FARMINGTON -- Someone who sings like Neil Diamond, and another act that sings Beach Boys' songs, are part of the festivities being packed into the 6th annual Antelope Island Stampede Festival.
The three-day event will be held on the island Sept. 2-4, Labor Day weekend.
The cost to attend the event is $15 per carload, which includes the state park fee, Davis County's causeway fee. It allows entry to all festival entertainment.
On Tuesday, Stampede Festival organizers approached the Davis County Commission and requested a small donation from the county to help pay for programming for the event.
The commission approved giving the group a $2,500 donation. Those funds are to come from the county's tourism tax revenue.
The county will recoup its donation through the fees visitors will pay at the Antelope Island causeway gate in Syracuse. The county receives a portion of all fees paid at the gate in exchange for its building and maintaining the 7.5 mile causeway.
"We get the full amount back," Davis County Community and Economic Development Director Kent Sulser said of the county's investment in the event, which is aimed at highlighting the island.
"We want (the festival) to become a countywide, regional event," Sulser said.
Slightly more than 20,000 people attended the festival in 2010, which is just short of its record attendance of 22,000 in 2009, said Kathi Dysert, Davis Area Convention & Visitor's Bureau director of sales and marketing.
Dysert said last year's event might have topped its 2009 attendance figure had they not experienced poor weather on the final day.
The goal this year is to reach 25,000 attendees, making it the second-largest single event in Davis County outside the four-day county fair, she said.
To boost attendance this year, event organizers have added a few more activities, including an additional night of fireworks, with firework displays being provided on both Friday and Saturday nights.
The festival, in addition to featuring hot-air balloons and large kites, will have Syracuse city hosting a "stampede" 5K and 12K trail run, said Vaughn Jacobsen, an event coordinator.
There will also be music provided by a Neil Diamond sound-alike and a Beach Boys tribute band, and BMX bike demonstrations presented Saturday and Sunday, Jacobsen said.
Surveys conducted by Weber State University regarding festival attendance have confirmed the stampede is bringing tourism dollars into the county, Jacobsen said.
"It is a stimulus for tourism," he said, with last year's event attracting a large number of visitors from Salt Lake County, and one visitor from as far away as Virginia.
Davis County Commissioner Louenda Downs said the festival continues to boost tourism for the county.
For more information on the festival, visit www.antelopeballoons.com.
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