Sixteen Utah towns will take on the task of keeping the Olympic excitement burning through the break between the closing of one Games and the opening of another.
Communities from Brigham City in the north to St. George in the south will host celebrations and a "journey of fire" torch run to spark interest in the Paralympic Winter Games opening March 7, 10 days after the Olympic Winter Games close Feb. 24.
Starting March 2, the communities will each light a flame, using any method they choose, from rubbing sticks together to using a Bic lighter, said Mitt Romney, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
The communities will celebrate the torch lighting by hosting events featuring local music and artists on four consecutive nights through March 5.
The flames will be taken by the host towns to Salt Lake, where they will be ceremoniously joined to form one Paralympic flame on March 6. The next day, about 100 torchbearers will relay the flame from the Capitol through the streets of downtown Salt Lake to Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium for opening ceremonies at 7 p.m.
Anyone interested in nominating someone to be a torchbearer can obtain a form by going to www.paralympics 2002.com or e-mailing an application request to journeyoffire@saltlake2002.com. Applications are due no later than 5 p.m. Jan. 15. Selected runners will be notified by phone by Feb. 1.
These individual community ceremonies are designed not only to be fun and a way for people to show their support for the Paralympics, "but to also showcase the local spirit and character of each host community," Romney said.
Rotary clubs are lead organizers for the celebrations.
Participating towns are American Fork, Brigham City, Cedar City, Centerville/Farmington, Heber City, Kaysville, Layton, Moab, Murray, North Ogden, Park City, Sandy, Springville, St. George and West Valley City. The 16th town will be named in the next few days, Paralympics officials said.
About 500 disabled athletes from 35 countries are expected to participate in more than 100 medal events in three sports over nine days of competition.
The Paralympic Games were started in 1948 as rehabilitation for injured World War II veterans. "Paralympic" is commonly thought to have been taken from the word "paraplegic," but it actually means "parallel to the Olympic Games."
E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com