December 2021 Issue of Utah Stories

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UTAH STORIES MAGAZINE

6 Utah Stories Contributors 12 Mountains of Money 14 Snowbird Resort Going downhill fast—a brief history of Snowbird

18 Ben Thornock Olympic Speedskater

24 Scary Ghost Stories & Tales of the Glories

VOLUME 11 ISSUE 18

34 Eat In, Ski Out From yurts to desserts

38 Children and the COVID-19 Vaccine The debate

40 Peter Marshall SLC’s Plum Alley

42 Holiday Flowers Christmas blooms at The

20 8 Winter Dates Date night fun!

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Art Floral

44 City Creek Antiques Closing Going out of business after 18 years

Holiday horrors from around the world

SPOTLIGHT 26 Ogden

30 Sugar House

Where To Warm Up In

Small Shops—Shop Local

Ogden—Not your average

LOCAL & AWESOME?

cup of Joe

Utah Stories invites excellent local businesses to inquire about our advertising rates and determine if our readership is a good fit. For more information please contact Richard at 801-856-3595 or visit utahstories.com/advertising WE POST STORIES AND PHOTOS ALL THE TIME. FOLLOW US @UTAHSTORIES PUBLISHER/EDITOR

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GRAPHIC DESIGN

ILLUSTRATORS

Richard Markosian

Richard Markosian

DIGITAL PUBLISHER & MARKETING & EVENTS

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Amiee Maxwell

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Dung Hoang

Cathy McKitrick

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SALES & ACCOUNTS

David Jensen

John Taylor

David E. Jensen

Danny B. Stewart

Alison Lafazan

Gail Veley

Golda Hukic-Markosian

Al Sacharov

4 | utahstories.com

ONLINE PREVIEW

Go to UtahStories. com to find exclusive online content: •

Our food writer and Utah Bites creator recently travelled to New Orleans. Read about his dining adventures.

•

Richard Markosian examines How Main Street is Being Traded for Wall Street in an online exclusive and podcast.

•

Writer and photographer, Mike Jones, covers the new Veterans Memorial in West Valley City.

COMING SOON: •

Cathy McKitrick explores how Salt Lake’s Homeless cope during the holidays and reports on resources available to help them.

•

Eric S. Peterson of the Utah Investigative Journalism Project uncovers how multilevel marketing companies sought and received millions in government loans from the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program in early 2020.

Visit UtahStories.com for more stories and podcasts by Richard Markosian and restaurant reviews, recipes and events by Ted Scheffler

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BEHIND THE STORIES Dung Hoang

Mediocre guy who loves snapping photos of strangers for as long as he was drawing stick figures … which is a very long time. But it was only 10 years ago that he decided to pick up a big, clunky DSLR, and has since produced a bunch of photos ranging from portraits and landscapes to food and street photography. He consumes more coffee than he cares to admit, and loves walking barefoot wherever he’s allowed.

Cathy McKitrick

Cathy McKitrick discovered her love of storytelling in midlife, graduating from Weber State University in 1998 with a journalism degree in hand.

She covered local government for the Standard-Examiner until 2005, when she was hired by the Salt Lake Tribune. During that eight-year adventure, she covered local and state government, poverty, homelessness, the opioid overdose crisis, and more.

Following a mass layoff, she returned to the Standard-Examiner in 2013, again covering local government, opioid overdoses, cannabis and other health care issues.

Cathy retired from the Standard-Examiner in April 2018, but her passion for journalism remains intact. She now freelances and serves on the board of the Utah Investigative Journalism Project.

In her spare time, this grandma enjoys a leisurely run, a good laugh, and catching up with family and friends.

She can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cathy.mckitrick.7, and Twitter at @catmck.

Palak Jayswal

Palak Jayswal is a Salt-Lake based, awardwinning journalist. She has written for several Utah publications such as The Salt Lake Tribune, SLUG Magazine, and The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Palak has been involved in projects with the Poynter Institute and NPR’s Next Generation Radio. She currently works at KUER where she handles all things digital. She aspires to one day be a music critic, and her favorite part of being a journalist is being able to listen and share other people’s stories.

6 | utahstories.com

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Drew King

How very Utah! That said with a religious complex holding BILLIONS in $ right down the street and doing nothing but paying lip service because “self reliance “ dontcha know.

