Heritage Court

Beginning in 2004 the museum has celebrated women who have contributed to the history of our valley by honoring them as members of the Heritage Court.  Every year we ask a community organization in each town to nominate a woman who has been especially important in the heritage of Blaine County, is 70 years of age or older, and has lived here for at least 30 years.

In June our sister museum, the Ketchum/Sun Valley Heritage and Ski Museum, hosts a tea and later we celebrate the women with a coronation ceremony at the historic Liberty Theatre in Hailey.  Then, during the course of the summer, the women participate in parades up and down the valley: Hailey’s Fourth of July, Carey’s Pioneer Days, Ketchum’s Wagon Days, and Bellevue’s Labor Day.  They wear colorful pioneer dresses and glide along in a handsome, horse-drawn carriage waving to the cheering crowds. 

Before the coronation the local papers run extensive interviews with each lady, accompanied by recent photos and pictures from family albums.  Click on the pictures below to view the prize-winning articles written by Karen Bossick for the Wood River Journal and the Weekly Paper.

Altogether, the Heritage Court is a summer-long celebration of the history of the county and the women who have played an important part.

Here we present the Ladies of the Court: