STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Three-year-old Moxie’s eyes grew wide as her grandmother ushered her into a snow-covered playground full of bright whimsical tunnels, arches and other features sporting orange and blue colors.

With a little help, the tiny girl pulled a rope on a giant brass bell, letting it ring as if to signal that she—Moxie—was there.

Then she pointed her two-foot skis toward a giant snow arch boasting a colorful sign featuring pine trees covered with powder blue snow, bluebirds and a sun as it proclaimed “Dollar Adventure Park.”

A mother helps her child track through a horseshoe-shaped arch enroute to the high-fiving Sunny the Bear.

“We had so much fun,” said Moxie’s grandmother Narda Pitkethly. “The first tunnel was a little narrow and a little lumpy, but we made it. We went through the rainbow arches, then around the little slalom gates. She was so delighted by all the eye-catching features because she’s used to skiing on a plain ski slope where she lives. She was so excited she couldn’t wait to jump back on the chairlift.”

Sun Valley Resort has built small banked turns and rollers for children on Dollar Mountain before. But the new Dollar Adventure Park, also known as Sunny’s Adventure Park, ups it a notch.

The genesis for the snowy playground lay with Michael Bettera, the president and CEO of Effective Edge, a Tahoe design company that has helped more than 50 resorts around the world develop terrain parks. He had seen kids’ adventure parks in Europe and pitched the idea to Sun Valley Resort.

A project team that included Sun Valley Ski and Ride School Director Stephen Helfenbein, the resort’s terrain park managers and marketing department representatives enlisted Hailey artist Kiki MacFarlane, who had designed the logo for the resort’s Baldy Bluebird Music Festival and created the mural on Sturtevant’s in Hailey, to help with the artwork.

The punching bag gives kids—and adults—a little arm work.

She created a fun colorful map of the park, which is posted at its entrance. Then she provided the artwork on the first tunnel—actually, an inflatable covered by snow.

“It was a very fun opportunity,” said MacFarlane, who moved to the valley nearly four years ago with her husband who grew up here and is now a teacher at Sage School. “I wanted the artistry to shine through but have it still feel like Sun Valley.”

MacFarlane skied through the park the day it opened.

“It was so amazing to get to see people interact with the park and ski through the colorful world that we created. I've gotten great feedback from friends who work as ski instructors  and from families with young kids learning to ski about how motivating the adventure park has been!”

The little type reaches out to high five Sunny the Bear, the big bear paw swinging back as he does.

Paul Willis, who volunteers as an instructor for Higher Ground, can attest to that: “I had a child I was teaching who was not at all interested in going out. I took her over to the Adventure Park and she loved it, She wanted to do it over and over.”

Hunter and Julie of Boise watched as their son slapped a punching bag, ducked under a few colorful horseshoe-shaped arches, bounced over rollers in tunnels and high-fived a life-sized Sunny the Bear, the bear paw waving back as he moved past.

He stepped on a music board, then zig-zagged through the foot-tall slalom gates at the bottom.

“It’s really fun for him,” said Julie. “And I like how it’s not crowded. At Bogus the children’s area is so crowded—there’s even a lift line there.”

Lollipops featuring Sun Valley’s trademark sun add color to the course.

Esme Alistair, a ski instructor at Dollar Mountain, said the kids particularly seem to like the rollers.

“It helps with teaching because the kids learn speed control,” she added. “The kids love the park, and I do, too.”

MacFarlane’s just happy to have had a part in it.

“It was such a dream come true to get to work on a project like this! As an artist and designer, I've always wanted to create something interactive and immersive, and getting to do that for something I love so dearly—skiing--and in the town I live in was incredible.”