Youth Sports Alliance's Olympic parade down Main St. gathered these 36 Olympians including speedskater Casey Dawson who just won a gold this weekend in Salt Lake City's World Cup. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — On October 29, the 42nd Jans Winter Welcome will once again have the Youth Sports Alliance (YSA) “grooming dreams” at the Stein Eriksen Lodge at Deer Valley Resort.

YSA supports winter sports activities for youth in Summit and Wasatch Counties promoting good-sportsmanship and healthy lifestyles through participation, education, and competition. The community had a vision in 2002 to utilize the momentum from the Olympics to get more kids involved in sport using the venues and facilities left from the Salt Lake City Games. This plan is working, and now more kids than ever are involved in winter sport in the community and many are reaching the highest levels.

Jans Winter Welcome has been a critical piece of this success. For the past 20 years, the event has raised crucial funds to support local teams and provide financial assistance for athletes in snow, ice and sliding sports. There are currently 3,300 young athletes in YSA, and the Jans Winter Welcome event will have 400 people in the race to raise $400,000.

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“This year we saw three athletes — Casey Dawson, Ashley Farquharson, and Jared Shumate — who were were all younger than three during the 2002 Games, move through this pipeline from trying a sport for the first time in YSA’s after school programs to training with local clubs to competing in the Olympic Games,” noted Emily Fisher, YSA Executive Director, of the success of the community’s efforts.

Kicking off the ‘unofficial’ start to the winter season, the event usually sells out quick with a waitlist to purchase tickets online and opportunity drawing tickets for purchase online now. This year’s grand prize is a dreamy vacation at the Four Seasons in Punta Mita, Mexico.

Opportunity drawing tickets can be found in most backpacks around town as each athlete on any one of the seven competitive teams helps sell them to anyone in the community, whether they’re attending the Jans Winter Welcome Gala event or not. Those teams are:

Elementary school students can participate in YSA’s Get Out and Play program and Middle Schoolers have ACTiV8.

The Gaddis Endowment and the Stein Eriksen Dare to Dream Scholarship provide need-based financial assistance for families.

Donations of items and experiences are still being excepted to be included in the silent or live auctions by contacting Clair Desilets at jwwauction@ysaparkcity.org.