Lightning lit a fire southeast of Richfield on Monday. It was about 2,000 acres that night and 74,316 this morning. Highway 26 has reopened and both Carey evacuation zones have come down from go-now to set, which is the good news. Ten percent contained is the rest of it.
Also this week: the council votes on a police chief tonight, P&Z cleared a downtown Ketchum building for demolition and wrote down in the same breath that the plan says otherwise, the Salmon Festival opens over Galena this afternoon, and filing for the November ballot shuts Friday at five. Here's the week.
Top of Mind
The Wildhorse Fire is still changing fast.
Lightning started it southeast of Richfield on Monday. It was about 2,000 acres that night. By Tuesday afternoon it was 21,862. This morning it is 74,316 acres and 10% contained. That is the shape of the thing: it has moved faster than the people reporting on it can keep up.
Where it stands as we send. The South Carey and East Carey zones are both at Level 2, "Set," which means packed, fueled, and ready to leave. South Carey spent Wednesday night under a Level 3 "Go Now" order. Those levels come from the Blaine County Sheriff's Office, the account to follow. Richfield, over the line in Lincoln County, is at Level 1, "Ready." Highway 26/93 between Carey and Richfield closed Wednesday and reopened Thursday. Crews are running backburns, so more smoke today does not by itself mean the fire moved.
Forty-odd miles separate the head of it from Ketchum, so up-valley this is smoke and not danger. Two things worth keeping anyway. Every number above will be wrong by the weekend, and Watch Duty and the Sheriff update while we do not; we go to press once a week and a fire does not. And it is the second stretch this summer the county has run go-now zones, after July's Ohio Fire, with the north zone at Extreme throughout.
Sources: LocalNews8/KIFI on Thursday's acreage, KMVT and Idaho News 6 on Wednesday night, and the Blaine County Sheriff's Office on the evacuation levels
Reach the whole valley
One local business runs in this spot each issue. Category-exclusive, so you're the only one in your trade all week, in front of readers from Ketchum to Bellevue. No banner clutter, no ad network, no algorithm deciding who sees you. Just your name in something people open on purpose. Get the media kit →
Town Hall
KetchumP&Z cleared Bitterroot Square at 200 N Spruce for demolition last Thursday. The 1970 building has held neighborhood offices and small commercial for five decades. What replaces it is three condominiums in 14,594 square feet with no commercial space at all. The city's own staff report says the project "does not advance the Retail Core policies related to retaining commercial space," and recommended approval anyway because the CC-2 zoning does not require it. The plan asks for storefronts. The code doesn't. The code wins, and Ketchum is rewriting that code right now: the residential height piece is back at P&Z Thursday, Sept. 3 at 4:30. [IME]
KetchumThe council votes tonight at 5:30 to appoint Shane Womack as chief of police. He spent two decades at Las Vegas Metro, from bike patrol to investigations to senior leadership, and came out of a national search that put finalists in a room with residents and business owners. He's sworn in Sept. 23. The department opened Aug. 3 with ten officers and no chief. [City of Ketchum]
BellevueCouncil approved an $11,620,983 budget for fiscal 2027 on Monday, 5-1. That looks enormous next to last year's $7,644,965, and most of the gap is a $4 million state grant for water. Same meeting: the council took another run at putting a local-option tax on the ballot, and outgoing Marshal Kirtus Gaston handed over a public safety memo before he leaves Sept. 11. [IME]
