Category: Events

The Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival has a rich history of twenty plus years bringing the arts to not only Helper, but surrounding areas as well. The Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival’s mission is to encourage art and culture in Carbon County, support the local artist community, stimulate and enrich the local economy through the arts, and to educate and give access to art for everyone, regardless of income level or art experience. The Festival endeavors to not only put on a great Festival, but to bring the arts to the community throughout the year as much as possible.

This year the festival runs from August 16-19 on Helper’s Main Street, a unique venue that is reminiscent of the 20s and 30s in the twentieth century.

On August 16 there will be a gallery stroll at 7 p.m. which features all of the local professional art galleries. Entertainment in the street will be Route 89 brought to you by the Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival, Price City Culture Connection & Utah State University Eastern. Desserts and drinks provided by individual galleries. A film festival will also run in the Rio Theater starting at 8 p.m.

On Friday the 17th the festival begins at 2 p.m. with the booths in the street and entertainment in the park going. The film festival will continue. There is also a children’s art yard. There will also be a burnout competition in connection with the next days car show.

On Saturday the festival really breaks out as entertainment and many more activities take place. A 5K Run will begin at 7 a.m. There is a breakfast at 8 a.m along with the car show registration and show beginning later that morning. The festival opens at 10 a.m. and the film festival will continue at the Rio Theater. There will be entertainment all day and roam street performances will take place up and down Main Street. At 1 p.m. The Castle Valley Acting Company will present the musical The Pirates of Penzance in the Rio Theater. Much of the Main Street activity will run until 11:30 p.m.

On Sunday, the final day of the festival, the day begins with another benefit breakfast and then the festival starts at 10 a.m. There will be more films at the Rio Theater and entertainment will run through mid-afternoon.

Of all the events that take place in Castle County, this is often the most comprehensive and well attended. It is also one of the final truly summer events with school beginning at both the public schools in the area and at USU Eastern.

The Castle Valley Pageant held in early August

It’s hard to believe anymore that anything is free…but the Castle Valley Pageant, held on even years (this year being 2018) is and it is rewarding to attend.

It is a story of endurance, heart and tears, all firmed up by the belief by a people that they were going to succeed in building their community next to the San Rafael Desert.

Held each performance year in Castle Dale, in the heart of Emery County, on August 2-4 and August 7-11,. 2018, this pageant has been going on for forty years, the dream child of a man named Montell Seeley.

It’s about religion and how it held up a communities spirits and the story is told in an authentic rustic setting with tents, tumbleweeds and dugouts carved into the hillside against a spectacular backdrop of natural beauty in an amphitheater.

The story is related to a grandson from his grandfather while they ride horseback after the boy asks about the Mormons who settled the area. It is one story, filled by many tales of faith and courage.

It is a big event for those that come to see it, but it is even bigger for those that participate in putting it on. Much of Castle Dale and the surrounding communities have been working on pageant after pageant for years.

The music is well known to Latter Day Saints and much of the program is recorded as the actors play out their parts. The roles they perform involve playing parents who lost children, those who question whether the move to the bleak landscape was the right move, fights over water and the never ending search for sustenance and developing an economy based on agriculture and eventually coal mining.

It all takes place in a stage that is permanently set against the cliffs and lands of the county at 4785 Desbee Dove Road. Signs on Highway 10, which is the main route through the county, directs those who wish to attend, to the site.

It is performed between 8:30 and 10 p.m. on the performance days.

For those who don’t want to drive out to the venue, a shuttle is available to bring those who park at the Emery County Fairgrounds in Castle Dale to the site and bring them back when the performance is over.

And it is all, absolutely free.

Castle Country is a diverse place, both in geography and population. In the early days of the area it was settled for agriculture, but only a few years later the northern part of the area became a hotbed of coal and then railroad activity. With those industries came people from many different lands to work in the mines and on the trains.

Each year toward the end of July the area celebrates International Days, as a tribute to those that came from all over the world to settle in the area. It all begins on July 26 with a free swim day from noon to 8 p.m. at the Wave Pool in Price.

That evening Price will be abuzz with people and flags of countries from all over the world as the opening ceremonies take place at the Peace Garden at 6:30 p.m. next to the city hall and the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum. An outdoor concert will follow along with fireworks.

