When we came to Idaho, there was a list of “must see” events that we had. One of those was the Idaho Spud Day and another one was the Trailing Of The Sheep. As many of you know, we already attended the Idaho Spud Day. Over the weekend, we traveled to the Trailing Of The Sheep. This is a celebration where the sheep farmers bring their flocks down from the mountains to their winter grazing pastures.
The Trailing Of The Sheep was a multi-day event that culminated in a parade, on October 9th, that focuses on, what else, sheep. This year was the 20th Trailing Of The Sheep celebration and always takes place in the same city, Ketchum, Idaho. Ketchum is located in a well known ski area called Sun Valley. This was the location of the first destination winter resort in the U.S. It is quite a beautiful valley. It was so beautiful that famous, Nobel Prize winning, author Ernest Hemingway bought a house there, decided to be buried there and there is a memorial in the Sun Valley for him as well.
Now, back to the Trailing Of The Sheep. As I stated earlier, it is focused on the sheep industry. The parade had wagons pulled down Main Street that represented different sheep camps. There were also Scottish, Spanish, Polish and Peruvian Dancers in the parade due to their rich cultural history in the sheep industry. The Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts made an appearance as did Father Ken Brannon. While waiting on the main attraction, we even had a surprise appearance of a kid in sheep’s clothing. Then, finally, picking up the rear of the parade were 1500+ sheep and a handful of guard and sheep dogs.
I have to admit, we were sitting on the curb and I was a little worried about the sheep running up on us or at least crowding us. Nope. Never happened. Those guard and sheep dogs were fantastic. They kept those sheep in line and moving how they were supposed to. They seem like an invaluable part of the sheep rancher’s team. Within a few minutes, all 1500+ sheep were down Main Street and headed to pasture. I have never seen anything like this. I have seen flocks of sheep cross the road, but never marched down the Main Street of a Ski Town.
If you come to Idaho and are within a few hours of Ketchum during this time of year, you should head over and check out the Trailing Of The Sheep. It was a unique and enjoyable experience. Safe Travels.
