Widowmaker ceremony held at Flight Park, with a plaque naming 24 years of champions

DRAPER — Draper held the commemoration of the Widowmaker hill climb at the Salt Lake County Flight Park on Saturday, Oct. 10, in the 10-to-11 a.m. window the Historic Preservation Commission set at its Sept. 9 meeting 1. KSL reported that former racers, including members of the Bee's Motorcycle Club, were expected to attend with motorcycles, memorabilia and stories from the competitions 2.

The plaque the ceremony honored was already standing. The commission installed it at the park earlier this year; it lists every champion from the race's 24-year history and points out the original racing lines still visible on Steep Mountain, according to Draper Forward, the city's September/October newsletter 3. KSL reported that the marker stands near the base of one of the hill's many runs and carries the names of the champions who raced up the mountain, among them Kimball and his son, Mel Kimball Jr. 2.

"It really means a lot to think that we'd be here 38 years later, at the same spot, being recognized," Kimball Jr. said 2. His father described the hillside as it was before the houses and roads went in: "There was nothing up here. Nothing at all. There was just a cow trail up here" 2. "I think this is, for us, it's kind of sacred," Kimball Jr. said. "A lot of memories" 2.

The commission approved the full coordination plan for the dedication on a 3-0 vote at its Sept. 30 meeting, the Draper Herald reported on Oct. 6 4. The minutes of that meeting were listed for approval on the commission's Oct. 21 agenda, for a 6 p.m. meeting at 1020 E. Pioneer Road 5.

That agenda also carried an item listed as "Widowmaker Event Recap," the first time the commission took up the ceremony as a completed event rather than as a plan 5. The commission set the Oct. 10 date at its Aug. 19 meeting, the Herald reported 4.

The Sept. 9 approved minutes set out how the morning was to run: setup from 9 a.m., commissioner Jason Wiggins as master of ceremonies, about 30 minutes of speakers and then time for public questions inside the hour, canopies and seating for memorabilia and for guests, and everything cleaned up by 2 p.m. given the park's regular use 1. The Kimball family expected about seven family members and 10 club members; half the commission planned to attend; the city and county councils and mayors were invited 1.

Salt Lake County, which owns and manages the park, told the commission the site could not be closed and the paraglider launch boxes could not be blocked, and county Mayor Wilson would not attend, with two members of the county's public engagement team there instead, the minutes record 1. The same minutes note that because the plaque was already installed and visible, the event would not be an unveiling 1.

The climb ran from 1964 to 1988 under the Bee's Motorcycle Club and drew competitors from across the United States. Thousands of spectators lined the slopes, and the race appeared in the 1971 motorcycle documentary "On Any Sunday," on ABC's Wide World of Sports and in Cycle World magazine, according to Draper Forward 3. KSL reported that in one year about 600 riders competed, and quoted Wiggins saying motorcycles are no longer permitted to race the hillside: "Draper's policy right now is no motorsports in the area" 2. KSL recorded the name's origin as Kimball Sr. tells it — a man named Bob Ross looked up at the hill and said, "now that is a widowmaker" 2.

The one item the record leaves open is what the installation cost and who paid it. The commission's Feb. 18 approved minutes record that it was "close to an interlocal cooperative agreement with Salt Lake County and still looking into the construction costs" 6. The Draper Herald reported on Oct. 6 that as of February the commission was still working with the county to resolve plaque installation costs at the site, and that whether those costs had been settled was unclear from commission records 4. The Oct. 21 agenda included a budget review for 2026-27 5.

The project moved through the commission for more than a year before the ceremony. The April 16, 2025 agenda listed "Widow Maker Research" with the assignment to Wiggins, and the March 19, 2025 draft minutes in that packet record that the Kimball family supported the proposed plaque language and had agreed to the use of a photograph, that the write-up needed wordsmithing, and an action item for staff to check sign companies 7. At the May 20, 2026 meeting, staff liaison Jennifer Jastremsky told the commission she had met onsite with representatives of Salt Lake County Parks, Draper City Public Works and Draper City Parks and Recreation; Public Works would do the concrete work and Parks and Recreation the sprinklers, and Wiggins said the sign would go by the restrooms on the southwest side of the park, in concrete with some landscaping 8. The June 17, 2026 agenda carried the item as "Widowmaker Plaque Ceremony" 8.

The city's podcast, Draper City Talk, published a minisode on Oct. 6 inviting residents to the ceremony, with commissioners Annie Bommer, Wiggins and Christa Hutchison discussing the hill's history and the commission's work on the marker 9.

KSL reported that Mel Kimball Sr., 89, appears on the marker along with his son, and quoted him: "That means a lot to myself and all the other Bee's members and people that love to climb and like to watch hill climbing" 2. The last competition on the hillside was in 1988 3. The plaque stays at the park.