Cotton candy, a dunk tank, and a 16-team cornhole tournament will share the lawn with something far more serious on August 14 at The Other Side Village in Salt Lake City: a statewide push to collect diapers for families who can’t afford them. HomeAid Utah’s Big Top Diaper Drive Extravaganza runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free and open to the whole family, blending carnival games, face painting, balloon animals, and a petting zoo with a cause organizers say quietly drains household budgets across the state.
According to ABC4 Utah, HomeAid Utah’s Lisa Wright provided details on the drive, noting that diapers collected at the event go directly to families through the Utah Foodbank. Guests can also take a guided tour of the tiny homes HomeAid Utah has built at The Other Side Village, a community designed to help residents transition out of chronic homelessness, and watch a live diaper house build happening on-site. Proceeds from the event are split 50/50 between HomeAid Utah’s construction projects and Utah families’ diaper needs, the station reports.
The event’s agenda runs deeper than the ABC4 write-up captured. Per the Salt Lake Home Builders Association, attractions also include The Other Side Donut Truck, a tiny-home scavenger hunt, and a live build of a “Tiny Diaper House” and “Diaper Rocket” — a playful nod to the actual tiny homes that HomeAid Utah constructs a few steps away.
A Village Built on Donated Labor
The carnival’s backdrop is a construction milestone. In June, builder Hamlet Homes completed the final two tiny homes of Phase One at The Other Side Village, officially finishing that stage of the master-planned neighborhood, according to a release carried by PR Newswire. HomeAid Utah constructs and renovates housing and facilities for organizations dedicated to homelessness, investing donated labor, materials, and expertise through its partnerships across the building industry…