Crossing the cold, frosty, urban freeway tonight, between The Pioneer and The Sawtooth Club, I felt abandoned! I saw other figures, alone or in small groups, but I didn’t see crowds of laughing, noisy people or any vehicles, moving or parked, the visual footprint of a transient society, coming here to Ketchum/Sun Valley for a legendary good time!
Where are the people and where are the good times? During the day, they’re skiing and boarding by the thousands, whipping up the energy on the greatest snow sports mountain in the world, but after that, do the bars and restaurants pick up the momentum, feel the pulse and sustain the obvious economic flow? Just ask them.
Or, ask our mayor, Neil Bradshaw, the first alien Ketchum mayor who somehow showed up in town with his British empirical attitude a few years ago and, guided by bad advice from greedy people, sucked the spirit out of our town. For the first time in decades, the Halloween street party, signifying the cultural beginning of the ski season, was abandoned by the city.
How about trying this: the urban freeway is busy with north-flowing traffic early in the morning and south-flowing traffic from 4 to 6:30 p.m.; after that we could easily allow parking on both sides of Main Street signaling the various restaurants and bars and are open and eager for business.
The World Cup will be televised throughout the world in March, featuring a great mountain sustained by state-of-the-art lifts, runs and grooming. Let’s promote the local food and drink vendors and allow them to display the depth of quality in our community, as well.
David Barovetto, architect
Wood River Valley resident since 1970
