Olympics

Park City welcomes Olympians, Paralympians home with a parade

Youth Sports Alliance event celebrates athletes and encourages youth

Published: April 3, 2026, 9:09 p.m. MDT

Matthew Greiner, who competed in the Olympics in 2026 in luge, left, and Ashley Farquharson, who competed in the Olympics in 2022 and 2026 in luge and won Bronze in 2026, right, participate with fellow Olympians and Paralympians from across Utah, including athletes returning from the 2026 Winter Games, during a Youth Sports Alliance Olympic and Paralympic Homecoming Parade on Main Street in Park City on Friday, April 3, 2026. Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Lisa has been a Deseret News reporter for more than 30 years, covering Utah's Olympics and politics.

Luger Ashley Farquharson proudly wore her bronze medal for Friday’s welcome home parade in Park City for the Olympic and Paralympic athletes who competed at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

Farquharson, who first tried the sliding sport at the nearby Utah Olympic Park track at age 11 as part of an after school program sponsored by the Youth Sports Alliance, said the medal she won in the women’s singles event is always with her.

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“It comes with me everywhere because I feel like everyone here is just as excited as I am,” Farquharson, 27, told a cheering crowd gathered at the end of Park City’s Main Street. “So if you see me in the grocery store, you can hold it.”

Ashley Farquharson, who competed in the Olympics in 2022 and 2026 in luge and won Bronze in 2026, stands on stage with her medal while speaking to spectators after Olympians and Paralympians from across Utah, including athletes returning from the 2026 Winter Games, walked down Main Street during a Youth Sports Alliance Olympic and Paralympic Homecoming Parade in Park City on Friday, April 3, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

She’s the “poster child” for the Park City-based alliance, its executive director, Emily Fisher, told the Deseret News. The alliance, started after Utah’s 2002 Winter Games, offers children along the Wasatch Back and beyond the chance to try a variety of sports.

Luge, a sport where athletes supine on a sled hurtle down an icy track, was the one stuck with Farquharson. By the time she finished high school, Farquharson was on the national team and eyeing the Olympics.

She competed in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and is already getting ready for the next Winter Games, in the French Alps, in 2030. Utah’s next Olympics and Paralympics for athletes with disabilities, in 2034, is a possibility.

“I can’t rule it out,” she told a reporter. “We’ll see.”

The parade, put on by the alliance since 2006, is intended to celebrate the Olympians and Paralympians who call Utah and especially Park City home, and, Fisher said, show the next generation of competitors “their dreams are accessible.”

Alexander Rafe, 6, watches as Olympians and Paralympians from across Utah, including athletes returning from the 2026 Winter Games, walk down Main Street during a Youth Sports Alliance Olympic and Paralympic Homecoming Parade in Park City on Friday, April 3, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Park City Mayor Ryan Dickey said the 56 Park City athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games made up 16% of Team USA and won 11 medals. “Park City is an Olympic town,” he declared to the parade crowd, welcoming the athletes home to “‘Park City Nation.’ We’re proud of you.”

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Hundreds of people cheered, waved flags and rang cowbells as the athletes made their way down a closed-off Main Street in cars, trucks and on foot. Some of the participants were school kids with Olympic dreams, like Farquharson.

Finley Rohbock, 13, a member of a Park City club level alpine ski racing team, was there with her mother, bobsledder Valerie Fleming, who won silver for Team USA at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

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“I want to be just like her. I want to be in the Olympics just like she was,” Rohbock said.

Six-year-old River Mercer was excited to watch the parade, calling it fun. She beamed when she was handed a Paralympic pin and explained that Olympic figure skating was her favorite sport to watch, but not one she wanted to try.

Her father, Jack Mercer, said she’d been skiing earlier in the day and also surfs and takes dance lessons. He wanted her to see the athletes because “being active, being involved in a team is a great thing. We hope she finds a passion.”

The family, who had moved to North Carolina, was back in Park City visiting family. Bob Mercer, River’s grandfather, said the parade “is what Park City is all about ... You can’t cross a street without running into an Olympian.”

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