Sun Valley tourism also rises

Ernest Hemingway arrived at the recently opened Sun Valley Lodge in 1939 as one of a string of celebrities invited there in hopes of attracting more tourists.

Nearly 70 years later, the resort area is still cashing in.

Merchandisers as well as hoteliers hawk things like $15,000 signed first editions of his books, offer $1,000-a-plate dinners in his home and hold a Hemingway festival during the traditionally slow fall season.

“Sun Valley exists to make money, so it’s not surprising that they would use Hemingway as part of that operation,” says John Rember, who met Hemingway as a child and is now writer-at-large at Albertson College of Idaho.

But officials say they are not selling out a past member of the community so much as they are responding to a crush of Hemingway fans.

“On a daily basis, people are asking, ‘What can I see? What can I learn about Hemingway?’ ” says Carrie Westergard of the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau.

Hemingway traveled the world to participate in wars, the expat life in 1920s Paris, the running of the bulls in Spain, big game safaris in Africa and deep-sea fishing off Cuba.

He killed himself with a shotgun on July 2, 1961, at age 61, and is buried in the Ketchum cemetery.

Hemingway’s house is the site most asked about, says Laura Hall of the visitors bureau. Now owned by the Nature Conservancy, it will open during the festival, Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, when up to 40 guests will pay $1,000 each to have dinner there.

Conservancy officials say the money is needed to restore and maintain the house, which remains much as it did when Hemingway lived there. It was left to conservancy by his fourth wife.