Today is the opening day of the 25th annual Utah Rural Summit, a 2-day seminar attended by leaders from Utah's non-Wasatch Front counties and cities. UPR's Chris Holmes sits down with Wes Curtis, Executive Director of Southern Utah University's Office of Regional Services, to talk about the summit his office is hosting and why Cedar City is a great place to hold this discussion.
"We've pulled out all the stops this year because it is the 25th anniversary and believe we have the strongest line-up we've ever had. Our kick-off speaker will be Jack Shultz, who has been involved in rural economic development activities across the nation for his entire career...Other speakers include Governor Gary Herbert. He comes every year to participate in the summit...Probably the one that's a little bit unique this year that we're really looking forward to is Craig Bolerjack, voice of the Utah Jazz. Everyone knows Craig and feels kind of an affinity for him...What a lot of people don't understand is that Craig grew up in a small rural town in Missouri and has his own rural success story." "I expect that by the time Jack Shultz leaves Cedar City, he's going to want to add another chapter to his book that talks about what we've done here. Cedar City is really at the forefront of small communities in terms of accomplishments."