STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Ben Oneida retired from the sheep business just two years ago. John Etchart, the sheep foreman for Faulkner Land 7 Livestock, has been in the business for 32 years.

Both worked in obscurity away from the eyes of the public as they cared for sheep in the deserts near Gooding and Jerome and summer pastures in the mountains north of Sun Valley.

But at Saturday’s Trailing of the Sheep Sheep Folklife Fair the two were the center of attention as people milled around them at Onedia’s sheep camp taking photographs and asking questions.

Hailey Mayor Martha “Beaver” Burke was ecstatic to find a wool handbag that sported a beaver, given her nickname, among all the sheep-related items at the Sheep Folklife Fair.

“My family’s been in the sheep business for more than 60 years,” said Oneda, as he pointed out the various items he keeps in his sheep wagon, including the all-important Vino Fino.

“I just love the lifestyle,” said Etchart, who has led some 1,500 sheep down Ketchum’s Main Street in the Trailing of the Sheep Parade for many of the past 28 years. “You’re out in the fresh air every day, and every day there’s something new with the sheep.”

Hundreds of people crowded into Hailey’s Roberta McKercher Park Saturday for the Sheep Folklife Fair. They dined on Argentinian-Style Braised Lamb and sampled sheep cheese from Lark’s Meadow Farms. They perused colorful natural dyed yarns, tried on assorted wool hats, and delighted in the whimsical sheep sculptures for sale among the dozens of vendors.

They also took in the colorful folk dances of the Peruvians, Scots, Basques and Polish Highlanders, all of whom have a rich history of sheepherding.

Members of the Siumni Polish Highlander Folk Ensemble leap in the air as a string quartet consisting of a cello and three violins plays a folk tune.

Franciszka Stafiera was the youngest of the dancers. At just 1.5 years old she stepped and bounced amidst members of the Siumni Polish Highlander Folk Ensemble from Chicago.

The group is an offspring of the Polish Highlanders of southern Poland, said Franciszka’s mother Karolina Strzelec-Stafiera. Founded in 2002 by Polish immigrants who moved to Chicago for a better life in the aftermath of World War II, it now is made up of teenagers and adults who were born in Chicago and want to preserve their culture.

“This group is unique because it was inspired by sheepherders in the mountains of Poland,” said Strzelec-Stafiera.

The music and folk songs originate from those sheepherders who would yodel across valley to get others attention, then sing songs of love and family, offering news of a loved one’s death and other messages to other sheepherders.

Ben Oneida and John Etchart never dreamed that their paths managing sheep would one day attract as much attention as the Trailing of the Sheep Festival has brought.

The dancers wear folk dress made of wool with hand embroidery. Sequins and beads outline flowers and mountains. The women wear coral necklaces and earrings specific to their ancestors and all wear leather shoes with pointed toes topped by leather straps that wrap around ankles.

“Our ancestors came here for a better life. Now, a lot of us are going back to Poland for our culture for our authentic way of life,” said Strzelec-Stafiera.

In the meantime, she said, the group is over-the-top happy to be back in Sun Valley after an absence of several years.

“The Festival has grown so much from when we first came here,” she said. “The people here are always so kind and welcoming.  And, of course, the little one is having a ball.”

Artisanal sheep cheese, lamb pasties and French baguettes were a big draw.

COMING UP:

The 28th Trailing of the Sheep Festival will conclude today—Sunday, Oct. 6—with the Big Sheep Parade on Ketchum’s Main Street at noon.

Jeff and Cindy Braun will perform country, pop and folk covers from 10 a.m. to noon at Ketchum Town Square, and The Kim Stocking Band will follow it up with country and folk hits from 1 to 3 p.m. There will be food for sale, including apple strudel, and vendors hawking wool and other items.

The Championship Sheepdog Trials conclude from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the top dogs from the past two days of competition at the Sheepdog Course on Buttercup Road north of Hailey.