Heber City theater company Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s production of the Tony award-winning musical “1776,” which depicts the months of debates leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is full of famous faces. But actor Don Doud is playing a somewhat obscure Founding Father.

Doud had never heard of Delawarean Continental Congressman Caesar Rodney until he was cast as him.

In a fictionalized scene set in early June 1776, Rodney breaks up a fight between fellow delegates John Adams and John Dickinson, who are on opposing sides of whether the colonies should secede from Britain. When Rodney finally gets Adams and Dickinson to stop trying to whack each other with their canes, he collapses due to his health issues from skin cancer.

The scene is a reminder that debates over independence were a lot more contentious and chaotic than what might be presented in a history class. It’s also a microcosm of what director Kristen Hughes wanted to accomplish with the play: encouraging civil disagreement in a politically polarized time.

In tone, “1776” has more in common with “12 Angry Men” than “Schoolhouse Rock.” Most of the lyrics of the opening song, “Sit Down, John,” are about the sweltering heat and flies buzzing around Independence Hall in Philadelphia. 

Hughes called Adams, the song’s subject and protagonist of the play, a “pushy little man” whom other delegates disliked because of his insistence on independence.

The play depicts each of the Founding Fathers not as infallible heroes, but human beings with their own quirks. 

Thomas Jefferson is introverted and cerebral, while Benjamin Franklin is a manipulative jester of a politician, constantly “schmoozing” and “partying” with his fellow delegates. They’re far more than faces on currency, as Hughes put it. Each delegate had their own grievances, or lack of them, depending on their colony’s interactions with the crown. As such, each man had a different idea of what independence should look like.

That’s explored when Jefferson writes a draft of the Declaration of Independence that impassionately condemns slavery as a “cruel war against human nature itself,” despite being a slave owner himself.

That passage was later removed. The exact reason why is unknown, though Jefferson, in his autobiography, said it was a concession made to delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. 

“That’s the one concession they made, which later just kicked the can down the road to the Civil War and caused lots of bloodshed. It’s very sobering,” Hughes said. “(The song ‘Molasses to Rum’) talks about how the North is complicit because they provide the ships that bring the slaves. They use the sugar. They drink the rum. They consume the products created by the slaves. So, they’re making money off it, too, even if they don’t own them.”

In the play, it’s delegate Edward Rutledge of South Carolina who performs the number; “1776” often combines several delegates into one character.

Dickinson, the delegate from Pennsylvania and the play’s antagonist, embodies the argument against independence, hoping for reconciliation with Britain. In the play’s climax, he does not sign the Declaration of Independence. Even as he makes that decision, his greatest opponent, Adams, applauds his character.

Hughes hopes the pair’s respect for each other despite their differing opinions inspires audience members to engage in political discussions with people they disagree with.

“We’re all working towards the same problems. We have different ideas about how to solve those problems, but maybe that’s how we’ll come to the best solutions,” she said.

Hughes sees “threats of authoritarianism” under the current presidential administration as the greatest threat to the country today.

“My personal (point of view) is that things are being dismantled, institutions and things that have kept safeguards in place for a long, long time. … The power structure is being altered,” she said. 

She hopes that reflection on the signing of the Declaration of Independence during its 250th anniversary prompts Americans to become passionate about defending its founding principles of democracy and unalienable rights.

“(The Founding Fathers were) willing to put their lives and their property and their families on the line,” Hughes said. “It was a huge sacrifice on their part, and it is something that we could maybe hold more reverently or dearly than we do.”

Even if “1776” doesn’t engender those feelings in all audience members, Hughes is content with the fact that she was able to hold the attention of a few “Hamilton”-obsessed teenage audience members who attended a performance last week.

“They said, ‘We were in here for three hours, and it didn’t feel like three hours,’” she said. “If a teenager says that, I feel like there’s my little gold star on the forehead that we did our job.”

Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s production of “1776” will be staged Wednesday and Friday, with a special matinee performance on Saturday as part of Heber City’s Red, White & Blue Festival. The play’s 29 actors will also be marching in the city’s morning parade and would love to share their characters’ real stories. Learn more and buy tickets at timpvalleytheatre.com.

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Longtime Heber City residents Ann and Michael Moulton have been practicing their regal waves in preparation to be parade marshals at this year’s Red, White & Blue Festival on July 4.

The couple, both approaching 80, has lived in Heber City for about 45 years and been community servants that entire time. But they were still shocked when festival organizer Rachel Kahler showed up on their doorstep on Mother’s Day and asked them to lead the procession from the comfort of a carriage. 

