"Rear View" from Regional History

The Fabulous Vuarnettes

by

Ellie Norman, Wood River Museum Collections Specialist

Three women in flamboyant costumes and sunglasses sing into three microphones.
Wood River Journal Photo Morgue, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History (F 15005235)

The Sun Valley après ski scene has seen many legendary acts, but none quite like The Fabulous Vuarnettes. This all-female cabaret group took the stage in 1981 and remained a beloved fixture for 30 years, captivating audiences with a dynamic blend of singing, dancing, and irreverent comedy. Performing at venues such as Silver Creek Saloon, Elkhorn Saloon, Whiskey Jacques, Creekside Bar & Grill, and the Boiler Room, The Fabulous Vuarnettes consistently packed the house with their high-energy shows. Their name paid homage to Jean Vuarnet, whose groundbreaking ski sunglasses from the late 1950s revolutionized eyewear by enhancing depth perception—a fitting choice for a group thriving in a ski town.

The original lineup included Mary “Buddha Schwartz” Stevens, Cherie “Kitty Litter” Kessler, Callie “Cheetah Velveeta” Galpin, and Vickie “Titsa Hoy” Saito. Over the years, the group evolved, with Karen “Lola Motorola” Hale joining in 1984 and Linda “Fern Fein D’Buck” Badell in 1986. The final iteration featured Kessler, Galpin, Badell, and Heidi “Ruby Rose Hips” Bates. Bates, the youngest member, had been a devoted fan long before joining—sneaking into bars at just 16 to catch their performances.

A defining aspect of The Fabulous Vuarnettes was their flamboyant stage presence. Dressed in 1950s prom dresses, metallic jumpsuits, bejeweled platform shoes, and wildly adorned headpieces, they brought a theatrical spectacle to their performances. Their humor shone through in their cheeky parodies of 1950s and 1960s songs, tackling subjects from the quirks of men to midlife crises and the passage of time. Over the years, they wrote and performed more than 200 parody songs, all crafted by the group members themselves, along with their elaborate choreography, sets, and props.

Their popularity extended beyond Sun Valley. In 1990, they made a cameo in Warren Miller’s ski film Extreme Winter, where they were filmed on the Warm Springs side of Baldy. The segment featured them riding the lift, skiing, and performing at the North Face Hut while lip-syncing an original song, “Vuarnette Daze,” which they wrote for the film.

This photograph from January 1990 captures the essence of their performances. Taken at Creekside in Warm Springs, it shows three Vuarnettes on stage, each adorned in extravagant attire—frilly prom dresses, oversized sunglasses, sparkling jewelry, and crimped and curled updos. The image is a testament to an era when après ski entertainment in Sun Valley was as much about humor and spectacle as it was about music.

Note this story was originally published in April of 2025 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

The Flowers Sawmill

by

Liam Guthrie, Regional History Librarian

A long wooden building in a snowy mountain-scape, with workers, a wagon, and a sleigh in front.
The Flowers Sawmill at Adams Gulch, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History (F 00088)

Adams Gulch is well known today for its popular hiking and biking trails, but the gulch’s history is deeply intertwined with the lumber industry and the Flowers Sawmill, which inhabited it for decades. This 1911 photo shows the sawmill that once stood at the mouth of Adams Gulch, along with wagons and sleds used to haul lumber.

The gulch’s first sawmill was built much further up the gulch, near the confluence with Eve Gulch, by Abijah Adams, for whom the gulch is named. Adams had already been operating a sawmill on Warm Springs Creek since 1881, but the mines and boom towns of the valley created a high demand for lumber, so Adams opened his second sawmill in Adams Gulch by 1886. Adams operated this sawmill until his death from illness in 1892. The sawmill was sold to Hobart Beamer of Hailey, who hired Wes Flowers to work in the sawmill.

In the busier summer logging season, Wes and his family would live at the sawmill. The sawmill had several houses, cabins, a boarding house, and a blacksmith shop. Wes worked at the sawmill and his wife Addie assisted with cooking for the sawyers living in the boarding house. During the winter, the rest of the family would return to Hailey so the children could attend school, while Wes remained in Adams Gulch to run the sawmill.

