,” as he shared this history and the new research and never-before-released interviews that contributed to his book. Michael Cannell is the author of “A Brotherhood Betrayed: The Man Behind the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc.,” and three other works of non-fiction. He has worked as an editor at The New York Times and contributed to The New Yorker and many other publications. Photo credit: Michael Weschler. 

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Degenerate Music with Adrienne Haan

Under the patronage of the German Consulate General in San Francisco. “Degenerate Music” was a label used by the Nazi government in 1930s Germany for music they deemed harmful to society. Similar to their campaign against “Degenerate Art,” they aimed to isolate, discredit and ban such music. The question always asked is “why?” Why could something like the degeneration of art, music and culture happen? Why the banning and burning of books? Why the persecution of the Jews in a civilized country such as Germany, known for science, philosophy, arts and music? Why the Germans? Why the Jews? In this historic lecture honoring the 80th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, Adrienne Haan will explain “why” by covering German history from World War I to the Weimar Republic, which would finally lead to the Third Reich, covering the Nazi Regime’s impact on classical, cabaret, and jazz music. During the lecture, pictures will be presented as well as samples of “degenerate” versus “approved” music. Q&A to follow. Chanteuse Internationale Adrienne Haan is an award-winning singer and producer living in New York City. Cited as “An entertainer of the highest caliber” by the New York Times and “A song interpreter with …

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The Light of a Hundred Fires: Chinese Experiences in Idaho’s Gold Rush Era

Chinese migrants were some of the first and most numerous participants in Idaho’s 19th century gold rushes. In mining communities across Idaho, Chinese residents often made up more than half of the local population and an even higher percentage of gold seekers. This presentation from Dr. Renae Campbell will focus on one such community, Southern Idaho’s Boise Basin, where a rich archaeological and historical record allows us to reconstruct what daily life was like for some of the thousands of Chinese individuals who, despite facing racial discrimination and an evolving array of exclusionary laws, established diverse lives and livelihoods during Idaho’s gold rush era. This program is part of the 2025 Winter Read. Renae Campbell is a historical archaeologist and the Director of the University of Idaho’s Asian American Comparative Collection (AACC), a non-profit facility dedicated to promoting research on Asian American heritage and material culture. Renae specializes in Chinese and Japanese diaspora archaeology, archaeologies of race and gender, and the history of the rural American West. In 2016, she created the Historical Japanese Ceramic Comparative Collection (www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/hjccc/), one of the first online resources for identifying archaeological Japanese ceramics. Her 2023 dissertation, The Once Bustling Basin: A Historical Archaeology of …

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“Bitter Creek” with Teow Lim Goh

In September of 1885, the Chinese coal miners who were brought into Wyoming as strikebreakers were ambushed and driven out of the town of Rock Springs at gunpoint by white coal miners. Teow Lim Goh’s “Bitter Creek” revisits this dark episode—known today as the Rock Springs Massacre—revealing the stories beneath this violent, decade-long culmination of labor struggles and racial hostilities in the Union Pacific Coal Mines. Through the eyes of the struggling railroad workers, their families, and the corporation working them to the bone, Teow Lim Goh creates an ode to buried history that blends epic tradition with modern composition and astonishing empathy to ask the question, “What turns ordinary people into monsters?” This program is part of the 2025 Winter Read, a community-wide program. This year we’re reading “Four Treasures of the Sky,” by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, set in 19th century Idaho and whose main characters hear of the Rock Springs Massacre as they face their own threats of violence in the small mining town of Pierce. Books will be available for pre-order from Torrey House Press, which is publishing the book in May 2025. Teow Lim Goh is a poet and essayist who writes from the nexus of …

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Rotarun Ski Area Opening Day & History Project Unveiling

Join us for opening day on Saturday December 21! The Hailey Rotary Club will be on site at 10 a.m. to serve a free community pancake breakfast ahead of a special history project unveiling at the base area. Public ski hours begin at 12 p.m. and end at 4 p.m. Visit rotarun.org for more information.

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Winter Read Kickoff

To kick off the 2025 Winter Read of “Four Treasures of the Sky” by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, we’ll be opening a new exhibit, enjoying light refreshments, and sharing how you can participate in this community-wide read! The Winter Read is a community-wide read and collaboration of The Community Library in Ketchum with the Hailey Public Library, Bellevue Public Library, and Stanley Community Library. Learn more at https://comlib.org/programs/winter-read-2025/

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Preserving Family Recipes Workshop

Preserving cherished recipes from family and friends is a meaningful way to keep traditions alive and to ensure associated memories remain vibrant. Join Cynthia Nims for a workshop focused on the value of these most beloved recipes. Cynthia has been writing recipes for cookbooks and magazines for many years. Inspiration for those recipes comes from countless sources, among them are recipes that had a beginning in her mom’s kitchen. She’ll talk about the treasure that she considers her mother’s falling-apart recipe folder to be. And she’ll share examples of how recipes that may seem a bit dated can find a place in your kitchen today. Bring along a cherished family recipe or two to share with the group, discuss, and begin preserving through story. There will be time for an informal exercise to help capture the tales of these recipes. Register at www.comlib.org. Cynthia Nims is a Seattle-based author and consultant. Her most recent cookbook, “Shellfish,” was released in early 2022. Previous books include “Oysters and Salty Snacks.” Cynthia has served as the food editor of Seattle magazine, editor of “Simply Seafood” magazine and has contributed to Alaska Airlines Beyond, Cooking Light, and Coastal Living, among others. She publishes a …

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Arts & Culture, Bucket List, Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter

Most Instagrammable places in Sun Valley, Idaho

If you have ever visited the Sun Valley area, chances are there is at least one image of our breathtaking locale in your Instagram feed. Or maybe you haven’t visited yet but hashtags like #seeksunvalley on our @Instagram page have caught your attention and have drawn you into exploring this amazing place. Whether you are a seasoned visitor or a first timer, we complied a list of the must see places in and around Sun Valley to fill your Instagram feed with the best there is to offer. The Sun Valley Barn An icon of Sun Valley, many a photo has been taken in front of this barn and numerous reproductions of it in paintings and memorabilia have been made over the years. Located on Sun Valley Road between Ketchum and Sun Valley, the red barn is hard to miss. Built in the early 1880s, its thought that this barn used to service ore wagons that traveled Trail Creek Road. Speaking of, swing by the Ore Wagon Museum for some more history and to grab a few grams there too. Across Sun Valley Road from the barn is a stop many make to photograph the beautiful horses that are occasionally …