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Utah County Commission approves tourism-tax support for America's Freedom Festival's America250 events
Summary
The commission approved use of restricted tourism sales-tax funds to support America's Freedom Festival's partnership with America250, backing expanded marketing and new educational parade floats and programming.
The Utah County Commission voted to approve the use of restricted tourism sales-tax funds to support America's Freedom Festival's partnership with America250, the festival's executive director told the commission.
Jim Evans, executive director of America's Freedom Festival, said the funds come from a restricted tourism sales-tax account paid by hotel stays and out-of-county visitors and can be used only for marketing. He described plans to expand the festival's educational offerings this year, including six additional parade floats with historical vignettes and an expanded Colonial Heritage program with more hands-on experiences for children. "First of all, the funding is vital and important," Evans said, adding that "well over 600,000 people touch 1 or more of our events every year."
Commission staff introduced the request as part of the regular consent/agenda process. Commissioner Goren moved to approve Item 3; Commissioner Garner seconded, and the motion passed by voice vote as recorded in the meeting transcript.
Evans said some additional funds will be used for marketing to attract visitors across Utah and from out of state and that details about a stadium performer would be announced in the coming weeks and tickets would be sold through the festival's usual channels. The commission did not specify any additional conditions or a follow-up reporting requirement during the recorded discussion.
The commission then moved on to other agenda items.
