Activities will begin at 5:30 p.m., in the park, including a co-ed softball game, volleyball, soccer game, adult and children horseshoe tournaments, ring toss, croquet, tetherball, cornhole and a pie eating contest.

Bring a big appetite to the good old-fahioned BBQ beginning at 7:30 p.m., with sizzling foreworks at dusk. The day offers something fun and exciting for everyone of all ages, don’t miss it.

Sterling population was 275 in 2013. Originally named Pettyville, the town was surveyed by James Snow in 1881 after securing rights to former Indian reservation land from the government.

Most of the Pettyville settlers moved to this higher bench above Six Mile Creek, six miles south of Manti, and the main road was eventually rerouted to service them. Scandinavian-style stone mileage markers once signed the old route along the San Pitch.

Teacher Gus Clark won the then considerable sum of $5 in a contest to name the place. One sore loser was so vexed that he slugged Clark, tarnishing the town’s “sterling” reputation. A quiet village with several pioneer adobe houses, the place still maintains a small store that, along with the new warehouse, function as community centers.

Sterling is the gateway to Palisade State Park and Six Mile Canyon, which leads to the top of Skyline Drive. Palisade State Park has an 18-hole golf course, tent camping and RV hook-ups, cabins, biking and hiking trails and a restaurant at the clubhouse.