STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
TahNibaa Naataanii was but a young girl when her grandmother gave her the Navajo name of TahNibaa Atio’ligii, which means “coming into battle with weaving.”
She did indeed fulfill her grandmother’s wish that she continue the tradition of weaving, becoming a fifth-generation Navajo Weaver. She began learning to weave at 7 and, after a stint in the U.S. Navy, picked it up again, weaving on her Table Mesa, N.M., ranch where she raises heritage breed sheep, the Navajo Churro.
Naataanii will be among the featured artists at the 27th annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival, which begins today and runs through Sunday, Oct. 8. She’ll be in conversation with Steven Hatcher, director of Folk and Traditional Arts Program at the Idaho Commission on the Arts at the annual Sheep Tales Gathering at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, at The Argyros in Ketchum.
“We will hear her story of learning to weave and how it brought her back to her roots. And she will have a booth at the Folklife Fair on Saturday where she will sell her weavings,” said Laura Musbach Drake, the executive director of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival.
The festival, named one of the top Fall Festivals in the United States this year by USA Today, will feature 30-plus events over five days—many of which are free in a bid to educate people about the history and culture of sheepherding in Idaho and the American West.
Last year’s festival drew 25,000 people over five days, Drake said. Between 10,000 and 12,000 were estimated to attend the Big Sheep Parade through Ketchum; another 6,000 to 7,000 people swelled Roberta McKercher Park in Hailey for the Folk Life Fair to watch dancing, listen to music, buy wool products and have a taste of lamb. Between 3,000 and 4,000 people attended the Sheep Dog Trials.
“I’ve gotten calls from people in states all over the country inquiring about lodging and travel, so this year looks like it’s going to be equally robust,” said Drake. “Mother Nature does look like she’s going to be very supportive of the festival this year so I expect people from all over the country for what has become a bucket list festival.”
Eighty border collies from Oregon, California, Connecticut, Nevada, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Florida, Wyoming and Alberta, Canada, are expected to compete in two and a half days of the Sheep Dog Trials in fields along Buttercup Road just north of Hailey. Many of those dogs have been competing in other trials so it will be interesting to see how they do with the feisty sheep of the Flat Top Sheep Ranch, Drake said.
The Sheep Dog Trials will feature food from the Gooding Basque Association and more vendors than ever before.
Children and adults of all ages and all skills are invited to help weave a Mother Tree—a 16-foot Ponderosa Pine wall sculpture with needle felted pine cones--at the Hailey Grange Hall on Saturday. Another 13 sewing, quilting and felting classes are being offered during the festival showing people how to make sheep skin purses, needle-felted snowmen and even trophy heads of animals that can be mounted on the wall.
New this year is Sheep Reads on Saturday morning. People have been asked to read “Sweet Promised Land,” Robert Laxalt’s book about a Basque man who came to the states as a sheepherder. So far, 50 people have signed up to take part in the discussion, which will be led by Festival Co-Founder Diane Peavey and will feature refreshments.
Many of the quilting classes, the festival’s nine cooking classes and its three farm-to-table dinners are sold out. But Drake said she is often able to release tickets to people on wait lists because of cancellations.
The highlight of the festival, of course, is a parade down Ketchum’s Main Street featuring 1,200 sheep from the Faulkner Land and Livestock Company. Last year’s featured a smaller number of sheep because Faulkner’s sheep had to come out early because of a wildfire near Smiley Creek. Faulkner’s sheep worked the Sheep Dog Trials, while a smaller number of Flat Top Sheep Ranch ewes took part in the parade.
“This year’s sheep numbers will be more typical of the number of sheep we’ve had in past parades,” said Drake.
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 4
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Festival Headquarters open at The Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum.
Two Cooking with Lamb Workshops will be held at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. today, as well as a Farm to Table Dinner at 6 p.m.
THURSDAY, Oct. 5
The day includes Cooking with Lamb, Wool Fest classes and Farm to Table Dinners.
6 p.m. KBs’ Rodolfo Serva, a former sheepherder who owns KBs and Serva’s Peruvian Restaurant, will join Luis Campos, legal director for the Alliance of Idaho, and Betzi Quiroz, dean of Nursing at Carrington College in Boise, on a free panel discussion focusing on “Peruvian Sheepherding.” It will be held at the new Wood River Meum of History and Culture, 580 4th Street East in Ketchum.
