Events

Trailing of the Sheep Festival

From: 05.10.2016 to: 09.10.2016

The annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival celebrates for the 20th year in three picturesque venues in Idaho's Wood River Valley: Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley. Each fall, the Trailing of the Sheep Festival celebrates the over 150-year tradition of moving sheep, or “trailing”, from high mountain summer pastures down through the valley to traditional winter grazing and lambing areas in the south. This annual migration is Idaho living history and a weekend-long, family-friendly festival that highlights the people, arts, cultures and traditions of sheep ranching in Idaho and the western United States. This is not a re-enactment; it is living history. This wild and woolly event has national and international appeal, drawing thousands each autumn to the mountain communities of Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley in central Idaho.

In 2016, the Festival concludes its three-year Sheep Tales Gathering session project “Celebrating Generations”, designed to share and save the memories of these western sheep ranching families. This year, the voices of the next generation will share their perspectives on how, and if, they can take up the dream from their great grandfathers and make it their own.

The five-day festival includes non-stop activities in multiple venues: history, folk and traditional arts, a sheep folk life Fair, a fibre festival with classes and workshops, music, dance, storytelling, two and a half days of Championship Sheepdog Trials and the Trailing of the Sheep Parade with 1 500 sheep marching down Main Street in Ketchum. There will be dancing, singing, music and food honouring the tradition of welcoming fathers, brothers, sons and family home from a long summer of grazing in the mountains. This Festival honours the colourful history, heritage and cultures of Idaho and the western United States.

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Photo: Tatra Mountains Cultural Foundation/Milosz Sowa