BellevueThree council seats are on the November ballot and filing closes Friday at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 115 E Pine. It costs $40, or five signatures from registered city voters. Two-year terms. That's the same Friday the county certifies ballot questions and the same Friday the recall petition against the mayor is due, so by dinnertime the whole fall is set. [City of Bellevue]
CountyMountain Rides is cutting late-night service. The board approved its fiscal 2027 budget unanimously last Wednesday after losing about $325,000 in federal money. [IME]
HaileyThe city's wastewater system hits what engineers call firm capacity, meaning what it can still handle if its most important component fails, in just over five years unless Hailey upgrades it. That's the kind of number that turns into a bond question about two budget cycles from now. [IME]
KetchumThe post office is still short-staffed, and the complaints haven't stopped: mishandled packages, unreliable service, and no free boxes to be had. It's a federal agency, so the city can write letters and not much else. It remains the single most reliable thing to grumble about in line at Atkinsons. [IME]
Out & About
This week
Today, Thu Aug 27 History Half Hour at High Noon: the Lewis Ore Wagons, 12 to 12:30, free, through the Community Library. Those are the wagons that pull the parade next Saturday, so this is the pregame. [info]
Today and tomorrow Conversations with Exceptional Women at the Argyros, the Alturas Institute's twelfth year, twelve speakers over two days. Tonight at 5 there's a screening of "Ask E. Jean" with director Ivy Meeropol on stage after. Ticketed. [tickets]
Tonight, Thu Aug 27 Boise State's Sam Martin on the long tangle between Christianity and American national identity, Community Library, 5:30, free. [IME]
Tonight, Thu Aug 27 Matrescence at Cocoon in Hailey, 6 to 7, free, snacks out. Seed Mother's session for expecting, new, and not-so-new mothers. RSVP to [email protected]. [info]
Sat Aug 29 Sun Valley on Ice with Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the two-time Olympic gold medalists in ice dance. 8:30 to 9:30 on the outdoor rink, doors at 7:30. Ticketed. [tickets]
Sat Aug 29 Yoga at River Run, 9 to 10, free, all levels. Register ahead and be there by 8:45. One more after this and the season's done. [info]
Sun Aug 30 Pop Up Pilates behind the Brass Ranch, 10 to 10:45, free, no registration, raffle after. Last one of the summer. [info]
Every week
Sat 10 to 2, Wed noon to 4 Wood River Farmers Market, twenty-fifth season. Hailey Saturdays at Roberta McKercher through Oct 3, Ketchum Wednesdays at Forest Service Park through Oct 7. [info]
Wed to Sun, 6 to 9 Larry Harshbarger on the piano at The Ram in the Sun Valley Inn, free. The Duchin runs its own lineup nightly in the Lodge, also free. [info]
Also standing: Live Music in the Pasture at Hotel Ketchum, Thu/Fri/Sat 5:30 to 7:30. Wicked Wednesday at the Wicked Spud, Hailey, 6 to 9:30, free. Sun Valley Ballroom Dance at Whiskey's on Main, Wednesdays at 6, beginners included.
Coming up
Wed Sep 2 to Sat Sep 5 Wagon Days. Friday: cowboy poetry 1 to 4 at the Ore Wagon Museum, Grand Marshal reception 5:30 in Town Square. Saturday: pancakes 8 to noon, Big Hitch Parade at 1 up Main, street party at 2:30. Free. [info]
Thu Sep 3 The Sun Valley Suns launch the 2027 calendars at Grumpy's in Ketchum, 5 to 7, all ages. $25 each or $45 for both, signed, with the money going to the team and youth hockey.
