the
hive
/ HOMETOWN
A TASTE OF SMALLTOWN LIFE
Kevin Holdsworth
Good Water A fictionalized town; real-life stories BY CHRISTIE MARCY
“H
ow many people do you know who have wondered what would it be like to homestead—to live off the grid?” Kevin Holdsworth asks. Holdsworth, a Holladay native and his wife did just that in the late-1980s. In time, he added electricity and water. But that solved the least of the challenges. Holdsworth chronicled his 25 years of experience living in a small town outside of Capitol Reef National Park (he leaves us to guess which one) in his recent book, Good Water. Part memoir and part love story between man and the land, Good Water gives a nod to western history, environmentalism and the folk who have called south-central Utah home for generations—the people Holdsworth calls the “survivors and casualties” of small-town life. “You fall in love with a place and it’s a
44
S A LT L A K E M A G A Z I N E . C O M NOV/DEC 2016
long-term difficult relationship,” says the writer, who first fell for the high desert as a college student living in Salt Lake. “Sometimes you don’t love it. Sometimes you’re sick of it and you want to be anywhere but there.” Attempting to live a dream caught up to the idealistic Holdsworth eventually. “I had a lot of silly romantic ideas like people do, but the reality was very different,” he says. “It was hard to make money. There wasn’t a social life. Some of the people I ran around with got into trouble. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be in so many ways.” Good Water, University of Colorado Press, upcolorado.com
Though winter is a great time to enjoy the solitude of Capitol Reef National Park, small-town life slows to a crawl. Many tourism-based businesses won’t open until April. But a few cafes remain open year-round to will offer a glimpse of small-town life, as Holdsworth lives it. Sunglow Cafe Pinto bean pie 91 East Main, Bicknell, 435-425-3821 The Badger Den Post-hike pizza 125 North State Route 24, Bicknell, 435-425-2500 Red Cliff Restaurant Bacon cheeseburger 156 East Main Street, Torrey, 435-425-3797 Country Cafe All-American breakfast 289 North Main, Loa, 435-836-2047