| Work continues on the new Expo Center at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. The Castle Valley Economic Summit will use the new facility in September. |
Carbon County is putting in a new Expo Center and Emery County will be among the first to use the new facility. The fourth annual Castle Valley Economic Summit: Spurring Development will be held this year at the new center. The Emery County Economic Summit planning committee is a subcommitte of the Emery County Economic Development Council and has been meeting to plan the Summit 2007 since January.
Members met on June 19 to tour the new center and further plans for the summit. Jo Sansevero is the chairman of the planning committee as well as the economic development council.
Plans for the summit are moving along and the dates have been set for Sept. 19-21. The summit will begin with a tour, dinner and entertainment at the new North Springs shooting facility. This will be on Sept. 19 beginning at 5 p.m. On Sept. 20 will be educational training classes which lead to certification. Classes will be offered in pesticide application, irrigation water management, water certification, roads and planning and zoning. Classes will benefit local town and city employees in need of extra training in their specific areas. More information about the classes will be available at a later date.
After the certification classes there will be the annual dinner and cowboy poetry entertainment at the Castle Valley Ranch near the town of Emery. The dinner will be catered by the ranch and include barbeque chicken and cowboy hors d’oeuvres. Cowboy poetry will be presented after dinner. The scenic ranch serves as a distinct and restful backdrop for the dinner.
| The hallway and entry to the new expo center. |
On Sept. 22, it’s back to the Expo Center at 7 a.m. for the registration for the summit. This day will include the breakfast and a breakfast speaker along with two local presenters Tyler Jeffs from Farm Bureau Financial and Tony Basso from Mad Man Basso’s auto and trailer sales. After this the summit goers will choose from the three breakout sessions offered each hour. They will be able to attend three of the nine sessions offered. The breakout sessions include: three in agriculture, field of dreams, best area hay varieties and alternatives to feeding hay to cattle all winter. Three workshops on business: gathering ideas, details in business planning and business financing. A tourism workshop, Castleview hospital session and the Western Energy Training Center will round out the breakout sessions.
After the breakout sessions will be a luncheon with a speaker followed by four more local presenters including Hatts Ranch of Green River. The summit committee is also planning on door prizes for those who stick around for the entire event.
The Expo Center boasts a class room facility which can be divided for the breakout sessions and two kitchen and serving areas. The main room of the Expo Center will be the main gathering point for the summit. The tables will be set up in the middle and the business booths will be set up around the outside perimeter. The main room has three dividing curtains which can be used to break the main room into three very large and separate rooms. The Expo Center will be available for use for trainings, concerts, workshops, concerts and events. Sportsmen expos, scrapbooking expos, banquets, anything and everything that needs a large room with tables and chairs. The open floor would allow large attendance by crowds to a concert.
The Expo Center looks to be a much needed addition to Southeastern Utah. Sansevero said, “I am excited and looking forward to Castle Country Economic Summit Sept. 19-21 and the opportunity for it to be one of the premiere events held at the new Event Center in Price. This Event Center will prove to be a big asset to our entire region offering the prospect of attracting tradeshows, sporting events, concerts, and meetings that until now we have had to travel to Sandy (South Towne Center) or St. George (Dixie Center) to see and participate in. It is so exciting to think that the Economic Summit will be one of the first major events to show off this great new venue.
“Four years ago when we started the summit we had a goal of starting some positive conversation and motion in the two county areas with respect to Economic Development. Our plan with this fourth year is to have a bigger and better summit, this year we are offering six classes that will offer a certificate of completion and, or certification.
“We have lined up some great speakers and breakout sessions that will focus on new business start-up, agriculture, tourism, health care, and energy education. I hope that everyone will plan to attend Sept. 19, 20 and 21 to participate and benefit from all the information that we will have to distribute and to see and appreciate this new Event Center and all that it has to offer our region,” said Sansevero.