Event pared down, called ‘community event’ for 10,000
SUN VALLEY — As consul general to Nepal, Sun Valley resident Bill Cassell is used to fielding questions about the royal family of Nepal.
This summer, however, he’s been fielding requests to set up hot dog booths in Sun Valley.
The reason: His Holiness the Dalai Lama is coming to Sun Valley in September for several events, including a free public address on the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“It’s quite remarkable for him to be involved in so many events in one place,” said Renee Kline, director of the organizing committee for the Dalai Lama’s visit. “But His Holiness wanted to be in the United States to speak on 9/11 and Sun Valley just seemed a perfect fit.”
Ketchum resident Kiril Sokoloff’s announcement in February that the Nobel Prize-winning spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists would visit reverberated through the Wood River Valley.
The Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau was “consumed” with calls, according to Executive Director Carol Waller.
Early reports that as many as 150,000 people would flock to the valley from throughout the United States had valley residents talking about how much they could rent their homes for, given the fact that motel space was filling up quickly.
Some wondered what kind of souvenirs they could sell at a “tent city” proposed for the Silver Creek area. A few invited their grandchildren to Sun Valley in hopes the Dalai Lama would bless them
That was then. The main event — an address by the Dalai Lama on the anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attack — has since been scaled back to 10,000 people. That’s less than the 17,000 who attend the Wagon Days parade on Labor Day Weekend.
“It’s a good event today,” said Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling, who said organizers responded to initial community concerns such as the effects on Silver Creek and providing security.
“We just didn’t think we could deal with a tent city on land abutting BLM land near Silver Creek at the height of fire season,” said Femling. “And if we’d tried to park 25,000 cars along the highway there, it would have stretched for 47 miles. …
“We pushed organizers very hard to do something different and to their credit they listened to us.”
Free tickets will be available beginning July 23-24
Organizers are now calling the Dalai Lama’s visit a “community event.”
“We had to make it a community event because that’s what the community wanted,” said Kline. “But now we have to get the community to understand it’s a community event.”
The fact that it’s been scaled down does not detract from its significance, said Waller.
“Even if it’s just the local population, the fact that we have someone the stature of the Dalai Lama making an address to the nation on healing and compassion is a huge opportunity for our community,” she said.
Because it’s now a smaller, community-oriented event, free tickets are being given out July 23 and 24 only in Hailey and Ketchum, although out-of-towners are welcome to travel to one of the two ticket locations. The tickets are free because the visit is being sponsored by Sokoloff with community support.
Sokoloff, president of the Boca Raton, Fla.-based investment research firm 13D Research, said he hopes the opportunity to hear the Dalai Lama will move business leaders to consider more compassionate ways of handling business ethics and corporate trust. He said he’s had a friend change “the way he reacts to stress and also in the way he treats his employees” after hearing the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama expects his message to be infused with the energy of Sun Valley when he visits, Sokoloff said.
“He sent a lama out to scout the energy and venues here and the lama was pretty excited,” he said.
“Not only does Sun Valley resemble the Dalai Lama’s favorite place in Tibet, but here in Sun Valley it’ll be quiet for him to get his message across unblocked. In big cities his message is scattered because of the tall buildings and all the noise,” Sokoloff said.
“It’s a beautiful setting — the altitude at 6,000 feet is more energetically able to spread the energy of his message to most places in the United States and the world,” said Kline.
Sponsor met with Dalai Lama in days after Sept. 11, 2001
Sokoloff, 56, became a devotee of Buddhism and its practice of meditation during a 10-day trip to Tibet in 1999. He flew out of Sun Valley three days after the 9-11 attacks to keep an appointment to meet with the Dalai Lama at his Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmasala, India.
Dharmasala has been the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile since the Chinese drove out the Tibetans in 1949.
“People were begging me not to go but I knew a journey to one of the holiest men on the planet had to be the safest thing I could do,” said Sokoloff. He said he was the only passenger on the plane out of Sun Valley and one of only three passengers on the plane out of Salt Lake City.
Sokoloff invited the Dalai Lama’s younger sister, Tibetan activist Jetsun Pema, to speak at a fundraiser in Sun Valley a few years ago. The talk attracted 400 people to the Community School gym and raised $40,000 to build new schools for the Tibetan Children’s Villages, which she oversees in India.
“The traffic was backed up two miles with people wanting to hear her,” Sokoloff said. “I knew then we would get His Holiness to come, as well. We’ve been working for a year to find the right date. That in and of itself is miraculous because the Dalai Lama schedules things more than two years in advance.”
Other events will accompany Dalai Lama’s visit
The Dalai Lama’s coming has spawned a couple other spiritual projects.
Among them is a compassion center, or a place for people to go on spiritual retreats, proposed to be built in Hailey. Also planned is spiritual film festival for Sept. 9, 10 and 12 in Hailey.
Planning for what organizers hope will be an annual film festival started more than a year ago with the intention of embracing all faiths.
With the announcement of the Dalai Lama’s visit, festival founders Mary Gervase and Claudio Ruben decided to focus this year’s selections on films that explore concepts and themes surrounding Buddhist tradition and thinking.
Films under consideration include “The Cup,” a story about young monks’ attempts to get a TV delivered to them so they can watch World Cup soccer finals; and “Chasing Buddha,” an intimate look into a former feminist’s life before and after she decides to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun.
“Wonderful things like this are happening because of the Dalai Lama’s visits. The spiritual community is coming together and working together,” said Sun Valley resident Bex Wilkinson, a practicing Buddhist. “It’s a significant event — possibly a world-changing event.”
Town officials say they’re ready for ‘high-profile’ event
Given the scaled-down nature of the Dalai Lama’s appearance, the event should not tax the community’s resources, local officials say.
“We’re used to dealing with large events and high-profile people,” said Femling. “The difficulty is that so much of the details are still up in the air, which makes it difficult to plan for.”
Blaine County School Superintendent Jim Lewis said he foresees no problems hosting the event at the high school football field in Hailey, which is surrounded by berms on which people can sit. The high school is central to the valley, which should make it easier for people to ride bikes to the event, rather than having to rely on cars.
“I think this event is great for the valley. It’ll be our second major event — the first one being last summer’s Steve Miller Band concert,” he said. “We built the field as a community facility, as well as a school facility.”
Kline said she saw the Dalai Lama speak in 2001 in Salt Lake City while working in communications for the 2002 Winter Olympics and is looking forward to hearing him again.
“Just to do anything with His Holiness … it’s completely different from the Olympics. There’s no ulterior motives, no politicking,” she said. “He brings about clarity, takes you back to the basics. He reminds us of important things in life and challenges you to work on your internal self and prioritize what’s important.”
As for Bill Cassell, the consul general to Nepal?
“I’m just telling people to refer all their hot dog questions to Renee,” he said.
