SALT LAKE CITY — This weekend is PACKED with events across Utah for you and your family, no matter where you are!

If you know of an event that isn’t on this list or you have something coming up, email the details to news@fox13now.com to be featured.

Here’s what’s happening across the Beehive State!

CACHE COUNTY
Richmond Black & White Days – This Saturday the City of Richmond will host a parade starting at 5:00 p.m. beginning at 600 South State Street. There will also be family activities at 11:00 a.m. featuring a pet show, cow pie eating and other contests and more! Follow the link for more information and the full schedule of events.

DAVIS COUNTY
Sowby’s Classic Car Show – This Saturday at 4:00 p.m. the Sowby’s Classic Car Show at 962 Porter Lane will host a FREE event featuring food trucks, live music, and awards for participating classic car showcases. Follow the link for more information.

Great Salt Lake Bird Festival – This Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. the Farmington West Sports Park Buildings 3 & 4 will host a FREE event featuring live bird workshops, arts and crafts, face painting from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., a Take-home scavenger hunt, photo opportunities and more. Follow the link for more information.

South Weber Miniature Train Rides – This Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. the South Weber Railroad Club at 621 Petersen Parkway will host a FREE event featuring train rides around the park. Follow the link for more information and all the rules of the train.

SALT LAKE COUNTY
Farm Fest – This Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. the Wheeler Historic Farm will host a FREE event featuring baby farm animals, live sheep shearing demonstrations, food trucks, a wagon ride, live music and more! Follow the link for more information.

UTAH COUNTY
Paddle with Care on Utah Lake – This Saturday at 9:00 a.m. the Provo River Delta at 3400 West Boat Harbor Drive will host a fundraising event to raise awareness for water safety featuring food trucks, educational booths, raffle prizes, and a paddling event in the Provo River Delta accompanied by Search and Rescue and Coast Guard officials. You must provide your own equipment and undergo a safety check before paddling. Follow the link for more information and to register.

Fit City Fair – This Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Sports Park at 295 West Volunteer Drive will host an event featuring a Family Fun Walk and Run at 8:30 a.m, prizes, educational activities and resources for fitness, nutrition, mental health and more. Follow the link for more information.

WEBER COUNTY
Color Country Shootdown – This Saturday and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Fort Buenaventura Park will host an event featuring a 30 Target 3D course on Saturday and V-formation on Sunday and more. Follow the link for more information and to register.

WASHINGTON COUNTY
The Power of Water and Bats of Snow Canyon – This Saturday Snow Canyon State Park will host The Power of Water from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and the Bats of Snow Canyon from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., featuring a moderate hike with rangers to learn about landscapes in the arid desert sculpted by water and mythbusting with rangers about bats. Visitors are recommended to bring a headlamp to Bats of Snow Canyon. Follow the link for more information and to register.

Secret Life of Lichens at Snow Canyon – This Sunday Snow Canyon State Park will host an event from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. featuring learning with rangers about lichens at the park. Follow the link for more information and to register.

They say the best time to plant a tree is yesterday. The best time for transmission buildout was 20 years ago.

Transmission buildout is not optional. It is a necessary next step in achieving affordable, clean energy access for all Utahns and updating our power grid. To move energy across the state from city centers in Salt Lake City to more rural areas like Cache Valley or Tooele County, updating our aging infrastructure is a necessity. This necessity is growing daily, as is the need for modernization and build-out in order to meet the Beehive State’s rapidly growing energy demand. Once we’re done playing catch-up, Utah is uniquely positioned to get ahead of the curve and become a national leader in this new frontier of energy abundance.

Many Utahns are well aware of this fact, and Governor Cox is no exception. He has championed Operation Gigawatt, Utah’s new plan for powering its energy future, over the past year. Even if Utah produces all the energy in the world, however, it won’t matter without the means to transport it across the state. Fortunately, the plan has stated “increasing transmission capacity” as one of the four key areas of the initiative. At a time when energy demand is skyrocketing, Operation Gigawatt could not have come along sooner.

With 70% of U.S. transmission lines over 25 years old and nearing the end of their useful life, our nation faces an undeniable need for infrastructure improvement. The time for transmission buildout is now. As one of the fastest-growing states in both economy and population, Utah must keep up with the ever-growing need for power. Our population is spreading out across the state due to city centers filling up fast, and the energy needs follow.

While the need to produce more clean, sustainable energy will come, the production is not the only problem. The U.S. has nearly 2,600 gigawatts of energy generation trapped in the queue waiting to be connected to the grid and reach Utahns who need it most. This is enough energy to power 2,277,600 homes on average a year, and it is simply not being used. If we focus more effort on transmission buildout, we can utilize the energy that is just sitting there and be prepared to transport newly produced energy more effectively in the future. This means transmission buildout should be at the top of our priority list.

Yet another benefit to building out our transmission is that Utahns’ existing monthly bills will go down, and the ability for local economies to grow will skyrocket. Transmission buildout projects such as the Cross-Tie transmission line — a 214-mile line connecting Utah and Nevada, expected to be in service by 2028 — not only aid us in our effort toward energy dominance, but also provide a wide range of jobs to local communities with otherwise very little economic stimulation. These projects could help small businesses in these rural communities simply by bringing the power and more people into town.

The bottom line is that right now is the time for transmission buildout in Utah, and it should be at the forefront of the conversation surrounding energy grid development. Expanding the grid will benefit all Utahns across the board by lowering monthly bills and reducing reliance on high-cost power sources. Along with cheaper energy, providing more renewable energy access means less price volatility for Utah, and modernizing the grid also creates jobs and economic growth in local communities.

We should have planted our tree 20 years ago, but there is no better time than the present to put transmission buildout at the top of our priority list and begin achieving energy abundance for Utah.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, inadvertently nodded off during a marathon budget markup very early Tuesday morning, resulting in a video clip that quickly went viral as he was shaken awake by his colleague.

It was nearly 5 a.m. EDT when the House clerk went through the roll call for House Ways and Means Committee members to cast their vote on a Democratic amendment. But the clerk was forced to pause on one name: Moore, who was softly snoozing in his chair.

Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., is then seen shaking Moore awake, who begins laughing as he votes against the Democratic amendment. Fischbach and Moore exchanged whispers as Moore gave a small bow.

It was a small moment, otherwise lost in the roughly 17-hour hearing that began at 2 p.m. the afternoon before. But in the digital age, nothing is completely missed.

The C-SPAN clip quickly went viral on social media as the camera pans over the lawmakers’ desks to Moore.

Moore wasn’t the only one caught sleeping during the marathon meetings. Both Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., were caught asleep during the Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, which took place at the same time and also dragged on overnight.

The Ways and Means Committee concluded its hearing just before 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday morning to advance its portion of President Donald Trump’s massive reconciliation bill. The Energy and Commerce Committee continued its markup well into Wednesday afternoon.