When we first moved to town in 1988, I quickly built memories of the place where I would go on to spend most of my life. I vividly recall my first Labor Day — sorry, Miners Day — and the ragtag parade coming down Main Street. Little pods of people dotting the curbs. Corny floats. One band. But what stood out most was the small town’s friendly and endearing irreverence.
I suddenly felt that this was my hometown!
That’s why we Parkites have been going to the Miners Day parade for 128 years. This is our day to celebrate with friends and to introduce the next generation to our culture!
It’s a day that signals the break between summer and fall. It means kids are back in school. Days are shorter, and temperatures cooler as we chat about the first frost. And it’s when you should start thinking about where you left your skis last April.
In my native Wisconsin, we loved weekend festivals where families gathered in the beer tent. On our first visit to Swiss Days, we discovered that the concept of a beer tent was foreign here — except for Miners Day!
Like most small-town celebrations, it takes a good nonprofit to put on the show — that’s the Park City Rotary Club, now working in tandem with Park City Municipal. In the mid-00s, Rotary spiced up parade morning, adding Running of the Balls. Today those 15,000 balls turn into $80,000 for local causes.
Park City does heritage well. While we’ve evolved dramatically, we have never lost our roots. We began as a mining town, and we cherish that history.
On a June Saturday in 1896, a crowd of 450 Western Federation of Miners walked down from the union headquarters at the top of Park City’s Main Street in what is considered the first Miners Union Parade.
The parade included miners, painters, cigar makers and the local athletic association. While we have no cigar makers today, we have plenty of politicians and nonprofits. We have humorist Tom Clyde on a tractor and the Rotary’s Citizens of the Year in convertibles. We’ll have some crazy cars, plus lots of kids and dogs.
As is tradition today, old-time Park City workers marched to City Park, where Mine Manager O.L. Lawrence oversaw the first event — a 100-yard sprint with a field of five. Miner Frank Foster won in 10.25 seconds (not far off the world record) and claimed a pair of running shoes as his prize.
The first modernday Olympics had been contested in Athens just a few months earlier. Contestants in City Park clamored to get into the high jump, shot put and boxing. There was also football and baseball.
As part of my Park City Rotary Club duties, I connected with my good friend and fellow Rotarian, Dr. Robert Winn. For a few decades now, Winnie and I have run the famous Kids Games in City Park, where our future Olympians in a sprint, gunnysack race and the ever-popular wheelbarrow run to finish.
Our little end-of-summer festival continues to be where we all come together as Parkites. We have a beer and listen to music in City Park. We grab a spot for the mucking and drilling demonstration to relive our town’s mining heritage. We share good times with friends while our kids run around the park.
Being the Parkites that we are, yes, we make sure our kids train for days like this. The kids cherish their ribbons, while Mom and Dad get bragging rights. Through it all, I’ve watched the kids of our community grow up before my eyes.
This year’s Miners’ Day will be bittersweet for me. For the first time since 1988, I won’t be on the Main Street curb or behind the microphone for the Kids Games – handing off to the next generation, Rotarian Kevin Kennedy.
But please do me a favor. Spend an hour or two on Main Street next Monday morning. Bring your family to the Kids Games. And have a beer for me.
Welcome to Miners Day.