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WEST VALLEY CITY — Communities with Olympic venues outside Salt Lake City and Park City are already considering what the 2034 Winter Olympics will bring to their cities.
Leaders in West Valley City and neighboring Kearns expressed Wednesday that it's not just about what the Olympics will do for them, but how their communities can help elevate the Olympics.
Venues in each city built for the 2002 Olympics have been in continuous use in the 22 years since.
The Maverik Center is home of the Utah Grizzlies hockey team and regularly hosts concerts and events.
The Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns is used daily for classes and events that range from children's skate lessons to competitions for the world's best speed skaters.
US Speedskating uses it as a practice facility.
"Our speed skating oval has been well maintained," said Roger Snow, Kearns Community Council co-chair. "They do World Cups out there twice a year, every year."
'The world will see Kearns'
Hearing the news Wednesday morning that the International Olympic Committee voted to finalize Salt Lake as its choice for the 2034 Olympics, left Snow — and the Kearns community — ecstatic.
"It's coming up here in Kearns, and heard it on the radio," Snow said, of where first caught the official announcement. He raised his arm and began to fist pump. "So, fist-pumping and getting ready to go!"
Snow believes another Winter Olympics will provide a good boost for their bedroom community. Back in 2002, Kearns was an unincorporated part of Salt Lake County. It became a township in recent years, and in May, Snow said, Kearns was designated as a city.
The influx of people visiting Kearns and the Olympic Oval for the world event, Snow indicated, will likely play a role in some of their future infrastructure projects and improvements.
"Maybe on 4800 West, getting it a little bit wider and a little bit better access to the Oval, I think will probably be priority," he said of the main road that passes by the Olympic Oval and newly built Element Center, which athletes can use for training and meetings.
Snow expects no shortage of volunteers, saying the people of Kearns will help in any way they can.
"The world will see Kearns, so we're super excited about that," he said.
'Making every public space available'
In West Valley City, a video posted on the city's Instagram Wednesday showed the ways in which it's also ready as a city, though the examples were made in jest.
Dramatic Olympic-style music sets the stage as three police officers jump into a bobsled and lean into the twists and turns, only their "bobsled" is a small stationary snow sled on grass.
West Valley City firefighters yell and cheer each other on during an intense curling match, using plastic balls and brooms on the fire station floor.
Perhaps the city's preparations won't actually involve firefighters becoming curlers, but West Valley City Council Member-at-Large Don Christensen expects West Valley City will be ready to exceed its 2002 offerings.
"I think what would be better is there would be more area for (athletes and spectators) — more venues, more available space for housing, hotels, restaurants, that type of thing," he said.
More hotels surround the Maverik Center now than they did in 2002, and Christensen said two additional hotels are in the process of breaking ground.
The county-run Acord Ice Center, which was used as a hockey practice facility in 2002, is ready for future use again. The Ridge Golf Club clubhouse transformed into the Holland Heineken House in 2002, and according to the city served as a welcome center for Dutch athletes, supporters and fans.
Christensen said that West Valley City will be "making every public space available" for use. He expressed wanting to showcase the most diverse city in Utah, and the second-largest city in the state.
"We'll be even more involved now, and hopefully we'll get even more growth from it," Christensen said.
The communities of West Valley City and Kearns have grown and changed in the last 20-plus years, and Christensen knows they will continue to do so in the next decade.
But one thing, he explained, will stay the same.
"The people will not change," Christensen said. "They'll still be as welcoming as they were in 2002."
