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Reverse drawing to raise money

by Andrew Kirk, OF THE RECORD STAFF

The Park City Sunrise Rotary Club is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year by tackling a large project to create a public pavilion at Parkside Apartments in Park City.

The apartment complex is full of families and many small children. There is ample space for people to play and hold gatherings and events, but there is no pavilion for them, explained committee chairman Bill Brigham.

On his trips to Mexico and Guatemala, he’s observed that pavilions in public spaces are the primary gathering places for communities in Latin America, he said. Additionally, the club has held various activities at the complex for children and has struggled to find appropriate facilities.

For example, the last Christmas party held for children there by the club had to take place in the laundry room and manager’s office.

Club member Ericka Wells works with many children at the complex through Big Brothers Big Sisters and it was at her suggestion that a project was organized, Brigham said.

The idea of building some kind of pavilion or park had been bounced around for a while, Wells said. She’d been working with ACT, Agencies Coming Together, to organize children’s activities at the different apartment complexes. In winter, there’s no covered or indoor area to meet with kids, she said.

"If they were going to do a pavilion, why not at one of the apartments?" she said.

Parkside had great space for one, Wells explained.

To pay for the pavilion, the club is hosting an event on May 29 called a "reverse opportunity drawing," Brigham explained. Instead of the first name pulled out of a hat to be a winner, the last name is.

Brigham and every other member of the club are trying to sell 250 tickets for the May 29 event at the Legacy Lodge at Park City Mountain Resort at a cost of a $100 donation. The last person whose name is pulled will receive a prize of $10,000. The remaining money collected through ticket sales will fund the pavilion.

Losers will still be eligible for door prizes and the event will also feature food, an open bar and live music. A spreadsheet is projected onto a wall revealing the names of people still in the running for the prize making the night a very exciting event, Brigham said.

Brad Mimlitz, president of Park City Architecture and member of the club was recruited to help design the pavilion. He chose a building material that has excited him recently: SIREWALL rammed earth.

A client of his asked about rammed earth as a green alternative to wood. He found it to be unsuitable to the climate and seismic conditions of Park City. But then he learned that a company in Canada created a product that solved all the problems of traditional rammed earth (including insulation). He started EarthWall Builders, Inc. to create SIREWALL products here for clients from Maine to Hawaii, Mimlitz said.

Because it can be built with local materials and local labor, it’s the perfect material for creating the four pillars supporting the pavilion, he said.

"It doesn’t burn, mold or rot," he said. "It’s beautiful, will last a long time and is maintenance-free for the pavilion."

Residents in the apartment complex and members of the Rotary Club will be organized into four teams this summer and will race each other to construct and erect the pillars. It will be a fun way to get everyone involved in the project, he said.

The older Park City Rotary chapter has also volunteered funds and labor to help with the project. Local building-supply companies have offered to be generous with supplies and labor, as well, he said. The pavilion will be utilized nine to 10 months a year.

Call Brigham at 655-1442 to order tickets for the May 29 event or purchase them from any Sunrise Rotary club member.

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