HURRICANE, Utah — Kyle Whitehead is a U.S. history teacher at Dixie Middle School, and the problem he faces is the lack of places to show his students the actual history, especially colonial history.
There's not much to look at now, but an empty patch of land in Hurricane is where Whitehead may take students on history-filled field trips. It's called Liberty Village, a proposed American history-themed park.
But should the State of Utah foot part of the bill for what's to come? FOX 13 News went out to ask those in charge.
Lex Howard said he got the idea for the Liberty Village project which he chairs while visiting a colonial America replica site in Alabama.
"I turned to my wife and I said, 'Eileen, we're building this in southern Utah for our children," he said Thursday.
Liberty Village will have 21 iconic buildings from America's 18th Century, including Independence Hall, Monticello and the only reproduction of Declaration House.
Dennis Leavitt is leading the project that was first announced in 2021. Ground was broken a year later and the group has raised more than $30 million. Yet, as of Thursday, the Liberty Village site was mostly an empty lot with some curbs and foundations poured.
"What's taken so long is we have been working with municipalities, government leaders and the government workforce in order to make sure all the appropriate T's were crossed and I's were dotted," explained Leavitt. "We've been very frugal with our expenditures."
Leavitt added that a lot of work has been done on the underground utilities that isn't apparent on site.
The Utah House is now considering an appropriation sponsored by Rep. Joseph Elison (R-Toquerville) to provide Liberty Village with $3 million.
"A lot of people think, well, it's just a southern Utah issue, but really it's not," Elison said.
"It's going to be a gem for the state. We continue to want to market and bring people to Utah and it's going to be a great tourist destination which will benefit all of Utah."
But the project is not without critics. In 2023, the FDA briefly took Balance of Nature, a dietary supplement company where Howard is CEO, and rumors have spread that Howard is a Scientologist.
Howard says he's not and that the project won't have a bias and will be non-partisan. But the main spokespeople for Liberty Village have been people like Glenn Beck and Dinesh D'Souza., along with Tim Ballard who was initially announced as part of the team until a year ago.
"We are focused on history," said Howard. "Honestly, I don't really care what the history ... it's the good, the bad, and the ugly."
Whitehead has heard the concerns over the project and remains encouraged.
"...just to bring something like that out here to southern Utah," he said, "I think makes a huge impact and huge difference."
