Salt Lake City Council names Riverside Park baseball field for Neil Draper

Salt Lake City Council on July 8 adopted a resolution renaming the northeast baseball field at Riverside Park as the Neil Draper Field in honor of the late neighborhood volunteer and long‑time small business owner.

Council Member Petro moved the resolution and Council Member Pui seconded it. Council members voted unanimously to adopt the legislative resolution after family members of Neil Draper and neighborhood residents addressed the council during the public comment period.

Susan Draper Marshall, Draper’s daughter, spoke for the family and described her father’s long record of neighborhood support: “When any of the other station home owners that my dad knew were buying boats and taking nice vacations, daddy was buying baseball jerseys, hats, and making sure there was a snow cone waiting for them after their games.” She noted Draper’s contributions to local youth athletics across multiple schools and said the family was grateful the city would preserve his name at the field.

Council members praised the Draper family’s decades of community investment. Council Member Petro said the Drapers have been “the embodiment of everything that is the best of us,” and thanked the family for generations of service to Rose Park youth.

The council recorded the resolution under the city’s naming process (Salt Lake City Code §3.65). The resolution notes that the mayor provided notice of intent and that the council, with the family’s consent, found good cause to complete the legislative naming process. The council invited the family to join a photograph after the consent agenda vote.