STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Leslie Miller wasn’t prepared for the invitation she got soon after escaping triple digit-temperatures in Scottsdale, Ariz., to move to a new home in the Wood River Valley.

Come watch the sheep walk down Main Street, she was told.

“It was one of the most unique invitations I’ve ever received in my life,” she said. “To watch the sheep go down Main Street to be somewhere else… What?! What does that mean?

On Sunday Miller stood outside Windermere Real Estate on Main Street with her daughter Emerson,   part of a crowd of thousands who’d come to see the sheep go down Main Street.

And it was clear that the two relished this new adventure.

“We came here to ski 25 years ago and I made the promise then if I could move here I would.  Emerson spurred us on,” she said.

People came from all 50 states and an array of foreign countries, such as Saudi Arabia, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Africa, Russia, Panama and Uruguay, to this year’s Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

Among them, a Cairo Cowboy named Kareem El-Ghayash. Having grown up eating lamb in Egypt, he was drawn to Sun Valley’s unique American celebration of lamb.

“I fell in love with Texas barbecue. Maybe we need to think barbecued lamb,” said E-Ghayash, who has been working with the American Lamb Board.

Another man couldn’t understand the concept oof the Big Sheep Parade. “All these people out here just to see sheep go by?” he asked

No, they also have sheep wagons, Peruvian dancers and bagpipers, he was told.

While people and dogs herded 1,200 of John Faulkner’s sheep through town, the top dogs in this year’s National Qualifying Sheepdog Trials each worked to work 20 sheep in a pasture off Buttercup Road.

Earlier in the competition each had worked with just four sheep. But on Sunday each was tasked with bringing in one group of 10 sheep, then returning to retrieve a second group of 10 sheep. Those who succeeded in doing that were then required to sort five ewes wearing colored bands out of the larger group and pen them.

 The last two dogs in the competition penned their sheep: Suzy Applegate and Bella with a score of 126 and Libby Neider and Lark with a 123. Applegate and another dog, Ben, also scored 121 for third.

“It’s amazing what these dogs can do,” aid Susan Passovoy, one of the sponsors.

Ready for an encore? Next year’s Trailing of the Sheep Festival will be held Oct. 8-12.