Plans are under way to honor Sun Valley Resort owners Earl and Carol Holding with a community-wide dinner planned Jan. 29, 2006, in the Limelight Room at the Sun Valley Inn.
During the Sun Valley City Council meeting Thursday, Oct. 20, Mayor Jon Thorson announced that the community would honor the Holdings with a special event this winter.
Thorson said the winter event is "a celebration for Carol and Earl Holding to honor them for being gentle with the land and for what they have done for the city of Sun Valley."
The event calls for an afternoon event for children at Carol's Dollar Mountain Lodge in Sun Valley. An evening of dinner and entertainment for the public is slated to follow.
"The objective is to have all citizens of the community," Thorson said.
Preliminary plans call for dinner for 450 people with approximately 30 seats reserved for longtime Sun Valley employees. Money raised by private donations will offset the costs. To date, an organizing committee has raised $16,500 for the event.
The suggested $25 price per person for dinner drew skepticism from Councilman Lud Renick, who suggested raising the price of tickets to $60 per person.
"They will go just because it's $25," Renick said.
Beyond the dinner event, plans are also under way to rename a road in the city of Sun Valley for the Holdings.
Thorson suggested renaming a section of Sun Valley Road stretching from the intersection with Saddle Road and Dollar Road to the end of the pavement. The final name and location of the road dedicated to the Holdings has yet to be decided.
The mayor also said that suggestions to name after the couple a ski run either on Bald Mountain or Dollar Mountain have been made.
The release date for dinner tickets has not been announced.
Carol and Earl Holding wave to the crowd in Ketchum during the 2005 Wagon Days parade. Photo by Willy Cook
