Demolition time: Bountiful family, house get 'extreme makeover'

BOUNTIFUL — Hundreds of residents lined 500 South Monday to watch television. Television as in the making of ABC's popular "Extreme Makeover Home Edition," as crews ripped down an old house in preparation for building a new one.

Some 300 employees of Okland Construction and its subcontractors started at 11 a.m. pulling down trees and the home to the cheers of people lined up and down the street for half a block.

The show, one of TV's top 10, drew a large crowd of teen and sub-teen girls who screamed for host Ty Pennington, who with his spiky hair and yellow tank top, waved to the crowd and gave autographs. The program is one of the top-rated reality shows. This show will air sometime in September, a spokesman said.

The Gordon Harrison family was selected for the new home after their neighbors nominated them for their neighborliness. Harrison, a carpenter who started a cabinet business and a month later found out he had pancreatic cancer, has been stalwart in helping his neighbors.

While in the hospital with cancer, he got the idea to form a neighborhood group to remodel a neighbor's kitchen. The two dozen neighbors involved in the project decided to nominate the Harrison family for the televised Extreme Makeover, and the producers, who get an average of about 15,000 applications a week, were so touched by the Harrison family's situation, they decided to help them.

Harrison, 40, his wife, Lisa, and children Chase, 15; Ben 13; and Claire, 7; were whisked away in a limousine Saturday morning for a week's stay in San Diego. They will be flown back to Utah Saturday and their new home unveiled.

City Manager Tom Hardy said after talking to other cities that have hosted Extreme Makeover, the city expects between 3,000 and 10,000 people to converge on 500 South between Orchard Drive and 800 East Saturday. The Harrisons' home is at 702 E. 500 South.

The Harrisons' home — less than 2,000 square feet, built about 60 years ago — will be replaced by a 4,000-square-foot two-story house worth about $360,000.

Randy Okland, president of Okland Construction, said his managers and crews have spent nearly a month preparing for the construction, which is scheduled to take 106 hours, working 24 hours a day.

City Councilman John Pitt, who lives in the neighborhood and knows the family well, said the city's Youth Council along with hundreds of volunteers will assist in the project, doing everything except construction.

Mayor Joe Johnson was on the scene and said the show brings a lot of excitement and community pride to the neighborhood. "I believe this will make people want to do more for other people."