The grand marshals have ranged from Sun Valley Resort first ladies Carol Holding and Glenn Janss to ever-present volunteer Jane Ettriem to this year's Ketchum City Finance Director Sandy Cady. All are people who have contributed countless hours to our community over the years. It was a special chance to say an additional thank-you to them, and to remember how we all work together to build a society for the future. Other previous grand marshals who attended the recognition dinner were Jim and Wendy Jaquet, Bill Johnston, Michelle Stennett, Walt Femling, Mary Jane Conger and Bob Rosso.

 

The free concert encouraged people to stay downtown after the parade, giving them a chance both to get to know each other at the street party and to visit local merchants and food vendors.

 

The city staff worked out front and behind the scenes to make it happen. People in every department spent long hours before, after and throughout the weekend. The street department started blocking off the roads at 5 a.m., and worked into the evening. It wasn't until Tuesday morning, after all of the activities were over, that the last trash can was emptied.

 

Duties ranged from registering parade entries to supplying equipment to the hockey players on roller blades who were ever alert to scoop fresh poop from the streets. Staffers also worked at the dinner for the grand marshals, assisted individuals at reserved seating, made sure the middle school volunteers entered the parade at the right time, helped at the announcing stands, sold souvenirs at headquarters, judged entrants, brought water to everyone involved and helped parade participants safely move their wagons, animals and buggies.  We were very pleased with the letter Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey received commending our police department (see below). Also, check out this week's Miscellany II in the Idaho Mountain Express classified section.

Are you glad to see better paths to the river? A golf course irrigated with recycled water? Electricity rebates from Idaho Power, thanks to conservation measures?

 

You can thank Ketchum Public Works Director/City Engineer Robyn Mattison, recognized earlier this year as one of 14 outstanding young professionals across the country by the industry publication Water and Wastewater Digest.

 

These are among Mattison's accomplishments since she joined the city in 2013. "Her projects get results," Mayor Nina Jonas said. "When they produce savings for the community, she runs around the office to share her excitement with the team. It seems as if she is always running. That's probably why she produces more work than seems possible from any one person."

 

Mattison has played a major role in the following city improvements:

Mattison manages four teams critical to the city's operation: streets, water, wastewater, and facilities and maintenance.

 

She was familiar with the city even before she took her current position. She previously worked in Boise with Forsgren Associates, where her responsibilities included working on wastewater projects for the city of Ketchum. She also holds a B.S. in environmental engineering from California Polytechnic State University and an M.S. in civil engineering from Loyola Marymount University.

 

Mattison and 5-year-old Layne

"Like most engineers, Robyn is very methodical in the ways she reaches solutions. Just as engineering projects have to abide by the laws of physics, we all need to abide by clear and easy-to-follow guidelines for the city to run smoothly," Mayor Jonas said. "Robyn understands this. She knows how to find solutions that not only work but that also are efficient and save taxpayer dollars."

 

At the end of the day, she leaves for her home team: her husband and three daughters, ages 2 to 5. Needless to say, she's on the run there, too.

The city has completed trail rehabilitation on four more public access trails to the Big Wood River. Work included removing roots and rocks to prepare the trail bases, installing ¾" compacted road mix base, and topping the trails off with a layer of decomposed granite material. Funds came from a grant from American Rivers.

 

Improved trails lead to the river from the following locations:

Northwood Way Trial (after)

Happy Trail signage will soon be placed at the trailheads and at intersections.

 

Please contact Robyn Mattison at rmattison@ketchumidaho.org if you are interested in sponsoring trail improvement work.

The installation of two sculptures in city parks in the coming weeks will be testimony to the growing importance of the city on the national art scene.

 

The city and private donors contributed to the sculptures commissioned by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts for the recent Craters of the Moon project. They are part of the joint celebration of the National Park Service's centennial and the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts. The sculptures have been on display at the nearby Craters of the Moon National Monument since this spring.

 

The Center received the largest grant in its history, $48,000 from the Andy Warhol Foundation, to help support the project. Other institutions to receive grants from the Warhol Foundation include the Whitney Museum in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

 

Formal ceremonies for the installation of John Grade's sculpture Spur will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, at the fork in the Wood River Trail just south of Serenade Lane. Parking is available in the Lower River Run parking lot, about one-third of a mile north of the location. Ketchum Mayor Nina Jonas and members of the Ketchum Arts Commission will participate.

 

Both sculptures were designed specifically for the sites at the Craters of the Moon and their permanent homes in Ketchum.

 

Spur pays tribute both to the rugged landscape at Craters of the Moon, as well as Ketchum's long history with the railroad. The horizontal elements that link Spur's cedar arches are reminiscent of a train's rail lines, and the broken light that occurs as viewers pass through the sculpture is similar in feeling to the motion of a train moving through a landscape.

 

Jason Middlebrook's Homage to the Limber Pine will be installed in Little Park, east of the Ore Wagon Museum on Fifth Street East, by the end of September. For Middlebrook, it was important that his slate tree sculpture be placed in an environment where people could discover it in the context of other natural vegetation.

 

For additional information, contact the Sun Valley Center for the Arts at 726-9491 or information@sunvalleycenter.org  .