Donors give Deaflympics a cauldron

You can't have a "lympic" event without a flame and you can't have a flame without a cauldron, reasoned Paul Swenson, owner of Colonial Flag in Sandy. So when he heard that the Deaflympics might be flame-less because of a budget shortfall, he and his friends came to the rescue.

The result was unveiled Thursday when the 16th Winter Deaflympics cauldron and flag were unveiled to members of the Deaflympics Organizing Committee. The games will begin Feb. 1 with an opening ceremony at the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah, just down the street from Olympic Cauldron Park, where a more famous cauldron, left over from the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, resides.

The new cauldron is 12 feet tall, weighs 700 pounds and cost $30,000. Design work and manufacturing were donated by Colonial Flag's Monument Arts division, Precision Laser and Industrial FluroPlastic. Questar is donating the gas to run the cauldron.

Swenson, whose grandfather was deaf, noted at the unveiling that the flame represents peace, and "in the world we live in today there shouldn't be a Deaflympics without a flame."

The cauldron will sit inside the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah during opening ceremonies and will be kept either outside or inside the nearby Steiner Ice Arena at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex until the closing ceremonies Feb. 10.

The cauldron will then be auctioned off following the games, Swenson said, with proceeds going to support travel and training for future deaf athletes. The cauldron was designed by Perry Van Schelt of Monument Arts, who described it as a "shower lifting upwards to the greatness of the people putting on this event."

The 16th Winter Deaflympics has already broken three records, noted Dwight Benedict, DOC chairman: Compared to previous deaf world games it has the largest number of athletes competing, the largest number of delegates to an international deaf congress that coincides with the event, and the largest fan support. He expects at least 3,000 people will attend sporting events that include skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, ice hockey and curling.

The 10-day Deaflympics will also include a Deaf Expo at the Salt Palace, featuring more than 60 exhibitors as well as arts and cultural events.

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com