Larry Jewell

March 15th, you're with Dixie's 890 KDXU. And we have special guests in the studio. Actually, Jimmy Osmond is with us here. But you have company, too, don't you? You bet. Cheryl Voss is with me from the city, and we've been working together on the Spirit of Dixie project. Now, it began with the. Cheryl, you're turning the mic towards Jimmy Osmond. Come on. You didn't want to say anything, did you? No need to be shy. Quick, Cheryl. It began with the Tabernacle Choir. That's right. That was our major kickoff. And that happened February 23rd. And now we're moving on to Western Days in the park and the Marie Osmond concert. We're having more kicks right in the middle, right? That's right. Yeah. This is quite a kick, Jimmy. Now you're involved, obviously. Yes. Basically, I'm a behind the scene person on this particular event. I don't know if you're familiar with what my family has done in the past as far as producing these type of spectaculars. I'm not really that familiar with the production end of it. Basically, we do. For the past nine years, we've done one at Cougar Stadium and other places. And basically we incorporate pageantry with fireworks and celebrities. And basically. What was it last year? I guess my brother was talking to Cheryl about us coming down and producing an event here and making this an annual event where we showcase the pageantry and the fireworks. And my sister Marie's going to be performing. This is exciting. Yeah, yeah, we're looking forward to it. It's something that you really got to see. But what's nice about it, it's. There's something for everyone in the family. I mean, there's the music, there's the concert side of it, but yet there's also the clogging, and there's all that goes on in the presentation of the show. One of the advantages about looking for celebrities is all you have to do is look around the kitchen table in your home, right? That's right. Well, one thing, too. Marie was supposed to appear here, I guess, last year, and she was really ill. She was having her baby, and I guess you get ill when you have babies. My brothers filled in for her last year and she wanted to come back really bad, and there was a lot of people that wanted her to perform here, so she was looking forward to it. She had some laryngitis. I talked to her on the phone. She called down and barely talked to. I talked to her. She barely Talked to me. I remember at that time, she was just sick about it. Because we love St. George. My mom and dad moved down here and they love it. It's a healthy, fun, beautiful community, and we're excited to be able to be a part of it. Well, way back when, way back when the family got involved not only locally, but eventually internationally with performing. How did the transition come into from purely performing into the production end of it, too? How did that take place? It's interesting question. I guess out of necessity, you know, like when you're, you know, we start. I started when I was 3 years old with my brothers and they were already going on Andy Williams show. But, you know, when you're trying to pace your shows, you have to incorporate production and realize what people want. And so that gets you more into the business affairs side of it. And we got into producing our own television series after that. So it kind of just evolved itself. Well, as far as Jimmy Osmond, performer, people remember you as a little guy, right? And then all of a sudden they say, what is this? It's happening in Japan for you. That's where it really happened for you, wasn't it? Japan was a really good market. I did a lot of work there as well as in South America, but Japan really was probably the best market for me. I started doing commercials there when I was like 5 years old and I had some records in a television series there. And now I have my office. My main office is there. And for touring and that type stuff we get involved in. We did the Jackson Tour and Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We took there once. I know what Cheryl went through. They're a wonderful group of people. They really are. But that's a lot. But when you carry that many people to Japan, it's quite an event. That's amazing. We get involved in some really fun things. And right now, two years ago, I bought back the studio that my family had built and sold since we sold off our production companies and it's been going great guns. We've done several movies in there with Cimino. Tom Cruise was there not too long ago, and it was a lot of fun. Wow. But we're focusing now mostly for the studio and commercial production. This must be fun for you. I love it. It's wonderful. I keep pinching myself. So grateful for the opportunities that I've had because I know a lot of people would love to be doing some things like I get involved in. And I'm just really grateful that my brothers and my parents sacrificed a lot to Afford me these opportunities. It must have been kind of unusual being a celebrity at three. Do you sometimes say, what is it? What is it like being on the non celebrity side of life? Does that ever cross your mind? I don't know. You know, I grew up in, you know, tap dancing, so I don't. I don't know. You know, I don't think I missed anything. I. I would have. I never went to public school or anything, but I always had private tutors. And it was a different life, I guess, to most, but it's the only life I know, so I. I don't see it as anything different now as the family gets up, gets grown, gets married, gets their own families. What sort of interrelationship do you have now? Is it a little tough to kind of keep in touch with each other, or does it really revolve around the business? Not really. It's, you know, we talk to each other daily and it's, you know, Donnie's off doing his career. He's had a lot of success recently. Marie's off doing her career. My brothers and I are starting to work more together, which is really fun. Meryl and Allen joined the company that I'm involved with. But we talk daily. You know, we're friends, not just family. And that's what's been really fun for me growing up. I think that's an opportunity a lot of kids don't get because my brothers had to be my best friends because, you know, that's all I really had to live with every day, you know, and would tour and different things. Good