STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Some 1,200 sheep primed to trot down Main Street Ketchum in Sunday’s Big Sheep Parade may have been the draw for hundreds of spectators coming to Sun Valley.

But it was a mule that garnered a lot of attention at the Happy Trails Sheep Closing festival Sunday.

Eugene, the Café Mule, paced up and down 4th Street outside Atkinsons’ Market as Matt Bishop pushed a shopping cart in front of him trying to get him used to hanging around a grocery store.

Bishop and Colin and Bjorn Seeley were in town from Boise to offer samples of their Draft Mule and Café Mule coffee, which they sell at Atkinsons Market.

“We’re based in Boise where we sometimes take the mule into the Foothills and serve free coffee to the hikers and bikers on the trails,” said Colin Seeley. “We donate a portion of our sales to groups that work on the trails—the Wood River Trails coalition here and the Ridge to Rivers trail group in Boise.”

Presumably, hot coffee and warm wool scarves and mittens were big sellers this weekend as Wood River Valley temperatures flirted with a touch of wintertime temperatures in the 40s and 50s.Nine-year-old Morgan Thomas wrapped herself in sheep’s clothing while her fellow Community School student Teddy Harrington, 7, was among those trying colorful braided wool scarves being sold by Wandering Pines Ranch of Weiser.

“It may be a little cold for us, but I bet the sheep are loving this weather, given all the wool they have on them,” said Dick Porter, of Fayetteville, Ark., as he wrapped his hands around a steaming cup of hot chocolate.