Our heritage weekend just passed with new meaning in celebration. We all celebrated quietly amongst ourselves. It was not our usual Ketchum Wagon Days experience. Instead, still in recovery from the Castle Rock Fire, we are able to begin acknowledging our current heritage. It is my opinion that we have given our ancestors cause to celebrate us. We as an entire valley community did more than survive. We grew stronger and better. We are great. Thanks to everyone.
There are pieces and parts to our city and county governments about which most citizens don't know, care or otherwise think. Those pieces and parts galvanized the whole valley into one successfully operating support structure. This in itself is an amazing feat. We are in an actual functionally working society despite ourselves. No longer do we dispute the fact that we are in fact communities intertwined as one.
Our elected officials, our fire and police personnel, all the city personnel, all our volunteers, our local Forest Service people—all are as valuable as the great and fabulous firefighters and troops who saved our community. People from every walk of life helped each other. It is overwhelming the numbers of helpers involved. Even those who did no more than turn off their sprinklers, ride the commuter bus, stay home with their children, smile and acknowledge, or otherwise extend patience and understanding to each other deserve our thanks and appreciation.
As we all enter into the recovery phase of our disaster and face the harshness of the financial realities, remember this: No lives were lost. None of our neighbors or friends lost their homes. Money is just money. Living in a community that bonds together is invaluable. Thank you, my friends.
Hurley Hamilton
Thunderpaws Pet Shoppe
