STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Gimlets in the Garden will offer nature lovers one more chance to enjoy the public garden south of Ketchum paired with wine before it’s bathed in snow.

The Sawtooth Botanical Garden will celebrate its 30th anniversary with Gimlets in the Garden from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25.

The final boutique event of the season will offer up hardy appetizers, a hosted bar with signature gimlet cocktails, wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks.

Entertainment will be provided during the cocktail hour, and that will be followed with a few reflections on the garden’s past, present and future.

The future involves the opportunity to purchase the dirt that the Sawtooth Botanical Garden sits on for a mere several hundred thousand dollars. Having the deed to the property would allow the garden to do so much more, including pursuing certain grants and installing electric vehicle charging stations, said the garden’s director Jen Smith.

Attendees will be able to purchase raffle tickets to win a 2025-26 Sun Valley Resort Challenger Pass good for all 150 days of the season, plus or minus. There will also be an opportunity to bid on silent auction items of fine art and take part in a paddle up for the garden.

Once a horse pasture, the garden has bloomed into a place of immense beauty since its beginnings. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by many who lives far beyond the Wood River Valley.

The existence of a public botanical garden in an area with a population of fewer than 200,000 is indeed very special," said Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanical Gardens.

Tickets to Gimlets in the Garden are $150 per person or $500 for four, available at https://checkout.square.site/buy/UQ3MERGJJE5CZ2SGLX6H6M72.