thing he had a big family. So he had a variety of personalities. That's right. Now, let's talk a little bit about this Spirit of Dixie celebration. Was the original idea to really tie it with the Spirit of Dixie celebration, or did that just happen to coincide with that and say, hey, let's do it? I think Cheryl can answer that better than I. No, it was a plan. When we started with the Spirit of Dixie, I believe it was Carl Brooks, the mayor, who brought us the information on Merrill Osmond Productions at that time. And then Lon Henderson and I met with Merrill and the city and of course, our executive board, that's over. The Spirit of Dixie, which involves the school District, City of St. George, Dixie College, and the Chamber of Commerce. It's easier to say who isn't involved, isn't it? That's right. Well, it's truly a community project that involves every business, every volunteer that we can put our hands on. And that's the exciting part of it, because we want people that come to St. George to know they're taken care of and that we have something really to offer the public. And we're thrilled to have the Osmonds here. They have been tremendous to work with and down to earth people. You're just saying that because I'm sitting next to you. Yes, but she's liable to say it when you're not sitting next to her too. That's right. No, I wouldn't say it unless I mean it. Jimmy, let's talk a little bit once again about. About when the performance is coming up and everything surrounding that. Let's begin with the dates. Easy enough. Well, March 30th is our big kickoff for Western days. That's Friday. That's a Friday. And it'll begin at noon. Now the clogging will begin a little bit earlier. The Osmonds are bringing in 1200 cloggers from all over the Intermountain west in change. 1200, 1200. That's a competition about five on the Richter, isn't it? That's great. Bringing in professional judges that will judge these performers. And that will be going on all day in the park along with the western town we are building. And we have a grand opening in conjunction with Sparklets, which is one of the major sponsors that are moving their expanding their company from Vegas into the St. George area. Sparklets trail drinking water and we will have a ribbon cutting ceremony with them. And they have been great. They're providing the balloons for our big thousand balloons going in the air and kids from all the different schools participating along with the clogging. And then the booths will open and they'll stay open until dusk on Friday. Then on Saturday morning at 10 will have a helicopter drop ping pong balls all over the city park. And Sparklets is furnishing, I think 200 prizes. So if you get the bright green ping pong ball, then you get a prize for the booth for all the kids. And the clogging will begin again and we'll have breakfast. JB's is furnishing breakfast buffet in the park that morning. $4 for adults, $2 for children. Then Dutch oven dinner, which will be $6 a person and $3 for children. And of course then we move to the Marie Osmond concert, which is $11. And for that $11, you not only get the Marie Osmond concert, you get the fabulous fireworks show and also a dance following the concert. This sounds great. Now, Jimmy, this is where you come in. Whereabouts is this going? To be in the park, too. The concert, or is this going to be over at the Dixie Center? It's right next door. Oh, the sun boat. Oh, okay. Up in there. Okay. And so all they have to do is just take whatever's left of their food and go. I think, you know, just listening again to, you know, what's mapped out for everybody. I think there is something for everybody in this event, and that's what's fun. And the local merchants here and everybody wants to be involved in this. In this event. It's really kind of neat to see it. So this will be the 30th and 31st. Correct. Marie's concert will be on the 31st. And the 30th will be all of the other stuff that Cheryl talked about, the clogging festivals. And this should be a lot of fun. This is exciting. Are you gonna go? I'm gonna. Yeah, let's see. I may be in. Yeah, I'll be in Caribbean, though. No, that's that thing. But that's another one thing, Larry. There is limited seating in the sun bowl, so people need to get into the Dixie center and purchase those 10. They're available now? Yes. And they are selling, so they need to get in there and get that taken care of. Eleven bucks is a pretty easy. That's a pretty easy blow for a internationally known star. Plus, one thing we wanted to make sure is we're all looking to make this an ongoing annual event and really get involved with the local community. And so we wanted to make sure the pricing structure was such that everybody could be a part of it. And so that's. We're excited about it and feel that everything is positioned properly for a real successful event. This is exciting. This is exciting. Marie will be here and all of the band and everything else behind her. What? You bet. Great. There's some pageantry in the opening, and like I said, you know, right after the concert, you know, there's a youth dance that will be going on. It'll be a lot of fun. That's where I'm going to be. I'm still the unmarried one, so I'm going to be there. But no, even if people just, you know, wanted just to go to the dance, that's possible. You're going to set up a kissing booth, by the way. Kiss. Jimmy Osmond. We're gonna put you in the stand. Oh, no, I'm married. Sounds great, though. Jimmy, this has been fun to have you here. Well, thank you, Cheryl. It's been great to have you here. And once again, the the dates of the time and the dates will be on on the 30th and 31st. And the 31st is the big concert coming up. So take note of that. Tickets, once again, Cheryl, are available at the Dixie center box office now. That's right. $11 per person for all three events. For the whole thing. That's right. 11 bucks get you the whole thing. That's right. The whole thing. The whole thing. The whole. All right. Now we're talking. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, and welcome to St. George. The spirit of Dixie is here. Jimmy Osmond and Cheryl Voss with us. And you're with Dixie's 890KDXU news, coming up next, right after this. This is Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. It's 2:57.