In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, join us in celebrating four local women and their inspiring tales of survival. Then, take a ride into the backcountry with Boone Campbell. Hailey born and bred, this taciturn young man embodies the myth of the Western cowboy. Unearth the truth about how Idaho really became the potato state (hint: it’s all about McDonald’s), and investigate the reality of slack in Sun Valley: Is it a real misery or is its existence becoming a myth?

We also explore the importance of art in our mountain communities. In Hailey, the encouragement of the arts is becoming a boon to the city’s economy. And in Ketchum, the proliferation of serene sculptures, paintings and murals in public places is bringing balance and joy to life’s everyday moments.

Jennifer Tuohy
 

Van Gordon Sauter was executive vice president of the CBS Broadcast Group and chairman of the California Boxing Commission. He abhors horses but stands in awe of those who ride them for a living. Sauter’s favorite mode of transport is his ‘57 Chevy Apache pickup.

Matt Furber is a freelance writer learning the language of the farm while roaming the earth. Potatoes, an economical and nutritious food, including roasted, new potatoes, the occasional baker, and loads of French fries, have sustained his study of the Idaho spud.

Dana DuGan, a Hailey resident, is a staff writer for the Idaho Mountain Express newspaper. When not producing stories for this magazine and the paper, she is the wary mother of two wildly wicked and wonderful girls, a gardener, sometime actor and co-producer of the Back Alley Party.