BALLAM SAYS ANNUAL OPERA FESTIVAL CREATES SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC IMPACT TO COMMUNITY

By Jennie Christensen,
Cache Valley Daily
Published: Monday, August 3, 2015

You have only until Saturday, August 8 to attend offerings of the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre’s 23rd season and founding Director Michael Ballam says so far it has been one of the most successful seasons ever for the Company.

Ballam says because the productions are done in repertory it is possible to see all of them in just two days. He says that makes it attractive for those living out of Cache Valley who spend a weekend here which greatly helps the economy.

“I suspect that after our economic impact report comes in we will see that we probably make a $15-$16 million impact to Cache Valley,” says Ballam. “That doesn’t mean we make that, we break even. Our job is to just break even and we have done that for 23 seasons.

“But we do have significant effect of bringing money–especially new money, that is money that is not just passed around members of the Cache Valley community–but money that comes into our economic basis here in the community.”

Ballam says he is very grateful for that. He says between 70 and 80 percent of those attending the festival come from outside of Cache Valley. He would like to see more local residents come and those who do start to attend almost always continue to do so.