STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

It didn’t take a single nanosecond to find out where the hearts of Wood River Valley residents lie.

Loud roars and applause erupted up and down the parade route at the Hailey Days of the Old West Fourth of July parade Friday as floats celebrating “our public lands” rolled down the street.

Some 50 residents representing hundreds of years of conservation work walked alongside depicting various activities that one can do on public lands, including fly-fishing, rock climbing, mountain biking and firewood cutting. Lisa Horton dressed as a wildflower with a butterfly bouncing around her head. Former U.S. Forest Service employee Carol Brown carried downhill skis, while another dressed as a campfire walking next to a wildland firefighter with a bucket of water.

Jim Keller, dressed up as a rock climber as part of the floats celebrating our public lands, handed out stickers to youngsters.

Anne Jeffery had her camera strung around her neck while Jack Sept strolled down the street in cowboy chaps representing the horse-riding community.

One person dressed as a ladybug reminding spectators that wildlife consider public lands their home, while two others dressed as blue jays, wings flapping as they made figure eight turns on their bicycles.

“There’s nothing more American than our public lands,” proclaimed one float.

“We love them and we need to protect them for future generations,” said Karin Lyttle.

Benjamin Franklin somehow found his way out west to Hailey to remind people that they have the power to take care of the environment.

“A lot of what we recreate on is on public lands, and a lot of people don’t even know it. We downhill ski on Bald Mountain, which is public land, and it’s right out our backdoor,” chimed in Carol Brown.

The parade featured 76 entries, including several wonderfully decorated celebrating youth soccer teams and Sun Valley’s 2025 state champion 19U and 14U Girls Suns youth hockey teams.

Businesses paraded out more inflatables than ever before, and the Blaine County Democrat party even found a way to bring Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and other patriots into the mix.

The parade was capped by music and a multitude of bouncy houses at Hop Porter Park, a pie eating contest at the Life Church and an antiques show at Roberta McKercher Park.

Sarah Michael reminded people of how they can cross country ski on local public lands.

“I like the smalltown flavor of the parade,” said Victor Watson.

“I like that everybody comes out and that you see all the businesses in the parade,” added Adelia Wason.

Adelia Watson was born in Costa Rica and served in the U.S. military in Italy where she saw parades featuring saints and religious figures. She was 7 and had just moved to Patterson, N.J., when her father took her to her first Independence Day Parade.

“I remember they were proud of their place in the Industrial Revolution so they had smoke  representing that,” she said. “There were lots of immigrants, so we saw groups of Italians, Germans--people from everywhere. My daddy said, ‘We’re in the United States now,’ ” so he gave me a small American flag to wave.”

The Sun Valley Soccer Club was one of several floats showcasing youth sports.