Copyright Salt Lake City Deseret News
Ogden leaders are getting into the Olympic spirit, already laying the groundwork for a sizable mural in the city center in conjunction with the Winter Games to be held in Utah in 2034. The Ogden City Council on Tuesday approved a proposal to create the mural and allocated up to $110,000 in city funds for the $210,000 project, with additional funding to be obtained from other sources. “It will celebrate our upcoming 2034 Olympics but also highlight Ogden’s culture and identity,” Lori Buckley, arts administrator for the city, said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The mural, she went on, “will be a symbol of local pride. It will add to our cultural history and give us global visibility with the Olympics.” The mural will be created along the west side of a parking garage on Kiesel Avenue, extending almost a city block from 24th Street south to 25th Street. The road section doesn’t get much traffic, but serves as a connector to some of the city’s highly visited areas, including the Junction entertainment district, the Ogden Amphitheater and Historic 25th Street. While Ogden isn’t hosting any Olympic events, Snowbasin ski resort in Weber County will host several skiing events in the 2034 Games, and Ogden is expected to be a stop-off point for many traveling to and from the ski facility. Curling events were held at the Ice Sheet at Weber State University in Ogden in the 2002 Winter Games in Utah, and it could serve as a practice facility for athletes in 2034. “Just so cool to be out ahead of it and showing that we are forward-looking. We’re not just waiting for the Olympics to happen here, we’re actively preparing for it,” said Councilman Ken Richey. Officials in Ogden have also talked about holding special events in the city during the Games to attract Olympic visitors, and Buckley envisions the mural as a place for visitors to take selfies. According to city documents, Ogden officials tentatively hope the mural can be installed starting early next year with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by early next summer. Additional funding for the project is expected to come from revenue generated by a special sales tax meant to fund arts and cultural projects, Snowbasin and Visit Ogden, which promotes tourism in Weber County. MarketStar, an Ogden-based firm, is providing the space for the mural, the western side of the parking garage it owns, where the artwork is to be installed, as well as $2,500. City officials will lay out parameters for the project and publicly seek proposals from artists for the mural.
