Big Water, UT

For the folks that have stopped by my blog here at at Lakepowellrealty and joked around about photos off my back porch... here you go!

Yesterday I walked out of my driveway to the street and shot the following three photos. These are all from the corner of my driveway looking basically north-ish. There was a storm starting to build which arrived today. It has been raining, well sprinkling, all day which is great news! With only 4 to 8 inches of rainfall a year, rain is good.

Looking North West to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

The View North East toward Lake Powell with Big Water School on the right hand side

Looking almost due North to the Monument and over Wahweap

And There You Have It - Views from a Big Water Utah Porch!

Once again it's time for the annual fall festivals to begin in the Lake Powell area. First off is the Big Water Fall Festival which will be held October 11th. The festival has a new location this year and will be at the Big Water School. This is our annual Open Air Market and Crafts Fair.

Crafters, Artisans, Produce, Yard Sale Booths, Food, Entertainment, Games and Contest Galore! Booth Fee is $10.00 and the deadline is October 6th.

There will be

• Jump Rope Contest
• Hula Hoop Contest
• Bike Races for ages 7 and up
• Kids Games for 5 and under
• Lipsync contest for all ages including solo and group entries
• Costume Race
• Pumpkin Decorating Contest (not carved) (bring a painted or decorated pumpkin)

Also on the Homemade Side

• Garden Produce Contest
• Home Arts Contest
• Canning, Baking and Candy Making Contest

For the Homemade Side entries must be at Big Water School before 11 a.m. Arizona time or 12:00 noon Utah Time.

Lipsync Contest begins at 1:00 p.m. Arizona and 2:00 p.m. Utah time.

The Big Water Fall Festival runs from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Utah time which is 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Arizona time. (yes the time difference is interesting to live with in the Lake Powell Arizona Utah area!)

Thanks goes out to Jennie and Peggy for the effort it takes to put on these events every year. They are much appreciated by the community. All proceeds will benefit the Big Water School.

Fall is one of the fun things about living in the Lake Powell area.

For the past 30 some odd years Big Water, Utah, has been celebrating Bird Day. For many years Bird Day was a Utah holiday and when it was shelved Big Water community kept it up. Bird Day started as a way to celebrate the seagulls eating the crickets that saved the crops of the Mormon Pioneers. This year Bird Day was held April 26th.

Bird Day is a fun filled, old fashioned, carnival day for the kids of all ages. There were sack races, balloon tosses, 3-legged races, an art contest, a bake off, the ever popular treasure hunt and scavenger hunt, and of course, the EGG toss. Guessing the amount of eggs and candy in the baskets and voting on “Bird Awards” were two of the most popular activities. There were lots of folks entered in the arm wrestling and nail hammering contests as well.

Many thanks to the local folks who have worked for so many years to keep Bird Day something to look forward to each year in Big Water.

So the adults had fun with this one as well as the little kids. Egg Races. Put a raw egg in a spoon, run the length of the parking lot and don't drop the egg. Yeah!

Big kids got three nails and one small hammer, ladies got two nails and one small hammer, little guys got one nail and one LARGE hammer for the Nail Hammering Contest.

Ladies take arm wrestling pretty serious.

By the 6:30 p.m awards ceremony everyone looked like they had a wonderful, sun filled, fun day.

As of April 9, 2008 ~ homes, businesses and properties available on the Utah side of lake Powell. These are listings for Church Wells, Big Water and Clark Bench.

1 Commercial Building (boat storage)

5 Commercial Building Lots

2 Manufactured Homes

4 Homes

19 Residential Lots

1 Subdivision (Powell Springs)

There have been a couple of new listings this week so hopefully our inventory will keep going up!

Heather Rankin, ERA Utah Properties

Lake Powell Real Estate Blog

No pun intended. Driving though Big Water has changed notably in the last few months. The new 55 mile per hour signs up are a welcome relief to many people on both sides of the Utah/Arizona border.

This is a story with a long history of local residents and elected officials attempting to have the speed limit reduced through Big Water. It is an idea whose time has come.

In April of last year, a local resident and business owner, Mike Miller, was injured and his car totaled while attempting to turn left off Highway 89. Thankfully, Mike survived but sustained serious injuries.

For years, city officials have been attempting to figure out how to have UDOT lower the speed limit through Big Water. Thankfully, the first step in the process has occurred and the limit is now 55 mph instead of 65.

Rick Parsons, Big Water Mayor, has been to numerous UDOT meetings trying to raise the warning flag of impending disaster. The flag got real with Mike’s accident.

Wayne Chapman, a Big Water resident, wrote an open letter to Governor Huntsman in July pleading the case for the lowering of the speed limit before a child is injured or killed.

Not to write my own editorial here but UDOT indicates the speed limit revolves around Big Water’s master plan. However, after 17 years of living here, there have been many people on town council and planning and zoning, who have tried to get this problem addressed to no avail. The traffic on Highway 89, especially in summer months with tourists and visitors to Lake Powell, increases dramatically over winter months. The vehicle that plowed into Mike’s car was a 22 wheeler semi-truck.

The new lower limit hopefully will become permanent and the first in a series of steps to make Big Water’s highway access safer and more visitor friendly.

To view the map of sign changes please click here: 55 Map Change