Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a chance to reflect on my experiences at both the Sun Valley Film Festival and Treefort Music Festival. How fortunate we are to live in a beautiful state where culture and outdoor living collide in such diverse, creative, and fun ways.
The tourism industry – Idaho’s 3rd largest industry – had an exciting month of major events in March, and we are currently in the midst of another amazing month featuring all things Idaho.
In case you missed it, in March we welcomed filmmakers, artists, writers, celebrities, and national media to Sun Valley for the sixth annual Sun Valley Film Festival. I am still in awe of seeing the incredibly talented Geena Davis receive the Vision Award at the Grande Dame brunch. To be surrounded by women who have accomplished so much professionally was a humbling experience and an inspiration for all in attendance.
The Sun Valley Film Festival had a record year, drawing in over 5,000 attendees which is double the entire population of Ketchum! Hotels and restaurants were packed throughout the weekend as filmgoers watched films, listened to coffee talks, and participated in various film festival events.
On the tail of SVFF, over 16,000 people filled downtown Boise for the sixth annual Treefort Music Festival. What started out five years ago with one fort (Alefort), has now grown to a variety of fun and engaging “forts” like Yogafort, Foodfort (my personal favorite!), Storyfort, Kidfort, Hackfort, Strengthfort and several others.
It is truly incredible how much traction this event has generated in a relatively short amount of time – both nationally and internationally. It was reported that people have come from as far away as Lithuania and Australia to attend Treefort. And having experienced the sense of community that Treefort develops around music, food, art, technology and many other shared passions, I can understand why.
And now in April we are celebrating the first annual Idaho Craft Beer Month, highlighting the amazing businesses in this rapidly-growing industry. If you are a beer aficionado or foodie, this is a great month to be in the Gem State to take advantage of exciting promotions at Idaho’s breweries, taprooms, restaurants, and retailers. Check out events throughout the state: https://www.idahocraftbeermonth.com/events/
It is exciting time for tourism in Idaho as I truly believe (as does Vogue magazine) that Idaho is having a moment. It is one reason my team and I love coming to work every day: to pitch the incredible assets we have in our state to the rest of the world.
So – Cheers to Idaho (with an Idaho craft beer, or course)!