The Helper City Council met for a council meeting on Thursday evening. At the meeting, a couple of different summer events were presented and discussed with council members and community members.
Ruth Metzger passed out calendars and spoke to the council members about the car show that is hosted every year during the Helper City Arts Festival. She wanted to make the council members aware of the way things will be handled, which would be much like previous years. The car cruise will take place on the Thursday before the actual show and will happen mostly on Main Street but will also go on to 100 West. Metzger stated that they are aware of the festival gallery stroll that will also take place that evening and will work out a route that will not interfere with the stroll.
Friday night will play host to the burn-out contest on 100 East behind the park. Metzger clarified that she will be asking members of the police department to perform a breathalyzer test on the contestants before they are able to participate.
The actual car show will be on Saturday morning beginning around 9 a.m. and finishing at approximately 4 p.m. It will be on South Main Street. Metzger requested that Helper City provide a few barricades throughout the show due to safety for the pedestrians. She also stated that in the past the city has been able to place a canopy in front of the building owned by Tony Basso in order for the participants to have some shading.
Erika Alford also spoke directly to council members to update them on the baseball tournament that is slated to take place in August. The tournament has been separated into two categories, which have been deemed the Big Diggers and Little Diggers, with the Helper Hitmen focusing on the younger players. The entire tournament is now called the Black Diamond Tournament. Alford has created a webpage, helperbaseball.com, as well as Facebook page called Big Diggers Baseball Tournament from which people can get updates and information.
Alford stated that they are currently working on sponsorships as well as working with an employee from travel bureau. The hope is to create fun things that focus on the different activities available in Helper, including a ghost town tour and a tour of downtown. There is going to be a little setup at the legion field to let people be aware of all of the events going on in Helper. Alford stated she wants this to draw people back to the town.
The sheriff’s office has agreed to get a work group together that will help clean up all of the fields and make sure that law enforcement is always there. The Helper Police Department is also going to have officers present. All of the money is going to be kept local by not bringing umpires out of town and instead having high schoolers umpire to earn some extra money. Donations will be made to the local schools as well as cheerleaders as they will be working the concessions.
Alford stated teams from Colorado, Moab and Idaho are all already showing interest in the tournament. She then asked the council members for permission to take a map and make markings on it pointing out the different things available in Helper such as Balance Rock Eatery and Pub, Happiness Within, among others. She then stated that she will bring new information to the council members as it is obtained.
“Other people don’t think we have great things here, but we want to show them that we do,” stated Alford.