STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Party with the Brotherhood today when the National Brotherhood of Skiers takes it up in Ketchum Town Square.

The fun-loving group—the nation’s largest organization of black skiers and snowboarders--knows how to party. And they will kick off their week in Sun Valley with a Parade of Clubs at 3:30 p.m. today—Sunday, March 1—in Ketchum Town Square.

There will be food, drink and music by a DJ, as well. About 600 skiers and boarders are expected to take part, many with family and friends in tow. And if the past is any indication those who show had better get ready to learn “The Wobble.”

The National Brotherhood of Skiers’ 2020 Black Summit launched last night with a meet-and-greet party at the Limelight Room at Sun Valley Resort.

“We bring a little more swag, a little more attitude, a little color to the slopes,” joked Joseph Menyah of Atlanta. “We’ve got Motown in our earbuds and we party hearty.”

The NBS was founded in 1973 to encourage black Americans to hit the slopes. Its clubs range from Ebony & Ice of Milwaukee to the Texas Ski Rangers of Dallas/Fort Worth.

The group will hold a gospel fest at 9:15 this morning at the Sun Valley Opera House and follow it up through March 7 with a myriad of parties, a relationship seminar, various ski races and freestyle competitions, a hoedown showdown, shop hop, game night and Black Beach Day at the Limelight Hotel.

Come the end of March the Brotherhood’s founders, Art Clay and Ben Finley, will become the first black inductees into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame when it meets in Sun Valley.