On Friday the day begins at 9:30 a.m. with the Kids Parade as youngsters ride their bikes and walk from Mont Harmon Middle School toward Washington Park where the carnival and other events will be taking place. The day will be filled with tournaments of all kinds and entertainment including a Harley Davidson display and rock crawlers working their way through a course. At 7 p.m. a burnout contest will take place on Main Street near the Peace Garden. To end the day there is a Movie Under the Stars at Pioneer Park (The Sandlot) which is just north of Washington Park.

Saturday starts with the Lions Club Breakfast at the Pioneer Park Pavilion which will run from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. There is a 5k run as well as a golf tournament later that morning. AT 10 a.m. there is a Grand Parade down Main Street. The day also features a Kidsmobile Derby, horseshoe tournaments as well as a basketball tournament.

The evening will end with another Movie in the Park (Ferdinand the Bull) and the street carnival lighting up another glorious summer evening sky in Castle Country.

Wellington is a small town in the center of Carbon County in Castle Country. Each year coinciding with the state’s July 24th Celebration of Pioneer Days, Wellington holds its own celebration.

This year is no exception.

On Friday night (July 20) there will be entertainment in the Wellington Park as the Countdown Band plays as the local restaurant Cowboy Kitchen provides food to those who attend.

On Saturday morning, July 21 a parade will take place on Main Street, kicking of the days events.

The year events will take place on Saturday, July 21. They include such things as a 40 Foot Obstacle Course, a Bungee Run and Bumper Balls. There will be midway games, a large bounce house, a climbing wall, horseshoe tournaments, a Cornhole tournament and a fishing tournament as well.

This celebration is part of small town America at its best and will be something that people who come will remember for years to come.

Two important events will be happening the weekend of July 13 and 14 in Castle Country.

The first is Community Daze which will take place at Sunnyside Park in East Carbon. The event features a Saturday morning breakfast beginning at 7 a.m. in the park, then a parade down the towns Main Street at 9:30 a.m. One of the featured events goes on all day and it is the Bo Huff Car Show, where cars of all ages and kinds are displayed in the park. There is entertainment all day and that evening a rodeo will take place at the rodeo grounds.

The other event that weekend is the Greek Festival that takes place in Price at the Greek Assumption Church. The church is located at 61 South 200 East. Founded in 1916 by Greek miners and shepherds, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is one of the oldest Greek Orthodox parishes in America. The church, with its Byzantine architecture, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was the 13th Greek Orthodox Church to be built-in the United States. The festival begins on Friday afternoon and stretches into Saturday night. An annual event for many, many years, it is steeped in Greek tradition with dance and chances to see the church in detail, as well as Greek food that is unsurpassed anywhere in Utah. The lines are often out the door because the food is so good.

Each year on Independence Day, Castle Country celebrates its energy heritage with an event called Energy Days. This year for the first time Energy Days will be incorporated into a bigger and longer celebration called Warrior Days.

Beginning on July 4 everyone is invited to attend a Patriotic Parade on Price’s Main Street at 3 p.m. Energy Days will then begin at 5 p.m. at the Carbon County Fairgrounds with events ranging from a coal shoveling contest to a tire flip contest. During this time there is a lot free food and fun as well as a free concert at dusk.

After that a huge fireworks display will take place.

On July 5 there will be a special lunch people can attend with Veterans at 1 p.m. The rest of the day will be filled with a carnival, a dunk tank and a Cornhole Competition. That evening there will be a free outdoor movie on the new Carbon County Soccer Fields.

On July 6 at 9 a.m. mounted shooters will perform at the rodeo arena at the Fairgrounds and the carnival will continue. That evening there is a bull blast and extreme bull riding. Again at dusk there will be fireworks as well as a dance.

To wrap things up on July 7 the carnival will still be taking place, along with a soccer tournament, barrel racing, a huge group of Harley Davidson riders showing off their bikes, a special Olympics rodeo, motocross races and a public concert that evening featuring three different artists. Fore more information and tickets go to www.castlecountryevents.com

While there is a day or a weekend where each town in Castle Country celebrates its history and culture, one of the favorites of locals is held each year around the Fourth of July at Scofield in Carbon County.

The area where Scofield is located was originally named Pleasant Valley and was settled by miners and some farmers in the late 1800s. The coal industry brought the railroad to the area and mines dotted the area with the largest being the Winter Quarters Mine. In May of 1900 an explosion in that coal mine killed at least 200 miners and it became one of the worst mining disasters in United States history.

