One of the most visible physical reminders of Park City’s 2002 Winter Olympic era has been partially dismantled for repairs.
The giant sculpture of a torch stands at the high-traffic corner of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive. It is seen daily by Parkites and commuters headed to or from locations like Old Town, Park Meadows, Prospector and parts of the Snyderville Basin.
City Hall owns the sculpture. Bill Kranstover, a longtime Park City artist, created the work as the Games of 2002 approached, with the drawings drafted by his daughter, Malia Denali. General Motors commissioned the sculpture as part of the automaker’s presence along Main Street during the Winter Olympics. General Motors wanted the sculpture to be on display for 90 days around the Games. It has instead stood for longer than 23 years.
The sculpture in the post-Games era was moved from its initial location at the intersection of Main Street and Heber Avenue to its current spot.
Kranstover on Monday said the sculpture required what he described as maintenance work, leading to the efforts that are currently underway. He found looseness in the bolts.
He said the maintenance work is the first of its kind since the piece was created. As an example, Kranstover said, the work originally involved bolts, but he is considering a different method of securing the elements of the sculpture. The method this time could be via bolts and welding or strictly through welding.
He predicts the work will extend the lifespan of the sculpture by several decades. Kranstover is waiting to bid the work out and hopes to be finished with the project by the end of June.
Parts of the sculpture had been removed from the main structure by early in the week and were on the ground nearby on Monday.
The sculpture is one of the prominent legacies of the 2002 Winter Games, alongside other reminders in the community like the Olympic Welcome Plaza at the nearby intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue. The Park City area hosted upward of half the competitions during the Games of 2002 and was one of the popular places for the crowds to celebrate. The original location of the sculpture at the Main Street-Heber Avenue intersection served as a backdrop to the pedestrian-only celebration zone during the Games.
“To me, it really has taken on a life of its own,” Kranstover said about the sculpture.
He added: “It’s become an old friend.”
The maintenance work is occurring in the early months of a second Winter Olympic era in the state. The International Olympic Committee last summer awarded the Games of 2034 to Salt Lake City, with Park City again expected to have an outsized role in the event. Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park are identified as competition venues in 2034.
There has also been limited talk in the community about the possibility of some sort of preservation protection for locations that were important during the Games in 2002.