FRIDAY, Oct. 6
The day includes several Wool Fest classes and Cooking with lamb classes.
9 a.m.—5 p.m. Sheep Dog Trials at 2400 Buttercup Road north of Hailey. $7 admission (cash, please) with children under 5 free. Spectators are encouraged to bring their own lawnchairs. Leashed dogs are permitted. The Gooding Basque Association will have food for sale, and vendors will be selling sheep dog and sheep products.
10:15-11:15 a.m. A free Sun Valley Story bus tour will leave the Sun Valley/Ketchum Visitor Center in the Starbucks Building. RSVP at info@visitsunvalley.com, in person at the Visitor Center or by calling 208-726-3423.
2:30-4 p.m. Free Sheep Ranching Q&A with Idaho Ranchers at The Community Library, 415 Spruce Ave. in Ketchum. This year’s panelists will be Henry Etcheverry, whose father came to this country in 1929 from the French Basque country; Mike Guerry, who runs sheep in the Jarbidge area along the Idaho/Nevada border, and Darby Northcott, a Carey native who grew a flock from bum lambs she started raising at 5.
Also, Cory Peavey, who not only manages the Flat Top Sheep Ranch but is experimenting with socializing the guard dogs trained to protect the sheep from predators; Cindy Siddoway, whose great-grandfather began running sheep near Henry’s Lake in 1902 and who herself now runs sheep from Jackson, Wyo., to Swan Valley, Idaho.
3-5 p.m. Free spinning demonstration by Patricia Lovelace at Knit + Needle, 370 Walnut Ave. in Ketchum.
4:30-5:30 p.m. For the Love of Lamb dine-around in downtown Ketchum. A $25 passport gets holders at least five small bites served up by Ketchum restaurants. For tickets, go to https://trailingofthesheep.org. Or, purchase them at Festival Headquarters at The Argyros.
7 p.m. Sheep Tales Gathering-will feature a conversation and demonstration by Navajo/Dine Textile Artist and National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow TahNibaa Naataanii at The Argyros. For tickets visit https://trailingofthesheep.org
SATURDAY
Includes Wool Fest Classes.
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sheep Dog Trials continue in field along Buttercup Road. Travel .5 mile from the traffic light at Albertsons to Buttercup Road, turn left and travel another 1.5 miles.
9:30-10:30 a.m. Free Sheep Reads discussion of Robert Laxalt’s “Sweet Promised Land. Those who plan to attend are asked to register at https://events.humanitix.com/free-sheep-reads-festival-book-club-featured-book-sweet-promised-land-by-robert-laxalt
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free Folk Life Fair at Roberta McKercher Park in Hailey. Will includes Kid’s Fluff from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Lamb Fest from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Other attractions include sheep shearing demonstrations, sheep camps, music and danging from the Boise Highlanders, Peruvian musicians, and Oinkari Basque Dancers.
1:30-4:30 p.m. Weave a Mother Tree under the tutelage of Doris Florig at the Grange Hall 609 S. 3rd Ave. Hailey. All skill levels welcome. Free.
SUNDAY
9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sheep Dog Trials conclude in field on Buttercup Road north of Hailey.
9:30-11 a.m. Free Sheepherding Stories with John Peavey, Tom Peavey and Jerry Seiffert at Limelight Hotel in Ketchum.
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Happy Trails Festival Closing Party at Ketchum town Square From 10 a.m. to noon it will feature the music of Cindy and Gary Braun, who play covers from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Patsy Cline and others. The Pisten Bullys will perform harder driving Americana music from 1 to 3 p.m.
Noon—Big Sheep Parade featuring sheep from the Faulkner Land & Livestock Company, musicians and dancers reflecting the sheepherding traditions and sheep wagons will make its way down Main Street Ketchum.
2-3:30 p.m. Free Sheepherder Hike and Stories and a chance to see Arborglyphs, which are autographs and pictures sheepherders carve into aspen trees. Participants should meet at Ketchum Forest Service Park, 1st and Washington streets in Ketchum, and caravan from there to Neal Canyon just north of Ketchum.