Roma Vega, Director of the Helper Museum, visited the Helper City Council during its inaugural 2024 meeting on Thursday evening to discuss a donation from the Carbon County Office of Tourism.
Vega explained that on March 8 of 1924, a Castle Gate Mine disaster occurred that took the lives of 172 miners. This year, on March 8, a ceremony is being hosted to remember that day 100 years later. Vega had contacted the Carbon County Office of Tourism and Tourism Specialist Tina Grange for support and a donation to assist in the completion of the project.
The office was gracious and donated $2,000 for this event, and planning has commenced. Vega invited the community to come out to the event, which will be hosted at the Rio Theater and will feature two different documentaries. One will cover the history of Helper’s Main Street and the businesses of that time. The second will be focused on the mine disaster as well as the miners that perished.
Vega has contacted state representatives to attend the event and there will also be some fictional writers participating. The timeline for the event is yet to be completed, though Vega stated that once it is, it will be shared with the public.
The idea was to host the event indoors rather than near the location due to weather and not wanting anyone to be injured. The ceremony will begin somewhere around 10 a.m. and will run until about 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. that day.