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Show ye | etting Hooked on Pins Wasatch County jumps into the Oly pin madness a, re ES tp TIM WESTBY COURIER STAFF | prorerrrevreevtcy Let the frenzy begin. Four to six weeks from now, the first Wasatch County area pins for next year’s Winter Olympics will begin hitting a retail market that already has millions of pins sporting literally thousands of different designs. Despite such abundance, there is little worry that pins commemorating Soldier Hollow, the Heber Creeper and other Wasatch County highlights will get lost in the pack. Pin selling and trading after all is a red-hot business that will only get hotter as the Games approach. _ To those folks outside of the quirky world of pin collecting, the whole business can seem a bit dorky. As it is, collectors are willing to pay big money for pins that seem as though they were designed by people with offbeat, and even dark senses of humor. How else can the current flurry over pins that com- SPREE tatoo memorate the tornado that spun a path through Salt Lake City in 1999 or Utahns famous love for Jell-o and ans fry sauce be explained? oubt he is an avid collector with an infectious enthusiasm for his hobby. But to those on the inside of this subculture, it’s a hobby that is fun, exciting, possibly profitable and capable of opening up the world. “It’s a way to participate in the excitement and energy of the Olympics,” says Gary Kolman, a pin “Tm not into this for the. profit. I’m in it because it’s a lot of fun. I really haven’t spent that much on pins — maybe $2,000. Most of them I got through trading,” he says. collector and one of two. co-chairs He pulls out case after case con- heading the pin committee for the Wasatch County Olympic taining, he guesses, over 1,000 pins, while explaining how he goes about designing pins for Wasatch County. He says he uses tourism brochures and takes photos — lots and lots of photos — of anything that could be considered vaguely representative of Wasatch County. Then he draws a rough hand sketch before turning the process over to the artists at Aminco International Inc., the official pin maker of the 2002 Winter Coordinator’s office. Since pin collecting is a worldwide phenomenon, it also acts as a fabulous icebreaker for people of two different cultures. The unwrit- ten rule in the world of pin collecting is to wear the pins you’re willing totrade. “You get two people from two different cultures communicating on common ground,” says Kolman who quickly lapses into a story about being in Nagano, Japan a year after the 1998 Winter Olympics. He says he was astounded to find pin traders doing a brisk business with tables set up on the street in the dead of winter. When he pulled out three of the now famous green Jell-o pins to do some trading, he was quickly surrounded by dozens of people, one of whom pulled out a wad of American dollars and offered -him $150 for pins that first sold for $7. Today the now famous Jell-o pins typically go for at least $100 a piece on the secondary market. Then there is the story about his co-chair Jim Myrick who was offered $5,000 for a pin-laden vest during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. “The value of a pin is set by how badly someone | wants it and how good the story is that spreads with that particular pin,” says Kolman. The number of pins for the area and the different designs has yet to be finalized. Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce have requested _ pins. Kolman __§anticipates some limited additions of particular pins with runs of 500, 5,000 and 2,002. The first pins should be coming out in mid to late May. When = asked how he got to be the county’s point But § various local offices | from the sheriff to ambulance services to Heber City and the person Pin sets like this will become more popular and expensive as the Games near. on _ pins, Kolman responds, “I have no idea.” But there is little A Games. : | “I put the idea down on paper, but I’m not what you would call the most creative guy in the world,” says Kolman quickly downplaying his part in the design process. From there, Kolman and Myrick act as go-betweens for Aminco and local officials until a design is finalized. While Wasatch County may be getting into the world of pin trading late, Kolman thinks there will still be frenzy for the pins. “There are people that are in a frenzy right now. It’s also a once-ina-lifetime event in this valley and people will want them.” Email: tim@wasatchcountycourier.com - 7" aaartaee z i |