For several years now, Sun Valley Pride has joined the ranks of other meaningful Sun Valley events produced by and for locals, all in the name of providing community. In this case, that community is the LGBTQIA+ community, for which Sun Valley Pride provides a multi-day event full of performers, music, and fun. From what was once a modest singular event to now a full week of both paid and free activities, Sun Valley Pride draws attendees and performers from across the nation. How It Started What is now an entire week of Pride events started as just one: Pride in the Garden, at the nonprofit Sawtooth Botanical Garden (SBG). Executive Director Jen Smith had only been in her role for a few years when she suggested the Garden do a Pride event as a way to raise funds. As she says, they didn’t need to do another golf tournament or poker run like other organizations in the area had done as fundraisers. The board went wild, and the first Pride in the Garden event was held in 2021, which Jen describes as “a social justice event trying to bring awareness to the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies and to …
24 hours with a Local: Powder Magazine Founder Jake Moe
The skiing in Sun Valley has been influential on many people and brands over the years, including Jake Moe, who was working as a Sun Valley ski patroller in 1968 when he came up with the idea for Powder magazine. At just 20 years old, Jake Moe lived like so many ski bums still do in Sun Valley: balancing his love of riding fresh pow with working an assortment of jobs, from dishwasher, waiter, and cook to roof shoveler, cannery worker, and painter. In 1972, the first issue of Powder came out, and Jake continued producing the magazine from Sun Valley until 1975, when he opened the magazine’s office in Boulder. Over the years, Jake has been in and out of Sun Valley, but it was when he finally retired seven years ago that he and his wife, Susan, decided to leave Seattle and come back to the town where they met 50 years ago (Susan worked for Sun Valley back in the ’70s as well). Now living in Warm Springs, Jake maintains a busy life for someone who’s “retired”: coaching tennis three days a week, volunteering, mountain biking, golfing, fly fishing, hiking, catching summer concerts, traveling in his van, …
24 hours with a Local: Flourish Foundation’s Abby Mills
A local now of fourteen years, Abby Mills traded out one mountain town for another, having grown up in Park City, Utah. After graduating college, Abby moved to Ketchum for a job at Idaho Bioscience, where she worked for five years before going back to school for medical lab science while working simultaneously as a lab assistant. After graduating, she was a medical lab scientist for three years, but found herself searching for more purposeful work. She attended a yoga teacher training in Bali—and still continues to teach yoga, at Gather—but got involved with the Flourish Foundation when she was invited to a Compassionate Leaders Program (CLP) meeting, a weekly meeting that impart skills like attention, kindness, and compassion to students. After attending many CLP meetings and participating in environmental stewardship trips with CLP in the summers, Abby Mills was offered her current job at Flourish as Development Director and Compassionate Leaders Co-Leader. She has now been with Flourish for three years and feels so grateful to be part of a program that is describes as “such a gift to the community.” Her and her husband, Tate, and cattle dog, Ollie, live in Ketchum. In her free time, Abby loves …
What We’re Made Of: Sun Valley Bronze
When it comes to locally made hardware in the Wood River Valley, Sun Valley Bronze has you covered. This long-standing institution in the valley is an inspiration. Get to know them in this edition of, “What We’re Made Of.” Sun Valley Bronze What has now become a 30-plus-year institution in the Wood River Valley once had very humble beginnings, with founder Bob Commons starting Sun Valley Bronze (SVB) in his garage. Back in 1992, Bob was working in construction, building the high-end homes so ubiquitous in the area, while his wife, Debbie, drafted architectural plans. Frustrated by the lack of luxury hardware available for the jobs he was working on, and with 15 years of thoughts of starting his own business, Bob began experimenting with the casting process using old foundry equipment he purchased from the local high school shop department. Since then, the company has evolved into an internationally sold brand used by some of the top architects and designers in the world. What was once created in a garage is now operated out of a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that utilizes robotics, CNC machines for patterning and machining, and 3D printing for prototyping. The luxury architectural hardware created by …
What We’re Made Of: Rocky Mountain Hardware
With a unique origin story and process for creating hardware, Rocky Mountain Hardware is a staple in the Sun Valley business scene. Get to know Rocky Mountain Hardware, from accessories and custom pieces to creating a life in the valley. Rocky Mountain Hardware Back in 1994, there weren’t many options for local hardware in the Wood River Valley. Mark Nickum ran a local door and window company in the Valley at the time and found he kept getting requests from clients looking for hardware for the doors and windows he was selling. Though there were a few options, there weren’t many. Luckily for Rocky Mountain Hardware, Mark decided to capitalize on this gap in the market and began messing around with metals on his own to create hardware for the doors and windows he sold. He landed on bronze as a high-quality metal and started working with a local friend at a foundry to create unique designs. As Mark received more and more requests, he realized he had something good going here and formed, along with his wife Patsy, Rocky Mountain Hardware (RMH). Next year will be RMH’s 30th anniversary, and while their offerings and operations have grown over the …
