Park City has deep pockets, but with over 120 nonprofits, there’s plenty of competition for dollars.
The nonprofit land trust Summit Land Conservancy is one organization getting creative with its fundraising. It’s become something of a tradition to auction off a certain "sparkly jacket" at its annual Blue Sky Bash.
It’s knee-length—similar to a morning coat or tuxedo-style garment—and covered in rainbow sequins.
One jacket-wearer compares it to Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat, and like the biblical coat of many colors, it inspires a little jealousy: enthusiastic interest in the jacket has drawn thousands of dollars each year.
Summit Land Conservancy Executive Director Cheryl Fox said it was first auctioned at the 2022 Blue Sky Bash, the land trust’s annual fundraising party at Blue Sky Ranch in Wanship. She calls it "a sparkly way to save open space."
The money Summit Lands raises helps it purchase conservation easements that restrict development on land in the Wasatch Back and beyond, keeping spaces wild.
The jacket’s original owner Brian Kinkead wore it to the bash, when auctioneer Larry Flynn asked if he could include it in the prizes.
Kinkead agreed, and Kevin Barker was the first one to win it. He wore it to functions around town and on holidays like New Year’s Eve and Halloween, as part of a group costume with his grandson.
“He wanted to go as something called Paw Patrol, which is a cartoon, and so I went as Mayor Humdinger with a fake mustache, jacket and a top hat,” Barker said.
Barker remembers that at the 2021 bash Fox hoped to start a tradition of auctioning off a jackalope, but the winning bidder never returned it.
“I thought it would make sense to put [the jacket] up again, and it could be something that would get passed down year after year,” he said.
Now it’s been auctioned off three years in a row. Barker got it for $2,000, and the price has only increased.
“And this thing was huge on me. The original owner was way bigger than me, so this thing didn't fit me at all. But I didn't care,” said Ellen Sherk, who won it in 2023. “It's just totally fun and a good conversation starter—maybe even a head turner—but I wore it to many events.”
She nearly wore it to Park City Mountain’s Clown Day, but didn’t want to damage it. One thing people who wear it report is that its sequins catch on one another and can come off.
Otherwise, it’s a sturdy, warm piece of clothing. In 2024, Sherk handed it off to Rip Wilson, a Florida resident who visits family in Park City every summer.
“I think every year I bid on it, actually,” he said. “And then I think this year I decided, ‘Okay, enough's enough. I'm going to get it.’”
Wilson has worn it hiking, golfing, to restaurants and more. And he’s already booked his ticket back for 2025’s ninth-annual Blue Sky Bash.
“I loved wearing it because I know what I paid for it went to the Summit Land Conservancy and helped them save land,” Sherk said. “And I just—I love the whole idea of it.”
Barker and Wilson both came up with an idea, independently of one another. They suggest embroidering the names of the jacket’s stewards on it, starting with Kinkead, preserving them too for posterity.
