A Growing Heritage Days
Josie Luke
Now drawing thousands to the city every year, Huntington’s annual Heritage Days Celebration has evolved from its beginning as a celebration organized for the three Latter-day Saint wards or congregations in the town to celebrate July 24, to an Independence Day celebration which brings in people from all over the county and state.
The celebration known as Heritage Days began in 1982, when a group, including Lund Leonard, Thelma Mills and Mark Justice introduced the event as a town celebration held on July 24 to celebrate the city’s heritage, but it was soon moved to July 4, because so many of the other towns in the county held celebrations on July 24.
For the first two years, the celebration, under Chairman Lund, continued as a church sponsored event. It was in the third year that the town began running it. After the city took over, Mark Justice served as chair for 10 years, followed by his wife who served for seven years. Altogether the Justices spearheaded the event for 17 years, seeing the event continue to draw many residents.
Mark Justice also explained that Thelma Mills, who served as financial secretary for many years had been “absolutely instrumental” in getting the celebration off the ground and in making it what it is today.
As the celebration evolved, the city became more and more involved monetarily, initially supplying a $3,000 budget, with most of the money for the event provided by local businesses. Since the city took over the celebration the budget provided by the city has grown to $25,000 for the 2009 celebration.
Many citizens have volunteered their time to help organize the event over the years. For the last eight years Tory Killian has helped the city council to coordinate the many features of the celebration.
Recently, members of the city council and others involved have tried to accommodate suggestions made by those who attend. Some of the most popular additions are the concerts, ice cream social, amusement rides and large blow-up toys that are offered free of charge. Additions that, according to Mayor Hilary Gordon, “the city council felt was something they could do to show our thanks to the citizens.”
Because of that desire, Heritage Days has grown to include both the classic and children’s parade, the Heritage Day’s Rodeo and kid’s rodeo, free concerts, amusement rides and large toys, pet show, baby contest and many more things for people to enjoy.
This popularity is perhaps most obvious when after the parades, attendees migrate to the Lion’s Park near the center of town, where nearly shoulder to shoulder they wander between vendor booths, concerts and amusement rides and toys, greeting friends, family and acquaintances they may not see at any other time of year.
Mark Justice commented that the longevity of the event is telling of how great an accomplishment organizers have made. “The celebration has been going on for so long that people take for granted that it’s going to happen each year,” he said.
Mayor Gordon revealed that she has heard from many people that the event draws numbers that rival the county fair. Though she admits the event draws a huge crowd, she submitted that the fair is spaced out over a longer period of time, so although the crowd may be larger on July 4-5, the fair probably draws more overall.
As to why it has grown, the mayor said, “I think maybe it’s that a lot of people are realizing that it’s a fun celebration. When you watch a parade, it takes you completely out of yourself. For me, I could never stand and watch a fun parade and still worry what was going on at the office. It is literally something that takes you away from yourself, to almost like an imaginary world. So, maybe that’s why we like it so much.”
She also believes people come because of the free amusements for children, which are part of the reason costs have gone up for the celebration. “You either decide to have a low key celebration with a very minimal cost, or you make it a big celebration. The big celebration brings in things for the children that they look forward to all year, so as long as we can, we will continue to do things for no cost,” she said.
Killian agreed, “We’ve been able to bring all of the entertainment and the toys and rides in for the kids for free. It is fun for the adults too. They’re able to kind of be kids for a day.”
Councilperson Julie Jones believes that part of the growth has come simply because “it’s the 4th of July. I think today people are more civic and more patriotic,” and so they want to participate in local celebrations.
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County creates Ambulance Department
James L. Davis
The Emery County Commission approved the creation of an Emery County Ambulance Department in its July 1 meeting after a long and sometimes tense discussion on the merits of the proposal.
Ambulance services have been folded into the Emery County Sheriff’s Office for years and administration for the emergency service has been a responsibility assigned to a member of the sheriff’s office as an additional duty.
Commissioner Jeff Horrocks made the motion to create the new department, stepping down as commissioner chairman to make the motion. Horrocks was given the responsibility as commission chairman when Commissioner Drew Sitterud was placed on paid administrative leave after charges were filed against him in Seventh District Court for alleged misuse of public monies.
Horrocks said he made the motion to create the ambulance department because he felt the service was of such importance to the county that it needed to be its own department. The responsibility of administering the department was a duty assigned to Martin Wilson when he was a sergeant for the Sheriff’s Office. Since his resignation his long list of responsibilities have been distributed out to the rest of the force, including those of ambulance service administration. His position with the sheriff’s office has not been filled.
In a discussion about creating the ambulance department, Horrocks acknowledged the efforts of Sheriff Lamar Guymon to administer the responsibility of ambulance services over the years.
“The sheriff’s office put together this program 30 years ago, and the sheriff has done an outstanding job running it,” the commissioner said. Horrocks, a retired Utah Highway Patrolman, said he remembered the days before the sheriff began running the program. “I remember having to haul people in my patrol car. I remember the sheriff doing the same thing,” he said.
Commissioner Gary Kofford acknowledged that the discussion to create an ambulance department has been ongoing for a period of time.
