Miners’ Day returns to its roots with a lot of manual work.

The dredging and drilling, which was transformed into a demonstration in 2021, will resume in full force on Monday afternoon in the city park.

In rock excavation, participants use heavy machinery to load rocks or mud (crushed ore) into a mining cart and unload it as quickly as possible.

The drilling competitions, on the other hand, use large drills and hoses to see how far they can drill two holes into a 10-ton piece of sandstone in the shortest time possible.

The idea to reintroduce these competitions came from Kristin Wright, this year’s chair of Miners Day.

“I remember going to the competition many years ago with my kids who grew up here in Old Town,” she said. “When I saw the competition start, it was like a ghost came to life. I missed it, and I know my friends in town missed it. So when I said we were bringing this back, everyone was super excited.”

Wright thanked longtime Parkite Richard Pick, who got the ball rolling for this year’s competition.

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

According to Wright, participants will break and drill into rocks that are currently located at Miners Hospital.

“We will be reusing one of them, Jerren Chamberlain of the Park City Parks Department, who is responsible for getting the stones in the right place 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 working with us on the celebration.”

In addition to the mucking and drill competition, the annual Running of the Balls will also return. Although the Running of the Balls has never been held, there will be something new this year, Wright said.

“We have a new tower with guardrails from which we will throw about 15,000 golf balls onto a lane,” she said.

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

“The tower, known as Tower 2.0, is much safer and more stable,” she said. “We are grateful to Bill for having time in the schedule to build it.”

Main Street will be closed at approximately 6:00 a.m. to allow volunteers time to set up the tower. At 8:00 a.m., it will be completely closed for the Running of the Balls and the parade that follows.

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

“The public can purchase balls and those who buy the first balls to roll into the landing slot will receive some prizes,” Wright said.

Prizes include skiing and golf experiences, restaurant and spa visits, and gift vouchers from various companies.

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

“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 about, and we have certain areas of focus – women and children, education – and that’s what we focus on when we award the scholarships.”

According to Wright, the Park City Rotary awards small grants of $30,000 to organizations with budgets of less than $1 million and large grants of up to $100,000 to organizations with budgets of $2 million.

“These are all local nonprofits and we want the grants to have a big impact on these organizations,” she said.

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

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

After the Running of the Balls, Miners Day continues with the annual parade down Main Street, the Friends of the Park City Library Used Book Flea Market (see page B-3), and a day of fun at City Park.

According to Wright, the term “Miners Day” originally originated as “Miners Union Day” in 1898 to honor miners and give them a day off.

In the 1940s, Miners Union Day was combined with the nationally celebrated Labor Day, she said.

The full schedule of Miners Day

• 7:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m. – Miners’ Day breakfast prepared by Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in City Park
• 8am – Miners Day Bark City 5k Run, City Park, a dog-friendly run organized by Twilight Rotary
• 10:30 a.m. – Ball race, Main Street
• 11am – Miners Day Parade, Main Street, registration ends August 29th.
• 11:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. – Food Trucks & Beer/Schnaps Garden, City Park
• 11:45am–4pm – Live music in the park, City Park Stage, programmed by Mountain Town Music
• 12.00–16.00 – Historical presentations at the open day at the mining hospital
• 12:30-13:00 – Children’s games, city park
• 12:30-15:00 – Mining competitions, City Park

For more information, visit parkcityminersday.org.