Due West headlines Grace Concert in the Park

When the Chamber started discussing plans for the annual concert in the park, knowing that it was canceled last year, I knew we needed to make this year’s event big. I reached out to Due West back in January and got all the details on what it was going to take to get them here. The major hurdle was going to be to raise enough funds, especially if we wanted to keep this event, including the food, free to the public. 

After finally getting it passed through the chamber, I was able to secure a date with Due West and immediately went to work contacting businesses. Most of the businesses we contacted had already heard of Due West. A little background on Due West for those who haven’t, they are a group consisting of three native Westerners - Tim Gates, Matthew Lopez and Brad Hull, who moved to Nashville separately and came together in harmony exactly 20 years ago. With songs like “I Get That All The Time” and “Things You Can’t Do In A Car” they have had Billboard charting songs and albums AND have played the Grand Ole Opry. Their newest album is called UNBROKEN and was produced by the legendary
Dean Dillon. 

With the generous donations of businesses in our community and a few individuals, the goal became a reality! We were also able to raise enough money to hire Poll Sound out of Salt Lake to bring in the sound equipment. It was a lot of work these past 5 months, but it was great to work alongside of Aaron Kopp of Poll Sound and Brad Hull which made the process easier. 

To see it all come together last weekend made it all worth it. Of course something of this magnitude wouldn’t be possible without the help of many others. Besides the many monetary donations, we had donations in other ways. A huge thank you to Dillon Liechty with Caribou Medical Center, who attended our Chamber meeting and saw the potential and donated monetary resources as well as half of the food to get the ball rolling. 

Kiewit donated the other half of the food, Dee and Eileen Farnsworth donated the use of their large grill (for the 9th year), Esau and Dapheny Medina (with Drizzled Eats & Treats) for catering dinner for Due West, Levi Spenser donated the use of his trailer for the stage, Tom McBride and my dad, Laran Burdick for the use of their motorhomes at the concert, and Black Canyon Motel donated their rooms. It took many donations in many ways to make this possible. 

Also, Thank you to Taygen Peck and Carter Burdick for opening up on the stage for Due West, to the Grace Volunteer Fire Department for always being so willing to grill the hamburgers and hotdogs for us, to the other members of the chamber; Gloria Peck, Scott Buxton, Vanessa Turner, and Tom McBride, and my family who helped along the way to pull this together. 

And especially, thank you to everyone who came out and supported the event!