In March 2025, Sun Valley hosted one of the largest skiing events in the world — the Stifel Sun Valley Finals (Audi FIS Ski World Cup Final). The event drew thousands of visitors, spectators and athletes to the area.
Sun Valley was notified in early 2024 they were chosen to host the event by the International Ski Federation. Usually, the designated city has three years to prepare for an event of this size, however, due to a last-minute location change, the town had just under a year to prepare.
Given this short timeline, Rural Economic Development Professional Harry Griffith was recruited to assist with the event as part of a local organizing committee.
The committee confronted a substantial challenge —managing event attendees, contractors and athletes, arranging housing and preparing local businesses and the community for the anticipated surge in demand.
Griffith worked with locals, short term rental companies and hotels to get spaces for coaches, athletes and teams, requiring around 7,000 pillows — pushing the occupancy rate in the area to 99% at the peak of the event.
With the community’s full support, the event was a massive success. Over the course of the 10-day event, the grandstands were nearly 100% full, drawing in a variety of visitors from across the United States and internationally.
The event had 780 volunteers in the community, organizational staff, contractors, athletes, officials, sponsors, medical personnel and 2,000 involved in putting on the race.
Day-to-day spectator attendance varied but totaled between 4,000 to 5,000 depending on the event and time. Overall, Griffith said there were around 13,000 attendees across the event.
Aside from the economic and tourism impacts, Griffith said that this event put Sun Valley on the map again for races of this size and impact, building upon Sun Valley’s skiing legacy.
Sun Valley is under consideration to host the 2027 Stifel World Cup given the area’s success and capability demonstrated in 2025.
“The community was very generous,” Griffith said. “We had many community members who opened their homes for free to athletes and teams. People were excited about this event and wanted to help. This event had an incredibly positive impact and was important for the city and the state.”
Griffith is retiring this year after over 15 years of dedicated service to Sun Valley and the state through his work with the Sun Valley Economic Development Corporation.
This story was reposted from the FY2025 Annual Report. Read the full report here.