What do onions, orchards and the country of Scotland have in common? They are three things that bring tens of thousands of visitors from across the West to the towns of Payson and Santaquin, Utah, every year—and possibly what encourages them to stay.

According to the Gardner Policy Institute, Payson has gone from an estimated population of 19,892 in 2017 to 22,142 in 2021, and Santaquin has gone from 11,652 in 2017 to 15,361 in 2021. These growing hubs make the phrase that sums up what draws people to this area rather ironic.

Small-town feel

“We still have that small-town feel,” says Kat Santos, director of marketing for the Payson Santaquin Area Chamber of Commerce. The towns’ growth is balanced by events that bring the close-knit community together. 

Festivals such as Orchard Days, Golden Onion Days and the Payson Scottish Festival provide opportunities for residents to get to know each other and create relationships. These same festivals also bring significant boosts to the local economy and are partially responsible for the large number of newcomers.

“I’d say the general public really longs for that quiet, peaceful, no-traffic lifestyle to remain,” says Jim Rowland, executive director of the Payson Santaquin Area Chamber of Commerce. “Yet we also want these businesses to come into town so that we can have better choices for restaurants and shopping.”

During Golden Onion Days and Orchard Days, attendees pass by the booths of local jewelry makers, artists and other creatives as they make their way to various concerts, 5K races, rodeos, car shows and flower shows.

“We get some pretty big bands that come down and play … lots of rides, big carnival. They probably had a good thousand people in the park (this year),” Rowland says about Golden Onion Days. “It draws people from all over. A lot of people who have lived in Payson who’ve moved away come back for it.” 

The Payson Scottish Festival, in particular, brings a myriad of out-of-town attendees. 

A two-day event, Rowland says the festival is one of the largest Scottish game festivals in the West. Kilt-clad Utahns, Idahoans and Californians gather to eat haggis, listen to bagpipes and compete in the Highland games. “They literally do come from all over the country,” Rowland says. “We’ve only got one hotel here in town, so they certainly fill up for that event.”

The hotel isn’t the only business that takes advantage of the event. Rowland explains, “We do a lot of booths at the event itself, so a lot of businesses get some good recognition.” Santos says that Bill Elrick, president of the Payson Scottish Festival Board, is trying to get even more businesses to set up booths and advertise at the festival. 

The need for local businesses

The desire to increase revenue to local businesses in this area is particularly significant when one considers the fact that 75 percent of business licenses distributed in Santaquin are for home-based businesses.

“The challenge with home-based businesses is that they may or may not bring in a lot of tax dollars,” Rowland says. “A home-based business might even be a Mary Kay business or a network marketing business, where … they may not produce a lot of revenue. If there’s no revenue, there’s no taxes to the county. To maintain the city budgets, we need that revenue. If everybody’s working from home or working up in Provo, there are not a lot of tax dollars.”

For the folks not working from home or in Provo, where in Payson and Santaquin are they? As with the rest of Utah County, sweets shops, soda shops and burger places are in vogue. 

Santos lists Sip-N, Java Pop, Simple Nutrition, Arctic Circle, Dairy Queen and Iceberg as just a few of the hot spots in the area. “Santaquin is burger city,” she jokes.

And, once again, events like the Payson Scottish Festival and Golden Onion Days are the key to bringing in revenue for these local joints as well as local artists and creatives.

The play’s the thing

Another development anticipated to bring revenue, people and enrichment to the Payson area is the Huish Theater. 

Originally built in 1949, the transformation of Huish from a movie theater to a venue for musicals, plays, comedy and concerts is anticipated to create a new staple for the Payson community. “We’ve been told by city council members, the Mayor’s office and other citizens that the Huish PACE [Performing Arts and Cultural Education] Center will become the anchor of everything downtown,” says Cary Stockwell, director of the Huish Theater.

The Huish Theater is in a strategic location, just west of Main Street on Utah Avenue. After a night out at a performance, comedy night or poetry slam, theatergoers are an easy walk to downtown restaurants and shopping, hopefully inspiring spending at local establishments.

The theater is also a short walk from Memorial Park, the site of the Payson Scottish Festival and Golden Onion Days celebration. Like Rowland and Santos, Stockwell anticipates that these events will increase traffic to all downtown businesses.

In fact, Stockwell says that during the upcoming 2024 Payson Scottish Festival, oil painters, watercolor artists and calligraphy artists will gather in the Sideshow, a 96-seat auditorium in the Huish, to showcase and sell their art. 

Another unique feature of the Huish Theater is the Payson Bardschool, an open mic event held by the theater every Tuesday. Each week has a different theme, often music, storytelling, poetry or songwriting. After hearing from a featured artist, community members of all ages are invited to come to the theater and perform, free of charge (tickets are $5 for nonperformers). 

After developments, about two years from now, the Huish will have a main theater of about 650 seats, nearly seven times the amount of the 96 seats the small Sideshow has now. 

“Right now, there aren’t a lot of things, activity-wise, downtown,” Stockwell says.  “We have the opportunity to have so many people in our building doing different things each week, that’ll bring a lot of variety to town. … It’s our goal to fill up the Huish every week.”

Ultimately, events like the Payson Scottish Festival, Golden Onion Days, Orchard Days and the Huish Theater’s Bardschool nights will be key in bolstering the economy of the area as people come from out of town and local merchants, artists, restaurants and soda shops are given the opportunity to make significant sales. It’s community staples like these that allow a city to experience economic growth while also maintaining the coveted “small-town feel.”