During February 2002, the Winter Olympics took place in Salt Lake City. After participating in other bands at the University of Utah, I learned of the opportunity to play in a band for the Olympics. The Spirit Band played throughout the Olympics, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and at the Olympic Square downtown. A few subgroups played at venues virtually everyday giving us the opportunity to see events and interact even more with spectators.

Playing for Olympic crowds was perhaps the most rewarding playing experience I have ever had. Everywhere we went, people loved us. At every turn people would ask to get a picture with us, demand that we play for them, or even ask for our autographs. No other group I have been in has drawn such enthusiastic crowds, or had the chance so play at such events.

It was amazing how much Salt Lake City changed during the Games. As a volunteer playing in many locations, I got to see many of the changes firsthand. Even the usually drab stadium was transformed. With the Olympic flame burning 24 hours a day, even a simple trip to the lab was a reminder that the world's eyes were turned to Salt Lake. In fact, even driving down 5th South (the road immediately next to the stadium) was treacherous since as many as 50 cars would be parked in the right lane as people stopped to take pictures. As you can see even I succumbed to the picture taking frenzy, though I walked up to the stadium.

On the rest of this page are pictures that I took during the Olympics, either at the Ceremonies rehearsals, downtown, or at various venues. The full Spirit Band had around 130 members, and the small group that I travelled with to venues had 30 members. At some point, I may add a few pictures that others took as well, since nearly all of us had cameras for some portion of the Games and we plan on exchanging pictures.

Nightly concerts downtown at the Olympic Medals Plaza highlighted big name artitsts and gave thousands a chance to see the day's medalists.	These two pictures are from the cast party, which occured the day after the Olympics for all volunteers.

	One of the events we played for was Skeleton up at the Utah Olympic Park near Park City. While the venue was tough to play at due to large muddy areas caused by the big crowds, we had wonderful views during the events. During the Skeleton event, we used our accrediation to get into areas spectators were not allowed into, allowing us to get near the track without arriving 3 hours early to claim a spot (though we still arrived 3 hours early to some events). From one of these locations I took all three of these pictures: a skeleton athelete making his run down the track, another athelete turning the nearby corner (notice the crowds stacked close to the track), and the rest of the track further down the hill.

Here is me standing in the snow next to the bobsled/luge/skeleton track. I believe this is the women's start point. Once again, this area was open only to accredited people.	These are the 90 and 120 meter ski jump hills. We were here to watch the K90 ski jump portion of the Nordic Combined event. Like the bobsled track, these ski jump hills were located at the Utah Olympic Park.

On the left is a picture of the cauldron I took during the Closing Ceremonies rehearsal. On the right you see (most of) the 30 piece Spirit Band after we played a set in downtown Park City (Main Street). In the center is Linda, our choreographer from Disney who worked with us for about 2 months.

Here I am with my herald trumpet in front of the ice rink and cauldron during the rehearsal of the Closing Ceremonies.	This picture was taken from the north end of the stadium on the top of the bleachers where we stood during the ceremony.

Here is me playing the solo during Summon the Heroes with the 30 piece Spirit Band in a set up at Park City Main Street.	Here is me with two of the Olympic Mascots "Powder" and "Copper" up at the Skeleton event at the Olympic Park. Here are the Emcees of the Closing Ceremonies. Unfortunately, the national TV coverage cut most of them out.

Banners lined the street in the Salt Lake Olympic Square.	The buffalo from the "Land of Enchantment" segment of Opening Ceremonies strolls down a street in the Olympic Square during a parade.	Me holding a herald trumpet in front of the mountains while we wait for our bus to pick us up from our park and ride.

	On the left, a group poses in front of the ski jumps, while on the right people pose in front of the stands at Park City Mountain Resort.

Above the Olympic rings light up Salt Lake City from a nearby hillside. They were only on during the Olympics. To the right, you see a skiier on the side of a building downtown. Many buildings were clad throughout the games in wraps depicting various events.

		Above, the stadium is all decked out in Olympic decorations during an Opening Ceremonies rehearsal. Below, you see the other side of the stadium is decorated too, featuring the Olympic slogan "Light the Fire Within". On the right Summer Sanders, an NBC correspondant and former gold medalist (in swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Games) pretends to play the tuba in rehearsal for a TV spot.

			To the left, is a picture of me playing my solo during Summon the Heroes. This picture was part of a spot Kare 11, the Minneapolis NBC affiliate, aired about me as a part of their "Minneapolis Connections" at the Olympics. They took probably 10-15 minutes of footage, which they pared down to a minute spot. More information about the TV coverage of the Spirit Band is available at my "TV Coverage During the Olympics" page available here, including the footage itself in both Quicktime and Windows Media formats.

A group picture of the entire Olympic Spirit Band. (click to enlarge)

An interesting article appeared in the University magazine "Continuum" which talks
about the Olympic Spirit Band. Oddly they used a picture of the University Marching
Band -- and an old one at that! It's lucky I found this article. Usually I just throw
these magazines away out of hand, but I happened to feel the urge to page through this
one. It's a good thing I did. (click to enlarge)

There was an article about the 2002 Olympic Spirit Band in the IOC magazine the Olympic Review. This was in the February/March 2002 issue, pages 42-43. (click to enlarge) So, one year after the start of the 2002 Winter Olympics (on February 8th, 2003), the cauldron was relit at its new location in Rice-Eccles Stadium -- slightly lower than its original position (which was, and once again is the location of a large scoreboard for use during footbal season). A large party put together by the remnants the Salt Lake Organizing Committee brought back thousands of olympic volunteers and other curious people. The cauldron remained lit until the anniversary of the closing ceremonies. In the future, the cauldron will be lit one day a year on February 8th. Below is a picture of a group of us who attended the anniversary party.

NOTE: I now have video and audio footage recorded by Alex Maier, the band videographer. I have put together a CD of music from the 132 piece band and a DVD containing footage from all 5 groups. If you want copies, you can e-mail me, or if you live in Utah, Carla Ray, the University of Utah band secretary may still have a few copies of the CD available.

Last Modified: Sunday, March 10, 2003

Chris Wyman (cwyman@cs.uiowa.edu)