Big dreams, black ties, and bid wars at YSA’s JANS Winter Welcome

Partial list of the Olympians in attendance at Saturday's JANS Winter Welcome event for Youth Sports Alliance included: Billy Demong, Bryon Wilson, Casey Dawson, Derek Parra, Chris Waddell, Eric Heiden, Kate Johnson, Megan Nick, Phoebe Mills, Picabo Street, Ted Ligety, Trace Worthington, 'Fuzz' Federsen, Heidi Voelker, and Chris Haslock. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — The Youth Sports Alliance held its annual fundraising gala, JANS Winter Welcome, at the Stein Erikson Lodge on Saturday night raising money for children and teens to try new sports and maintain elite athletic careers. The event was attended by 20 Olympians.

“I think this night is more important than ever right now,” alpine skiing Olympic gold and silver medalist Picabo Street told TownLift. “2034 is on the horizon, and the room is full of young dreamers and prospects for that, and the community is full of it as well. We want as much diversity and as much local hometown involvement in the Olympics as possible, and investing in our youth is how we’re going to get that.”

The online, open-to-the-public silent auction had it all: hot yoga, cold plunges, old Team USA ski sweaters from the 1970s, and new services like year-round ski management which includes monthly in-home service visits, pre-season consultation planning meetings, pre-pow tunes, and 24 hour “emergency tunes.”

The Stein Eriksen Endowment Dare To Dream Scholarships go to need-based families, the Jim Gaddis Endowment funds goes to after-school Get Out And Play need-based scholarships for elementary and middle schools students learning new sports, and the funds raised at the gala also go to the following seven sports to keep club registrations down 20 percent: Wasatch Luge, Ice Miners Hockey, Figure Skating Club of Park City, Utah Olympic Park Bobsled and Skeleton, Wasatch Freestyle, Speed Skating Club of Park City, and Park City Ski & Snowboard. 

Jan Peterson’s widow Amanda, daughter Andrea, grandson Zach, and other members of the JANS Mountain Outfitters stores and of JANS Winter Welcome founder’s family were seated front and center at the VIP table.

JANS Winter Welcome is a high-demand event — there’s a waitlist to even get the opportunity for parents to volunteer. 

“We have built a global model for inclusive youth sports,” Youth Sports Alliance Executive Director Emily Fisher told the sold-out crowd as they ate dinner. “Not every athlete will make it to the top of the podium, but every athlete learns what matters most: showing up, working hard, lifting others, and trying again.”

She shared just one story about a 12-year-old speed skater in YSA whose single mom had to work this past winter, so his grandpa, who doesn’t drive anymore, would accompany him on the bus to the sports venue, sit and wait and watch, then ride the bus home with him afterwards.

One emcee, Tom Kelly, then handed the microphone to Olympian Steven Nyman to help the auctioneer at the live auction, in which donors could bid on the likes of a trip to Spain, another one to Mexico, and a highly coveted season parking pass at Deer Valley’s Silver Lake Village.

One of the most exciting parts of the night came as Ski Coach and Chef Dar Williams announced that this year was to be the very last time he was offering his famous “Darlicious Dinner” for 10 people, which prompted a fast-paced, lucrative bidding war. Then, not to be outdone, Bill White was involved in the bidding war of his annual restauranteur item of a tipi dinner by way of a snowcat transport for 12 people. Not only did that go to the highest bidder, which ended up at $80,000, but a second tipi dinner was then spontaneously offered and won by a different person, and then, much to the delight of the squealing, shouting, standing crowd, a third same-priced tipi dinner was thrown into the mix and scooped right up by another happy winner.

That rally contributed to the gala making approximately $600,000 overall.

The below video illustrates how the youngest athletes like Renn Demong, in his Figure Skating team jacket, escorting attendees from their cars into the gala.

Lori Weston, the Director of of Intermountain Health closed out the night by pulling the name of Roger Stevens out of the hopper as the winner of the Opportunity Drawing, which people throughout the town had purchased in the weeks prior.

As always, the night ended up with a photo booth, bar, and dance floor.

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All photos: TownLift // Michele Roepke