By Lori Gillespie|[email protected]

Amidst all the growth and new construction in Sugar House, there are still a few hidden natural spots that are favorite places for many people—places to disconnect from the hectic pace of life and enjoy nature. Hidden Hollow is one of those spots and, recently, some of the people who cherish the area came together to do some spring cleaning.

It was a collaborative effort that included the Sugar House Rotary, the Blue Group, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and was spearheaded by the Sugar House Community Council. A dozen or so people joined in the clean-up effort on a lovely spring afternoon. 

Joshua Blue Johnson, of the Blue Group, rides his bike through Hidden Hollow daily on his way to the office and he sees how winter can wreak havoc on the natural setting. His company, which emphasizes health and wellness, saw cleaning the Hollow as an opportunity to give back to the community. He sent a message to the Community Council a month or so ago and asked to do just that. 

Johnson spent the afternoon in the brush down by the creek pulling out paper, wrappers, straws, cigarette butts and pieces of Styrofoam. “I’m here today to connect with the earth. We started at 2 p.m. and have been out here a couple of hours, and I feel like we have done some serious work. It feels good.”

His feel-good and give-back attitude extended to his company and friends. JC Beck, a friend of Johnson’s, brought his daughters, Khaia and Jameson, to the Hollow to help out. “Josh put out a call and said we are doing this today and I thought why not, it sounds fun. I can’t believe how many cigarette butts we picked up.”

The work was cumbersome and tedious—they filled a dozen bags. 

Lynn Olson of the Sugar House Community was grateful for all the help. “The people who showed up to help us today did so much more work than I ever expected that could be done in this amount of time.”

Olson is excited to have the clean up finished and it is just in time as the new sculptural art project, the Sego Lily, on the east end of the Hollow leading into Sugar House Park is almost done. The functional artwork is designed to help in flood prevention. The finishing touches should be starting in May and the plan is to make the Sego Lily stem green and extend down to the road.  The irrigation lines will be imbedded in the flower portion and the hope is to have the Lily finished by mid-May. If everything goes as planned, they will have a grand opening in June. 

“We have been out here the better part of this afternoon and I am enjoying watching the kids climbing and playing. This area is really going to start to get active. We really hope that this area, Hidden Hollow and the Lily, really start to get used more. I can imagine dances and concerts and theatre performances out here in our beautiful natural spaces,” said Olson.

Eric Esplin, who lives in Canyon Rim, also answered the call to help with the clean up.  “I ride my bike through here all the time,” he said. “I love the Hidden Hollow area. I am glad to help keep it nice.”