Weekend was one for the record books

By Steve Christensen

If you couldn’t find something to do in Carbon County last weekend, you didn’t want to do anything.
There was so much going on one was faced with choices, since it was impossible to do everything. From dogs to Miss Carbon County, there was something for just about everyone.
Television posed some rather remarkable events. Justify became only the 13th horse in history to win the Triple Crown. That concluded my year’s six-week horse racing binge. And quite a culmination it was.
I’m sure the parties are still going on. After winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness many didn’t think Justify was capable of winning the Belmont Stakes. It’s the longest horse race in the world and many people didn’t think he had the stamina, including yours truly. He proved me and the rest of the world wrong.
As a tennis fan, my first priority both Saturday and Sunday morning was the French Open Finals. Simona Halep beat Sloane Stephens Saturday morning to claim the first grand slam title of her career.
Then early Sunday morning (it’s eight hours later in Paris) Rafael Nadal won the 11th French Open title of his career and the 17th grand slam title overall.
He beat Dominic Thiem, who was seeking his first grand slam title. He’ll have to wait. Nadal is without peer on clay courts.
The French Open produced some great stories. Maybe the best are those of Stephens and men’s semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro (who Nadal beat). Both were injured and fell to dizzying depths of the world rankings. At this time last year Stephens was 953 in the world. She is now number 4. The del Potro story is even more amazing. He underwent three wrist surgeries in recent years and at one point was 1,045 in the world. He is also now number 4.
And I haven’t even gotten to what was happening right here at home. There was free fishing at the Carbon County Fairgrounds Pond on Saturday morning, sponsored by the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). They even provided poles and bait for those who needed it. The DWR keeps the pond stocked with fish all summer long.
There was a car show in conjunction with the community celebration in Spring Glen.
The Mike Ballard Memorial Golf Tournament raised several thousand dollars for Frank Ori. For anyone who doesn’t know, Frank suffered a massive stroke in 2017 and is still recovering. He is director of Carbon County Recreation.
Dogs and handlers came from as far away as Louisiana to participate in the annual Carbon County Stock Dog Trials. That provided entertainment both Saturday and Sunday. I went both days after the French Open match. If you haven’t had a chance to see a stock dog work, you really should. These dogs are incredible.
The Miss Carbon County send-off party was Saturday afternoon at Carbon High School. The Miss Utah Pageant is this week in Salt Lake City. The send-off gave people a chance to see Miss Carbon County Mikelle Monson and gave her a chance to practice everything she is going to do this week at the Miss Utah Pageant. Carbon County Junior Miss Megan Roberts also performed at the event. She will accompany Mikelle to the Miss Utah Pageant.
Those are just the activities I know of off the top of my head. Don’t forget the wave pool, the museums, the motocross track, the golf course, dozens of fishing opportunities, and the dinosaur quarry. I’m sure I missed a bunch of stuff.
When I was director of Carbon County Recreation I often heard, “There’s nothing to do in Carbon County.” There is only nothing to do for someone who doesn’t want to do anything. If you were bored this past weekend, it was your own fault.