For Kahler, the choice was obvious. The Moultons have been dressing up in Revolutionary era regalia for the festival since its inception in 2022.

Ann and Michael might dress as Abigail and John Adams this year, so long as that doesn’t upstage the cast of Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s “1776: The Musical,” who will also walk in the parade. 

John Adams was not initially smitten with his future wife when he met her, writing in his diary that she and her sisters were “not fond, not frank, not candid.”

Michael sang a different tune when he recalled meeting Ann when they were studying at Brigham Young University. 

Michael’s Latter-day Saint seminary teacher would often sing with family members around Provo. Michael remembered wishing from the audience that he could date a beautiful singer. Then he met his seminary teacher’s sister, Ann. 

“We didn’t have television. My father had a great singing voice, and my mother played the piano. I came from a family of nine children. So in the evenings, we would often gather around the piano and sing,” Ann said about her upbringing in Star Valley, Wyoming. 

Upon meeting, Ann and Michael quickly fell in love. They married in 1969.

Ann never finished her music education bachelor’s degree at Brigham Young University, but Michael joked that she’s earned several honorary doctorates from her vast experience: teaching vocal lessons, singing in the Utah Symphony, leading the Heber Children’s Chorus and founding Heber City’s holiday “Messiah Sing-In” tradition two decades ago.

Music, Michael said, was the couple’s gateway to community involvement when they moved to his hometown of Heber City around 1980, and soon enough, they were thrust into the world of the performing arts.

Ann was one of four co-founders of Timpanogos Valley Theatre, which began staging productions in the Midway Town Hall in 2004. 

She’s no longer involved in the theater company, but a handful of her eight kids, children-in-law and over 30 grandchildren are choreographers, actors and members of the board of directors.

“We think that community theater is probably the best community builder that there is,” Michael said. “I would sit there in these early rehearsals, and I’d think, ‘Man, I do not want to be here. These are not my kind of people.’ Pretty soon, though, as we started to perform together and visit together, it made all the difference in the world. They became dear, dear friends.”

Ann sees theater as a great equalizer.

“You don’t look at anybody with prejudice. You all have the same goal in making a good show. You get to know each other at your best and at your worst and work together,” she said. 

While Ann’s greatest passion is the arts, Michael’s is historic preservation. He started the nonprofit Heber Valley Heritage Foundation in 2022 and previously served as chair of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.

The Heber Valley Heritage Foundation focuses on preservation through a variety of initiatives.

For example, the foundation created the Dr. R. Raymond Green Community Digitizing Center in the Heber City FamilySearch Center. The center allows residents to create digital versions of family history artifacts and documents, especially those that are difficult to digitize, like 35mm film slides.

The foundation’s most ambitious projects involve preserving historic sites and opening them to the public. 

The foundation is eyeing London Springs, the first Latter-day Saint settlement in Heber City, near the corner of Fitzgerald Road and U.S. 40. Michael imagines a recreation of the settlement, log cabins and all. His wife’s not sure he can pull it off.

“It’s way too much. He put it all on a whiteboard, planned it all out, and I just looked at it, and I shook my head and rolled my eyes,” she joked.

Because his family has lived in Heber City for generations, Michael is especially passionate about historic preservation.

“We don’t want to turn things back the way they were. We just want to be able to remember and to celebrate our heritage,” he said.

That’s not to say Michael and Ann don’t miss certain things about Heber City that have changed since they moved there.

“We used to be able to go out the front door and get our cross-country skis and ski up through the fields. That was really sweet, but we haven’t been able to do that for years. So I miss the open spaces,” Ann said.

What was once horse and cattle pastures on all sides of the Moultons’ neighborhood is now developed. 

That’s part of the reason Michael closed his father’s 54-year-old business, Moulton Farm Machinery Company, in 2001, after about 15 years as CEO.

Even amid the growth, the couple has preserved some of their peace and quiet. When they bought their home and an adjacent lot for $75,000, they also decided to purchase a small strip of land that split their road into two cul-de-sacs. A developer wanted to turn that land into a through road, but the Moultons and some neighbors conspired to stop that plan, at no small cost.

“(Those neighbors) all died, and I’m not sure who owns it now. I guess us,” Michael said.

“We pay the taxes on it,” Ann chimed in.

In some ways, the couple has embraced Heber City’s growth.

“I can remember driving through town years and years ago, when things were slow, and nobody had discovered us yet, and thinking that the economy was in pretty sad shape. We didn’t have any flourishing businesses on Main Street,” Ann said. “When people started moving into the valley, I thought, actually, it was a great thing that they stimulated so much growth.”

Michael’s favorite thing about his hometown is the “good neighbors,” though he doesn’t know as many of them as he used to.