By April of 1907, Wes Flowers had bought the sawmill from Beamer. The Flowers family loved their summers in Adams Gulch and soon applied for a homestead at the mouth of the gulch. Here they built a frame house and a few outbuildings. In 1910, they relocated the sawmill from its old location up Adams Gulch to be nearer the homestead. Wes also took up farming and ranching on the homestead.

This photo shows the sawmill in the winter of 1911, which unfortunately would prove a tragic year for the Flowers family. While logging that winter in Adams Gulch, Wes and his eldest son Arthur were struck by an avalanche, killing them both. This was the start of hard times for the family, as Wes’s younger sons Eugene and George, respectively eighteen and fourteen, were forced to take over the sawmill and ranch to support their family.

Though the sawmill and ranch were mortgaged and even put up for sale multiple times, the Flowers family persevered. The Flowers Brothers ran the sawmill, planted crops, ranched cattle, and even trapped wild game in the winter to get by. The brothers were well-liked and respected in the community. Even in the dead of winter, there are many stories of Ketchum residents trekking up to Adams Gulch on skis to fetch the brothers for a dance or a potluck. The brothers eventually married two Swedish women from Illinois in a 1939 double wedding and built a log cabin for each couple on the Flowers homestead. They continued operating the sawmill all the way until George’s death in 1968.

Note this story was originally published in March of 2025 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

The Challenger Inn

by

Kristine Bretall, Wood River Museum Community Engagement Manager

Two kids ski towards the Challenger Inn
Challenger Inn, 1955. Union Pacific Photo Collection. Photo courtesy of the Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History

Here, we look back on an old image of kids on skis approaching the Challenger Inn from the pond near the Sun Valley Opera House in about 1955. The shot was taken for publicity purposes by the Union Pacific Railroad, which owned Sun Valley Resort at the time.

From the start of the resort in December 1936, Union Pacific’s goal was to get travelers to arrive by train and stay at the resort for all their needs. The Sun Valley Lodge opened that first winter of 1936-37, but quickly saw a need for a more affordable place for people to stay with their families in tow. The Challenger Inn was designed to resemble a Tyrolean village, with the building painted a variety of colors to look like individual buildings.

For the resort’s second winter, the Inn opened in 1937 and rooms were $4 per person per night—with up to four per room. Meanwhile, in the Lodge, a suite with en suite bathrooms and a deck cost $36-$48 per night. In addition to being much more affordable, the Challenger also featured a bowling alley, a 500-seat movie theater, an outdoor pool, a game room with billiards and slot machines, the Ram Restaurant and even a drug store and general store.

The Inn quickly became the hub of fun and activity at the resort and many a guest chose the livelier Inn over the high-society atmosphere in the Lodge. The Challenger Inn was later rebranded as the Sun Valley Inn to ensure that the Sun Valley name wasn’t used on a hotel elsewhere and cause confusion.

The Community Library’s Center for Regional History has a trove of incredible photos. The Union Pacific Photo Collection was saved from a landfill in Omaha, Nebraska, by librarian Dottie Thomas in 1982. She happened to be there when Union Pacific was clearing out its “photo morgue.” Lucky for all of us.

Note this story was originally published in February of 2025 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

Gloria Batís and Club Rio

by

Mary Tyson, Director of the Center for Regional History

Gloria Batis lights candles on a cake in Club Rio while a crowd looks on.
Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History, Dorice Taylor Collection (F 06443)

Club Rio, where this photo was taken, was known for great Basque meals served by chef Gloria Batís. It was also frequented as a place to drink, to gamble, and for Basques to board for a night or two. Gloria and her husband, Pete Batís, started the club in 1941, and lived in the back. It was in a central location on the north side of Sun Valley Rd. just behind where Enoteca is now.

