Moroni councilwoman seeks to resurrect former”Mudd Boggs” as modern city recreation facility

MORONI—A Moroni city councilwoman is leading an effort to combine the one-time Mudd Boggs arena and nearby trap shooting range into an attractive recreation facility.

“We want to make it something the community can enjoy that can also bring in revenue,” says Councilwoman Cherrie Green.

She outlined some of her ideas in a city council meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19 and gave more detail in an interview with the Messenger.

For decades, the Mudd Boggs were the site of monster truck and ATV races, especially during the town’s July Fourth celebration. But interest in the events waned and the grandstand and arena started to deteriorate.

Several years ago, the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste covered the cost of removing hundreds of tires that had been stacked up to define racing lanes.

Green says she wants the arena to become “a multi-use facility” that could be used for rodeos, 4-H horseback riding, ATV rodeos and possibly a mud volleyball court, to name a few possible uses.

She is writing a grant application and requesting $50,000. Caribou Log Homes, a business in the city, has offered to send its staff to the site to do construction work. Chester Parry, a resident, has volunteered to restore the concession stand.

Residents are being asked to make individual donations with a total target of $5,000. A poster in the lobby of the city hall with a thermometer-style graphic is tracking progress.

Green said she would like to attract some business sponsors that could make larger donations. Interested businesses should contact Ashley Grundy of the Moroni City Activities Committee. To reach her, call city hall at 436-8359.

Finally, Green is asking citizens to participate in a community-wide cleanup in April. She says the date hasn’t been set but will be announced on the city Facebook page and in the Sanpete Messenger.

Eventually, Green said she would like to add picnic tables and grills near the trap shooting range to tie it and the former Mudd Boggs arena together.

Green also briefed the council on possible changes and improvements in the city cemetery, with the goal of completing many of them by Memorial Day.

There is a planter in a rear corner of the cemetery with an American flag beside it that serves as a veterans memorial and is the site of the Memorial Day flag-raising ceremony.

She is proposing to plant flowers in the planter and add flags for the six branches of the U.S. military.

There is another American flag in the center and toward the back of the cemetery. She is proposing to move it so it is behind another planter closer to the front of the cemetery. Flowers have been planted in that planter.

She says she also wants to “freshen up the gravel” along the roads and in some other areas in the cemetery.

Finally, on Memorial Day, she wants to post 52 flags running the width of the front of cemetery along S.R. 132.
Green’s ideas appeared to have the support of other council members.

In terms of infrastructure, the biggest project facing Moroni is a complete rebuild of its secondary irrigation system. In comments following the meeting, Councilman Fred Atkinson said, “It’s a little overwhelming.”

Atkinson said the first step is to commission an engineering study to find out what needs to be done and how much it will cost.
Mayor Troy Prestwich said the irrigation system replacement might fit “water optimization” grants the state is offering. “But they’re looking for a pretty substantial match.”

Councilman Kevin Taylor is taking the lead in a project to recarpet the senior center in the city hall. “We might as well paint it as well,” he said, adding, “We need to do painting in city hall. It hasn’t been painted in 20 years.”