Thu Sep 3 Bugs and Brews at the Sawtooth Brewery taproom in Hailey, 6 to 7:30, free. Entomologist Jackson Birrell on what's hatching on the Big Wood, talk at 6:45, tie flies at the vise, $5 raffle. Fishing guides drink free. [info]
Fri Sep 4 First Friday at the Sun Valley Museum of Art with Sawtooth Strings, 5 p.m., free. Afternoon Art for families runs at 2:30, also free. [info]
Fri Sep 4 Movie on the Lawn: "Cars" on the Pavilion Lawn at 7, free. Blankets, low chairs, a picnic. [info]
Fri Sep 4 and Sat Sep 5 Free music on the Boiler Room patio, 2 to 5 both afternoons. [info]
Sun Sep 6 Portugal. The Man at the Pavilion. Social Animals at 6:30, headliner at 8:15, doors at 5:30. Ticketed, and it's the last big night of the season. [tickets]
Sun Sep 6 and Mon Sep 7 Bellevue's Labor Day Celebration turns 101. Two days in Memorial Park, parade Monday, free. Down-valley's oldest standing party and it predates most of what's up-valley. [info]
Over Galena
Today through Sun Aug 30 The Sawtooth Salmon Festival, four days, all free. Tonight at the Kasino: a film at 5, salmon trivia at 6, Copper Children at 7. Friday: a fish dissection at the library at 4, Lynda Mapes on dam removal at the museum at 5:30. [info]
Sat Aug 29 Saturday is the one to drive for. Bus tours to the Buckhorn Bridge spawning beds leave the museum 10 to 12:30, and you ride the bus because there's no parking out there. Festival noon to 7, the Idaho Dark Sky Alliance has a booth 12:30 to 2, Shoshone-Bannock dancers at 3. [info]
Sat Aug 29 Free yoga on the green behind the dance hall at Mountain Village, 9 a.m. Bring your own mat. Sunday morning it's a river cleanup instead, 10 to 1, fifty volunteers, sign up first. [info]
Fri Aug 28 and Sat Aug 29 Low-Fi at Velvet Falls, 8 p.m., free, and family-friendly both nights. [info]
Fri Aug 28, Sun Aug 30 Music on the Lawn at Redfish: Evan Michael Band Friday 6 to 8, Low Fi Sunday 5 to 7. Free, Lakeside Grill serving through it. Two weekends left; the season ends Sept. 6. [info]
Also standing: trivia at the Kasino Wednesdays at 7:30. At Mountain Village, karaoke Mondays at 9 and family movie night Tuesdays.
Mark it down
Tue Sep 8 to Tue Oct 13 Seed Mother's Fertile Ground, six Tuesday evenings on matrescence, $295 with scholarships available. Live on Zoom, with a hybrid option here in the valley. [info]
Wed Sep 9 to Sat Sep 12 Rebecca's Private Idaho, four days of gravel riding out of Ketchum. [info]
Sat Sep 12 Women's clothing swap at Bluebird Village in Ketchum, 10 to noon. Everything is free and the leftovers get donated. Drop-offs run Sept 3 to 10, at Hemingway School in Ketchum and 401 Tendoy in north Bellevue, washed and labeled by size.
Sat Sep 26 The Baldy Hill Climb, forty-eighth running. Hike it, run it, or race it, with a KinderClimb for kids and a new Community Cup for business teams. Register at svsef.org. [info]
Wed Oct 7 to Sun Oct 11 Trailing of the Sheep, thirtieth year. Tickets are on sale now and the good ones go early. Ketchum Oktoberfest is Sept. 18 and 19 in between. [info]
The Dirt
River and fish. The Big Wood is 126 cfs at Hailey, 65% of the median for the date, down 10 in a week. Silver Creek is 97 and 89%, and it read 60 degrees this morning against 68 yesterday afternoon, which tells you when to go. Rivers are dropping, cooling, and clearing, and the trout have turned aggressive. Baetis late morning, Callibaetis after, hoppers when the wind comes up. Watch the Wood for the Hecuba, the last big mayfly of the year. [Silver Creek Outfitters]
Silver Creek access. The Kilpatrick Bridge and the east-side entrance to the Preserve closed Monday and stay closed through Jan. 4 for bridge construction and pond dredging. That takes out float tube access, recreational floating, waterfowl hunting, parking, and hiking on that side. Blaine County is at (208) 788-5500 and the Preserve at (208) 788-7910 if you need to know before you drive down. [Silver Creek Outfitters]