How about you talk to the homeless people and do a story about that. This isn’t a business issue, the issue is that nobody can afford to live anywhere anymore bc the economy has been awful for 10+ years and the mainstream media instead chooses to scapegoat the homeless instead of holding our leadership accountable for the horrible job they are doing at maintaining any living standards whatsoever.

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Interesting but sad to hear what liberals are doing to SLC, growin’ up in se Utah, whenever we went shopping “up north”, we were always greeted with clean, safe streets and never accosted by beggars. Keep up the great Vibes buddy!

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Modernity Mischief and Passion

Mountains of Money

By Richard Markosian

F

or better or for worse, our beloved ski resorts are full of high-speed quads, trams and gondolas. They race skiers atop mountains in less than half the time of the old rope tows or clunky, slow regular chair lifts. But there is just one downside ...

Powder days have become powder mornings or even powder hours. With a huge abundance of skiers on the mountains (thanks to the quads), powder in bowls, cirques and gulches can be shredded so quickly that all freshies disappear literally within hours.

And things are about to get worse.

For just $69, in addition to the regular cost of a day pass, Snowbird has introduced the “Express Lane”. Snowbird is now allowing wealthy skiers a chance to skip the lines. Regular all-day tickets now cost upwards of $150, so for a

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mere $220, you too can join the downhill elite!

But again there is a downside.

Sadly, skiing at the best Utah resorts is becoming no longer viable for middle-class families, but is becoming much more of a sport for the wealthy or the single middle class who don’t have a problem eating an exclusive diet of Top Ramen.

“The meek shall inherit the earth” isn’t applicable at the resorts. The powder pigs are no longer hippies or ski bums, but the wealthy. Those in the middle-class, or those who want to eat real food are allotted to finding their freshies in the backcountry. And backcountry skiing is now booming.

But there is yet another downside.

Last year was the deadliest year on record for backcountry deaths.

Twenty-one Utah skiers, most in their twenties, died last year, buried under avalanches. Of course, most were not taking precautions, but if the resorts were more affordable, the backcountry wouldn’t be so popular. So what’s the solution to keeping skiing a sport for families and the middle class?

Most of our developer/politicians believe the only solution is to widen the highways up the canyons and/or introduce higher-speed travel options, including a gondola that could race skiers up the canyon without a car. Their mantra: Spend more! Build More! Develop More!

Developer blueprints for fast gondolas whisking skiers to the mountain tops of the Wasatch within minutes makes prospective developers salivate.

They see big money in the white gold of the Wasatch.

Mountains of money want to build “SkiLink” or “Wasatch-Connect”, and now OneWasatch. Besides the gondola going up the canyon, it seems like every year or two, developers rebrand the concept that we need to connect all resorts into one massive interconnected mega-resort experience. They envision a true Ski City that resides atop our Wasatch Range — an alpine utopia where everyone can ski, live, play and eat in the mountains! Build it and they will come! But again, there is just one downside.

The mountains begin to lose all of their appeal when they are full of lodges and people. A “National Park” offers little to nothing in terms of peace, tranquility, wilderness and escape if we simply allow for more and more people to speed to the top as fast as possible and shred down as fast as pos-

sible. For some reason, our developer/ politicians, and the turncoat environmentalist, former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, who should understand this, have not received the memo or simply don’t get it.

The Wasatch Range is not big enough to accommodate more gondolas, more quads, more development, more people, without losing the specialness of the place. Does this mean everyone except the rich should just stay home?

No, so what is the solution? How about offering a true local’s pass? A big discount for Utah residents? How about the Wasatch Range National Park lease that we provide the ski resorts be contingent upon actually provide some measure of local-resident access?

Maybe certain days could be tourist free and family friendly?

Likely an idea such as this is unconstitutional, I’m not sure. But while developers dream of a mountain of money, the rest of us imagine the resorts from the eighties and nineties, when powder days would last the entire day, or entire weekend. Run after run, we could plow fresh tracks on Snowbird’s Tiger Tail, Blackjack, or off the Road to Provo. I truly miss the good old days.

