The new propane fire pit at Town Center Park was supposed to be a gathering place. The Chamber bought it with resort tax funds last spring. It sits on a concrete pad near the stage where the summer concert series plays.

Most evenings the flames burn blue and quiet. A few tourists roast marshmallows on sticks from the grocery store. Locals walk past on their way to dinner.

“I got a fire pit at home,” said Dale Hargrove, who bought his place in Moonlight Basin in 2003. “Bigger than that one. Burns wood. Smells right.”

The post-boom crowd has fire pits too. Stone ones built into patio designs with automatic ignition and glass wind guards. They come with the house, like the heated driveways.

Chamber director Marnie Loftus said the fire pit was meant to activate the plaza. “Activation” is a word she uses a lot. She had envisioned s’mores nights and storytelling. The s’mores night drew twelve people, eight of them Chamber board members.

The storytelling night was canceled when nobody signed up to tell stories. Marnie told stories herself for twenty minutes. Two visitors from Ohio stayed for the whole thing. They clapped.

The fire pit runs on a timer. It shuts off at ten. The gas bill runs about four hundred a month. The resort tax advisory committee will review it in October.

Dale Hargrove walks his dog past it most nights. “Nice idea,” he said. “Just not for us.”

The flames hiss in the August dark. The mountains hold the day’s heat a little longer.