Friday, November 27, 2009

Don’t discredit Ketchum


The first year I moved here, an incident on Main Street involved two women in a fender-bender. Instead of rushing out of their cars to blame each other, they emerged to apologize profusely. They each made sure the other person was all right and then gave each other sweet bear hugs. This remarkable event defined for me what the essence is of everything good about Ketchum, and perhaps for what is great about many small towns in the West: people who care about each other more than they do for their worldly possessions.

Therefore, it grates on me when I hear comments disparaging the town and townspeople of Ketchum (and the Wood River Valley). Ketchum has changed over the years, yet retains many high-quality aspects of a hardy Western town:

· Ketchum is in the top 10 percentile of sunniest towns.

· A river runs through it, offering opportunities for fishing and water sports.

· We have a popular YMCA.

· On summer Tuesdays, a vibrant farmers' market attracts vendors and customers from throughout southern Idaho. After that, music performers play freely in Forest Service Park.

· Ketchum has more than a handful of places to worship.

· When someone becomes severely ill or is in a crash, our community often bonds together, helping with fundraisers.

· Wagon Days brings a festive weekend of olden-times coming alive.

· The Community Library has an extensive regional history section and hosts frequent lectures and enlightening events.

· Ketchum has dozens of fine restaurants.

· We also have a water park, bringing boundless glee to splashing kids.

This list of what good things our fine town (and valley) has to offer is much longer than this, but I hope for now this gives some hesitation to those who are quick to sneer at lively Ketchum.

Jim Banholzer

Ketchum




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