But to out-price, out-pace and over-develop our mountains just for the promise of more money, is contrary to what our true Utah ski pioneers envisioned, and runs contrary to the spirit of Utah, which has been to always favor local abundance over fast outsider money. It was Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers who set this standard. Let’s consider maintaining it.

utahstories.com | 13

The Story of

Snowbird

Ted Johnson and Dick Bass built a recreation legacy

S

nowbird’s millionaire oil tycoon and financier Dick Bass is an outdoor icon. Bass jet-setted the world’s highest peaks, summiting seven of them in his fifties. Bass not only set world records, he also started a trend that other aging, adventurous multi-millionaires would follow. John Krakauer’s famous Everest expedition novel, Into Thin Air, demonstrated how — for better and for worse — big money was chasing after big peaks. A bronze statue of Bass rests at the base of Peruvian Gulch depicting his life at altitude.

While Snowbird would have never come to fruition without Bass’ fortune, the vision for a ski resort in the Peruvi-

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an Gulch and Gad Valley pre-dated the oil tycoon’s discovery of white gold in the Wasatch.

No less influential in the establishment of one of the world’s-greatest ski resorts was Bass’ visionary co-founder Ted Johnson. In essence, you could say that Johnson founded Snowbird, but Bass funded it.

When Johnson conceived the idea of opening a ski resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the mid-1960s, he was manager of the Alta Lodge. He met Dick Bass at a party in Colorado in 1969, and Bass paid a visit a week later, partnering with Johnson to build his dream resort in the Peruvian Gulch and Gad Valley watersheds just over

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SNOWBIRD RESORT

By David E. Jensen

the ridge from Alta. Capitalizing on the growing popularity of skiing as a recreational sport, the Bird took flight in December 1971, but Ted Johnson’s story began long before then.

Johnson spent a year in an orphanage after being abandoned by his father in Depression-era California, while his mother looked for work.

Chores were part of his everyday life, and Johnson learned the value of hard work and determination at a young age.

Throughout the Depression in his teenage years, Johnson picked cotton in Bakersfield, California, but he still managed to put both money and time aside to pursue his outdoor passions of cycling, surfing and skiing.

Spending summers at the beach and winters on the slopes, Johnson eventually learned that the peaks towering above the Great Salt Lake in the Wasatch Range offered even steeper slopes and finer powder than he could dive into anywhere in California, and he migrated to Utah in 1959.

As manager of Alta Lodge, Johnson was a jack-of-all-trades; he could fix anything that moved, taught ski lessons, tended bar, assisted filmmakers, and skied in their movies prior to making movies of his own. But skiing was his first passion, and opening a ski resort was almost an obsession.

Prior to the 1920s, downhill skiing was primarily a European sport that gradually gained popularity in America. By the 1930s, ski resorts were popping up in mountain towns from the Catskills and the Adirondacks in the east to the Rockies and Sierra Nevada’s in the west, and the canyons of Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Range were

a skier’s paradise just begging to be discovered.

The town of Alta, a turn-of-thecentury mining town with a former population of 8,000, was best known at the time for its high-grade silver ore, but Johnson and Ted Bass, a poetry-spouting Texas oilman, would forever change the economic and historic focus of Little Cottonwood Canyon from silver prospecting to a different kind of treasure — the kind that fell freely and abundantly upon the glacial cirques and craggy, tree-lined slopes of the Wasatch Mountains from November through April. It would come to be known as “The Greatest Snow on Earth.”

The original town of Alta, consisting of 138 homes, two smelters, several stores, hotels and a railroad, was destroyed first by fire in August 1878, and later by a series of avalanches in 1885, although silver mining continued well into the 20th Century.

In the 1950s and 60s, the area was still riddled with mining claims and Forest Service deeds that needed to be purchased before a resort could be built. One of these claims was named Snowbird.

In 1960, Johnson married Wilma “Wilbere” Chudleigh, an Australian woman he hired the year before. The couple traveled the world making movies, but they couldn’t shake the idea of opening a ski resort just over the ridge in Alta’s backcountry.

According to writer Dawn Cardinale, “Mining attorney Bob Pruitt, Jr. was instrumental in helping [ Johnson] and Chudleigh collect Blackjack, White Pine, Hidden Peak and the Wasatch Mines (Snowbird Village) claims. They

utahstories.com | 15

created Snowbird Limited and sold 20 partnerships at $20,000 … to fundraise.”

Pairing up with friend, fellow skier and filmmaker Warren Miller, the trio designed condos and made a 13-minute promo film to help sell the idea of a ski resort to prospective buyers. But by 1969, financing was still a problem.

