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CLEARFIELD — Clearfield, home to the sprawling Freeport Center manufacturing and distribution complex, isn't just about making things.
Sitting next to Hill Air Force Base, it's also got strong ties to the military, and in a bid to highlight the connection, the city is rebranding itself as "Utah's Military City." The new tagline — replacing "We've Got it Made" — was publicly unveiled at the city's Independence Day parade and in an announcement Thursday.
As part of the effort, the city will install nine fiberglass representations of jets that have flown out of Hill AFB — A-10s, F-16s and F-35s — to create a visual counterpart to the tagline. The plan is to eventually place them along State Street, the main north-south thoroughfare through the city, according to Shaundra Rushton, spokeswoman for the city.
"This is who we are. We're the west gate to Hill Air Force Base," said Mayor Mark Shepherd. Many who work on the base, both military and civilian personnel, call Clearfield home, while the Freeport Center site served as a U.S. Naval Depot during World War II.
Shepherd likened the planned fiberglass airplanes — tentatively to be placed in August, according to Rushton — to the fiberglass horses placed around downtown Ogden each summer to promote Pioneer Days activities in the city in late July. "We want them out so people can stop and take pictures of them," he said.
He also said plans are in the works to add some sort of representation of a jet to the vacant parcel around the northbound I-15 off-ramp at state Route 193 as a welcome of sorts to the city for motorists.
The rebranding is part of ongoing efforts of leaders in the northern Davis County city to reimagine the locale, create something of a downtown area and encourage growth and development. Shepherd sees it as a means of luring more military-based companies to Clearfield, while Rushton described the change as one of various in recent years aimed at pumping new life into the city. The fiberglass jets, sitting on pedestals, will measure 4 feet wide, 6 feet long and 6 feet high.
"We're trying to revitalize our downtown because it kind of stagnated," she said.
Among other things, Clearfield has experienced a flurry of development of apartment buildings along State Street in recent years and a surge in population. Numerically, it was the second-fastest growing city in Davis County between 2020 and 2023, expanding by 8% to 34,470 residents.
Additional growth is expected around the city's FrontRunner station, where a sprawling commercial and residential development will be taking shape. Streets and other infrastructural upgrades are complete, and the mayor said he expects the site to "go vertical" with actual building construction starting perhaps late this summer or early fall.
