Greetings!  This past Tuesday was my first visit to the Ketchum Farmer's Market this summer. What a treat! The air was clear (almost), Dan Freeman was rockin' out on his guitar (while his wife sold their farm's organic greens just up the street), and I caught up casually with different friends.  

What was REALLY GREAT, however, was to take the macro view and realize that the entire street, both sides, was an entrepreneur's jamfest. Each booth represented someone in the valley who has created and runs a business, many of them employing at least one other person part-time. These people are the real economic backbone of our small, rural area with its smart, individualistic, creative population. 

In addition to the entrepreneurs at the market, many of which sell through Idaho's Bounty, other businesses continue to take hold in the valley. Ones that I've highlighted earlier and which continue to grow are Maestro Technologies, Sun Valley Remedies, KB's, Dignified Designs, and Ketchum's Sawtooth Brewery. Here are three more.     

Calle 75 Tacos:  As its website says, "Calle 75 Street Tacos is a mobile food experience based in the Wood River and Treasure Valleys of Idaho. We represent authentic handcrafted west coast style mexican cuisine (using) only high quality ingredients. We welcome all to join us for a truly unique street cuisine experience."  The business is owned and operated by Mike and Rosie Weems.

Then there's BuckSnort Root Beer, based in Bellevue. Friends who had beaten me to BuckSnort's stand at the Sun Valley Arts Festival insisted I try it. It was yummy: authentic with just the right tang and sweetness, advertising "hints of wintergreen, licorice, and sassafras." The business, founded by Kainoa Lopez, is three years old and boasts 20 wholesale accounts in the Wood River and Treasure Valleys, and Twin Falls.  

Yellow Belly Ice Cream was at the Ketchum Farmer's Market, a product of Lacie Hernandez who owns Big Belly Deli in Hailey. The ice cream is creamy rich with unusual flavors. (Ah, for the days when I could pig out on sweets). Lacie makes her ice cream using a local dairy supplier and local farmers to produce distinct, tasty flavors like Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Guinness, Salted Caramel, Cookies n' Cream, and more.

These are all food producers, a large but as yet under-leveraged economic niche in our valley. The county-wide economic development group, Sustain Blaine, is into food in the form of creating a Culinary Arts Institute to draw visitors here. It's a good idea - but perhaps what we need more urgently is a Culinary Business Institute to provide our burgeoning food producers with the education and skills to get their feet on the ground more quickly, effectively, and with broader regional market. 

The North Valley especially keeps focusing on tourists, tourists, tourists. Ketchum has earmarked $100,000 in 2013's budget for helping visitors find their way around town via better street signage. This project would belong to Ketchum's Community Development Corporation (which creates affordable housing but little else in the way of job growth).  Yet, tourist numbers decline every year. And the page won't be turning for a while due to our poor marketing, poor airline connections, lack of timely and quality limo service connecting the valley to Twin Falls and Boise airports, and the dearth of appealing hotels, boutique or otherwise.  And of course there's the impact of the national economy. 

That $100,000, if used wisely, could provide two years of business accelerator services for our ever-emerging, here-and-now, start-ups: affordable office/meeting space, professional assistance, information about and connections to regional economic supports for business development, and educational opportunities. It's a no-brainer! This is something we CAN control.

We have economic strength at hand and yet continue to look right past it - as if it were invisible. We yearn for the tourist "out there somewhere" when our backyard is teeming with economic possibility. Don't misundertand me: Pursue tourism - it's an obvious niche for us. But can't we walk and talk at the same time?  Chew gum and pat our bellies simultaneously?  Improve our tourism outreach and strengthen our valley's vital, year-round economic base via some well-focused efforts?  How long are we going to wait?

Until next week...Jima Rice