STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Last Thursday an oversized load rolled into the Wood River Valley, the 72-foot long flatbed trailer carrying a 28-foot long, 10-foot wide and 11.5-foot tall, 4-ton Idaho potato.

Here for the 2025 Audi FIS World Cup Finals, the truck parked in the parking lot at the base of Bald Mountain’s River Run area where potato ambassadors handed out samples of Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

A smaller potato—but still a very, very big potato--was parked outside Sun Valley Lodge during the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night. There, Spuddy Buddy, a big puffy mascot modeled after an Idaho russet potato, dove onto the ice sliding on his tummy to the delight of the crowd, which filled every square inch of the bleachers and lodge terrace.

He pulled little Spuddy Buddy stuffed toys out of a giant potato bag, telling the world’s fastest skiers what order they were to race in the next day.

As he did, representatives of JR Simplot Company, which made a name for itself supplying French fries to McDonald’s, handed out free batches of crinkled French fries cooked to a golden brown on the Sun Valley Lodge terrace.

Later Spuddy Buddy made his way to the races being held on the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain where he got a kiss from racing legend Lindsey Vonn following her silver medal finish in Sunday’s Super-G and handed out little Spuddy Buddies to the racers.

The 3,000 to 5,000 visitors estimated to have crowded into Sun Valley for the races this week will certainly leave with a taste of Idaho potatoes.

Jamey Higham, the president of the Idaho Potato Commission, said his organization got a call from Sun Valley Resort requesting a potato presence at the World Cup, given the importance of potatoes to the Gem State.  The commission was only too happy to oblige.

“We’ve had nearly a hundred years of working with Sun Valley. They were one of our first customers back in 1936 or 1937 when the resort opened. The Idaho Potato Commission started in the 1930s so we grew up with the resort,” Higham said.

The most frequently asked question about the Big Idaho Potato, Higham said: "Is it real?"

If it were, the big fiberglass potato would:

Weigh 802 times more than the largest potato ever grown – 11 pounds!

Be the equivalent of 21,562 medium-size potatoes!

Make 20,217 servings of mashed potatoes!

Make over 1 million French fries!

Take 7,000 years to grow!

Take 2 years to bake!

Provide heart healthy fat and cholesterol free, gluten free product that contains only 110 calories, more potassium than a banana and 45 percent of the daily vitamin C needs.

Last year the Big Idaho Potato Truck made it to such far-flung places as Hawaii, Alaska, New York and Rhode Island. It is the second Big Idaho Potato, its predecessor having been retired and converted into a bed and breakfast in Boise.

The Idaho Potato Commission was founded to promote and protect Idaho’s potato brand, said Higham, who knows potatoes having grown up in the Eastern Idaho town of Shelley. And it is a staple at the Idaho potato convention held every Labor Day in Sun Valley.

Higham said that there are more than 400 potato farmers in Idaho, raising potatoes for everything from hash browns, potato chips and French fries to bakers. The most popular product is—you guessed it—the French fry.

Last year prices for potato farmers were not great, but they had a banner year the year before.

“That’s kind of how farming is—a roller coaster,” Higham said. “Farming is not a science but an art form.”

Farmers are increasingly worried about climate change and how it will affect water.

“This year is a good water year. Most of our farmers get their water from the Targhee Ski Area, which has 100 percent of its average snowpack so we’re feeling good about this year.”

As for the tariffs being promoted by the current administration?

“Too early to tell.”