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The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area will receive a Best of State Award on Wednesday at the annual gala at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
The federally designated area is in central and southern Utah that includes much of U.S. 89, Utah Highway 12 and Utah State Route 24. Both Utah highways intersect with U.S. 89, forming the area's Boulder Loop, which includes Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield and Kane counties.
Suzanne Dean, publisher of the Sanpete Messenger, submitted the nomination in the Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Historical Heritage Site Category.
"As publisher of a community newspaper in the Heritage Area for the past 17 years, I've watched and reported on the long, arduous process of bringing together six counties, 42 cities and a host of travel-oriented businesses into a working partnership, and from there, achieving congressional designation as a heritage area," Dean said.
Joyce Bennett, widow of the late-Sen. Robert F. Bennett, will accept the award. Sen. Bennett was the main sponsor of the bill to designate the U.S. 89 corridor as a heritage area.
For information on what to see and do in the heritage area, log on to http://www.mormonpioneerheritage.org.