 The City of St. George Utah offers the perfect mixture of big city appeal with a small town feel. The city currently has a population of more than 100,000, making St. George one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. As the city grows citizens and visitors are finding more and more shopping and dinning locations to choose from. Both local and national brand name businesses are always building in St. George. In recent years St George has become the shopping mecca for the area. People drive from Arizona, Nevada and several Utah cities and towns come to browse the array of shops, stores and boutiques found in St. George.
The arts are plentiful in St. George. There are several live performance theatres in St. George, including Tuacahn Amphitheater and the St. George Musical Theatre. Cedar City is just a short 50-minute drive to the north of St. George and is home to the Utah Shakespearean Festival, which runs each year from June to October. The annual Arts Festival in St. George offers an outdoor venue for both local and national artists to show works. The Festival is held each spring in St. George's Historic Downtown area. The city is also home to several museums and historical sites.
Early Mormon Pioneer settlement homes in the area have been preserved by the community and are open to the public. Visitors to St. George will find many historic homes throughout the city. Some have been turned into museums while others have been converted into quaint boutiques and shops.
True art enthusiasts will enjoy spending an afternoon at the Kayenta Artist Community & Museum located just a few miles outside of St. George.
In 1999, film makers Nathan Fackrell, Jason deVilliers, and Matt Fackrell began the Eclipse Film Festival. This festival is held in November each year and is growing in popularity. The festival founders selected St. George to be the site of their event because of the beauty of the surrounding area.
 Being located in the far southwest corner of Utah, St. George is the gateway to many breathtaking natural wonders. The area is often referred to as "Color Country" due to the spectacular desert colors showcased in and around Bryce & Zion National Parks, Lake Powell and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. There is plenty of hiking and exploring available in the St. George area. There are several locations near St. George where ancient Native American petroglyphs and pictographs have been found. Not far from St. George, visitors can explore the Lee’s ferry area or take a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam.
In the spring of 2000, a farmer living in the St. George area was flattening the ground at the edge of his property. As he worked he discovered what turned out to be the largest collection of dinosaur tracks ever found. The tracks were made in a casting like process, thus giving scientists and curious visitors a rare look at what dinosaur skin, and claws were like. This attraction is free to the public during the ongoing excavation.
There is also opportunity for winter activities such as skiing and snow boarding in resort areas like Elk Meadows and Brian Head; or just get away for a day of snowshoeing or cross-county skiing in the hills of Pine Valley. Visitors can drive to any of these locations for fun wintertime activities then return to the warmth of St. George at the end of the day. After braving the cold, winter adventurers could even take a swim! Many of the St. George lodging and rental locations have swimming pools and hot tubs available to guests year round.
People running from snow and cold temperatures will find that the winters in St. George are sunny and warm. The daytime temperatures rarely dip below 60 degrees. Nights are a bit colder, but never so cold that a light jacket won’t do. Because of the milder winters, St. George offers several world class golf courses including Entrada, Coral Canyon and Green Springs. There are also tennis courts, walking/running trails, baseball diamonds and swimming facilities available throughout the year.  St. George is home to the largest/newest hospital in the region. Dixie Regional Medical Center River Road (DRMC) became an additional DRMC campus in November of 2003 and offers several state-of-the-art medical treatments. Together DRMC's River Road and 400 East Campuses are licensed for 196 patient beds. That number will expand to 228 in January when construction on the 4th Floor of the patient bed tower at River Road is complete. Patients needing surgery, emergency attention, cardiology/heart services and much, much more find compassionate, skilled care here. DRMC is a service of Intermountain Health Care (IHC). Verispan, an independent research company which rates health care, has ranked IHC the number one health care system in the nation four of the past five years.
The DRMC 400 East Campus currently provides care for women and children, cancer patients, many outpatient services, the only acute rehabilitation unit between Provo and Las Vegas, and behavioral medicine. DRMC sponsors many events including a health fair, drive through flu-shot opportunity and in collaboration with the Foundation of DRMC hosts the annual holiday Jubilee of Trees and springtime Jubilee Charity Cup golf tournament. Proceeds from the Foundation events benefit the charitable purposes of the hospital and strengthen access to local healthcare.
Dixie State College also calls the City of St. George home. With humble beginnings as an academy, then a junior college (2-year); Dixie became a state college in the year 2000 and has begun to offer 4-year degree options to students. Currently, bachelor degrees are being offered in Elementary Education, Business Administration, Computer & Information Technology and Nursing. The College hopes to expand the bachelors program in the future. Dixie State College also continues to offer Associate Degrees, Certificate Programs and Adult Education classes.
Whether the plan is a visit to southern Utah or a move to a more community oriented city, St. George is definitely the place to be. Everyone is encouraged to check out Utah’s Dixie…Come to St. George! |
