ST. GEORGE — Sand Hollow and Snow Canyon State Park are sharing the limelight with Katy Perry who released her newest music video Friday.

The song “Rise,” which features the red rock cliffs and clear water of two of Southern Utah’s famous state parks, was written for the Rio Olympic Games and premiered during NBC’s Olympic preview special.

Laura Melling, manager for the Sand Hollow Complex, which includes Quail Creek and Gunlock State Parks, said Katy Perry’s staff filed a special use permit and had to adhere to specific rules while shooting at the parks.

In April and May, the area is too busy to allow for a major closure to one of the parks, and weekends are likewise off-limits. But the Perry camp and Utah State Parks found the days that worked, and the shoots were scheduled. Perry’s crews were at Sand Hollow on July 8.

Each day’s shoot cost one day’s average ticket sales.

“They are paying for the closure,” she said. “So the park isn’t losing money.”

Only the northwest corner of Sand Hollow park was closed off: the main parking area, boat ramp and the area around the “jumping rocks.”

The south shore and auxiliary boat ramp remained open to the public, Melling said. In Snow Canyon, the only area closed off was the Galloot area, including the parking and day use areas.

“It’s really exciting that Snow Canyon and Sand Hollow’s names are going to be out there and well known in the world,” she said.

Melling said it was necessary to have some form of security plan for such a high profile celebrity.

“That would be my security plan, yes,” Melling said, adding that in addition to the services of State Park staff, she also asked for the services of Washington County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue and City of Hurricane Police Department.

On average, she said, five law enforcement personnel were working each shift, with a total of ten officers employed for the duration of the shoot.

A lot of the younger state park employees were overly excited by the visit from Perry, Melling said, but she had to lay down the law:

“I sat them all down and said ‘you have no information, you will not tell anybody anything; you don’t know.”

Hurricane City Police Sgt. Brandon Buell said the job was like any other.

“Basically it was no different than going out and providing security whether it’s a triathlon or an Iron Man,” he said. “We have responsibilities to do and we take those responsibilities seriously while we’re out there working and doing the assignments we’re asked to do.”

Darrell Cashin, liaison for Washington County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, said that his personnel were ready for the task.

“It was an opportunity,” he said. “They needed some assistance in an area we could provide with trained manpower and some basic equipment. They were willing to do a donation to search and rescue for the use of some of the gear. We thought it was a good opportunity to raise some money for the volunteers and for search and rescue.”

Search and rescue’s primary mission was on the water at Sand Hollow with the dive team and some auxiliary personnel, Cashin said.

“We handled all the logistics of moving their people and their equipment and doing the water safety. Primarily we handled the shuttling of people with boats, getting equipment out to the island,” he said. “We had divers in the water that helped set up and handle some water operations.”

Cashin said he received indirect word that Capitol Records, the company that produced the video, was very pleased with the professionalism and attention to detail they received from local law enforcement.

Apparently, they normally don’t get local assistance of that high a quality, Cashin said, and they are looking forward to working with Washington County in the future.

Like Buell, Cashin said that for his team members, it was a job that needed to be done.

“Most of my people don’t get star-struck,” he said. “You’re out there to do a job and you focus on that.”

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