To go along with the Spring Spectacular hosted on Helper’s Main Street on April 10, Helper City Mayor Lenise Peterman and Kenny Driggs welcomed various groups into the Rio Theater to showcase the much-needed upgrades that have been made.
Mayor Peterman stated that they have made significant improvements and are really pleased with the progress. The upgrade was conducted with the assistance of strategic partners, both from within and outside of the community.
“We cannot do these types of projects without their support,” stated Mayor Peterman.
The Eccles Foundation kicked off the funding with $25,000 and asked the mayor to procure funding matches as they wanted to ensure that the community was engaged. Mayor Peterman went first to Carbon County, where she said that the commissioners and tourism tax advisory board were incredibly supportive, contributing $10,000.
From there, they went even closer, to the Helper Project, which firmly believes in the arts. The project saw value in the theater and awarded another $10,000. Finally, the last little bit came from new community member Kenny Driggs and PRMG Driggs Mortgage Team, who will be on Main Street shortly.
With that, they were able to begin the work that they desperately wished to do. “Having all the money in the world without all the right people; it doesn’t matter,” said Mayor Peterman.
Kenny Driggs and West Coast Show Support were the right people at the right time, according to the mayor, to move Helper to another level of sustainability. Driggs took the stage from there, stating that he began a production company in early 2017 in Orange County and worked primarily in the Southern California scene.
The production company worked largely with concerts, corporate theater, television. Before that, he spent seven years with the Walt Disney Company in the corporate entertainment department at Disneyland. Driggs stated that he and his team are composed of about six people that come from different parts of entertainment all over the country.
Following this introduction, Driggs and his team presented a demonstration of the sound and lighting, impressing the crowd with their expertise. The first tour began at 1 p.m., with subsequent tours following at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
