Fireworks by Womack

PROVO — Utahns will get the chance to feast on a little sugar and spice this summer as some of country music's top entertainers help celebrate the Fourth of July along the Wasatch Front.

Headlining the Stadium of Fire, the major event of America's Freedom Festival at Provo, will be Grammy-award winner Lee Ann Womack. The event will be 8 p.m. July 1 at Brigham Young University's LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Backup group Keni Thomas and Cornbread, and other acts, will join Womack on the center stage for a patriotic show titled a "Tribute to America."

"Lee Ann Womack will deliver a knockout show," said Brad Pelo, senior executive producer. "She's definitely among the hottest performers in America, and we're honored that she accepted our invitation."

For the fourth consecutive year, Stadium of Fire will be telecast via American Forces Network to U.S. troops and their families around the world.

While folks are swaying to the country tunes at Stadium of Fire, the crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah also will be doing some celebrating and watching fireworks.

Sugarland, a double platinum-selling group, will headline Subway's Freedom Blast, at the stadium — also at 8 p.m. July 1. Freedom Blast will also feature Bill Engvall, co-creator of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and star of "Blue Collar TV."

Skydivers, thrill acts, dancers, a special tribute to the military and fireworks will round out the show, said John Whittaker, the show's producer.

Womack is the recipient of multiple Grammy and Country Music Association awards. Sugarland recently added five Academy of Country Music Award nominations to its list of accomplishments.

Tickets for both shows have been on sale for a while, but it wasn't until Friday that Freedom Festival officials were able to announce their Stadium of Fire headliner.

It is the first time tickets have gone on sale for the show without the public knowing who would be performing as the main act.

Of course, the biggest attractions — and probably the reason a good portion of tickets are sold at both venues already — are the extensive fireworks displays.

Tickets for Stadium of Fire can be purchased by calling the BYU ticket office, 800-322-BYU1 (2981), or online at www.byutickets.com. Prices range from $20 to $100. The ticket office in the Marriott Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Freedom Blast tickets are available through www.utah

tickets.com or 801-581-UTIX (8849). A portion of the proceeds from Freedom Blast will benefit the Huntsman Cancer Institute and American Red Cross.

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E-mail: pugmire@desnews.com