Library Gala 2012

"All Aboard". Please join the Friends of the Library at their 4^th Annual Gala on October 13^th as they celebrate the anniversaries of three organizations that that played critical roles in developing and promoting southern Utah: the Utah Parks Company, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Sherratt Library's Special Collections.

The Utah Parks Company (UPC) is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year and Union Pacific Railroad was founded 150 years ago when Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act. UPC, a subsidiary of Union Pacific, was based in Cedar City where the Union Pacific trains arrived with tourists who then took UPC buses on loop tours of the region's parks and monuments. UPC also owned and operated restaurants and lodging in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Cedar Breaks National Monument from the 1920s until 1972.

The Library's Special Collections is also celebrating an important anniversary this year. Fifty years ago Library Director Tom Challis and Special Collections Librarian Inez Cooper organized Special Collections and in the ensuing years, it has become a repository of historic collections highlighting southern Utah including an impressive collection of Utah Parks Company material.

The Gala will begin at 6:30 with registration and heavy hors d'oeuvres in the library lobby. An exhibit of historic Union Pacific photos that was exhibited at the Union Pacific Station in Salt Lake City this summer will be on display. There will also be video clips of the UPC SingAways and the film Union Pacific, which was filmed in southern Utah, available to be viewed. Music will be provided by the SUU String Ensemble.

At 7 p.m. in the Garden Level, remarks will be made by a Union Pacific representative and former UPC employees Mary Ellen Edmunds and her brother Paul Edmunds. Mary Ellen is a popular speaker and author of numerous books.

At 7:45 p.m. in the Huntsman Reading Room, there will be a live SingAway, lots of birthday cake and the SUU Jazz Band playing hits from the 1940s and 1950s. "All Aboard".