Wed 7/1 Lindsay Gray & Mary Jo Hansen: Vocals Thurs 7/2 Austin Weyand: Guitar Fri 7/3 Darrell & Alice King Family Sat 7/4 Mike Hatch Family Mon 7/6 Utah Festival Opera Company Tues 7/7 Woodwind Quintet: Dan Stowell Wed 7/8 Randy Smith: Vocal Thurs 7/9 Con Allegrezza Strings Fri 7/10 Hershey Kisses: Vocal Sat 7/11 Michelle Broadbent: Vocal Mon 7/13 Utah Festival Opera Company Tues 7/14 Mountain Crest Young Artists Winners Wed 7/15 Christine Clark: Organ Thurs 7/16 Carolyn Bentley Harps Fri 7/17 Simmons Brothers Sat 7/18 Chris Mortensen Guitar & Vocals Mon 7/20 Utah Festival Opera Company Tues 7/21 Willow Valley Singers Wed 7/22 Up Kind of Day: Amy Lacey Singers Thurs. 7/23 Jonathan Rose: Organ Fri 7/24 AWHC Pioneer Children’s Choir Sat 7/25 Sassafras Folk Singers Mon 7/27 Utah Festival Opera Company Tues 7/28 Susan Ames & Michael Ballam: Opera by Children Wed 7/29 Treble Makers: Vocal Trio Thurs 7/30 Kingsmen Barbershop Quartet Fri 7/31 Debbie Ditton & Vocal Students Sat 8/1 Déjà vu: Craig Mortensen & Spencer Parkinson Mon 8/3 Utah Festival Opera Company Tues 8/4 Fry Street Quartet Wed 8/5 Tom Stands & Family: Vocals Thurs 8/6 Hillary Dodd: Vocal Fri. 8/7 Organ Festival Sat. 8/8 Celebrate America Preview
Encore Concert Friday, August 14
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The Utah Festival Opera Company is a hot topic in Cache Valley this week, as Cache County Council members will decide on June 23 if there should be a government bailout for U.F.O.C. Michael Ballam, General Director, has pleaded with the Council for $400,000 saying, that because of the economic problems in our nation, his generous patrons are short on funds. He stated they need the public tax dollars to keep the opera company going. “We have exhausted all possibilities to make this season work. We will not go into deficit with this company. It was founded upon the premises that we would not go into deficit. Therefore, we would like to balance the books this year and you are simply our last hope. We have tried by doubling our development department. We’ve sent out twice as many requests as we ever have in history. But, the money is just not available from the traditional means and that’s why we approached you. You are really our last hope. Thank You.”-Michael Ballam This request comes at a time when the County is short on projected yearly funds for the same economic reasons. We have had many requests for the financial facts regarding the UFOC. Through the peoples’ right to know act we have obtained the financial information & downloaded it to our website. You can click here to see a copy of this report. According to the financial reports for 2008, ticket sales for the UFOC were $944,967. The sales tax collected on this at the current rate of 6.6% would be $62,367.82. This is the total tax collected. The rapz tax is 1/10 of 1% of the total sales. That would be $994.97. The county has already given the UFOC $255,000 from the rapz tax fund. Now Cache County citizens have the information needed to do the math. $994.97 rapz tax collected from the UFOC minus $255,000 given to the UFOC = -$254,005.03. Total sales tax (including the rapz tax) $62,367.82 collected from the UFOC -$255,000 rapz tax given to UFOC = -$192,632.18. FYI – the $62,632.18 tax collected by the UFOC is sent to the state and only a percentage is given back Cache Valley. Michael Ballam has stated that the Opera Company is the largest tourism facilitator in Cache Valley. The opera company is one of the main ongoing events of the summer, along with the Heritage Center and the Tabernacle Concert and Lecture Series. But our community also has many more fun places to go in the summer like the Stokes Nature Center and the Anthropology Museum which cater to a family crowd. Let’s not forget Summer Fest, Cruisin & the Rodeo. They are only a week each, but bring in lots of tourism which generates tax revenue. In our desire to let you know why there aren’t more tourist type events, we found out what it takes for an average person to put on an event that would generate tourism. The average person has to rent a park or a facility. A park is $300 or more per day plus you have to hire a minimum of 2 police officers at $35 each per hour for every hour of your event. The fairgrounds require a $250 deposit plus $100 daily for use of a building. The park and rec center is $100 for first hour and $50per hour after that + a $300 deposit. Their hours are from 5:30 am- 11pm so that makes a daily rate of approximately $900 + the deposit. The Eccles Conference Center is $400 a day for any one. After speaking with some of the Summer Senior Citizens that support the UFOC, they would come to Cache Valley with or without the UFOC because they love our local talent. If we had 100 local musicians sell a 1000 cd’s each at $10.00 per cd, they would generate the same sales tax for Cache Valley that the UFOC does, but they wouldn’t be asking for rapz tax funds. UFOC Statement of Activityclick to see
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