STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The twenty-mule jerk-line will be missing from the Big Hitch when the Wagon Days Parade hits the streets of Ketchum on Saturday.

Bobby Tanner, who recreated the Twenty-Mule Team passed away unexpectedly on June 22, taking his knowledge of mule driving with him.

An Arizona rancher is bringing draught horses to pull the wagons on Saturday in the absence of the mules, said Heather LaMonica Deckard, who oversees the Wagon Days.

“They’re the Shires, which are the biggest draft horses there are,” said Deckard, of the horses, which are taller and more muscular than the famed Clydesdales.

Tanner led a pack string in Bishop, Calif.’s first Mule Days, which his father co-founded. And he learned from the last living teamsters of the famed 20 Mule Team, first assembling a 20 Mule Team for Mule Days in the 1980s.

He reverse-engineered the long-lost historic 20 Mule Team jerk-line hitch to pull six historic ore wagons in Ketchum’s Wagon Days Parade. Watching the dance of the mules, which involved the mules jumping through the harnesses to turn the wagons from Sun Valley Road onto Main Street, was always a highlight of the parade.

Tanner also helped recreate the original borax wagons, which he drove in parades across the country, including the Tournament of Roses Parade.

The Shires, which will now pull Ketchum’s tall skinny ore wagons, are the tallest horses in the world at 17 hands. A pair can pull as much as 50 tons and in past days many were used to pull barges down canals when barges were the semi-trucks of the day.

The horses are considered at risk, as there are fewer than 1,500 of them in the world.

Wagon Days kicks off today with a Cowboy Poetry and a Grand Marshal’s Reception. The schedule:

FRIDAY

1 p.m.—Cowboy Poetry and music at the Ore Wagon Museum, 500 East Ave. in Ketchum. Free.

5:30-7 p.m. Grand Marshal’s Reception honoring Will and Julie Caldwell, who helped create such institutions as Ketch’em Alive, Jazz in the Park and The Advocates, at Ketchum Town Square next to Starbucks. The City of Ketchum will provide food and beverage. Free.

SATURDAY

7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Rebecca’s Private Idaho events at Atkinson’s Park in Ketchum include Potato Olympics form 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., a nutrition talk at noon, the launch of the new podcast series “Brain Storm” at 3 p.m.—this one about the effect concussions have on athletes.

8 a.m.-noon. Papoose Club Pancake Breakfast at Ketchum Town Square. All-you-can-eat breakfast of pancakes, sausages, eggs, orange juice and coffee. Cost is $18 for adults and $14 for seniors and youth 12 and under with proceeds benefitting children’s programs in the Wood River Valley. Children under 3 eat for free.

9 a.m.-4 p.m. Quilt Show by 5 Bee Quilt Guild at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Sun Valley Road. Free. Guild members are selling raffle tickets for a quilt featuring Idaho wildflowers surrounding the state of Idaho to raise money to purchase materials for quilters to donate to local organizations.

9:30 a.m. Pow Wow Demonstration performed by the Northern Shoshone Band of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, which historically hunted and gathered in the Wood River Valley. Sun Valley Festival Meadow on Sun Valley Road. Free.

10 a.m.-4 p.m.  Petting Zoo, Arts and Crafts, Storytelling and Interactive Historical Experiences for Children offering glimpses of pioneer and Native American ways of doing things. Ketchum Town Square. Free.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Silver Car Auction at Sun Valley Resort featuring collector cars, memorabilia and collectibles. Free, unless you buy a car.

1 p.m. Ketchum’s Wagon Days Parade, a non-motorized parade featuring museum-quality carriages, carts, stagecoaches, horse riding clubs, and, possibly, even a camel and bison or two. The parade follows Sun Valley Road from the Sun Valley Horseman’s Center to Sun Valley Road where it turns onto Main Street and returns via Highway 75 and Saddle Road.

2:30 p.m. Wagon Days Street Party will feature Southern rock and outlaw picker Chris Hennessee. East Avenue by Ketchum Town Square. Free.

SUNDAY

8 a.m.-noon. Papoose Club Pancake Breakfast at Ketchum Town Square

8 a.m. Riders in the Baked Potato, French Fry and Tater Tot competitions at Rebecca’s Private Idaho begin rolling out from Sun Valley Festival Meadow on Sun Valley Road.

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Rebecca’ss Private Idaho Expo at Sun Valley Festival Meadow featuring live music, food, awards, vendors and games. Awards ceremony at 4 p.m.

11 a.m.-6 p.m. Silver Car Auction at Sun Valley Resort.