CEDAR CITY, UTAH – Starting Friday, November 8th join Cedar City in celebrating 173 years of traditions with four days of events honoring local history and traditions.
By Kylie Dees, Cedar City Offices
From Friday, November 8th until Monday, November 11th there will be a variety of free events taking place in historic areas around Cedar City.
On Friday, there will be a family game night, and treats will be provided at Frontier Homestead State Park starting at 6 p.m. It will be an evening full of board games, bingo, ring toss, horseshoes, cornhole, checkers, twisters, Cedar City Monopoly, Jenga etc. It should be an evening of laughter and fun for the entire family.
On Saturday, starting at 10:30 a.m., a statue unveiling of George A. Wood will take place at the Historic Train Depot. George A. Wood is known as the man who helped build Southern Utah. He made lasting impacts not only on the infrastructure and important buildings of Cedar City, but also for the national parks. In the Early Twentieth Century, Wood was an important factor in making Cedar City the center for tourism in the region.
On Sunday there will be a Master Singers Veteran’s Concert at the Heritage Center Theater beginning at 7 p.m. This concert is a tradition that is looked forward to each year. This musical presentation has been a stable of Cedar City’s music scene for over 40 years.
Starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, the Veteran’s Day Ceremony will take place at Cedar City Rotary Veteran’s Park, at 11 a.m. there will be an SUU Veteran’s Day Program at the SUU Ballroom in the Student Union Building, and the events will conclude at 7 p.m. with the Cedar City Birthday and Veteran’s Celebration Concert at the downtown Heritage Theatre.
The Birthday Celebration Concert promises to be a musical and storytelling evening showcasing highlights of 173 years of Cedar City. The 90-minute program will begin with the audience singing Happy Birthday to Cedar City. The presentation features the Cedar City Community Band and members of the Utah Shakespeare Festival recreating a 1937 KSUB radio broadcast live on stage, complete with a foley artist doing the sound effects on stage. SUU President Mindy Benson will guide us through decades of university history with music and photos underscoring the stories. The narrators will explore the history and evolution of tourism in southern Utah, featuring a special musical number associated with a movie filmed right here in southern Utah. The program will speak to the importance and arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad in the community and how it changed Cedar City forever. A special musical number will be performed by a member of the Paiute tribe, the first inhabitants of this valley. Finally, the evening will culminate in a rousing patriotic tribute to each of the military branches and other American favorites. The evening will show the sacrifice and patriotism that has existed in Cedar City since its founding. At the conclusion of the evening, audience members will be escorted out of the theatre to The Stars and Stripes Forever and will enjoy complimentary birthday Cake.
Join us for four days of celebrating Cedar City, participating in traditions, and honoring our local veterans!