At the last minute, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson decided to toss the salad that is Salt Lake City ? and at first the flavors didn't quite blend.
The mayor invited people from every ethnic and community organization he could think of to an Opening Ceremonies reception at the Wagner Jewish Community Center, in hopes of bringing usually separate communities together on one historic night.
This party started out like so many do, however. After Anderson went off to the ceremonies, people stuck with their spouses and it wasn't so easy to talk to strangers. Guests milled around, munching, drinking, looking for a familiar face. City employees clustered.
Then, about 6:40 p.m., the atmosphere changed. Suddenly, the guests had something in common; something bigger than all of them and, miraculously, happening in their collective back yard. It was heralded in sparkling gold, in fireworks released into the sky above Olympic Stadium. And the crowd, squeezed into the Community Center around the big-screen TVs, erupted along with the starbursts, as if they were setting free six years of pent-up anticipation.
Moments later, watching the parade of skaters bearing Olympic host city flags, the partygoers applauded politely ? until the end. When Salt Lake City 2002 finally came skimming across the ice, another wild cheer came up, and this one had a touch of relief in it.
Amy Leonard of Salt Lake City said she hasn't been all that excited about the Winter Games' impending arrival, until this week. She attended Wednesday's Opening Ceremonies dress rehearsal, endured a traffic jam, a long line and a frigid four hours at the stadium. But somehow, "that's what got me in the mood," she said.
Like others at the mayor's party, Leonard is ambivalent about most of the world's population fixing its attention on Utah. "I want to keep it all a secret," she said.
Amy's husband, Robert Leonard, added that despite all the ancillary surroundings of the Games, the corporate sponsors, the scandals, the controversies over their funding, people can still see the point of the Olympics. "Now, more than ever," he said, the Games symbolize strength and resilience. When the flag that flew over the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 was carried out, "That's what got me."
LaMont Green has other hopes for the Salt Lake Games. "I'm not going to bite my tongue," he said. "I want people to see the city for what it really is. People are struggling here; they're on the streets, looking for jobs . . . Hopefully, people can see through the face" that television coverage puts on the Games. Olympic organizers "talk about brotherly love, but you have to act that out, not just talk about it," he said. So much money is poured into hosting the festivities, "but is it filtering down?"
David Benson of Fort Collins, Colo., came to the mayor's party with his wife Margaret Hunt. She recently accepted the job of deputy director of the city's Community and Economic Development Department, so Benson will be moving to Salt Lake City shortly. He predicted that the 2002 Olympics could well begin a new era for the capital.
"This is a sleeper city," Benson said. When Denver voted to turn down the 1976 Winter Games, "they had hoped to keep (that city) a secret," he added, but it didn't work. Former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm "ran on a platform of 'no Olympics,' and he later said he wasn't sure that was the right decision" since hosting the Games "would have forced us to do more planning" for transportation and environmental conservation amid population growth.
Twenty-six years later, the Olympic torch seemed to bring Coloradans and Utahns together, Benson said. "I watched the torch come through, and the spirit of the people was very positive. There were tremendous crowds."
As the Opening Ceremonies marched forward, the Community Center crowd grew more boisterous. Caterers brought out one enormous dessert platter after another, but the guests ignored them and kept applauding. When the World Trade Center flag was carried out into the light, though, the room fell silent.
Then, as if to signal its hope for the coming days, the crowd welcomed the Parade of Nations with waves of cheers ? for the Canadian athletes, the Mexican Olympic team, even for the shorts-wearing quartet of athletes from Bermuda.
E-mail: durbani@desnews.com