Ketchum is getting back to its roots this Labor Day weekend by celebrating Wagon Days. The annual event reconnects the famed resort city to its Old West origins as a mining town.
A mule team 20-strong and adorned with bells pulls huge ore wagons through the heart of Ketchum in the highlight of Wagon Days, the Big Hitch. Now in its 60th year, the event draws around 17,000 people to the Wood River Valley community.
Six massive ore wagons from the 19th century are paraded down the streets of town and pulled by the jingling mule team. The biggest wagon of the bunch was built in 1889, has wheels seven feet in diameter and can hold up to nine tons.
Following Saturday’s Big Hitch event, a street party with food and music will take over Ketchum’s town square, and a barn dance will finish off the night at the nearby Ore Wagon Museum.
The festival runs through Monday. This year's grand marshal is Stephen Pauley, a Ketchum resident and advocate of the dark sky movement in Idaho.
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