It’s usually the children who find the hidden backside of Park City’s Rotary Park located at the end of Payday Drive. The front side of the park is well manicured, with grass, a gazebo and a barbecue area.
As Rotarian Alison Weyher noted the park is more than 2.5 acres and the majority of the property is hidden in the back.
“So, there's a lot of land that you don't see,” Weyher said. “And it's overgrown with bushes and dead trees. And we're working with the Park City Parks Department to clean out all of the dead stuff, thistles and make the whole area nice.”
In a matter of 30 minutes, one large trailer was filled with weeds and tree clippings that had been hauled across the creek from the back side of the park.
Rotarian Scott van Hartesvelt said Sunday’s cleanup was the first joint project the service clubs worked on together in years.
“This is really exciting,” van Hartesvelt said. “This is the first time in a few years I think that we’ve gotten together as clubs in a joint service project. Park City Rotary has done an amazing job with this park for a long time. This is part of the legacy for their club and also for Rotary International and draws attention to the organization. But it’s fun to see everybody come together in the way that we're serving the community.”
Rotarian Ember Conley added that in her 10 years of Rotary this was the first project she remembers when the three clubs came together and there was plenty to be done.
“Just now being back there, it's a jungle,” she said. “So, this is exciting. And you know, within Rotary, there's six main characteristics that we focus on. We're a service club, and one of them is the environment. And you go across the United States, and even internationally, you'll see Rotary Parks. And so, this is just our way of giving back to the community to continue to enjoy what we have here in Park City.”
Rotary Park was built in the mid-1980s, some 90 years after the property was donated to Park City by the owners of the Silver King Mine Thomas Kearns and David Kelly. It was the early members of the first Park City Rotary Club who took on the project of cutting down trees, removing brush and digging out rocks. Much of the material for the gazebo and restrooms as well as the professional architectural and site planning services were all donated by club members.
Each of Park City’s three clubs submits an annual service impact report showing the amount of time and hours that each club has put into service over the course of a year. Van Hartesvelt says it’s a staggering amount of work that Rotary members do and all three clubs are accepting new members.
The Sunrise Rotary Club meets every Thursday at 7:15 a.m. at O’Shucks Bar and Grill in Pinebrook. The Noon Club meets every Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. at the Doubletree hotel and the Twilight Club meets on the first and third Wednesdays at 6 p.m. at Park City Coffee Roasters at Kimball Junction.
