STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The clang of red Team USA cowbells and the flutter of small American flags filled the air Friday evening as Sun Valley and Ketchum threw an Olympic-sized homecoming for six Sun Valley athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The celebration also honored several Sun Valley coaches who led Team USA across an array of competitions from snowboarding to cross-country skiing.

Paralympic medalist Muffy Davis kicked off the evening at Champions Meadow, calling every past Olympian, Paralympian and SVSEF athlete in the crowd to stand with her.

Laurie Stephens led Jake Adicoff’s guide Reid Goble, Jake Adicoff, Peter Holmes and John Steel Hagenbuch.

Half of those in the crowd surged forward, the younger athletes beaming with pride as they stood with Davis among several bronze statues honoring some of Sun Valley’s great Olympians and Paralympians.

"You all are the future, and this amazing community through the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation has built greatness," Davis told them. "Some of you younger ones here, I hope to see some sculptures of you guys in this Champions Meadow in the future."

After the introduction of this year’s Olympic athletes and coaches, the crowd took to Sun Valley Road, which had been closed for the occasion.

Two horsewomen from Sun Valley Resort's Horseman's Center led the parade. Behind them, Paralympic alpine skier Jesse Keefe and first-time Olympian Ryder Sarchett carried a Team USA banner, followed by Paralympian Laurie Stephens rolling along in her wheelchair, John Steel Hagenbuch, Chase Josey, Jake Adicoff

SVSEF Nordic Coach Kelley Yeates and her daughter Ellie show off a shirt with Sammy Smith’s face on it that was available at World Cup races.

The crowd followed, smiling, singing, ringing cowbells and waving flags.

Sun Valley Mayor Peter Hendricks met them at Ketchum Town Square, reminding the crowd that the stanchions ringing the square carry the names of dozens upon dozens of Sun Valley Olympians.

"There is no such person as a former Olympian," Hendricks said. "You are always and forever an Olympian."

Hendricks, whose wife Lisa-Marie Allen competed in figure skating at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, told the young athletes in the crowd that the Olympians standing before them are living proof that world-class athletes can come from their hometown.

Heidi Schernthanner handed out flags and cowbells to the crowd.

"Your legacy is not just measured in victories," he said, "but in the dreams that you ignite in others."

SVSEF Executive Director Scotty McGrew traced the valley's Olympic lineage from Gretchen Fraser's gold medal at the 1948 games—America’s first alpine skiing medal--to the 2026 Milan-Cortina contingent.

The latter, he said, is the largest group of athletes and coaches this small community has ever sent to the Games.

"We always seem to punch above our weight class, and I think that is no accident," McGrew said. He credited everyone from the athletes' parents and neighbors to the snowcat groomers and track groomers at Lake Creek.

The parade surged down the street.

"You see the champions and the athletes," he said, "but you know what we got to see? We got to see the messy little kid with mustard all over his ski jacket and the kid who showed up without his ski boots. We got to see the kids when they were kids."

He paused to honor the late Michel Rudigo, a legendary local coach who recently passed away.

"That man brought such magic to the table," McGrew said. "He's watching us right now, and we miss Michel."

Then the athletes took the stage, and each one circled back to the same word: Community.

Three-time Olympic snowboarder Chase Josey traced his career to a hand-dug jump he built at Rotarun when he was seven, hopping off it and landing on his back in the soft snow.

"I think at that moment I discovered that passion and joy for just being outside in this community, snowboarding, being surrounded by friends," he said.

Josey joined SVSEF at 10, eventually graduating onto the U.S. Snowboard Team. Three Olympics later, he found himself back home at the microphone.

"I really can give credit to this community and SVSEF and those early days,” he told the crowd gathered in the square.

Josey said before the parade that the Milan-Cortina Games were his favorite of three Olympics because of the people and the setting.

“And the pizza! The pizza was so good. Simple.”

