WinterSports2002.com, Wednesday, April 10, 2002

New uses sought for Olympics kiosks

Some could end up at Pioneer Park market or Gallivan Center

By Diane Urbani
Deseret News staff writer

Forty-five days after the close of the Olympics, those festive kiosks on Main Street are reportedly serving as temporary homeless shelters. But Salt Lake City, which paid more than $6,000 apiece for the 14 pointy booths, would like to use them for other purposes.

"We're taking requests from organizations that can make use of them," city Olympic opportunities chief John Sittner said. Would-be sidewalk merchants have asked about selling food and drink from the kiosks during downtown festivals and on summer nights, he said, and a pair of groups, both aiming to enliven downtown, have also expressed interest.

The mini pyramids, or tipis or Olympic obelisks, depending on your preference, are still here because the city "only wants to move them once," said Sittner. He's waiting for the Downtown Alliance to make up its mind about how many it wants to purchase and use at this summer's Pioneer Park farmers' markets.

"They were made to be temporary. So we're looking at what it would cost to weatherize them," said the Alliance's Tracy von Harten.

The Utah Arts Festival, which will move back downtown to the Gallivan Utah Center June 20-23, may also snap up a few kiosks to use as information booths.

"If we buy them, the city may say, 'Get them off of Main,' " said Kim Sewell, the festival's assistant director. "We would just get some forklifts. We do have a warehouse" for storing such things. "I think they should stay downtown," Sewell added. "They are kind of a neat thing that looks like the Olympics."

Keeping the kiosks on Main is fine, Sittner said, except he's concerned about vandalism. Tipi tipping or theft isn't likely, since each booth weighs about 2,000 pounds. "But they have had some graffiti and some damage. We want to get them into the organizations' hands so they maintain them." Sittner predicted that the kiosks will reach their final destinations by the end of this month. It would be optimal, he added, if sidewalk vendors set up shop inside some of them. "But we don't want to compete with businesses that are permanently on Main Street," especially since those merchants' livelihood in the old downtown is, in many cases, tenuous.

The city may end up hiring forklifts to hoist and haul the kiosks to its Parks Division storage yard, Sittner said. Or "we've heard that they're going to be on eBay," added the Downtown Alliance's von Harten. Sittner, apparently, will have to find new homes for them by early May. That's when his job as director of Olympic planning will end and he'll return to running Ethos Investments, his private-school development company.

E-MAIL: durbani@desnews.com

© 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company