The Trailing of the Sheep Festival features events leading up to the Big Sheep Parade on Sunday where ranchers will lead the flock down Main Street in Ketchum to lower elevations for the winter.
This tradition has been happening for centuries, so John Peavey and his wife Diane started the Trailing of the Sheep Festival to celebrate that history 28 years ago. Peavy passed away on June 16, he was 90-years-old.
"It was certainly their vision, their dream and their hard work that brought this to fruition," said Laura Musbach-Drake. "It was a great loss to of course his family, but also the Trailing of the Sheep family as well."
The headquarters are located at the Argyros in Ketchum. There, people can check out a pair of exhibits put together by Carolina Estrella who did this work through an internship with the Center of Regional Historyin Ketchum.
Those exhibits include sheep herder's music and a tribute to John Peavey where people can learn about his life in chronological order by listening to audio excerpts from interviews John had done over the years.
"John talks about his early life, he talks about his time as an Idaho Senator for about 20 years and then his time as a sheep rancher," said Estrella. "He was a third-generation sheep rancher."
The Trailing of the Sheep Festival will hold a celebration for John on Saturday night at the Argyros, they set up a legacy fund in John's name that will include a scholarship and raise funds to keep the mission alive of educating people on the history of sheepherding in Idaho.
"Even though the stories are older and we are losing some ranchers and we are losing some sheep. The fact that more people are coming to the festival means we are keeping the stories alive and that’s exactly what we started to do 28 years ago," said Musbach-Drake.
There's a map in the Argyros where people can put a pin in their hometown. Last year all 50 states were represented as this festival features so many different events from cooking with lamb, to working with wool and stories from the sheepherders. However, the sheepdog trials that start on Friday are always one of the most popular events.
"The dogs are just so fun to watch and it is just such a cool event, especially if you are from an urban area and you've never seen anything like it," said Musbach-Drake. "It’s probably only topped by the big sheep parade."
The big sheep parade will roll through Ketchum on Sunday at noon. For a complete list of events this week click here.