Gloria served traditional fare in the Rio such as chicken and rice, potatoes with garlic and parsley, baked lamb, shrimp, fish, fried pimientos (peppers), and mina salsa (chili sauce). Many luminaries ate her food. Ernest Hemingway, who was known to love Basque cooking, was a frequent early customer and followed her from her first club restaurant, the Idaho Club on Main St. to the Rio. He would come in with Martha Gellhorn, and sometimes brought in pressed ducks, that he had pressed himself, and Gloria cooked them in the oven for him.

When WWII started, the Sun Valley Lodge closed and became a Naval Convalescent Hospital. Gloria and Pete shut down Club Rio for the war years as well, though they cooked many meals for the navy servicemen during that period.

In this photo, Gloria, center, is lighting birthday cake candles for a party. The other man helping her light candles is the distinguished British Ambassador, Archibald John Kerr. Gloria and Pete closed the Rio in 1951, and she went to work as the chef for Trail Creek Cabin for twenty more years.

Note this story was originally published in December of 2024 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

A Dramatic Bite of History

by

Ellie Norman, Wood River Museum Collections Specialist

Two actors pose dramatically in a production of Dracula.
Pedro Salom Collection of the Wood River Journal Photo Morgue, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History (F15005215)

This Halloween, we’re highlighting a striking image from the Center for Regional History’s photograph collection—a backlit shot of two actors in a dramatic vampire attack scene. Captured during a production of Dracula by the Sun Valley Repertory in October of 1991, this haunting moment transports us to the heart of Ketchum’s local theater tradition, where creativity and community have long taken center stage.

The play this photo promotes was held at the nexStage Theater, a beloved cultural hub located on the corner of 1st and Main Street from 1992 until 2018. The nexStage, housed in the old renovated Sun Valley Motors dealership, was instrumental in the local arts scene, producing plays, musicals, readings, and workshops. Its close affiliation with the Sun Valley Repertory Company made it a crucial venue for bringing local stories and talent to life.

In 2018, the nexStage made way for the brand new Argyros Performing Arts Center, a state-of-the-art facility that continues the legacy of live performance in Ketchum. The Argyros hosts a variety of performances, from theater and music to film and dance as the new cultural cornerstone of Main Street. Yet, as this photo reminds us, the Sun Valley Repertory and nexStage era provided its own unique charm—a time when intimate productions like this eerie vampire play brought the community together for evenings of suspense and entertainment.

As we celebrate Halloween, let’s take a moment to appreciate this snapshot of local theater history, and the way these venues—both past and present—continue to shape Ketchum’s vibrant cultural landscape.

Note this story was originally published in October of 2024 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

Sheepdogs Taking Catnaps

by

Carolina Estrella, Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archives Intern

Two Great Pyrenees puppies sleep as a sheep stands over them
Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archive, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History

A vigilant sheep stands guard over two Great Pyrenees puppies snoozing away in the shade. It doesn’t seem apparent at this stage of their lives but in a few years those same pups will mature into their sheep’s first line of defense. For generations, Idaho sheep ranchers have used this special dog breed to keep their herds safe from predators. A fully grown Great Pyrenees can hold its own against coyotes, mountain lions, bears, and sometimes even wolves. Herders will have several of these dogs accompany their flocks. Day and night, these guard dogs stay close by their sheep, always alert for any potential danger. They drink, eat, and sleep with the wooly animals in their care.

In order for these dogs to efficiently carry out their responsibility to the herds, puppies are socialized with the sheep bands from an early age. They have to become comfortable around the other species and bond with its members in order to develop a protective instinct towards them. As adults, the dogs will even risk their own lives to make sure their sheep come to no harm.

This photograph was taken in 1998, not long after the Trailing of the Sheep Festival was founded. In that time, sheep trailing down the mountains along the bike path were deemed a nuisance by some as the animals’ droppings were being left behind and reportedly getting stuck in people’s bicycle spokes. Now, however, the perception of sheep ranching in the area has experienced a positive revival through the festival’s efforts. The loyal Great Pyrenees are just one factor in many which make sheep ranching possible right here in Idaho and all across the American West.

Note this story was originally published in October of 2024 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

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