“In the past 30 years the sheriff has put together a pretty reputable organization. This discussion has been going on for some time and I don’t know what the answer is. There are two trains of thought on this,” Kofford said. One of his concerns was that a newly created department would grow larger than it needed to be. The commissioner went on to say that budget restrictions made additional manpower in the sheriff’s office difficult.
Also proposed during the commission meeting and later approved was the creation of a part time position for an Ambulance Supervisor to be the head of the new department.
When asked why the part-time position could not be assigned to the sheriff’s office and the ambulance services responsibilities kept there, Horrocks said one of his concerns was that ambulance services would continue to be an additional duty at the sheriff’s office and as the county has grown the need for a dedicated position for ambulance administration has grown with it.
“I believe that this approach will enhance the program and relieve the workload on the sheriff’s office. The more we can assist them the more they can focus on their primary responsibilities of law enforcement,” Horrocks said after commission meeting.
Both commissioners Horrocks and Kofford said that Sheriff Guymon, who was against the idea of creating a separate department, should not consider the motion a negative statement against him, his department or the job that has been done in ambulance service administration in the past.
After Horrocks made the motion to create the Ambulance Service Department, Kofford, after some hesitation, seconded the motion, stating that he still had reservations about whether it was the best thing to do.
With the motion to create an Ambulance Service Department approved, the commission approved advertising to hire a part-time Ambulance Service Supervisor, who will be responsible for all administrative functions for the department, including scheduling for training, budgeting and operations for county emergency medical technicians, who are paid volunteers in the county. The supervisor will be responsible for administrating the $475,000 annual budget for ambulance services in the county, which covers everything from training to operations.
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Laurie Jones retires as Orangeville Postmaster
Kathy Ockey
After working as Orangeville Postmaster for 25 years, on June 30, at 2:00 p.m., Laurie Jones officially handed the Post Office keys to appointed Officer in Charge, Debbie Newman, and began her well-deserved retirement.
After working in other post offices for several years and with the retirement of previous Orangeville Postmaster, LaRee Brown, Laurie was assigned as the officer in charge until a new postmaster could be assigned. She said she was very excited when she was selected as the new postmaster and it “has been a great experience to serve the wonderful citizens of Orangeville for the past 25 years; and it has been an honor to associate with these people on a daily basis.”
She also said it is like leaving her family, but she will be moving on with her life and relishing the opportunity for new experiences. The citizens of Orangeville will miss seeing Laurie every day and the personal service, care and concern she gave to everyone.
Debbie Newman has assumed the appointment as Orangeville officer in charge until a new postmaster is assigned. She previously worked as a clerk in the Huntington Post Office. She said she is happy to be at this post office and to be able to meet and serve the people of Orangeville.
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Food Ranch completes renovation project
Josie Luke
Food Ranch in Orangeville has experienced many changes since owner Drew and Val LeRoy built the original store in 1981. Initially, a 3,000 square foot space, the building has been expanded twice; First to 6,000 square feet in 1986 and then to 23,000 square feet in 1996. In the past two years, LeRoy has again made major changes to the business to bring in local customers.
“That is our goal, bringing in the locals. They’re the ones that keep us in business. Everything that we do, we do for our guests, our customers. They’re what keeps us in business and they’re the reason that we’re here,” Drew stated.
So, two years ago, he contacted Associates Foods’ Art Department about doing a redesign of the building. Originally, they wanted the store to look like an old western town, complete with weathered wood and several roof levels, but fears of maintaining the used lumber led them to rethink their decision, eventually leading them to select a stucco facade.
The decision to make the change was made late in the year, so after waiting through the winter and an unusually unfriendly spring, only recently was the project to the outside of the building completed.
Along with the facade, Drew wanted to install a new roof. He related that decision would turn out to be a good one. They later realized the new roof being higher gave them the option of making the roof the same level across all of the additions to the building, which would lend itself to the stucco work they had planned.
During the two years, he also had new credit card reading gas pumps and a new island installed, along with new check-out scanners, three more ovens and new food in the deli and new refrigeration equipment in the store.
Though in remodeling and revamping Food Ranch, everything didn’t turn out exactly as the Associates Foods’ Art Department had envisioned, Drew is pleased with the results. “It’s finally finished and we’re happy with the outcome,” he said. “Now, we’ve brought it all together and we’re ready to bring in more business. We’re just ready to grow. We put ourselves in a position where we’re ready to do that.”
Food Ranch also has a new website, which highlights all of the many features offered in the store, such as bakery, hot deli, ice cream, clothing, sporting goods and catering services. They also offer online-only coupons, weekly seven day menus, community events calendar, and their newest feature: delivery services on Wednesday and Saturday. The website can be found at www.foodranchinc.com.
Drew reiterated that everything they have done to improve the store was to offer better service to the community. He stated, “Everything that we do, everything that we represent is trying to tie into the community and get them what they want.”
He hopes that by doing all this that local residents will do their shopping at his store. “We’re hoping that our local Emery County residents can look and say that here’s a locally owned and operated store that has tried to bring it all together to bring our community to do business here,” he said.
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