When Nick Calas first started coming to help out at the Park City Senior Center, Cheryl Soshnik, vice president of the center’s board of directors, was surprised. Calas looked too young.  “I said, ‘I was born in ’59. Do the math,’” he said, smiling.  Calas is always smiling. Tha t youthful, ear-to-ear demeanor belies the truth: Calas is indeed a senior. But he’s also emblematic of the spry, eager attitude that defines those who volunteer at the center. He’s been in Park City since 1982 and spent 32 years with the city’s recreation department working, as he puts it, as a glorified maintenance guy. “I was the guy in charge of swimming pools, tennis courts and fitness equipment. I was like the gopher that ran around,” Calas said, laughing. “I had a degree in recreation. I was hired in the early ’80s at the Memorial Building. That tells how old I am.”  Calas liked staying busy, so when he came to the senior center, he just wanted to help out, do what he could. He helps raise and lower the flag, serves food, cleans up, lifts the heavy stuff — anything that needs doing. Plus, according to Soshnik, he plays a mean game of pool.  He also volunteers at the backup weather station for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Calas’ degree was in recreation, but his other calling was as a meteorologist. He now calculates the amount of rain or snow whenever it falls. “I just love dealing with seniors, mainly because I miss my parents every day,” Calas said. “I was unable to do that with my parents because I was working, and I was unable to go back to Illinois, where I’m originally from, and help them out.”  Whenever the center holds a moment of silence, Calas thinks about his parents and how much he misses them.  “I just think about them every day and wish they were still alive,” he said.  Calas is like many who were honored during the center’s volunteer appreciation event on June 12. These are people who will put on any hat you’ll let them — they just want to make the center, and the town, a better place for others.  The afternoon featured high tea, finger sandwiches, music and a short sing along with artist Kate Chanson, remarks from Mayor Ryan Dickey and a ceremony to individually recognize the dozens who help the center run smoothly. Those included board members who handle formal business and regular members who organize knitting groups, help with technology problems, clean up after events, anything. Attendees sported their Sunday best, sipped tea and nibbled on sandwiches and flower arrangements made of cupcakes. Trason Dixon, the center’s executive director, emceed in a dapper suit. He led a round of applause for the attendees.  Trason Dixon gives afternoon announcements during lunch at the Park City Senior Center in October 2025. Dixon is the center’s executive director. “Quite honestly, I think I should be the only one clapping,” Dixon said, “because everyone in this room makes my job so much easier. … I’m so lucky to be able to call this place my place of work. It’s not really a place of work. It’s a place of fun, and I really appreciate all of the incredible contributions that everyone in this room puts in. The hours do not go unnoticed.”  Dixon pointed to sheets of lyrics at every table. It was time for the room to perform a rendition of “Thank You for Being a Friend” by Andrew Gold, though many may have recognized it by the Cindy Fee version that was the “Golden Girls” theme song.  After two rounds, someone called out that it was Dixon’s birthday. The group promptly began to sing to him. “Oh no, no, no, no, no, no,” Dixon said, blushing as the group sang. “I really appreciate that. I’ve been making this joke all week: Folks. I feel so old, so old. I’m turning 29. Can you believe it?”  Dixon beamed as the room snapped into groans and exchanged eye rolls. “How does it feel to have 250 grandmothers?” someone shouted. Back to laughs.  Mayor Ryan Dickey attends Volunteer Appreciation Day on June 12 at the Park City Senior Center. Dickey says volunteerism is what draws many people to live in Park City. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record Dickey spoke next. Volunteerism, he said, has become one of Park City’s defining characteristics. He grew up in a small Florida town with parents who instilled in him the importance of community service. It’s part of why he decided to settle here and something he’s tried to cultivate himself: When Dickery arrived in town, he said, the Rotary Club was having difficulty retaining new members, who would be active for two to three years and then leave.  “We did these focus groups asking people why had they left, why had they not stayed, and we heard from folks that … they thought they were joining a service club, and it sort of felt more like a fraternity, like a social club,” Dickey said.  The club shifted to focus on service and volunteerism over several presidencies, Dickey said, from Colin DeFord in 2019, Corrie Forsling in 2020 and Dickey in 2021. “People just really responded to these opportunities to easily plug in and serve, and we grew that club, which was declining in membership. … It got down to 89 members, and today there’s over 150 members of Park City Rotary.” Dickey said it’s a trend he’s noticed among people who move to town: They see what a wonderful community Park City is and want to leave it better than they found it. Carol Haselton is a board member of the Park City Senior Center. She’s also president of the Newcomers Club of Greater Park City, a social club for new Parkites and longtimers to mingle. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record That was certainly the story for board member Carol Haselton, who’s lived in Park City on and off for years. In 1973 she and her then-husband owned Sourdough Bakery on Main Street. They moved to Salt Lake City, returned in 1978, left for Lake Placid, New York, in 1991 and returned to Utah when her grandson was born in 2014. At some point, she started coming to the senior center to teach people how to play bridge. Eventually, someone suggested she run for a board position. She didn’t expect to get elected, but here she is. Haselton said she is working on expanding a more formal volunteer program at the center that would help Dixon with some of his work, like greeting people who come into the center looking for information or telling them about the center’s lunch program and events, freeing Dixon up to focus on his other duties. Haselton has also left her mark on the Park City community as president of the Newcomers Club of Greater Park City. The club meets once a month for a coffee and speaker social, as well as for other, more adventurous activities like river trips, skiing outings, book clubs and wine tastings.  Haselton said that Park City Senior Center has the most vibrant community of seniors she’s ever seen.  “It’s a very active, very involved group of people,” she said. “It’s not like a typical senior center. My parents were involved with senior centers, and they didn’t have anything like the activities that we have. It’s just so much fun.”  Sylvia Geoff is a Park City Senior Center volunteer who moved to Park City in 2003. She coordinates events at the senior center and enjoys helping other members stay active and healthy. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record Sylvia Geoff is a newer board member who also came to town later in life. Originally from California, she moved to Park City in 2003 and became a member of the center about a year and a half ago.  Geoff has been involved in the community since she arrived. She was assistant to the CEO of Park City Hospital around its opening in 2006, taught English as a second language at Treasure Mountain Junior High and was also a librarian there. Now, she’s semi-retired, which is her way of saying she’s as busy as ever. She coordinates events for the seniors and works at the Christian Center of Park City’s Boutique Thrift Store.   She’s lived all over, too. Geoff met her husband in Houston and lived in Stockholm, Sweden, and the U.K. Her husband is from Park City, so when it came time to put down roots, the family decided to move closer to relatives. Geoff said that she enjoys encouraging members to stay active and live healthy lives.  “I’m just kind of a caregiver at heart. There’s people here that are using either walkers, wheelchairs — I’m there to provide help, just like Nick (Calas),” she said. “Nick and I are just kind of one of the younger ones.” She, like Calas and Haselton, is part of what makes service feel so normalized in Park City. It’s what they’re here to do.   “As long as I can get these active members, keep them active, excited about events,” Geoff said, “that’s what makes me happy.”  The post Park City Senior Center volunteers step into the spotlight appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less