HAILEY -- Drew McDaniel left Boise Friday afternoon with a business plan and a trailer full of stone Buddhas.

Destination: Sun Valley. Or more precisely, Hailey, and the thousands of visitors who would make the trek to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak during a four-day visit to the area.

Strategically parked on the Main Street lot of Elbie's Automotive, McDaniel and his self-described Buddha Wagon (aka Chevy Suburban) closed-up shop during the Dalai Lama's 9/11 commemorative speech Sunday at Wood River High School. But soon after the speaking of peace ended, the business of profit began. At least for McDaniel, anyway.

"My wife didn't like the idea of selling Buddhas during the Dalai Lama's visit," said McDaniel, who attended the Dalai Lama's speech. Referencing the Dalai Lama's wage against materialism, the importer had a hunch that any message of anti-materialism wouldn't go all that far in Sun Valley. And by the end of the weekend, the bulge in his wallet proved him absolutely right.

"Business was very good," noted the Boise native. In fact, the man with the Buddhas returned home Monday with only two hand-carved figures, selling nearly 150 replicas. Most of the customers enlightened themselves with the smaller $12 or $35 statues or other inexpensive Buddha paraphernalia; a few went for the $145 or $190 stone models -- the truly enlightened could return home with a $3,700 hand-carved Buddha imported from Bali.

McDaniel, owner of Impact Imports in Boise, is anything but apologetic about hawking his lava stone and concrete Buddha replicas along Main Street.

"I believe in what the Dalai Lama says," said McDaniel. "I am, after all, a compassionate capitalist."

Although the main Dalai Lama event occurred in Hailey Sunday afternoon, at least one business up the road in Ketchum expected a financial boost from the thousands of tourists who flocked to Sun Valley. It didn't exactly happen. At least, it can be said, it didn't happen on Sunday.

"We've sold a lot of Dalai Lama books," said Kathy Cole, of Chapter One Bookstore, located on the corner of Main and Second in downtown Ketchum. "But we sell them all the time, especially his new book."

At 3 p.m. Sunday, the bookstore had about a thousand tickets available for Monday's Dalai Lama address. "Ketchum has been dead," said Chapter One's Taylor Sturges.

Back in Hailey, the staff at Smokey Mountain Pizza prepared early Sunday for the post-Dalai Lama rush.

"We expected the (Dalai Lama) visit to increase business," said Merris Long, general manager of the popular restaurant on South Main Street. "We increased the wait staff and food supply and expect a lot of business -- they better come."

They did. Shortly after the Dalai Lama's late afternoon speech ended, Hailey's business environ was less about peace and all about prosperity. Business was good -- real good. Hundreds of event attendees meandered up and across downtown sidewalks into Sunday evening, buying gas, food, and all other necessities of those on the move -- tourists and locals alike.

And those on the move like to stay on the move. Apparently, coffee is one popular way to do it.

"Sunday and Monday were miserable," said Angie Clark, manager of Java in Hailey. Clark said that she barely had a chance to move away from the coffee station on Sunday.

Ditto that from Shorty's diner in downtown Hailey.

"He (Dalai Lama) brought a lot of money to the valley," said owner Jeanne Greenberg. "It was insane."

So insane that Greenberg closed the place a little early on Sunday because the staff was exhausted.

The Dalai Lama's recent visit brought both message and money to the Sun Valley area. For those in the business of staying in business, a little extra cash can bring a whole lot of peace. And that, as one maven of money likes to say, is a good thing.