When Campus Education Week at Brigham Young University rolls around each year, the recreational vehicles, minivans and dollars roll into Provo.
The large number of visitors to Utah Valley during the annual adult education conference, which begins Tuesday and continues through Friday, makes Education Week one of the busiest of the year for local merchants and hotels."BYU Education Week is probably the biggest single infusion of dollars into the local economy every year," said Utah County Commission Chairman Gary R. Herbert. "It's neat that such a positive event can have such a positive impact on the county's financial well-being."
The Utah County Business Development Department estimates that direct spending - which includes meals, lodging, gasoline and merchandise - by next week's participants will equal nearly $3 million. In addition, more than $700,000 will be paid in Education Week tuition.
While local politicians and business owners eye the dollar signs accompanying Education Week, the focus for approximately 30,000 participants will be not money but topics such as family relationships, scripture study and self-improvement.
Now in its 76th year, Education Week has grown from a relatively cozy gathering of 2,046 people to talk about leadership skills into what is billed as the largest single-event adult education program in the United States. During the week, more than 1,000 classes for both adults and teenagers will be offered.
Education Week director Neil Carlile believes the diversity of topics and an established tradition are what make the event so popular.
"I think the focus of the program has always been on trying to help individuals with challenges they may be facing," Carlile said. "I think the program helps people find answers and solutions."
About 75 percent of this year's Education Week participants are veterans of the weeklong conference, Carlile estimated. A typical Education Week crowd is about three-fourths women and more than half are Utah residents.
But approximately 13,000 make the trek to Provo from out of state, and many of those drive the motor homes or trucks and travel trailers that fill up BYU parking lots throughout the week. Other participants bunk in local hotels or stay in the homes of family members and friends.
"I think my mom would like to make Education Week our family reunion every year," said Krissy Acker of McCalla, Ala., who will come with her 18-month old son to Provo this week.
"Mom would like us all to go to California to the beach for a week and then to Utah for Education Week," said Acker, who will meet her mother, three sisters and a brother in Provo. All plan to attend some Education Week classes to-geth-er.
Carlile said that Education Week attendance peaked earlier this decade at approximately 35,000. But for the past two years, broadcasts of some of the session on KBYU-TV (Channel 11) and over the LDS Church satellite system in North America have made it possible for some to stay home and still be a part of the con-fer-ence.
This year's Education Week participants will hear from popular LDS speakers such as time management guru Hyrum Smith, humorist and motivational speaker Mary Ellen Edmunds, musician Michael Ballam, BYU football coach LaVell Edwards and a host of BYU professors and Church Educational System instructors. In addition, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will deliver a devotional address Tuesday.
Although Education Week officially begins Tuesday, some classes are held Monday.
Registration for both the Monday classes and the sessions later in the week is still taking place.
The event is co-sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Educational System and BYU Division of Continuing Education. No tithing funds directly subsidize Education Week, Carlile said and tuition covers most costs except donated labor, space and utilities from BYU.