Today there are still mines in the area, but a dam built in the 1940s transformed the valley in a vast reservoir that is the defining symbol of the valley now.

This year Scofield Pleasant Valley Days will be held on June 29-30. Food, fun, a silent auction and music will set the tone for Friday. On Saturday there is the famous breakfast, a parade at 11 a.m. and then big activities all the way until the evening will take place in the park. A dance will be held from 8 p.m. until midnight.

Those that know Scofield understand its lure to anyone who sees it. All are invited. This event is a good way to get to know the people of Castle Country.

For the second year in the row Emery County will host what is now going to be an annual cowboy mounted shootout.

Cowboy shooting from a horse is one the nation’s fastest growing equestrian sports. The event requires both horsemanship and shooting that is measured in the form of competitive events.

During this very entertaining event visitors should be prepared to meet some fo the friendliest and most social people in the world. Cowboy Mounted Shooting is family sport.

This event brings back the spirit of the old west.

The Emery County Shootout will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 9 at the Blue Sage Arena in Castle Dale, Utah.

Admission for the public is free.

Ancient Skies Through Ancient Eyes
Photographic Exhibition by Bob Maynard

The Prehistoric Museum presents Ancient Skies Through Ancient Eyes exhibition by photographer Bob Maynard. The exhibition opened to the public March 17, 2018, and features a selection of photographs from Maynard’s book on archeaoastronomy and night photography in the desert Southwest. Ancient Skies Through Ancient Eyes takes you on an exciting discovery of the unexpected abundance of ancient rock art and ruins in and around the Colorado Plateau of the American Southwest. It examines rock art styles and delves into ways the ancient ones used rock art panels and architecture to mark the passing of time and the seasons.

Bob Maynard is a national award-winning photographer who founded Colorado Plateau Photo Tours in 2009. As a resident of Boulder, Colorado, he has held federal permits in sixteen national parks, national monuments, or BLM areas and has led workshops in 9 states. Nearly one thousand photographers have used his services. He and his wife, Cindy, have published two books, A Photographer’s Guide to Colorado’s National Parks and Monuments, and Ancient Skies Through Ancient Eyes. He has given presentations to camera clubs in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Illinois, and Arizona. His photography of the American desert southwest has been exhibited in the Edge of Cedars Museum (2013 and 2016) as well as many galleries. He was Chairman of the Louisville National Juried Photography Show for four years. He has received over two thousand photo credits.

The Prehistoric Museum features fossils and artifacts from Utah. This special exhibition is located on the second floor of the museum and runs from Saturday March 17 through Saturday October 27, 2018. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. General admission rates apply.

The museum is located in Price, Utah in the heart of Castle Country. It is located at 155 East Main and the phone number to contact the museum is (435) 613-5060. The museum’s website is http://usueastern.edu/museum/news/_articles/2018-10-27_ancient-skies/index

The Museum of the San Rafael is situated in the middle of Castle Dale, Utah, on the edge of an area known as the San Rafael Swell, a unique area of geological formations. The museum features dozens of exhibits concerning San Rafael Country which surrounds the area.

On May 5, 2018, the museum will be having an open day with no admission fee being charged. The hours of the museum on that day will be from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The museum features exhibits that cover ancient history as well as the nature that exists in the area today.

In terms of dinosaurs the skeletons of Albertosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Animantarx, and the skull of Tyrannosaurs Rex tell the story of a past world long-buried in the soils of the present.

In the outer circle of the Museum of the San Rafael’s Great Exhibit Hall, visitors can see animals in their natural habitat. Each animal is an exquisite example of the art of taxidermy and most appear frozen in motion. Some of the animals include Bobcat and Yellow-bellied Marmot.

There are also displays that feature some archeological finds and information as well. Some of the most unique archaeological finds in the U.S. have been found in the caves and rock ledges of Emery County. Skilled artisans shaped the baskets, pots, projectile points, yucca ropes, and leather bundles. Many ask what became of these people who have disappeared from the area? The Museum of the San Rafael holds only the clues.

The museum is located at 70 N 100 East in Castle Dale and the phone number to contact them is 435-381-3560.

Their website is http://www.emerycounty.com/sanrafaelmuseum/