“Sometimes I say I know more people when I walk through the cemetery than I know when I go down to Smith’s,” he joked.

Michael spends a lot of time at the cemetery. When he’s there, he often thinks about his ancestors, Thomas and Sarah Moulton, who traveled from Iowa City, Iowa, to Utah in a Latter-day Saint handcart company before moving to Heber City in 1860.

“My thoughts turn to them walking through ankle- or waist- (or) knee-deep snow with eight kids, two handcarts, freezing to death,” Michael said. “My thought often turns to, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’”

The Moultons are also carrying lessons from the past into the present as they reflect on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. They have been most moved by learning more about the brutality and sacrifice of the Revolutionary War.

“I think that we’re at the same point in time where we’re really going to have to make some sacrifices to keep this, in this day and age, when things are kind of conspiring against democracy and freedoms,” Michael said.

The Moultons believe sacrifice starts with community service.

Ann, for example, set a goal in March to do 250 acts of service by the end of the year, as simple as picking up litter during a walk. She’s already done over 200. 

“That’s the way we make friends. That’s the way we have community unity,” Michael said. “By serving together.”

The Heber Valley Heritage Foundation will conduct guided tours of the Heber City Cemetery on July 3, 9 a.m. to noon, and July 4, 10 a.m. to noon, as part of the Red, White & Blue Festival.

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Mere hours after Gov. Spencer Cox banned fireworks across the state until after the Fourth of July, one city in the Wasatch Back considered designating specific areas for the public to safely discharge fireworks, which would have been allowed under the emergency declaration.

The Heber City Council held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the possibility of allowing the use of fireworks at six public parks from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4.

Wasatch Fire District Chief Eric Hales said at the meeting he would have preferred three or four locations. That’s because Independence Day is typically busy for the Wasatch Fire District, which would not have the bandwidth to send firefighters to monitor the six parks for that entire 12-hour period. 

Instead, the Fire District would have provided 5-gallon water buckets at each park for residents to dispose of fireworks responsibly and put out any small fires if needed. 

Heber City resident Barb Clark supported a citywide fireworks ban.

“I live in the north end, and we have a lot of people that just love their aerials. Cops have been called several times over the years that I’ve lived there. My house gets bombarded with shrapnel the next day, and all this detritus all over the place,” she said. 

Clark said she appreciated the logic of giving people who might set off fireworks anyway a safe place to do so, but that she was skeptical that everyone would follow the rules or even be aware of them in the first place.

The final decision ultimately came down to Mayor Heidi Franco, per Cox’s executive order. 

Franco expressed concern that Heber City would see an influx of visitors wanting to set off fireworks if they were allowed in some locations because fireworks were banned everywhere else in the Wasatch Back. She announced a citywide ban the following morning.

“This beautiful valley and mountains protect us, and now we need to protect them. Plus, your safety is most important,” she said. 

She referred to the city’s encouragement of voluntary water conservation to combat the current drought, saying, “The recent rain is not enough. … Let’s not make our city’s situation worse.”

Despite the ban, several public officials, including city councilors, Hales and Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever predicted fireworks use would likely happen over the holiday anyway.

Sever hails from Hanford, California, where he said fireworks are never allowed. Despite that, he said it was “difficult to enforce” and would likely be even more difficult in Heber City, where public fireworks use is typically allowed over the holiday.

“People aren’t putting on a big show, so by the time we triangulate where these things are going on from the sky, usually, their show’s done. And then, neighbors don’t want to tell on their neighbors,” he said.

Cox’s ban lasts July 2-6. Discharging fireworks in Utah is already illegal all other times, except July 22-25 for Pioneer Day, on Dec. 31 and for Chinese New Year. Cox has not announced the state’s approach to Pioneer Day fireworks. 

Oakley Mayor Steve Wilmoth said Friday the city plans on keeping the fireworks display at the Oakley Rodeo. 

More than 75% of Utah’s wildfires have been human-caused since the beginning of the fire season, according to the governor. 

Wasatch Fire Marshal Clint Neerings said most fires started by fireworks come down to “negligence and/or ignorance,” including people who set them off near vegetation, dispose of them in dumpsters without soaking them in water or discharge an aerial firework that inadvertently launches horizontally instead of vertically.

State forester Jamie Barnes described the quick spread of wildfires due to dry vegetation and the current drought as “unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory.”

Hales agreed with that assessment.

“Coming out of the winter we came out of, and then the fire behavior and all the fires that we’re having in the state, it’s just getting drier and hotter,” he said. “We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve only had a handful of starts within Wasatch County, and they’ve been very small.”

