HUNTINGTON, Utah. — It almost went unnoticed five months ago when the $28 million Desertview Federal Credit Union with a little industry help quietly put together a special $58,000 fund-raiser for the families of the Crandall Mine disaster in this central Utah town of 2,200.
And over the New Year's weekend as the media marked the state's No 1 story of the year it became known that Desertview organized a hugely successful Sept.15 country/rock concert in the very junior high where the grieving families heard the news on Aug. 6 of six miners being trapped. Days later three more miners died trying to rescue them.
"This was never a case of our trying to make some kind of name for our credit union but it was a gesture to assist our grieving members, the mining families of Huntington," explained Gary Arrington, Desertview vice chair who recounted how mostly corporate donations helped pay for three separate funds including a student scholarship.
Recommended For You
Also helping Desertview with ads and arrangements were the Utah League of Credit Unions and America First FCU of Ogden.
"I think what we did demonstrates you don't have to be a large credit union to put on an event like this," said Arrington. Desertview served as the lead sponsor for the free concert called "Celebration of Heroes" with the CU banning any ad mention at the event "because this was about the families, not the sponsors."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
