BY KYLA MERWIN

Kick off your summer by checking out the Native American fish traps and century-old wedding dresses at the history museums in the Wood River Valley.

The four historical museums in the Wood River Valley will be open on Saturday, May 30, to celebrate Museums Day. All museums will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., challenging Wood River Valley residents to visit all four in one day.

Participating museums include the Bellevue History Museum, Blaine County Historical Museum, the Ore Wagon Museum, and the Wood River Museum of History + Culture.

Admission to all these museums is always free, but donations are also welcome.

“As a way to kick off summer travel season, the Valley’s four historical museums are welcoming locals into their museums to play tourists-for-a-day, before the summer crush arrives,” said Kristine Bretall, Community Outreach Manager for the Wood River Museum of History + Culture in Ketchum. “As they say, history starts at home, and this will give you the chance to see the many fascinating stories that are hiding in plain sight.”

BELLEVUE MUSEUM

Undoubtedly, Bellevue’s most recognizable landmark is the old City Hall on Main Street built in 1885 with its leaning bell tower. For 30 years this historical building has been home to the Bellevue History Museum, featuring artifacts unique to the south valley.

Visitors can tour the original Bellevue jail built in 1881 and a log cabin built in the 1890s, complete with furnishings and other treasures of interest from that era.

The Bellevue Museum, now in its 30th year, will be showcasing its newly restored fire hose cart—original to the city and dating back to the late 1800s, well before the advent of fire trucks.

Thirty years of sitting in the sun took its toll, severely damaging the wooden wheels. Local resident Bill Ratliff spearheaded a restoration utilizing the skills of Wayne Orvick of Wood River Carriage Works. Thanks to restoration funds provided by the Sawtooth Rangers Club, the fire hose cart will again be on display.

Also on view for this weekend only: The official Trailing of the Sheep wagon, which dates to the early 1900s. The storied history of this wagon will be available, along with an opportunity to step inside.

Admission to Bellevue’s History Museum, Jail, and Cabin is always free. The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. on weekends Memorial Day through Labor Day. It will have extended hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 30—Museums Day.

For more information, visit https://www.bhsid.org/.

ORE WAGON MUSEUM

The Ore Wagon Museum is home to the ore wagons donated to the City of Ketchum by the Lewis family. When the first Wagon Days Parade was held in 1958, a few dozen wagons and teams rolled down Main Street.

The “Big Hitch,” as the Lewis Ore Wagons are called, thundered down the road as they have in every Wagon Days Parade since.

The Lewis Ore Wagons are the only of their kind in existence. These massive wagons were larger than an average freight wagon and built to withstand the extreme stress when loaded with ore to travel the road over Trail Creek Summit.

Along with other wagons and historic mining artifacts at the Museum, to the east on the property sits the historical Bonning Cabin, Ketchum’s oldest surviving building. The Ore Wagon Museum has interpretive panels located on the south side of the building, facing the wagons that are housed there.

Most of the year, the wagons are safely tucked inside, safe from the elements. For Museums Day on May 30, the Ore Wagon Museum doors will be open, the wagons inside to view, and a docent will be on hand all day.

In the weeks prior to Wagon Days on Labor Day weekend, the wagons will be outside and on view. Indoors will be historic objects on view.

WOOD RIVER MUSEUM OF HISTORY + CULTURE

The Wood River Museum of History + Culture is a part of The Community Library Association and has been in its new location for almost two years. Visit the Museum inside the Carr Building at 580 Fourth Street East in Ketchum, kitty-corner from the Children’s Library.

The Museum features five galleries: Shoshone-Bannock Homelands; How in the World Did You Get to Sun Valley?; Portrait of a Mountain featuring Bald Mountain’s rich, iconic history; A Writer in New Country: Hemingway in 1939, and the Cabinet of Wonders, something children in particular delight in.

The award-winning exhibit, “How in the World Did You Get to Sun Valley?”, tells rotating stories of ten people who have called the valley home over the past decades. It will soon feature five new panels featuring Roberta Brass, Sigi Engl, Chuck Ferries, Epi Inchausti and Hap Miller.

Also on display will be a panel that shows the preliminary design for the Museum’s Winter Sports Hall of Fame, which will be installed in November of 2026.

BLAINE COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

The Blaine County Historical Museum on Main Street Hailey preserves and shares the rich history of the Wood River Valley through its diverse collections, including artifacts from the area’s mining, ranching, railroad and pioneer eras.

In celebration of the valley-wide Museums Day on May 30, the museum will feature a fun historic photo booth and old-fashioned candies for participants to enjoy while exploring the museum and its collections.

A Museums “Passport to History” has been created and includes all four local history museums. It also mentions an additional 13 historical sites to visit in south-central Idaho.

This passport will be available at the Museums to pick up and start completing. People are encouraged to spend the summer filling out this passport and listening to the audio driving tours along the way.

The Wood River Museum of History + Culture’s scenic driving audio tours were recorded by the U.S. Forest Service decades ago. The driving tours include a full circle between Ketchum and Stanley, Stanley and Challis, Challis and Arco, and then Arco back to Ketchum, plus segments for Challis to Salmon and back.

These recordings include historical and geological points of interest and funny old stories.