He said wildfire risk is poised to get worse and worse going into July, and that what little moisture the county may receive is “not enough to make a difference.”

Violating Cox’s fireworks ban is punishable by an infraction and a fine of up to $1,000.

More severe punishments apply to areas under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions. Both Wasatch and Summit counties entered into Stage 2 Fire Restrictions on Friday. These restrictions apply to unincorporated state and private lands in both counties. Whether or not to implement Stage 2 Fire Restrictions in individual cities comes down to the decision of the local government. In 2025, Stage 2 Fire Restrictions weren’t implemented statewide until July 31.

The following actions are banned, will be enforced by county law enforcement and are punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $1,000:

• Building, maintaining, attending or using a campfire or stove fire.
• Smoking, except with an enclosed vehicle, trailer, building, developed recreation site or while stopped in an area that is paved or free from dry vegetation.
• Discharging or using any fireworks, tracer ammunition or other pyrotechnic devices, including exploding targets.
• Cutting, welding or grinding metal in areas of dry vegetation.
• Operating a motorcycle, chainsaw, ATV or other small internal combustion engine without an approved and working spark arrestor.

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When Kerry Smith, the Utah Symphony’s vice president of artistic planning, designed the setlist for its upcoming America250 concert in Midway, she wanted the performance to be anchored around one quote from former conductor Maurice Abravanel: “To be a good American is not only to be aware that we are citizens of the finest country in the world. It is also to constantly strive to be even better.”

Smith said that Abravanel, an immigrant from the Ottoman Empire, or modern day Greece, believed in having a “dynamic country.”

“He just talks about the responsibility and the identity that comes with (being a citizen),” Smith said. 

That struck a chord with her.

On July 4, Smith said Midway will be the stage for a Utah Symphony performance exploring what it means to be an American citizen and the history of the United States. 

“We’re using America250 as an opportunity to look back at our history as well as American history,” Smith said. “We have some wonderful Americana works as well as some opera works.”

There will also be music that reflects the patriotism of America250. The concert will open with “The Star Spangled Banner” before launching into John Williams’ “Liberty Fanfare.” Elie Siegmeister’s “Western Suite” will follow with music reminiscent of the Old West. 

Then, there are overtures and pieces weaving together the story of the United States. John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” serves as the program’s final act. 

“We want to make sure that we have kind of multiple repertoire touch points with the audience,” Smith said. “We typically do both classical and popular music, which is very much reflected in this program.”

Conductor Conner Gray Covington will lead the orchestra. The former Utah Symphony associate conductor has also worked with the Boston Pops and Chicago Symphony. 

Aubree Oliverson — an internationally renowned violinist — and vocalist Amy Owens will also perform soloists. 

Owens, who has had a packed national and international career as a vocalist, said that, when she was asked to perform, she was grinning from ear to ear. 

“Are you kidding me? … It’s one of the highlights of my career; I imagine it will be,” Owens said. 

Since the performance takes place on the Fourth of July, Owens said the program “has momentum.” Owens said her personality lends itself well to performing and, being surrounded by music with the opportunity to connect with audiences is “just the best thing in life.” 

Owens said she feels that will stay true on Independence Day.

“This program has a lot of joy built into it, a lot of delight, and it also has poignant moments in it, so I feel like it’s a perfect way to reflect on everything we’ve been given, to feel gratitude, to feel awe,” Owens said.

She said that’s exactly what an audience should be feeling on such a celebratory day. 

Utah Symphony Front of House Director Melissa Robison said it’s not just the music that will take center stage, but also the backdrop of Town Square. The Wasatch Back, she said, provides the perfect awe-inspiring experience to accompany a legendary performance. 

“I love the symphony, but the backdrop is the experience,” Robison said. “I think there’s something magical about just being part of that, and then realizing that the music is moving you in a whole new way.”

Robison said the symphony is a “supportive element” to the entire experience, which she hopes will be unique to audience members. That’s especially true for the soloists and the conductor.

“He’s fantastic,” Robison said. “So fun to watch, so engaged.”

Camille Palmer, the city’s communications and public information manager, has also been leading the charge on America250 events. Palmer said the performance marks an epic moment for the Wasatch Back city. 

“They’ll finish right at 10 o’clock as the fireworks start on Memorial Hill,” Palmer said. “It’s really kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Palmer said city leaders are excited about the opportunity to work with the symphony, especially with the series of events that have led up to the culmination of America 250 celebrations. 

“Two hundred and fifty years doesn’t come around very often, and so we just decided that we really wanted to make this a community celebration and to have events and activities that involve everybody,” Palmer said, adding that the symphony’s performance will be free to the public. 

