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"The
Greatest Snow on Earth": The Winter Olympics in Downtown Salt
Lake City
by
Dallas Petersen
Temple Square spires and an Olympic figure skater point towards
the heavens.
A recent Winter
Olympics edition of The U.S. News and World Report opens with this
line: "Is this the Olympics or the Mo-lympics?" To be
sure, the Church will play an important role during the Winter Games.
As if the bevy of Church-sponsored concerts and other events were
not enough, the sheer proximity of Temple Square to the Olympics
Medal Plaza and other key venues cements the Church's key role as
Olympic co-host along with Salt Lake City and the state of Utah.
That said, the
Winter Olympics certainly has had its effect on the Church—it's
singlehandedly transformed downtown Salt Lake City into Olympic
Headquarters and Village. Since I work in downtown Salt Lake City,
I've had the wonderful opportunity to witness firsthand the "Olympi-fying"
of Temple Square and downtown Salt Lake City.
Perhaps the
most dominant feature of the Olympic decor I've photographed is
the banners draped on buildings throughout the downtown area. “We
implemented a first in Olympic history when unveiling a building
banner project of this magnitude,” said Mitt Romney, SLOC president
and CEO. “The most powerful examples of our theme ‘Light
the Fire Within’ are the athletes, which makes them appropriate
subjects for this project.”
I'll confess,
I may have gone a bit overboard with the ol' camera shutter, but
I couldn't help but take a shot every time I found myself in awe
of Olympics-related sights—an occurance that happened every
half block. I've separated this photo essay into several different
pages. For ease of navigation, I've included links on the right
for you to skip back and forth to whatever page that grabs your
interest. Enjoy!
Note: Click
any image below to see enlargements.
Brother Brigham
and Friends
I can't help but smile when I see this shot. I wonder what Brother
Brigham thinks of all the Winter Olympic festivities? This statue
of Brigham Young, dusted with some fresh snow, stands at the entrance
of the new pedestrian walkway and park (formerly a portion of Main
Street). The Olympic hockey goalie hangs from the Zion's Bank building.
One of the first buildings to get a facelift was the Marriott Hotel
on West Temple Street. Near the skiers left hand, you can see two
workers attaching this banner. These men were suspended in harnesses
typically used for cleaning windows. And I thought I had it bad
when I hang Christmas lights.
Adjacent to the Marriott Hotel, a downhill skier hangs. Everyday
I see this banner from my office breakroom.
Abravanel Hall, location of many of the Olympic Art events, sports
a biathalon athlete.
A snowboarder looms high above the cityscape. Snowboarding is a
relatively recent addition to the Winter Olympics. Fore more on
even newer sporting events, read the article "Olympic
Advance" in Meridian.
A snowboarder soars above the Assembly Hall at Temple Square. Needless
to say, this is not a sight likely to be seen ever again.
The 13th story tinted window of a local hotel provides a different
perpsective of the Olympic banners. From the Medals Plaza nearly
all the banners will be visible.
This shot provides a stunning view of more Olympic banners with
the Wasatch Mountains towering in the background.
Continue
reading this article... Page 2: Olympic Souvenirs
(All
photographs Copyright 2002 Dallas Petersen)
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© 2002 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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