One of Farmington City Council’s community partners, the Farmington Utah Rotary Club, put on a car show for a good cause. During the City Council meeting on Oct. 1, 2024, Rotary Club President Justin Jones, in tandem with former President and current Secretary David Stringfellow, gave a presentation on the Rotary Club’s 2024 service projects. The presentation culminated in a review of one of the club’s most outstanding recent projects: organizing the Car Show for Farmington City’s Festival Days. 

Festival Days, which took place this past summer from July 8-13, 2024, is Farmington’s annual community celebration. Featuring a carnival, a parade, a lineup of Utah-based musicians, and a host of outdoor activities, the festival brings together local talent and national sponsors for a week’s worth of fun and fundraising. Each year for the festival, a community partner is selected to champion the annual Car Show. 

This year, the Rotary Club partnered with 93.3 The Bull radio station to put on the greatly-anticipated event, transforming the length of Farmington Historic Main Street into an exhibit of eye-catching, locally-owned cars. As part of their City Council presentation, Jones and Stringfellow announced that the proceeds from the event will go to the Rotary Club’s mission of ending polio worldwide. 

The Farmington Utah Rotary Club is part of the global organization Rotary International, whose mission is to promote world understanding, provide service, and build community at the local, national, and international level. As one of the largest service organizations in the world and a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary International has played a monumental role in fighting polio across the globe, helping to reduce cases by 99.9% since its first vaccination effort in 1979, with the goal of one day eliminating the disease entirely. 

Polio, which primarily affects children under the age of 5, was all but eradicated in 2023 until recent international conflicts led to severe outbreaks, prompting Rotary International to renew its efforts to fight the disease in 2024. For impacted children, the complications can be devastating and lifelong, often leading to paralysis. “We want to do everything that we can to help prevent that,” Stringfellow said during the presentation. “For about a quarter, you can vaccinate a kid, so they won’t have to have that disease.” 

In addition to the Festival Day’s Car Show, the local chapter of Rotary International promoted the organization’s annual fundraiser for World Polio Day on Oct. 24, 2024. Established by Rotary International to raise awareness about polio and the necessity of the polio vaccine, World Polio Day helps bring attention to worldwide efforts to ensure that vulnerable children and communities receive the care they need. Through all of these contributions, the Farmington Utah Rotary Club did its part to advance the service initiatives of Rotary International. 

At the conclusion of the presentation, Mayor Brett Anderson gave Jones and Stringfellow the check for the proceeds earned at the Festival Days Car Show. The check, totaling $500, marks Farmington Utah Rotary Club and Rotary International’s most recent contribution to this important global cause. λ