Both the Wood River Economic Partnership and the South Valley Merchants Alliance will host question-and-answer sessions in October with candidates for public office from cities around Blaine County.
The economic partnership is sponsoring two town hall forums that will be open to the public. They will allow candidates the opportunity to address the economic and business issues facing their jurisdictions and the entire Wood River Valley community.
The first forum will feature candidates from Ketchum and Sun Valley. It will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Ketchum City Hall.
South valley candidates, including those from Carey, Bellevue, and Hailey, have been invited to the forum on Wednesday, Oct. 10, which will be held at the Blaine County Courthouse meeting room from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Both forums will follow a facilitated meeting format, including candidates' platform statements, and questions from the economic partnership and audience. The Wood River Economic Partnership is a nonprofit organization that advocates and educates on behalf of the business community with respect to economic, government and civic issues.
The South Valley Merchants' Alliance will interview Hailey City Council candidates on Thursday, Oct. 11, at Notes Music on South River Street in Hailey. Stefanie Marvel will speak first at 6:15 p.m., followed by Fritz Haemmerle at 6:45 p.m. and Geoffrey Moore at 7:15 p.m.
The merchants' alliance will have questions prepared for the candidates, and members of the public are welcome to attend and ask questions that focus on issues of concern for business owners in Hailey and Bellevue.
In addition, the merchants' alliance will interview Hailey mayoral candidate Erin Dunn at a meeting on Thursday, Oct. 18, at 9 a.m. at Notes Music. The public is invited and can ask the candidate questions regarding his goals for the business community.
As in years past, the Idaho Mountain Express also plans to host in mid-October four "Pizza and Politics" forums. The forums in Hailey, Ketchum, Bellevue and Sun Valley will allow the public to ask candidates questions and to hear more about their campaign platforms. The Express will release details at a later date.
