[NARRATION] This is Sun Valley, Idaho, home to world-class skiing, fine dining, abundant hiking trails, and sheep?

{SHEEP BLEATS} {UPBEAT ACOUSTIC GUITAR} [LAURA MUSBACH-DRAKE] Welcome to sheep country.

My name is Laura Musbach-Drake, and I'm the executive director of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

Sheep have been here for over 150 years, and there was a time when sheep outnumbered people here six to one.

We have a lot of newcomers to our community, and they do not know the history of sheep in our community, and that's exactly why our festival exists.

[NARRATION] In the mid-1990s, the local recreation district wanted to put in a bike path to connect the nearby communities, but the route happened to be the same one ranchers like John and Diane Peavey used to trail their sheep in the fall.

[DIANE PEAVEY] Our sheep ended up on the bike path, and they just happened to leave a little droppings here and there as they moved.

We had all sorts of phone calls at home about "Get your sheep off our bike path."

And they didn't realize it was a shared right of way, essentially.

John has always been very good at bringing people into what we do with the sheep and why it matters.

[JOHN PEAVEY] And we'd answer questions and tell folks what the sheep industry would do here.

And, gosh, we had enthusiastic people, went out and helped us move the sheep.

And it has gotten bigger and bigger every year.

[LAURA] So officially in 1996, the festival was born, and it really was born out of a true need, which was to educate people about the history and culture of sheep ranching and herding in Idaho, particularly in the Wood River Valley.

{UPBEAT BANJO} [NARRATION] Since then, the Trailing of the Sheep Festival has grown into a five-day event that includes dancing, cooking classes, vendors, dinners and storytelling, all leading up to the Big Sheep Parade on Sunday.

{CROWD NOISES} I'll tell you, when you see those sheep coming down Main Street for the Big Sheep Parade, there's just nothing like it.

It's Idaho living history.

{UPBEAT BANJO, CROWD NOISE} [SUSIE WILSON] This is the most fun event we do all year, and we just love to come here.

And we're big supporters of Trailing.

The biggest fans west of Idaho.

We really are.

[HENRY ETCHEVERRY] The friendliness of people and the sincerity that they want to know what we do, I hope it enlightens people.

And it's a heritage.

You know, it's historical.

It's an important part of the state.

[LAURA] Our festival continues to be authentic in celebrating the Basques, Peruvians, and Scottish who historically have made the industry work.

{RHYTHMIC SAXOPHONES} {BAGPIPES FADE IN} Music brings people together and music tells its own story.

{BAGPIPES AND DRUMLINE SWELL} [ALBERTO URANGA] Just looking this way?

{LAUGHTER} Oh, looking at you.

I am from the Basque Country.

I've been here for many, many years.

I came to Idaho in 1968, and I was a sheep herder.

[XOLE URANGA] My dad had never seen a sheep before.

He had never been on a horse, he'd never shot a gun.

He came from a small fishing town.

And he came out and went to Gooding, Idaho, and they handed him a gun and they gave him a horse and they told him to go out into the mountains and to watch the sheep.

And that's what he did.

[ALBERTO] It taught me about life and being positive, positive all the time, regardless.

I am an immigrant, Basque immigrant, son of a tuna boat skipper, doing the sheep business.

It's part of it myself.

It's part of me.

[XOLE] The only reason I'm here is because my dad came over as a sheep herder.

And that's really important to me.

And I just think that people are interested in other people's stories.

And that's what's so great about this festival, is that we really focus on the individual within the sheep herding industry and why it's important to them.

{HEARTFELT ACOUSTIC GUITAR} [TAHNIBAA NAATAANII] I'm TahNibaa Naataanii, and {GIVES INTRODUCTION IN NATIVE LANGUAGE} I'm Mini Hogan Clan and I'm born for Coyote Pass Clan.

My maternal grandparents are the Mexican Clan and paternal grandparents are the Steep Rock Clan, and I'm from Table Mesa, New Mexico.

I was invited to Trailing of the Sheep Festival to to share my way of life as a weaver and as a rancher, sheep rancher.

For my family, having sheep is part of our tradition.

It's part of a long-year heritage on the Navajo Nation as well.

And I've been weaving full time and diligently for about 20 years now.

And I find that that is my passion.

When you are weaving, it's like a prayer.

It's like a meditative prayer that you're doing.

And so for me, I need that.

I've discovered that.

And that's, that's what feeds me and I think that, the biggest connection that we all have is we love our sheep.

We, we love this way of life, this ranching way of life.

{HOPEFUL ACOUSTIC GUITAR} [DIANE] Our history is so rich and so full of stories that we've, we stand to lose them all if we don't hear them.

[LAURA] I think that there is a little something special about this town that we can bring the past to the present, and look.

to the future, both, of all of our history with the animals and the land and the stories.

[XOLE] Sheep are cool.

They were here long before we were.

The sheep industry is an important part of our history, and it's still happening today, and there has to be a way where we can merge our relationships and get along.

[JOHN] The community has kind of adopted the festival and they're really, really supportive.

I mean, you couldn't ask for a better partner, really.

[DIANE] Yeah, it was their bike path.

It was our sheep.

It's now all of our festival and all our celebration of this valley.

Which has been the best part of it all.