Applying a formula used by the tourism industry, she estimates the 2022 conference generated $1 million for local businesses. Tallying line items is not a good gauge of PhenomeCon’s success, Coltharp contends. She emphasized fees paid to speakers also cover their expenses and per diems. That doesn’t include other costs to Uintah County and Vernal, including the labor of Coltharp and her team and free use of the county-owned conference center.Ĭoltharp, in an interview, contended PhenomeCon was on track to at least break even in 2022 before inflation increased the budget. In all, PhenomeCon lost about $24,000 over its first two years, the records show. But ticket sales haven’t covered expenses, according to the financial records also obtained and reviewed by FOX 13 News. The tax on hotel and motel rooms has financed PhenomeCon, Coltharp said. Vernal and Uintah County are known for oil, gas, ranching and being the gateway to Dinosaur National Monument. Vernal is a 10,000-person town sitting three hours east of Salt Lake City near the lines with Colorado and Wyoming. “Not only that, but it could be potentially harmful to people's mental health.” “They're promoting information that isn't based in fact,” Erica Lukes, of Expanding Frontiers, said of PhenomeCon speakers and organizers. The conference’s financial ties to local government were first reported by Expanding Frontiers Research – a group that tries to find logical explanations for the unexplained. “PhenomeCon” is a registered trademark belonging to Uintah County, according to federal records. “So why not create an event like PhenomeCon where we bring in speakers for three, four days?” “Just trying to fill hotel rooms,” Coltharp explained. Coltharp said the 2022 PhenomeCon drew about 1,000 people from more than a dozen states and even a few foreign countries. She and her staff organize and operate the conference. “Yeah, why not Phenomenon, right?” said Lesha Coltharp, the director of travel and tourism for Uintah County. The FOX 13 News car and equipment suffered no difficulties. “We’ve had individuals here at the turnaround before,” he said, “that have had crazy things happen to them and their equipment whether it be to their cars or their cell phones and stuff.” Winterton met a FOX 13 News crew outside the ranch’s gates. The ranch’s supposed-mysterious energies are featured on The History Channel. Speakers cover UFOs, Bigfoot, ghosts and cattle mutilations, said Tom Winterton, the superintendent of Skinwalker Ranch, which itself gets discussion. The conference has been held in Vernal the last two Septembers. Tippets said she found a safe place to talk about her experience at PhenomeCon. “I see a black triangle craft on the mountain in my hometown,” she said. Stephanie Tippets says she was outside and looked up. VERNAL, Utah - It was 1986 or so in Wyoming.
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