The Wagon Days "Backstage Party"

One of the Wood River Valley’s oldest and most festive traditions happens in downtown Ketchum over Labor Day Weekend. It is the annual Wagon Days Celebration. It is a day of wagons, wheels, hooves, boots and even some good ole Main Street shootouts. The weekend is full of events like a Flapjack cookout, a Rotary-club sponsored Duck Race, music, ice shows in Sun Valley and of course, the parade!

The Wagon Days Big Hitch parade has over the years grown into one of the largest non-motorized parades in the West, highlighting participants from all throughout the Pacific Northwest. These participants include the Blaine County Museum’s Heritage Court, the Cassia County Mounted Sheriff’s Posse, the Sun Valley Ice Show Kids, the High Country Peruvian Pasos, several Idaho marching bands, Smokey the Bear, the Croy Canyon Ranch Foundation, the Old Frontier Gang, the Idaho Civil War Volunteers, EhCapa Bareback riders, Ralphie the Camel, the famous Big Hitch and this year’s Grand Marshall, Sheriff Walt Femling.

This year, Local Buzz Photographer Nils Ribi checked out all the backstage action. Featuring the great parade participants who continue to be a part of our Wagon Days celebration was the perfect way to celebrate the day. Here he shows what the Backstage Party is all about, a little bit of all the work that everyone puts in to make the Big Hitch Parade such a wonderful community event. So look on to check out the practice, the set-up, the snack-times, the rests and all the smiles of Wagon Days.