Senator John Curtis holds conference with Kanab Area Chamber of Commerce, addresses public protestors
- Ty Gant
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
Utah Senator John Curtis visited Kane County on Friday, March 21, 2025. Following meetings with BLM staff and other federal officials, Curtis agreed to lunch with the Kanab Area Chamber of Commerce, to hear concerns from local businesses and tourism administrators’ perspectives.
During the meeting, protestors gathered outside of the Kanab center to declare to Curtis their opposition to actions taken by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s involvement in government affairs, with signs reading “Dissent is Patriotism,” “Stop Facism,” “We Love Public Lands,” “They’re eating our Checks, they’re eating our Balances,” and “There’s Nothing Great About This.”
Left to right:
Senator Curtis addressing protesters outside the Kanab Center. Photo by Nicholas Meyeres.
Photo by Ty Gant.
Senator Curtis met with the Kanab City Chamber of Commerce and local county and Office of Tourism leadership, as well as with the protestors gathered outside. Photo by Ty Gant.
Prior to the lunch meeting, Senator Curtis approached the protestors to hear out their concerns; while tempers and voices were raised, multiple protestors could be heard expressing approval that Curtis came to meet with them at all. With statements like, “I’m stunned he came over here, came right out and shook my hand,” “He gave us quite a bit of his time to hear us out, it was nice,” and “Too many of these interactions are just unintelligible shouting at each other, at least we spoke civilly,” the protestors were surprised at the senator’s response. There were some expressions of discontent at having their concerns dismissed, with statements like “We come out here with concerns and he’s asking us to give him a plan to solve the problem, isn’t that his job?” and “Well, he made a lot of promises, we’ll see if anything changes.” Curtis’ parting words to the protest crowd were, “I’m sorry I can’t answer all of your questions today, but I appreciate you being here, I’m here speaking to you now because your opinions matter.”
Following the interaction with the protest, Senator Curtis returned to the Kanab Center for the scheduled lunch with the Chamber, answering questions and offering some insight into the legislature’s current priorities.
Said Curtis, “I love being here, you have a beautiful home … I have 29 counties to cover, which means I can’t be here every week like I wish I could be! There’s a lot of concerns in this country right now, and they can divide us, but in many ways, they can unite us instead. We may disagree on how a problem can be solved, but if we’re united, we can agree they need to be solved and solve them despite our disagreements.”
As the meeting was focused on local businesses and the tourism economy, many questions were on the topic of tariffs and financial uncertainty. Responded Senator Curtis, “Mission number one is deregulation of small businesses … We have a tariff situation right now. We want to support the president and his plans, but this is a tough one because it disproportionately affects small businesses that can’t easily pivot providers that cross borders. I have been advocating with every member of the administration I can to, as they implement tariffs, protect small businesses from their negative effects.”
The Senator also spoke to concerns over educational resources and public lands employment, saying on the former, “The priority is eliminating the heavy hand of government in education,” and offering reassurances that the administration is working to ensure funding coming in to schools is not in jeopardy. Curtis stated over mass job loss in the forest service and public lands, “As the current administration gets more cabinet members in place, we will have more opportunities to see Elon Musk answer to … the people who have personal dealings with these departments and their needs.”
Curtis also encouraged local leaders to be prepared for coming changes to public lands and wilderness areas, stating “There will be a window [to interact with currently inaccessible public lands,] the more ready your asks the easier it will be when that window opens to make them happen.” Some of the proposed changes included hiking or biking trails on currently restricted wilderness study areas.
Senator Curtis concluded the meeting with a request that the public and local leadership continue to interact with his representatives in the area, stating, “Anything that goes through my staff will make it to me. I have 29 counties to cover, and that unfortunately means I can’t visit all of them and be as present as I would like to be - but keep communicating with my team, anything that they hear will make it to my ear.”