24 Hours With A Local: Designer/Builder/Sculptor Wes Walsworth
Ketchum native Wes Walsworth no longer plays music (other than as a hobby), but he may be best known to many in the Sun Valley area—and beyond—as a member of punk/bluegrass band the Scotch Greens, which formed in Sun Valley in 1998 before relocating to San Diego. It was while living in San Diego that Wes began to tap into some of his family’s woodworking roots; his father was a builder, and his grandfather was a woodworker. Wes grew up with a woodworking shop at his house and eventually learned finish carpentry and worked for his father. In San Diego he started working for Taylor Guitars and become a luthier, someone who builds or repairs string instruments. After coming back to the Wood River Valley on and off for many years, Wes traveled to Australia, where his professional woodworking career would begin. Wes Walsworth was living on a winery, which had lots of discarded wine barrels that were going to waste. He started taking them apart and using his woodworking skills to create furniture—the rest, as they say, is history. More than a decade later, Wes has created a name for himself as a renowned furniture designer/builder, with designs sold …
What We’re Made Of: DECKED
Local company DECKED has created a product that appeals to many of the kinds of people who call Ketchum home: outdoors people, tradesmen/contractors, and just about anyone who drives a truck. It was while innovating a way to organize a truck bed that DECKED founders, Jake Peters and Lance Meller, came up with the idea for DECKED’s drawer system, tapping into the market of truck accessories that few had or have since. In its almost ten years as a company, DECKED has grown from a small-footprint, servicing mom and pop accessory stores, to a multi-national company available directly from manufacturers like Ford and Chevrolet distributed into 27 countries on six continents. The Origin Story Like the origin of so many products, DECKED’s drawer system was the result of necessity. Ketchum local Lance Meller was a snowboard rep and pickup truck owner who built his own plywood drawer system for the bed of his truck, which allowed him to sleep in it while on the road while also storing his snowboard samples. After getting a new truck, Meller realized he would have to build another system from scratch, with no real roadmap for doing so. He partnered with DECKED founder, Jake …
US Alpine Championships VIP Lodging Package
The VIP package includes lodging at Sun Valley Resort with a premium rate and all the perks of the VIP Experience, which will be capped at 100 participants. The VIP Experience includes access to an exclusive viewing area for the races; complimentary food and beverage options; one day of Early Up access, allowing participants to ski or ride on Bald Mountain before the race festivities kick-off and the mountain is open to the public; a meet & greet, photos and signing with race participants; and a coveted U.S. Ski & Snowboard and SVR Swag Bag. BOOK HERE VIP Four-Day Pass (no lodging included) Take in the US Alpine Championships in the premier fashion. The Sun Valley VIP Experience offers exclusive access to the VIP tent and patio area, overlooking the finish line and views up the course. VIPs will also have daily access to a light breakfast and full lunch buffet, as well as beverage service during the duration of the events. Four days of Sun Valley lift tickets are included in the VIP experience. PURCHASE THE VIP PASS Check the event schedule HERE
24hrs with a Local: Hockey player Mike (Taco) Curry, March
If you’ve seen a Sun Valley Suns hockey game in the last ten years, then you already know Mike Curry, better known as “Taco” to those in the know. The Alaska native moved to Ketchum about ten years ago and has been playing defense for the Suns ever since. When he’s not on the ice, Mike works from his home in Warm Springs doing headhunting for Walmart Global Tech. In the winter, he enjoys snowboarding and snowmobiling (in addition to hockey, of course) and in the summer spends lots of time on the lake water skiing and doing a bit of fishing. We caught up with Mike to see what his perfect March day in Sun Valley entails. How does your morning start? Mike: I’d start out with breakfast at either the Kneadery or something quick at Wrapcity. At the Kneadery I like the cowboy benedict—it’s rock solid. At Wrapcity I get the Mayday wrap. What’s after breakfast? Mike: I’d hit the mountain for a couple runs, nothing too crazy. I’m a snowboarder, so I try to stay off steep pitches so I can cruise; usually I’ll do Broadway top to bottom for my first run of the day. …
Racing ’round the World with Local Haley Cutler
Haley Cutler is making a name for herself, not only here in the Wood River Valley but also in the skiing world. At 25, Cutler has jumped back into racing and is competing around the world, from placing 1st in Giant Slalom in Jackson to traveling across Europe for the Europa Cup in the Super G discipline. However, racing isn’t anything new for her. Starting as a young skier, Cutler was a part of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF), went on to ski collegially at both University of New Mexico and Montana State University, and then became a coach for SVSEF.