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Trying to catch Sarah Benson, executive director of Hailey Ice, for more than a few minutes during the crazy busy winter season is like a youth hockey goalie trying to stop a shot from an NHL superstar: possible, but pretty hard.<\/p>\nTrying to catch Sarah Benson, executive director of Hailey Ice, for more than a few minutes during the crazy busy winter season is like a youth hockey goalie trying to stop a shot from an NHL superstar: possible, but pretty hard.<\/p>\n
The only surety is that Benson can be found doing every job there is to do at the Campion Ice House in Hailey, every day. \u201cNormal days are pretty long in the winter,\u201d Sarah laughed.<\/p>\n
For instance, this past weekend, Sun Valley Youth Hockey (SVYH) hosted a Bantam tournament with teams from Boston to Park City. Next up is the IHAA state championship, a Mite Jamboree, an event with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and a Bellevue and Alturas Elementary School free skate night. In between are Suns games, curling club events, and general skates\u2014not to mention fundraising, grant writing, and getting texts at 7:30 a.m. from people asking about skate sharpening.<\/p>\n
For Sarah, what happens at Hailey Ice is a labor of love. \u201cI don\u2019t look at my job as a job. I don\u2019t clock in and clock out,\u201d she explained. \u201cMy favorite part about it is all the things we do in the rink. I love the Suns games because it brings lots of people in to enjoy a great night. I love the curling because it gives people who might not otherwise be on the ice a way to try a really fun sport. This week we had 35 kids from Hailey Elementary in the building for their winter sports week. Every day is unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
The success of Hailey Ice is something of a Cinderella story, with Sarah playing the role of the hardworking, relentless and determined fairy godmother.<\/p>\n
Bippity-boppity-boo\u2019ing the building of this important community resource, though, took a lot more than the wave of a wand. \u201cAfter the first rounds of fundraising stalled a bit,\u201d Sarah explained, \u201cI walked in and asked for the job. Even if I failed, I was going to give getting this building built my best shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Hailey Ice brings hundreds of people into the Wood River Valley, supporting not only the rink, but local hotels, eateries, and shops\u2014a great example of trickle-up economics. \u201cThis facility is having a very positive impact on this town and the entire Wood River Valley,\u201d Sarah said. \u201cAnd in this Valley, we\u2019re all in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Sarah certainly has a passion for hockey and plays twice a week, schedule permitting, she started on the ice in figure skates. In fact, she first came from Kentucky to the Wood River Valley with her grandparents as a child and practiced on the iconic outdoor rink at the Sun Valley Lodge. She switched over to hockey in her early 20s when she started dating now-husband Chris, who played for the Suns. Sarah is also mom to two hockey players, son Zach, who plays on both the Midget and high school teams, and daughter Morgan, who is playing club hockey at Arizona State University. Chris continues to play and to coach for SVYH.<\/p>\n
Even as a young girl, Sarah knew Sun Valley would always figure into her future. \u201cI was sure I was going to live here, I just didn\u2019t know how,\u201d she said. How turned out to be moving here for \u2018one winter\u2019 after college to learn to ski, and then meeting Chris, getting married at Trail Creek in 1996, and starting on a varied career path that took her from working for Sun Valley Resort to becoming a high-tech recruiter, owning her own recruiting firm, and working in finance.<\/p>\n
After a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease, Sarah knew she had to switch gears. The pivot to helping to build and to running Hailey Ice allowed her to put all of her skills and strengths to excellent use.<\/p>\n
Five questions for Sarah:<\/p>\n
WRW<\/b>: What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
SB<\/b>: We are working on an expansion of Campion Ice House that is really exciting. We are planning to add 8,000 square feet with a new dryland room, more storage, bigger meeting rooms, an expanded caf\u00e9, and bigger locker rooms. We have drawings and are waiting on formal bids. We are using the space year-round for events like a green home and garden show, private parties, and summer hockey camps, and this next phase will help make all our goals even more viable.<\/p>\n
WRW<\/b>: What does a perfect non-hockey weekend look like?<\/p>\n
SB<\/b>: I had a perfect summer weekend last year for my 50th birthday. About 20 to 25 of us\u2014a bunch of families\u2014went to Sunbeam to raft and camp. I hadn\u2019t rafted in about 20 years and it was so much fun. Any weekend spent at the spa would also be a great weekend!<\/p>\n
WRW<\/b>: What\u2019s the most exciting thing about hockey in the Valley right now?<\/p>\n
SB<\/b>: We\u2019re definitely seeing a resurgence in hockey participation, from five-year-olds to adults. A lot of people of all ages are coming out and trying hockey or are coming back to it.<\/p>\n
WRW<\/b>: New Duchin or old Duchin?<\/p>\n
SB<\/b>: Old! I always think of working there when I first moved here, wearing my \u2018Duchin dress\u2019\u2014a black, ankle-length dress with white piping and puffy sleeves. I also remember and love the \u2018old, old\u2019 Duchin back when it used to be a restaurant. I had a lot of birthday dinners there when I was a kid.<\/p>\n
WRW<\/b>: What is the most popular item at the concession stand?<\/p>\n
SB<\/b>: It\u2019s a tossup between pretzels and churros.<\/p>\n
There is so much fun to be had at Campion Ice House. Whether you are showing up to cheer on the home team (big one coming up\u2014Suns versus Jackson Hole, March 13 and 14); are playing in a hockey tournament; learning to curl; or just taking a few peaceful laps around the ice, chances are, if you\u2019re at Hailey Ice, Sarah will be there to greet you. She will, with her excellent team, help to make your experience a great one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love that the community has embraced us,\u201d Sarah said. \u201cWe will give our everything to do what we need to do for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information on Hailey Ice, check out Haileyice.org. To nominate someone to be featured in this column, please send an email to production@woodriverweekly.com with the subject line: Someone to Meet.<\/p>\n
If hotels and restaurants aren\u2019t busy and people aren\u2019t working, we\u2019re not going to live in a very vibrant town. The rink has an impact, the Liberty Theatre has an impact, summer music festivals have an impact. One thing alone can\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trying to catch Sarah Benson, executive director of Hailey Ice, for more than a few minutes during the crazy busy winter season is like a youth hockey goalie trying to stop a shot from an NHL superstar: possible, but pretty hard. The only surety is that Benson can be found doing every job there is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-people-that-you-meet","9":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}