Miners Day is returning to its roots in a nitty, gritty way.

The mucking and drilling, which was turned into a demonstration in 2021, will return in full force on Monday afternoon at City Park.

During the mucking portion, competitors will use heavy machinery to load rocks, or muck, which is broken up ore, into a mining cart and dump it as quickly as possible.

Drilling competitors, on the other hand, will use large drills and hoses to see how far they can drill two holes in a 10-ton piece of sandstone in the shortest amount of time.

The idea to bring back these competitions started with Kristin Wright, this year’s Miners Day chair.

“I remember going to the competition with my kids, who were raised here in Old Town, many years ago,” she said. “When I saw the competition fire up, it was like a ghost had come to life. I missed it, and I know my friends around town missed it. So when I said we’re going to bring this back, everybody was really excited.”

Wright credited longtime Parkite Richard Pick who got the stone rolling on this year’s competition.

“He has all of these mining connections and worked with the Park City Historical Society,” she said. “I talked with him and he said, ‘Yeah. We can do it.’ And he resurrected his contacts and sent out emails.”

Competitors will break up and drill into rocks that are, for now, located at Miners Hospital, according to Wright.

“We’re going to reuse one, Jerren Chamberlain at the Park City Parks Department, who is responsible for moving the rocks into the right spot for the competition,” she said. “We are so grateful to the city and Jenny Diersen, who is in charge of special events for the city, for partnering with us on the celebration.”

In addition to the mucking and drilling competition, the annual Running of the Balls will return. Although the Running of the Balls never went away, this year will mark something new, Wright said.

“We have a new tower that has guardrails where we will let loose about 15,000 golf balls down a track,” she said.

Miners Day will feature a new Running of the Balls tower designed by Alex McMullen and built by Reesco manufacturing in Coalville. Credit: Courtesy of Kristin Wright

Summit County Councilor Canice Harte worked with Bill Wilde of the Coalville-based Reesco manufacturing to design, engineer and build the new tower, according to Wright.

“The tower, known as Tower 2.0, is much safer and sturdy,” she said. “We are grateful to Bill, who had space in the schedule to make it.”

Main Street will close around 6 a.m. to accommodate volunteers setting up the tower, it will be fully closed at 8 a.m. for the Running of the Balls and the parade that follows.

While the Running of the Balls is one of Miners Day highlights, it is also a way for Park City Rotary, who is in charge of the event, to raise funds for grants, Wright said..

“The public can buy balls and those who buy the first balls that roll into the landing chute will get some prizes,” Wright said.

Prizes include skiing and golf experiences, dining and spa visits and gift cards from an array of businesses.

The public can buy balls online at parkcityminersday.org/collections/all-balls, and the prices are  $10 each; three for $20; eight for $50 and 20 for $100.

“Proceeds from the ball run and our sponsor partners fund Park City Rotary’s Community Grants and Scholarship programs,” Wright said. “Giving back to the community is what the club is really all about, and we have certain areas of emphasis — women and children, education — and that’s what we focus on when we award the grants.”

Park City Rotary gives out $30,000 in small grants to organizations that have less and $1 million in their budgets, and large grants of up to $100,000 to organizations that have $2 million in their budgets, according to Wright.

“These are all local nonprofits, and we want the grants to make a huge impact in those organizations,” she said.

The annual Miners Day Running of the Balls is a fundraiser for Park City Rotary Club. The money is used for the Rotary’s grants program. Credit: Park Record file photo by Tanzi Propst

In addition, Park City Rotary will sell a maximum of 200 silver golf balls — half online, and half on Main Street — on Monday, beginning at 9 a.m. until they sell out or until 10:30 a.m., when the Running of the Balls begins.

The winner of the Silver Strike will receive a travel package valued at $3,000, Wright said.

After the Running of the Balls, Miners Day continues with its annual parade down Main Street, the Friends of the Park City Library’s used book sale (see page B-3) and a day of fun at City Park.

The term Miners Day originated as Miners Union Day in 1898 to honor miners by giving them a day off, according to Wright.

In the 1940s, Miners Union Day merged with the nationally celebrated Labor Day holiday, she said.

The full schedule for Miners Day 2024

For more information, visit parkcityminersday.org.