Music does wonders for the heart, and for the past three years an event has found music can also benefit the heart of Park City’s history. Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, a committee of the Park City Historical Society and Museum, will host its Music for the Mines fundraiser on July 1 at the Pendry Park City, and money raised will aid the nonprofit’s work on preserving the area’s mining structures that are in danger of decay. The night, designed for ages 21 and older, will begin at 6 p.m. with a mixer that features an open bar that will feature a welcome cocktail called the Tommyknocker, as well as other libations, including wines from Russian River Winery, said Colleen Logan, the committee’s marketing and public relations manager. “What I think people like so much about the event is that it’s not a stuffy fundraiser,” she said. “People come in and can order the cocktail and other drinks, and there are heavy hor d’oeuvres,” she said. “Our members will be there, and we make an effort to greet everyone and chit chat so they understand what their fabulous support is doing.” Each ticket includes the following: One complimentary lawn ticket for Park City Performing Arts’ Concerts On The Slopes. A carabiner mug that commemorates the Music for the Mines fundraiser. A tee shirt printed with the illustrated map of the Park City Historic Mine Route, a new seven-mile hike that links historic silver mining structures. Free valet parking at The Pendry Park City. Donald Roll, co-chair of the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, is grateful to the Pendry Park City for hosting the event for the past three years. “The Pendry is a relatively newcomer to Park City, and they have been very proactive in supporting nonprofits in our community,” he said. “We are very grateful for their support.” During the evening, Roll will give a short presentation about the work the committee has done.  Those projects include the stabilization and restoration of:  King Con aerial tramway counterweight at Park City Mountain in 2016. California Comstock mill at Park City Mountain’s Keystone and Jupiter access runs in 2017. Little Bell ore bin at Deer Valley’s Bandana Run in 2018. Jupiter ore bin at Park City Mountain in 2018. Silver King water tanks on Kings Road in 2020. Thaynes conveyor at Park City Mountain’s Keystone and Jupiter access runs in 2020. Judge Mining Smelting Company office at Empire Canyon in 2020. Silver Star boiler room and coal hopper on Three Kings Rd. in 2020. Daly West headframe at Deer Valley’s Ore Car Run in 2022. Silver King Consolidated Mine ore bin at Park City Mountain’s Claimjumper Run in 2022. Alliance Mine watchman’s cabin at Walker and Webster Gulch in 2023. Ontario water tank at the Ontario By Pass in 2025. Silver King Coalition Mine building at Park City Mountain’s Bonanza chair base in 2025. Silver Star water tanks at Park City Mountain’s Silver Star Run in 2025. “I will give a very short update because I’m conscious that people aren’t there to necessarily hear from me,” Roll said. “I will let people know where the money we raise during the event is going.” The fundraising goal for this year is at least $30,000, according to Roll. “We have an unexpected expense at the Thaynes Mining Complex for the remaining cleanup for the roof collapse,” he said. “There’s a lot of debris, and Thaynes is a long way from town. So trucking everything out will be very expensive.”  The tally came in at $150,000, which the committee didn’t budget this year, according to Roll. “But thanks to our Miners Club members, we have covered a good portion of that, about $120,000, through major donations from the community,” he said. “So we’re hoping this event will fill the gap. If we can do as well as we have done in the past two years of Music for the Mines, we should be able to raise more than that.” Park City’s Rich Wyman will do the fundraising. Wyman, a renowned pianist and singer-songwriter, will bring in his Killer Keyz dueling pianos show and partner, Eddie Thompson, to the Pendry Park City.  “Eddie, who lives in Houston, is a mindblowing player and singer,” Wyman said. “When I first played with him, I knew I had to up my game because he raised the bar. So, the musicality of our show, I’d like to think, is at a higher value than other dueling piano shows.”  Attendees will play the two to perform their favorite songs, according to Wyman. “We play them in the order of how much money people put on them,” he said. “We’ll play a song for $100 before we play a song for $50. So, if you hadn’t heard your song, you have to come up and put more money on it.” Anyone can put money on a song, even if you weren’t the one who originally requested it, according to Wyman. “So we may have five $100 requests for Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ and when you put them all together, you have a total of $500 to play the song,” he said. “The highest we got for one song last year was $3,000. And these are tax-deducatable donations.” Stopping a song is part of the fun, Wyman said. “I’ll be playing my heart out on one song, and someone will come up and say, ‘Stop that song,’ and request we play another song,” he said. “In order for us to play that new song, the person has to pay at least one dollar more than the donations we received on the one song they stopped.” If the money meets the criteria, Wyman and Thompson will play the new song. “We say, ‘Don’t get mad — get even,’” Wyman said. “So if someone stops your song, you can bid at least one dollar more than that bid and we’ll resume playing your song.” That can go back and forth for a long time because Wyman and Thompson know a lot of songs between them. “Usually people will bring up a song I already know, but sometimes there will be a song I don’t know,” Wyman said. “When that happens, Eddie told me to throw it to him because chances are he will know it.” If both pianists don’t know the song, Thompson will start the next request while Wyman does some on-the-spot research. “I’ll look up the song on my phone and wired ear buds,” Wyman said. “I’ll listen to it, and if it follows the simple format of verse, chorus, verse chorus, I can usually figure it out.” Wyman approached Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History about doing the fundraiser three years ago after a mountain bike ride. “I was riding past all of these old buildings that I have seen in the 35 years I’ve been living up there and saw that they were deteriorating more and more every year,” he said. “It broke my heart knowing that they’ll soon be gone, because these are buildings I used to explore with my kids when they were growing up.” Wyman began asking people he knew how he could help preserve these buildings. “That’s when I heard about this organization Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History and reached out to (co-chair) Sally Elliott,” he said. “I told her I own this Killer Keyz company, which puts on a No. 1 national coast-to-coast touring dueling piano show. We had a meeting with the board, and we were off and running.” The first year exceeded expectations, Roll said. “We had no idea of what kind of turnout we would have the first year, but we did more in the number of  attendees as well as the song bids that we thought we could,” he said. “We wanted to do it again, and Rich and Chris Lawing, Pendry Park City’s director of sales and marketing, also wanted to do it again.” “Each year has gotten bigger,” Wyman said. “So I hope this will be the mother of them all until next time.”   Roll and the committed are grateful to Wyman, who donates his time. “He and Eddie truly make this a fun evening, and it’s the most fun fundraiser you can go to,” Roll said. Music for the Mines fundraiser When: 6 p.m. on July 1 Where: Pendry Park City, 2417 W. High Mountain Rd. Registration: tinyurl.com/vxppytzr Web: parkcityhistory.org/mining The post Music for the Mines composes an event to preserve history appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less