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Autumn Aloft

By Ramon Gomez, Jr.
Sep 12, 2018

The wife and I always enjoy the Autumn Aloft balloon festival each year in Park City. Now in its fifth year, it will be held this weekend from September 15 to16. This event first launched in the former silver mining town more than 30 years ago and was recently resurrected as a way for visitors and residents of all ages to celebrate Park City and embrace autumn. Spectators can view up to 24 hot air balloons inflating and launching from locations throughout Park City. Park City residents and visitors often see hot air balloons from afar, but nothing compares to experiencing the magnitude of the aircraft until you are truly among them.

Schedule of Events:

Saturday, September 15 approximately 8:00 a.m. Main Launch at the North 40 Fields at 2530 Kearns Blvd

8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Historic Park City Candlestick Event – Main Street: a beautiful family-friendly event and a fun way to gather with other locals,

Sunday, September 16 approximately 8:00 a.m. Main Launch at the North 40 Fields at 2530 Kearns Blvd

The event festivities are free to spectators and are scheduled to take place at multiple locations around the Park City area. Autumn Aloft is a visual delight for spectators rather than an opportunity for balloon rides for event attendees. But, tethered rides may be available on a first come, first serve basis but are not guaranteed. Saturday and Sunday's launch events will take place on the North 40 Playing Fields directly behind Park City's Treasure Mountain Middle school.

Ample parking is provided at the Eccles and Park City High School parking facilities. Additional off-site parking will be available at the China Bridge parking lots in Historic Park City with free public transportation available. A map of the event venue can be viewed here and a map of parking areas can be found here.

Looking for something to do today - the Park City Farmer’s Market, located by the Silver King Resort parking lot, is free to the public and runs each Wednesday through November 1st. More information can be found HERE.

The Kimball Arts Center also has until September 16th one of the foremost women artists of the twentieth-century, Niki de Saint Phalle worked as a sculptor, painter, and filmmaker between the late 1950s and early 2000s. During her distinguished career, she developed a self-taught and very personal aesthetic in pieces that ranged from intimate to monumental, while also notably collaborating with Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jean Tinguely, among others. This exhibition brings visibility to an artist’s oeuvre that is not yet well known in Utah, but was recently celebrated in retrospectives at Paris’ Le Grand Palais and the Guggenheim Bilbao. Her work demonstrates remarkable fight and determination, accomplishing things unlike any other female artist of her generation. The Kimball Art Center opens daily at 10 am.

Autumn Aloft Hot Air Balloon Festival

By Ramon Gomez, Jr.
Sep 13, 2017

The wife and I enjoy the Autumn Aloft balloon festival every year in Park City. This year the 2017 Autumn Aloft Hot Air balloon festival is scheduled for September 16 -17, 2017 at 2530 Kearns BLVD | North 40 Fields, Park City, Utah with field access at 7:45 am and launch time at approximately 8 am.

The event festivities are free to spectators and are scheduled to take place at multiple locations around the Park City area. Autumn Aloft is a visual delight for spectators rather than an opportunity for balloon rides for event attendees. But, tethered rides may be available on a first come, first serve basis but are not guaranteed. Saturday and Sunday's launch events will take place on the North 40 Playing Fields directly behind Park City's Treasure Mountain Middle school.

Ample parking is provided at the Eccles and Park City High School parking facilities. Additional off-site parking will be available at the China Bridge parking lots in Historic Park City with free public transportation available. A map of the event venue can be viewed here and a map of parking areas can be found here.

With colder weather around the corner, it is time to start thinking about curling, that's right - curling. The Park City Curling Club was started over 10 years ago by Greg and Debbie Basrak and I have had the pleasure of playing with my team for many years. The Park City Curling Club is open to all people who are interested in the sport of curling and who like to have a lot of fun.

Curling is played within a curling rink on a playing surface ice called a ‘sheet’ with granite stones. The goal of the game is, after all 16 stones are played (8 by each team), to have a stone of your team’s closest to the center of the house, called the ‘tee’ (see rink below). This is accomplished by sending your stone to rest in scoring position by utilizing one of many shots. The team with the closest stone to the ‘tee’, inside the house, scores a point, or more if they also have the second closest stone and so on. Each round is called an ‘end’ and consists of two stones delivered by each player on each four-player team. The stones are delivered from the hack on one side of the sheet to the house on the opposite side. This consists of the player pushing off from the hack with the stone and releasing it with a spin, or ‘curl’.

We will start our Fall Session on October 23, 2017, so please check out the Park City curling club website or reach out to me directly at ramon@rgomezjr.com if you are interested in playing - Good Curling!

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Autumn Aloft Hot Air Balloons

By Ramon Gomez, Jr.
Sep 24, 2015

fall colors & balloons-34

The Autumn Aloft Hot Air Balloon Festival rolled back into town last Saturday and it was a sight to behold. The wife and I took our granddaughter out for the early morning lift off along with hundreds of other locals and visitors alike to take in the spectacular sight. Park City is full of amazing activities year round and as we turn our sites to the Fall and Winter activities I will share more events in and around our fine city in the upcoming weeks. This weekend you can check out the Odyssey Dance Theatre's 'Thriller' at the Egyptian Theatre, go to the climbing wall at the Swaner EcoCenter, see "Food for Change" with the Park City Film Series, and list goes on and on. Visit our website for more things to do in Park City and check out our Facebook page for more pictures around town.

 
 
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