February 2015. In most places this season means pumpkins, brightly colored leaves and football games. In Idaho it also means the sheep are on the move. It’s the time of year when sheep ranchers transfer their herds from the mountains, where they’ve been grazing all summer, down to the valleys where they’ll spend the winter.
Once a source of traffic jams and frustration, this great sheep migration has become a source of celebration in the Sun Valley region of Idaho. The towns of Ketchum, Hailey and Sun Valley have embraced their rich sheep-herding heritage and created a week-long festival incorporating anything and everything remotely related to sheep. There are performances and lectures, sheep shearing, craft fairs, sheepdog competitions and cooking demonstrations.