Miners Day drew hundreds to Main Street Monday for the annual Running of the Balls event and a parade of local businesses, nonprofits, first responders and political candidates.
Park City Rotary Club Treasurer Corrie Forsling said the events are fundraisers for the club’s scholarship and grant programs. She said preliminary numbers show about $103,000 was raised.
Park City Rotary also awards $1,000 prizes for best overall entry, best mining theme, most original and best performance in the Miners Day parade. The prize money is split evenly between the winning organization and a charitable group of its choice.
Serve Park City won the best overall float for the Miners Day parade.
The organization hosts the Serve Park City 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance each year, which features 35 service projects supporting local nonprofits.
The organization’s float was covered in sparkly red fringe, a forest of fake trees and a live band. Serve Park City will share its prize with the Park City Education Foundation.
Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History was awarded best mining theme and the Park City Museum & Historical Society is its grant beneficiary.
Walking alongside the float were the nonprofit’s supporters decked out like miners, sporting yellow hard hats with pickaxes in hand. The highlight was a mining structure pulled behind a truck and a man wearing a cardboard replica of the historic Silver King Coalition Mine main building. The building sits at the base of the Bonanza Lift on Park City Mountain and the 31-acre site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Puppy Pawty Bus — a dog-themed party bus – received the most original award. The local company provides pack walks and pet care for area canines.
The small yellow bus, dubbed the “Gold mine of Kindness,” drove down Main Street with dogs excitedly wagging their tails in the back seat. The vehicle’s license plate even reads “Pawty.”
Wild Hearts Sanctuary will get half the prize money.
Finally, the Park City Follies won the best performance award, with the Egyptian Theatre as its grant beneficiary. The Follies is the annual performance at the Egyptian starring an all-local cast that pokes fun at local politics and personalities.
On the float, Follies musicians dressed as “Vailiens” sang a parody about Vail Resorts while wearing orange wigs and antennae; ahead of the float, a flash-mob performed.
Drilling and mucking contests were also part of the Miners Day festivities, with 8 contestants each.
According to Park City Rotary, drilling is an intense, high-energy event. During the competition, participants bore two deep holes into a slab of rock in the shortest time using a large compressed-air hammer drill. The equipment requires strength, balance and technique.
Matt Karst from Idaho won first place in the event. Zachary Walace from Santaquin, Utah was second and Brian Still from Montana took third.
Mucking is also a tricky event. Competitors must operate heavy equipment to load “muck” — broken up ore from drilling and blasting — into a cart as quickly as possible.
Remigio Portillo from won first place in the event, with Aaron Calhoun and Brian Still coming in second and third. All are from the Salt Lake area.
First place winners receive $1,000 for showing of their skills with second place earning $700 and third $500.
