This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This week's Utah Crowd-Funding Project is marking the centennial of an infamous date in Utah history.
This year — November 19, to be precise — marks the 100th anniversary of the death, by firing squad, of Joe Hill, the Swedish-born labor organizer who was convicted of murdering ex-cop John G. Morrison and his son in Salt Lake City. He was executed, even as many argued that he didn't commit the crime.
Hill, in death, became a legendary figure — a martyr for the labor cause, immortalized in song and story. (The best known work, the song "Joe Hill," was famously covered by Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, The Dubliners, and by Joan Baez at Woodstock.)
Fans of Hill have formed a nonprofit group, the Joe Hill Organizing Committee, whose members include bookseller Ken Sanders, publisher Gibbs Smith and musician Kate MacLeod. They are planning a free daylong open-air concert in Salt Lake City on Sept. 5 — the Saturday before Labor Day.
The total budget for the concert is just over $100,000, and the committee aims to raise $30,000 via crowd-funding, to pay the artists and musicians fairly. The committee has launched a Kickstarter campaign, which so far has raised $4,182. The deadline is May 3.
Benefits for backers range from being listed in the event program (for $3) to a private concert by MacLeod and Duncan Phillips anywhere in the continental United States (for $8,000).
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