It’s Palmer’s hope that the community will come early and enjoy the patriotic performance as well as the entirety of Midway’s America250 celebration. So far, Palmer has heard nothing but positivity from the community. 

“(They’re) very excited,” Palmer said. 

Midway City will host America250 events until the celebration. The Utah Symphony will put on its free-to-the-public concert at Midway Town Square with seating opening at 4 p.m. and the performance starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 4.

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While the Founding Fathers began the United States Constitution with a preamble that established its foremost goal of forming a more perfect Union, Raul Balderas began a Constitution of his own with a more sardonic tone.

“We, the people, are pissed,” he joked, to the amusement of the dozen residents who had gathered in the Wasatch County Library last Wednesday. 

The group had come for the latest in a series of lectures about local history held this year in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

This lecture, given by former and current Wasatch High School history teachers Dawain M. Wheatley and Easton Powell, explored the founding principles of the United States and their relevance to Americans today.

In an attempt to hammer home the latter point, Wheatley and Powell asked attendees to gather in small groups and discuss how these documents could be applied to their daily lives.

The members of Balderas’ group were inspired by the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that the purpose of government is to secure the people’s unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The document says that it is the right of the people to “alter or abolish” any form of government that is destructive of these ends.

Wheatley provided a local example of this alteration of government to better serve the needs of the people in Wasatch County’s change from a three-member county commission to a seven-member county council in 2003. County commissioners could live anywhere in the county — even, hypothetically, all in the same neighborhood — while now, there are five regional and two at-large seats.

Balderas’ group had its own ideas about how to alter the government to better fit the needs of the people. Their thesis was that the federal government should spend more money on support for American citizens, especially in a time when inflation is rising. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced last Wednesday that consumer prices had risen 4.2% since May last year, a 0.4% increase since last month’s assessment and the highest rate of inflation since 2023.

Balderas, a dual-immersion kindergarten teacher at Heber Valley Elementary, said inflation and Wasatch County’s cost of living are creating financial stress for him. 

Meanwhile, Romanie Murdock expressed her desire for the federal government to better support disabled people and caregivers. She has been her husband’s caregiver since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease four years ago.

“There’s little support for disabled people,” Murdock said. “And caregivers aren’t supported. Society expects that a loved one is the caregiver.”

Murdock said local organizations, particularly the county senior center and the Mountainland Association of Governments, which provides resources and education on aging, Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving in Wasatch, Summit and Utah counties, have been valuable resources for her. She isn’t sure exactly how the federal government can better support Americans who are disabled.

But whatever that support may look like, it could be beneficial for all Americans, suggested group member Ammon Teare. The phenomenon is called the curb cut effect, named for sidewalk ramps, which were installed for people in wheelchairs but are used by others, like people pushing strollers or shopping carts.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, which required nationwide accommodations like curb cuts, was signed into law only 36 years ago, thanks to the efforts of disability civil rights activists and government officials alike.

“It took a lot of people a lot of time to fight for those changes,” Teare said. 

Teare said such progress is often prompted by Americans reflecting on their country’s founding principles and questioning whether current policy is contradictory to those principles. 

He was particularly inspired by Wheatley and Powell’s discussion of how civil rights movements throughout American history have repeatedly led to the reversal of discriminatory government policies.

“Whether it be current immigration policy or the attitudes toward people in this country who are from different parts of the world, the way they’re perceived has changed over time, and at least some part of the impetus for that change was from people looking back at the Constitution, the Declaration (of Independence), and saying, ‘Well, when they say, “we, the people,” or they say, “all people,” they didn’t just mean a handful of people,’” he said.

Teare hopes that America’s 250th anniversary prompts all Americans to reflect on the country’s founding principles and become advocates for them, whether it be through grassroots efforts, voting, running for office or voicing opinions in a public forum.

“There’s never been a time in the country where talking about our rights, talking about the foundations of our democracy, hasn’t been valuable,” he said. “We should be looking (at) how we can use these to improve the rights and lives of all Americans.”

The post On eve of America 250, Wasatch County residents reflect on country’s founding principles appeared first on Park Record.

Park City hosted their annual 4th of July Parade on Main Street Tuesday. The festivities added to multiple activities that continued throughout the day around town. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Park-Citys-4th-of-July-Parade/

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The Park City Ski & Snowboard Club’s annual Fourth of July 5K Fun Run fundraiser welcomed more than 900 participants Tuesday morning on Empire Ave. Participants dressed in festive red, white and blue to celebrate America’s birthday. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Fourth-of-July-5K-Fun-Run/

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