The city of Provo, Utah is located almost 70 km south of the states largest city, Salt Lake City. Provo is situated along the Wasatch Front, which is a long chain of towns and cities situated towards the west of the Wasatch mountains. Provo serves as the county seat of Utah County and the main city within the Provo-Orem metropolitan area population of 526,810. It is the 3rd largest metro area within Utah State after the city of Salt Lake and Ogden-Clearfield.
A French-Canadian explorer, Etienne Provost, named the area after visiting during the year 1825. In the late 1840s, Mormons created a community within Provo, that was later incorporated in 1849. Due to its large quantity of fruit gardens and orchards, the city of Provo was called the "Garden City". Brigham Young Academy was founded within Provo during 1875. Afterward, the academy became Brigham Young University (BYU), the nation's biggest church-affiliated university. The university has been extremely important to the city of Provo. They have been growing together, encouraging a local high-technology business and nationally important academic and sports programs.
Provo hosts lots of local celebrations, the biggest of which is America's Freedom Festival. It is among the largest celebrations of American Independence within the country, with more than 30 events happening during 21 days before and including July 4. The Stadium of Fire Spectacular is the climax of the event, held at BYU's Cougar Stadium. A different major celebration is the yearly WinterFest, a series of events that begins with the December Christmas Parade within downtown Provo and ends with a Firework Finale on the Eve of New year.
The economy of the Provo region is diversified. The region has various software technology firms. Software firms located within the Provo area such as the well-known Symantec, Corel and Novell, Inc. Amongst the high tech companies situated in the region are Covergys, Ameritech Library Services, PowerQuest Corp., Micron technology, Nimbus Manufacturing, Folio Corporation and Viewsoft. The region also has numerous biotech businesses.
The major companies operating within Provo consists of: Nature's Sunshine, Banta Press, Sears Telecatolog and Powder River Manufacturing. Employment is provided by the following sectors: healthcare, education, trade, transportation and utilities, manufacturing, government, hospitality and leisure and management, professional and scientific.