BY KAREN BOSSICK
Break out your vintage ski wear and celebrate Sun Valley’s ski film icon Warren Miller on Thursday, March 15.
The City of Ketchum will close Main Street between Sun Valley Road and Second Street for the Main Street tribute party, which will cap the first full day of the 2018 Sun Valley Film Festival, which is presented by Zions Bank.
The evening will get under way with après social time from 7 to 9 p.m. in the SVFF Café Artois, located in the former Cornerstone Bar & Grill at the corner of Main and Second streets.
Festivities head outside at 9 p.m. as Main Street Ketchum lights up with DJ Travis Jones on stage spinning high-energy dance tunes as the fire pits blaze.
There’ll be screenings of Warren Miller’s vintage film clips of Sun Valley compiled by Stellar Media and Miller’s longtime film editor Kim Schneider until midnight, along with select shorts from the Homegrown Film Festival.
The Homegrown Film Festival held in November featured clips from Sun Valley’s contemporary filmmakers showcasing footage of Sun Valley’s skiing and boarding stars, some of whom have appeared in Warren Miller flicks. It’s expected that some of those stars will show up at the tribute, said Lisa Enourato, of the City of Ketchum.
Celebrants are encouraged to dress in vintage ski wear, as prizes will be given for the best outfits. Among the prizes: a sponsor-provided, special edition snowboard provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka and a Stella Artois bicycle. A costume contest will begin at 9:15 p.m.
At 9:30 p.m. the Sun Valley Film Festival will offer a free showing of Miller’s classic 1961 feature film, “Many Moods of Skiing,” in the SVFF Cinetransformer next to Café Artois. Though free, there is limited seating.
Warren Miller was 12 when he received his first ski lesson in 1936 under the tutelage of Bill Janss, who would go on to purchase Sun Valley and run it until he sold it to Earl Holding.
Miller and a buddy camped out in the Sun Valley parking lot in a 6-by-4-foot trailer for three months in 1946. They subsisted on rabbits they hunted near Shoshone and tomato soup made from ketchup packets they got from resort restaurants. And Miller boosted he spent only $18 to ski for those three months, as he hiked up the mountain for his downhills, sometimes using counterfeit lift tickets.
He returned the following season—this time as a full-fledged ski instructor. And he began making his iconic ski films with a 16 mm movie camera one of his students—Sen. Charles Percy, the CEO of Bell & Howell—gave him.
The Main Street Salutes Warren Miller event is presented by the City of Ketchum, Sun Valley Film Festival, Stellar Media, Visit Sun Valley and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.
The Sun Valley Film Festival runs March 14-18 and includes films, coffee talks with actors and filmmakers, including Gwyneth Paltrow, and more. For information, visit www.sunvalleyfilmfestival.org.