By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Following a survey to gauge community interest in Price City’s Culture Connection series of concerts, Council Member Layne Miller returned to the KOAL newsroom to discuss the findings and what lies ahead for one of Castle Country’s premiere music events.
The opening question of the survey was, “What genre of music do you most like to hear at Culture Connections?” As expected, a majority of respondents answered Country and Rock, but a few surprises jumped out to Miller.” It proved that our feel for it was correct. But we also had people who like jazz, blues, pop, folk, acoustic, classical, hip-hop and world music. There’s a really wide array of likes in Castle Country.”
Miller also saw this as a testament to Culture Connections motto of “something for everyone,” with the Council Member explaining,” We try to bring a wide variety of music. That’s always been our goal. Sometimes we’re more successful than others. But we like to say you might not love today, but sometime this summer, we’re going to have two or three that you will love.”
The survey also asked what artists the public would like to see brought back to the event, with results ranging from fan favorites to some more obscure picks. “Some groups mentioned are Route 89, The Deltaz, Shuffle, Angie Murray and Charlie Jenkins. Lots and lots of groups that we have done in the past. We had far more responses to this than we expected. And to me, it shows that people have a lot of ownership in Culture Connection.”
Outside of the music-based questions, the survey also asks what people thought of the change in venue and the outdoor nature of the series. “It was mentioned time and time again in different ways. We like the family atmosphere. We like the shade. We like it outdoors. And that’s exactly why we made the move to the park. And it showed that it was a good thing to do. One of the other things that people commented on was food trucks. We were a little bit successful last summer. But obviously, people like to plan on eating in the park, listening to music and creating a real family activity atmosphere.”
The final question covered by Miller was to gauge public interest in the construction of a stage in Washington Park, an item that Miller sees as a part of Culture Connection’s long-term plan. “We’re hoping to have some kind of a permanent stage or structure to make the viewing and the listening more enjoyable. We’re starting down that road. But exactly where we’re going to end up, I don’t know. Our long-term goal is to make sure that Culture Connection stays in the park. We want people to be comfortable. And that’s where we’re headed, whatever that looks like.”
Miller also provided an exciting update about the planning phase for this year’s series of events,” We should have all the bands nailed down for the summer by the end of the month. We’re going to work with the tourism department to come up with a list of all the music in the corridor, which would be music in Price, music in Helper and music at the fairgrounds. We’d like to have all of the concerts listed that are coming to the area for the whole summer. That’s our goal.”
In closing, Miller stated,” Keep it coming. We’ve started the planning. It’s going to be bigger and better. As soon as we get a list done, we’ll be back to talk about it. And I guarantee looking at some good cover bands, Fleetwood Mac possibly, we’re going to bring in one or two of those. We did it last summer and people loved it. And that’s where we’re going again.”
Follow Castle Country Radio stations for the release of this summer’s music schedule. You can also visit pricecityutah.com or Price City’s Facebook for more information on upcoming events.