For former Park City Mayor Dana Williams, it’s not his first rodeo

Bucking Broncos at the Summit County Fair Rodeo in Coalville. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

COALVILLE, Utah — Dana Williams, who served as Park City mayor from 2002 to 2014, returned to the Summit County Fair Rodeo on Saturday for what he said was his 48th year attending the event.

Williams lived in Hoytsville for a time and remembers attending the fair when the rodeo was a much smaller affair. He later played in a band on the fair stage. At the time, the rodeo was not a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event, and there weren’t buses bringing spectators from Park City.

 

 

 

 

 

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Before moving to Park City, Williams worked at the Summit Mercantile and General Store in Coalville and later became a full-time alfalfa farmer. He was named Summit County Farmer of the Year in 1986.

On Saturday, he brought friends visiting from London who had never been to a rodeo.

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The rodeo drew a sold-out crowd as competitors from across the country took to the arena, with riders seeking a top-12 finish which, combined with other rodeo results from other cowboys across the West, could help them advance toward the finals in Colorado.

The evening began with skydivers and ended with a drone show. Competition included tie-down roping, bareback riding, steer wrestling, bull riding, saddle bronc riding and barrel racing. A trained performing dog from Tennessee who’d performed on America’s Got Talent also entertained the crowd.

Fair Grand Marshal Faye Marshel was recognized during the evening, while a riderless horse led by the father of the late Andrea Blonquist honored her life and legacy. Blonquist founded the Summit County Six Shooters women’s organization.

The rodeo capped a week of Summit County Fair events that included the Demolition Derby and 4-H exhibits.

Competitors traveled from Louisiana, Oklahoma, California, Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota and Texas. Utah riders came from communities including Providence, Rush Valley, West Weber, Salina, Stockton, West Point, Spanish Fork, Wallsburg and Grantsville. Local competitors included Kyler Dick of Oakley and Chase Black and Tad Williams of Coalville.

Williams had a degree in plant science Grateful Dead stickers his tractor and long hair back then.

For Williams, the fair also remains a chance to reconnect with longtime Summit County families. This year, he ran into members of the multigenerational Moore family, who were once again volunteering at the fair while cheering on a grandson competing in the rodeo.

“When I became mayor, people in this part of the county not only expressed how proud they were of my campaign, but also how excited they were to have, as they put it, ‘one of their own’ in that office,” he told TownLift.

The night’s bull riding winner was 25-year-old Dawson Branton, an Oregon native who now lives in Arizona and regularly competes at Utah rodeos. He rode a bull named Chili.

Branton told TownLift the difficulty and unpredictability of bull riding are what keep him coming back.
“It’s just a really hard challenge,” Branton said. “You can be a champion one day and in the dirt the next.”