Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Brad Winn's keeping office hours with the backdrop of the Olympic rings off to the side behind him. The former Republican state legislator and current Utah State University professor is a dedicated Winter Games enthusiast, so he showed up at Washington Square at noon, well ahead of the crowd that's filtering in.
Now 61, the Mountain Green man was about 40 the first time the Olympics came to town, and he loved being able to involve his then-young kids in the festivities. He's looking forward to volunteering when the Games return. He'll be about 70 and thinks that would be fun.
So he's put up a tent and has a hotspot so he can grade papers while he waits for his siblings from Idaho and Ogden to join him for what they all hope — and expect — will be the announcement from Paris that Salt Lake City will host the 2034 Winter Games.
Across the way, Manu Tupouniua, 29, of Salt Lake City, has set up her own campsite on 200 East near the Days of '47 parade route, complete with chairs and a table under an awning. She's here with her nieces and nephews, Teaza, 17, Diane, 14 and Martin, 2, to hold a chunk of ground for what they expect will be a group of 20 relatives.
They've been camping out for the parade route seemingly forever, Manu said, but they were surprised to hear the Olympics announcement was today.
Not Bill Schuffenhauer. He's all in. The silver medalist — he was on the podium for bobsled in 2002 — said the return of the Olympics to his hometown makes him want to cry. He's joyful. "It's pretty surreal," he said, noting the impact of working so hard and "having a goal and dream of making the Olympics," then going on to medal. He promised himself that if the Games ever returned to Salt Lake City, he'd be a part of it and he's making good on the promise.
Schuffenhauer is executive committee president for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Alumni. And he's at Washington Square bright and early to be here for the behind-the-scenes. "I want to see the volunteers and the media and what's involved in putting this together. I didn't get to see the Olympics from this side."
His wife, Kirsten, is at work, but he's staked out a spot for her to join him later.
As the crowd builds, there's a tangible feel in the air that's likely to get stronger. Utahns are at the square around City Hall to celebrate, tents and blankets, coolers and media beginning to gather ahead of the expected 2:30 a.m. feed from Paris, which will be broadcast on the giant screens KSL-TV put up in front of the building. That feed will include the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games' presentation to the International Olympic Committee, then a question-and-answer session that is expected to lead to the announcement that Utah will host the 2034 Olympic Winter Games.
The rest of the party on Washington Square includes remarks from Utah elected and bid officials who are in Paris, then the lighting of the cauldron at Rice-Eccles Stadium around 4 a.m. Folks at Washington Square have been told it will be visible to the east. A drone show is planned for 5 a.m.
