Ivins City moving forward with a truncated Heritage Days

A new sign welcomes visitors to Ivins City, Utah on May 22, 2020. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

IVINS CITY — Ivins City is moving forward with its annual Heritage Days event, but the pandemic is putting a literal damper on the parade. 

Ivins City residents celebrate Ivins Reservoir turning 100 years old as a part of the annual Heritage Days celebration, Ivins, Utah, Sept. 6, 2018 | File photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

The city’s Parks and Recreation Director, Benny Sorensen, announced during the Ivins City Council meeting Thursday evening that as of now, Ivins Heritage Days will still go on in September, but what is normally a two-day event will be scaled down into a one-day event without a parade or the annual soapbox derby.

To follow coronavirus safety protocols, Heritage Days will be one evening event from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sept. 11. There will still be games, an outdoor movie and food trucks. However, there will not be soapbox racers speeding down or a parade on Ivins City’s streets this year. The art show and vendor booths are also canceled.  

During the meeting – where only Mayor Chris Hart was in the council chambers at Ivins City Hall while the rest of the council was on remotely through Zoom – Council Member Jenny Johnson said even without the parade, there will be plenty to celebrate. 

“We’re going to still get this going,” Johnson said. “We know this is about the community coming together.”

Johnson noted the significance of this year’s event falling on the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, saying the event will be themed as “United We Stand.”

This year’s Heritage Days is also expected to coincide with another significant event: the groundbreaking of the new Ivins City Hall.  

As far as other business at the City Council meeting, all other actions were tabled for later meetings, including a new agreement with Suntran and the city of St. George on the bus route between the cities and new zoning rules concerning commercial properties at residential resorts.

The council also tabled work on an application for federal coronavirus CARES Act funds, tasking City Manager Dale Coulam and Director of Finance Lane Mecham with developing the criteria of how businesses and other entities in the city can access the nearly $800,000 the city will have available to help businesses, workers and others hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Council Member Miriah Elliot expressed concern about too much of a delay before those in need of help in the city had access to funds, though she also noted the city will need to make sure the aid goes to those who truly need the help. “It is a lot of money,” she said.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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