Jima Rice - Creating the Future for Sun Valley: Heritage, Charm, and a Diverse Economy

Copyright 2021 by Jima Rice

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author. See below for contact information.

Jima Rice, Ph.D.
or

P.O. Box 2124
Ketchum, Idaho 83340

ISBN: 978-0-578-96065-4 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-578-96066-1 (eBook)

BUS068000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development

BUS072000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Sustainable Development

BUS067000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Urban & Regional

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For all the small business owners and entrepreneurs who work hard to make a living in the Wood River Valley and enrich our lives in so many ways.

Creating the Future for Sun Valley reflects more than 25 years of my experiences and observations about the Wood River Valley and its approach to creating a strong economy. My perspective is based on consulting to more than 200 small businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and town governments, as well as simply living here and talking with others.

I moved to the Valley to run rivers in 1992 as a location-neutral entrepreneur working with a Boston-based management consulting firm whose corporate clients represented a wide range of industries. Soon, I added a local consulting practice to my work. One early client, the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber of Commerce, hired me to facilitate their annual retreat. It was there that I first learned how much leaders of the business community deferred to Sun Valley Resort and its tourism interests in making decisions about what was best for the local community and its quality of life.

Over the next few years, my experiences with other Valley clients broadened my views of the local economy. Most of the small business owners I worked with provided everyday goods and services to locals, second homeowners, and tourists alike without making any distinction between them, other than how easy they were to work with or whether they paid their bills on time.

I began wondering why the tourist paradigm dominated marketing efforts when it seemed that the entire small business sector drove the economy and gave the Valley much of its flavor. Tourism was just one niche within it. Indeed, the presence of so many varied small businesses with their clapboard and brick storefronts, friendly owners, and long histories was a central part of the Valleys unique charm. Rather than focus solely on attracting visitors, it seemed more sensible to build a year-round economy of diverse businesses in the interests of economic stability, maintaining close community ties, and providing a more interesting texture to the Valleys already envious quality of life.

Over the years, I watched many false starts to building local economic strength, perhaps due to a lack of local expertise about economic development and personal business interests that were undermining the Valleys quality of life. Through it all, the tourism mantra prevailed, to the detriment, I believe, of the Valleys future. That conclusion led me to write this book, using my knowledge, research, conversations, and business background to shape my perspective.

A few caveats are important. In a small community, where someone you havent seen in a couple of months can tell you what youve been doing for the past few weeks, providing the name of anyone referred to or quoted in these pages would distract from substantive points. So, Ive avoided most names, whether of elected leaders, agency heads, well-known locals, or those whove trusted me enough to share their personal thoughts. Nevertheless, a few can be identified by their roles in Valley life, but that was unavoidable to tell the tale.

Since, in casual conversation, a comment about Sun Valley can mean the City of Sun Valley, Sun Valley Resort, the north Wood River Valley or, more generally and more frequently, the entire Wood River Valley, Ive tried to make my references specific.

Throughout the book, the words entrepreneur, small business owner, Main Street, and small businesses are used interchangeably. Years ago, entrepreneur referred to someone starting a business in the technology industry. Today, the media and everyday conversation use all four terms to signify the small business owners at the center of Americas economy: the persistent, independent, passionate risk-takers who have identified a problem or need that they are sure they can resolve. They are the movers and shakers who fuel the economy.

Finally, much of what I have written is an amalgam of information from books, interviews, articles, casual comments, observation, and internet sources. Ive learned about Western history and, especially, the Wood River Valleys past and present. Ive learned about entrepreneurship, too. When I first began to work locally in the 1990s, I had been consulting with national corporations. After facilitating the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber of Commerce retreat, I began to pay more attention to the nature of the local economy. Then, I began to realize that my clients, large or small, were all entrepreneurs. As I began to advocate supporting Main Street, I was often drawn into politics that opposed what I was doing, but the encounters only further confirmed my impressions.

Faced by contradictory anecdotes, data, or other information, Ive considered the historical and social context, sought additional references, talked to knowing locals, and used common sense to decide what to include. But errors may have slipped by in my reliance on multiple sources. What Ive written here captures my views and interpretation of situations and events for which only I am responsible. I have tried to be fair and welcome any verifiable corrections.

My major sources are cited in the Endnotes and Bibliography. I think all of them are well worth reading for the far more complete picture they present. Otherwise, topics of interest to the reader can easily be researched on the Internet.

My email, should you wish to reach me with questions, information, or corrections is .

Introduction

Set in post-Civil War California, Clint Eastwoods 1985 spare, black-and-white film, Pale Rider (shot in the Wood River Valley), portrays the early years of the mining industry. A group of tin-pan miners and their families are working the small mountain streams of the Sierra Nevada for gold when the owner of a large hydraulic mining company shows up. He wants to monopolize the areas mineral deposits and directs his thugs to force the miners off the land through threats and violence, including killing a little girls dog. A lone cowboy, a stranger played by Eastwood, rides in from the far hills and quietly, almost wordlessly, takes up residence. He is soon called Preacher because of the clerical collar he wears.

By the end of the film, after several harrowing incidents, the company owner, his thugs, and six corrupt sheriffs deputies have been killed in gun fights. The miners and their town have been saved. His work done, Preacher rides alone toward the distant horizon with a young girls loving Thanks echoing after him. Paul Smith, author of