Keefe, a two-time Paralympic alpine skier, was introduced by McGrew as "the one-legged bandit, the Paralympic magic maker and the SVSEF athlete with the most broken-off legs in his junior career." The young athlete had to deal with prosthetic problems during the Milan-Cortina games.

Keefe teared up as he thanked SVSEF and the Sun Valley Community School. He recalled that no one could be there to watch him compete during the 2022 Beijing Games because of the COVID pandemic. And then nobody wanted to come near him when he got home because he'd just gotten off a flight from China and they figured he might have the worst case of Beijing Covid.

"Again, I'll say it again — thank you all for being here,” he concluded.

Six-time Paralympian and seven-time Paralympic medalist Laurie Stephens coached the SVSEF U14 alpine team this past winter before heading to Milan-Cortina. She thanked SVSEF for "putting up with me flip-flopping as to whether I was retiring before or after Cortina."

And she told the young skiers in the crowd to "work hard, ski fast and, most importantly, have fun."

Sarchett, the youngest Olympian on the U.S. men's alpine team by five years and the 2024 World Junior GS champion, acknowledged that growing up in Sun Valley, "skiing is the pathway here. Not the best place if you want to be a baseball player."

He remembered his early ski coaching being super playful—no drills. And he credited his coaches for pushing him really hard and being okay with him being a sore loser and super competitive. He also thanked his grandfather Bob, prompting McGrew to interject: "I remember Bob when you were like 12. He came into my office and said, 'Scotty, he's going to Cortina.' I said, 'Bob, you're insane.' Look at this — who was right?"

Sarchett said before the parade that he was amazed by all the media that converged on the Olympics.

“A lot of coaches’ careers ride on the Olympics and athletes are putting their skis on the line,” he said. “They can have a bad season but win in the Olympics and it ends up being the best time of their career. Me—it just reminded me how much I love skiing. I really love skiing.”

First-time Olympian John Steel Hagenbuch, who placed 14th in the cross-country freestyle sprint and helped the U.S. men's relay team to sixth, thanked his lifelong coach Rick Kapala, and pointed to the kids training in the valley under Peter Holmes.

"Keep dreaming,” he told the kids in the crowd.

The biggest ovation of the night went to Jake Adicoff.

The four-time Paralympian, who won four gold medals at Milan-Cortina in Nordic competition, had just arrived from the ESPYs, where he was nominated for an award alongside five-time Sun Valley Olympian Hilary Knight.

"I was just at the ESPYs," Adicoff told the crowd, "And this is way more fun."

His favorite Games, he said, was without question the most recent one — "not because of the hard work I did, but because of the hard work this community did to get me there."

Then he told how he had panicked three weeks before the Games while coming off an illness, his skiing not up to snuff. He called his former guide Sam Wood, who told him: "You're a fantastic athlete. You don't need a perfect day. You don't need to do something special. You need to do everything you've already done."

"I'll throw that back on to you all," Adicoff said. "If we continue to rally around our athletes and our youth sports organizations, we will have lifelong athletes and champions among us for generations to come. So, keep charging."

Ketchum Mayor Pete Prekeges concluded the remarks by describing how visitors to his Grumpy’s always have one question: Why is Sun Valley’s ski mountain so steep?

"And I say — why do you think we have Olympians?"

The two mayors — "Mayor Pete" and "Mayor Peter"--then presented keys to both cities to all the Olympians and Paralympians on stage as the Portland-based band Running with Scissors began zinging classic rock covers across the square.

The celebration also recognized Team USA coaches with Wood River Valley ties: alpine speed coach Austin Savaria, snowboard slopestyle coach Andy Gilbert, para-cross-country coach Peter Holmes, and para-cross-country tech Sam Wood, U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team program director Chris Grover and Paralympic snowboard coach Graham Watanabe.

Athletes not able to attend but recognized during the ceremony included first-time Olympian Sammy Smith, first-time Paralympian and two-time gold medalist guide Peter Wolter and five-time Olympian and gold medalist Hilary Knight.