Ali Widdison spent Park City’s Sept. 19 day of service at Summit Community Gardens & EATS with two generations of her family beside her: her child and her mother. Widdison told KPCW the three of them worked together in the garden, calling the experience special.
The garden shift was part of Park City’s third annual National Day of Service and Remembrance, organized by Serve Park City. The event took place Saturday, Sept. 19, across Summit County. The organizer’s event page described a morning program beginning with breakfast and a moment of remembrance at City Park, followed by local service projects and a community pizza gathering. That page describes the plan; independent post-event reporting supplies the details of completed work.
KPCW reported that volunteers pulled weeds at Summit Community Gardens. The Park Record described Widdison tending a sunflower bed there. The garden provides fresh produce to community members in need, according to the Park Record’s coverage, giving the work a practical connection to local food access. The reporting does not quantify the bed’s yield or the number of neighbors it served; it establishes the garden’s role as a source of fresh produce for local residents.
That family shift was one part of a much wider effort. KPCW and the Park Record both reported 44 service projects. The Park Record said Serve Park City estimated that 41 organizations took part. The two outlets gave slightly different turnout estimates: KPCW reported the co-director’s estimate of about 1,200, while the Park Record put the estimate at 1,100. The number of projects, which both outlets reported, offers a clearer shared measure of the day’s reach.
At the 910 Ranch, volunteers worked with Summit County crews to remove barbed wire that can impede elk and other wildlife. County restoration and resource manager Billy Kurek told KPCW the added volunteers helped his small team complete important work. Other Park Record-reported projects included weeding at the National Ability Center ranch, helping clean PC Tots, building rock structures to reduce erosion and painting over graffiti on historic mining structures.
Some assignments created something people could keep. More than 50 volunteers made 550 encouragement cards that organizers planned to distribute through Dream Makers to teens aging out of foster care, the Park Record reported. Other groups assembled packets for the Wasatch Immigration Project, sorted eyeglasses with Hope Alliance, knitted hats and wove sleeping mats.
The day also drew people who were not part of a standing group. A boys hockey team from Roy traveled to join a creek cleanup after hearing about it, while 25 Brigham Young University students returned to volunteer after taking part the year before, according to the Park Record. The article also described Sandy Bertha, visiting from Encinitas, California, who saw a request for pantry-cleanup help on social media and signed up the day before.
The event began with a remembrance ceremony at City Park, then spread into projects around the county. The Park Record reported that the Summit County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse presented the flag and the Utah Pipe Band performed. A police radio “Last Call,” student Coen Nelson sounding taps, a moment of silence and the band’s performance of “Amazing Grace” formed part of the ceremony. The organizer’s description framed the gathering as a way to honor, remember and serve; local reporting shows that service took many forms, from garden work and wildlife protection to notes of encouragement.
For Widdison’s family, the garden was the setting for a Saturday morning spent working side by side. Her account to KPCW keeps the large event in human scale: one person, her child and her mother doing the same task together. Across the rest of Park City, the projects were different, but the reports describe neighbors giving time to places and organizations close to home.
Co-director Karen Marriott told KPCW that Serve Park City coordinates volunteer opportunities throughout the year. The Sept. 19 garden shift was a single morning, but it brought three generations together in a community space that grows food for local residents.
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