Fire, air, and weather. Wildhorse is at the top of the issue. Everything else holds: Stage 1 across the Ketchum and Fairfield districts and the SNRA under order #0414-00-032, fire danger Extreme in the north zone. The air turned over the course of Wednesday. Ketchum read AQI 14 in the morning and was Moderate by evening as the smoke came north, and the backburns on Wildhorse will push more of it today, so check the map before an outdoor morning. The weather breaks this weekend: rain likely Friday, showers Saturday, Saturday night in town down to about 40 degrees. First real help these fires have had. [AirNow fire and smoke map]
Roads and the mountain. Southbound 75 through Ketchum reopens Tuesday, Sept. 1, and you get one week before First Avenue shuts Sept. 8 between Sun Valley Road and 5th for about three weeks. That one's a full closure with no parking. On Baldy, lifts run Wednesday to Sunday 9 to 4, the Roundhouse serves lunch 11 to 3, and the Bald Mountain Trail stays closed for construction through September. [City of Ketchum]
Over Galena. The Salmon below the Yankee Fork is 451 cfs, 96% of normal, the best number over the hill all summer, and Valley Creek is 82. But floating and swimming closures for spawning salmon run through Sept. 22 under forest order #0414-04-164, and they're reach by reach, so call the Stanley Ranger Station at (208) 774-3000 before you put in. The shop calls the float season mostly done anyway. [Sawtooth NF]
Open House
Two quiet items on tonight's consent agenda are worth more than they look. The council will sign development agreements on 131 W 5th Street and 571 N Washington Avenue, each one "stipulating the total number of dwelling units required upon future redevelopment." Translation: before you demolish something in Ketchum, the city now writes down how many homes have to come back. That's the lesson from every teardown that turned into fewer, larger units, and it's being applied one address at a time. Also tonight: first readings on the 119 Townhouse Lane rezone. And Guyer Hot Springs is still continued to Thursday, Sept. 17 at 4:30. [City of Ketchum]
Table Talk
Birdies at Bigwood has gone to back-to-school hours, Thursday through Sunday, 11 to 7. Same lawn, same bocce, same frozen margaritas, four days instead of seven.
Labor Day weekend is the hinge, and a lot of the summer menu doesn't survive it. Fiamma's Sunday Supper brings Stephanie Izard, the Girl & the Goat chef, on Sunday, Sept. 6, and the earlier dinners in that series sold out.
The Roundhouse is serving lunch at 7,700 feet Wednesday through Sunday, 11 to 3, on a schedule that ends with the season.
Over the hill, the Lakeside Grill at Redfish has two weekends left. And the pancake breakfast in Town Square is Saturday only this year, 8 to noon, all you can eat, a tradition since 1977. Know a new spot or a shuttered one? Hit reply. Tips are how this section stays honest.
The Party Line
The valley's anonymous board. One tap, no name, and the link's at the bottom.
- Three council seats open in Bellevue and the table's at City Hall until Friday. Complaining is free. Running costs forty dollars.
- A building full of people who worked in this town becomes three places for people who mostly won't be in it. The report says that's allowed. I believe it. That's the part that gets me.
- Drove to the post office to mail a package. Drove home with the package.
- Forty degrees Saturday night. I brought the tomatoes in already. Every year I say I'm not doing this again and every year I plant them in May.
- Southbound opens the first and First Avenue closes the eighth. Somebody down there has a calendar and a sense of humor.
- Asked four people at the market whether the Wednesday one runs into October. Nobody knew. It's October 7. You're welcome.
Got one? Submit anonymously → (one tap, no name required)
One from last week. We wrote that the Lewis ore wagons come down Main behind a 20-mule team. They don't. It's a hitch of twenty Shire draft horses. We also had the pancake breakfast running to 12:30; the organizers have it 8 to noon, Saturday only this year.
If you do one thing this weekend, go over Galena. The salmon that make it back to Redfish swam about 900 miles to get there, the whole festival is free, and Saturday you can ride a bus out to the gravel where they spawn and look at them. There is no version of that you can do in February.
Rain Friday. Let it.
See you next Thursday.
The Bigwood Brief
Forward to a friend · Submit to The Party Line · Advertise with us