Crossroads exhibit to open at USU Blanding

Utah State University Blanding is hosting a traveling exhibit over the next seven weeks titled “Crossroads—Change in Rural America.”
The exhibit will be open for public viewing from August 26 to October 12, 2024 and will be open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. or weekends by appointment at 435-678-2201.
An open house and kick-off celebration will be held this Friday, August 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. with short remarks at 6:30 p.m. Guests are invited to enjoy light refreshments as they peruse the exhibition
The exhibit includes fun and interactive activities for all ages and provokes fresh thinking and sparks conversations about the future and sustainability of rural communities.
At a time when much of rural Utah is reinventing itself, Crossroads takes a broad look at rural America and examines evolving landscapes and identities.
A local companion exhibit to Crossroads titled Our Homegrown Heritages: Past, Present, and Future focuses on the culture of San Juan County featuring our unique history, geography, and ethnic diversity.
In addition, San Juan County Crossroads features San Juan School District’s writing contest, which asked students to focus on the heritage of their families and communities.
Come find out how change has transformed rural America and how rural Americans are evolving for the future.
The exhibit is part of Museum on Main Street—a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Utah Humanities, touring with M.T. Hurst Foundation and USU Blanding.
Eight locations in Utah were selected to host the exhibit, which is currently on display in the USU Health Science & Library Building at 576 West 200 South in Blanding.
The Smithsonian’s Crossroads exhibition offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths over the past century – to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes, explore how they have adapted, and think about what’s next.
Public programming related to the exhibition is already underway this summer and will continue with a community discussion about the legacy of mining, a lecture about the tensions between the ideals and realities of life in rural Utah, an author presentation of the book Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance, as well as a drop-in family art activity with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.
In addition, interviews with County residents are airing on Utah Public Radio as part of their Rural Utah at a Crossroads project. Complete details on Crossroads in Blanding are available at the Blanding Crossroads Facebook page, at Utah Humanities, and in this schedule of public events.
Ellen Horiuchi Williams, President of the M.T. Hurst Foundation, is the project director for Crossroads in Blanding. She shares that, “Hosting Crossroads is a great opportunity for our community to grow together. In such a remote section of the state, there is a tendency for isolation and exclusion. It is also a county with numerous cultural splits.
“Crossroads can increase the dialogue between disparate groups in the community as well as increase collaboration among major towns in the County. Crossroads can serve as a bridge-building catalyst that can lead to more integration of ideas as we gaze into the future of rural San Juan County.”
Bayley Hedglin, Associate Director of Development at Utah State University Blanding, says, “At Utah State University Blanding, our mission is to provide technical and higher education to those who live in the Four Corners region.
“Part of this mission is to celebrate the history, places, and cultures of those who call San Juan County home. The Crossroads: Change in Rural America exhibition offers an incredible opportunity to document and honor the rich cultural heritage of our area while also addressing the challenges we face in building and sustaining our communities.
“We are excited to partner with the Smithsonian and Utah Humanities to bring this exhibition to Blanding and to facilitate meaningful conversations about our future.”
Megan van Frank, Director of the Center for Community Heritage at Utah Humanities, is coordinating the exhibition tour in Utah.
She says, “This collaboration among national, state, and local organizations strengthens Utah’s cultural community and helps preserve and share Utah history.
“We work closely with host sites to leverage the national exhibition to bring focus to their own experiences and bring context to an understanding of rural identity, land, and community.”
Van Frank hopes that “visitors to the Crossroads exhibition will come away with an appreciation for the tension between cherished ideals and challenging realities of life in rural Utah.
Professor Greg Smoak of the University of Utah is the consulting scholar for the Utah tour of the Crossroads exhibition.
He says, “Utah is an urban place with a rural heart. The vast majority of our state’s population lives in the densely populated cities of the Wasatch Front. Yet, if pressed, many of those urban dwellers might hesitate to think of themselves as city folk. That is because rural life holds deep and resilient meanings for many Americans, especially here in Utah.”
To learn more about the statewide tour, call 801.359.9670 or visit the Utah Humanities website.