A Wood River Valley resident for 27 years, Pete Kramer has been the chief of airfield operations and emergency services at Friedman Memorial Airport for 13 years. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Hailey and have two sons, Billy, a sophomore at Boise State University, and Danny, a junior at Wood River High School. He is also the chairman of the Northern Rockies Folk Festival, is a board member of the Wood River Baseball Association and sits on the Wood River Athletic Advisory Committee. These are Five of his Favorite things about the Wood River Valley.
1. Scenery. The colors and shadows are spectacular on the hills east of Hailey. Look in the late summer and early afternoon when the sun is low in the west and shining on them.
2. Music. The Northern Rockies Folk Festival is the best community event that happens in this valley every summer, bar none. Live music in general is great throughout the valley. The Sun Valley Center also does a fantastic job.
3. Town. Small town characteristics that we take for granted are still here despite all the growth the valley has experienced. You can still run into friends sand neighbors at the Lodge Dining Room, Atkinsons', a concert, the gas station or the doctor's office. This very feature in the Mountain Express is a good example.
4. Kids. Wood River and high school athletes and the sheer joy of watching kids grow and develop into all kinds of success stories.
5. Wood River politics. Huge entertainment value. Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth has nothing on us.