Utah State Quarter Unveiling Events Will Draw Trainload of Attention

The United States Mint's popular 50 State Quarters program is rolling into Utah, where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869. According to the Mint's press release, two special events will be taking place in Salt Lake City on November 8th and 9th to mark the release of the last statehood quarter to be released this year.

According to the press release, Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., and United States Mint Director Ed Moy will be holding a ceremony at the Rio Grande Depot, located in Salt Lake City at 300 South Rio Grande Street. The event, which takes place on Friday, November 9th, will begin at 10:00 A.M. and include also appearances by Utah's first lady, Mary Kaye Huntsman, Utah Coin Commission Chair Margaret Hunt, and KUED-TV's Ken Verdoia, serving as the event's Master of Ceremonies.

Among the many features of this official "Utah Quarter Launch" will include the release of one free Utah quarter to all children who come to the event as well as the opportunity after the ceremony for people to buy $10.00 rolls of Utah state quarters.

Utah coin collectors (and those from the rest of the nation) may enjoy the Coin Collectors Forum, which will feature an appearance by Moy. The Coin Collector's Forum will take place on Thursday, November 8th, from 6 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. at the Discovery Gateway, 444 West 100 South, in Salt Lake City, and is a free event.

The Utah state quarter will depict on its reverse (the "tails" side of the coin) an image of two locomotives, facing each other from opposing sides of the quarter, as they approach the golden spike which railroad track workers installed when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads were linked in Utah in May 1869. This ceremonious event marked the occasion when the United States railway system contiguously reached from the East coast to the West coast, changing forever travel and commerce in this nation.