After falling in love with the area, millionaire financier Dick Bass joined the venture. Bass was the first person to scale the highest peak on each of the

Dick Bass and Ted Johnson

seven continents and the oldest person to scale Mt. Everest (in 1985 at the age of 55). With Bass’s capital, Snowbird opened two years later, but the costs were staggering, exceeding proposed estimates by millions of dollars. A sixmile sewer line had to be built at a cost of 13 million dollars, and there were setbacks at every turn, including two avalanches during opening week.

Dick Bass saw Snowbird’s potential early on, stating: “My underlying

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dream for Snowbird is the creation of a year-round resort, which respects and complements the beauty and inspiration of this natural setting — a place dedicated to increasing human understanding through the enhancement of body, mind and spirit.”

Bass served on the corporation’s board of directors from 1966 to 1971, and sold his shares in May 2014. Dick Bass passed away in July 2015 at the age of 85, and Ted Johnson was struck and killed by a drunk driver in a crosswalk in January 2018 at the age of 91, but the legacy they built lives on. For Johnson, it was the fulfillment of a dream.

Johnson‘s induction plaque from the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in 2007 reads: “Snowbird stands as a legacy to the wily ‘Silver Fox’ whose quest was not to be denied.”

Known for its unique terrain, easy access, multiple lodges, restaurants, trams, tunnel, lifts and multiple runs, Snowbird quickly gained in fame and popularity, putting Utah on the map with its many prestigious awards. Now known as Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, and boasting a variety of yearround activities, Snowbird receives universal acclaim as a world-class ski and adventure destination.

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Ben Thornock

P

ersistent. Positive. Passionate.

These are the words that describe Ben Thornock, a Utah-based speedskater. He’s one of 11 skaters on the USA short track team headed to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Short-track racing was first added to the Olympics in 1992. Skaters explode from the starting line and reach speeds up to 35 mph as they muscle down an

18 | utahstories.com

Ben Thornock at the Olympic Oval

oval track that is 111.1 meters in length.

“You have to put in work every single day and you have to be committed.

You also have to enjoy what you do because if you don’t, you won’t be able to go in every day and give your best.”

For Thornock, giving his best consists of waking up at 8 a.m. and heading over to the Olympic Oval in Kearn.

After a 30-45 minute warm-up session,

PHOTO BY JOHN TAYLOR

By Palak Jayswal

he and his teammates get on the ice for an hour or two. Then after lunch there is another workout on the ice followed by dryland or weights workout Thornock started skating near his home at age 11. “When I started skating my love for the sport was very different from what it is now.There are a lot of different variables in short track, so it was a good challenge for me and kept me interested for all these years.”

He says now he has a “love-hate” relationship with the sport. The ‘hate’ part perhaps stems from his always seeking to achieve his own goals, and the sports inherent unpredictability.

“I think it’s really like NASCAR on ice, anything can happen at any moment.”

The “love” part comes from a deep appreciation for the craft of short track racing. “It’s so special, what you have to do. The amount of lean you have to get on your edges, on your skates, on your blades. For all of that to come together and to make something beautiful is amazing.”

His favorite skating memory is winning a bronze medal in a relay during the 2017 Junior Worlds Championship in Austria.“We had great teamwork and [during the] semi-final, it was coming down to the last few laps and I had pushed Thomas [Hong] to finish out the laps and he was gonna qualify into second but unfortunately was passed and I thought we were done.”

Another team was ultimately disqualified and the Americans were able to move on to the final. “We went out there and did our best and we did set an American Junior record,” Thornock reflected.

Training for this Olympics has been

challenging due to Covid. “It was really tough for a lot of us who weren’t able to train together but we did Zoom training.It’s really hard to be motivated to train on your own when we’ve trained with teammates most of our careers.”

Thornock is proud to represent Utah. His life is unique because of his ties to both this state and Japan.

Thornock is half-Japanese. He’s hitting the ice after a two-year hiatus, when he served a mission in Japan for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For most athletes, a break this long would have led to early retirement. But Thornock says his mission helped prepare him for the next phase of his career as an athlete.

“If I didn’t go on my mission, I think that would’ve been more of an identity crisis for me. It was something that I don’t regret at all.”

Thornock says his mission helped connect him to his Japanese roots in a way he’s never before experienced.

For him, being an athlete and being a missionary are not so different. He says goal setting was a big part of being a missionary and that transfers over to being an athlete. “I’ve just tried to apply all these things to my skating and I think it’s not only made me a better athlete, but it’s made me a more successful person as well.”

When it comes to advice for other aspiring local athletes, Thornock has a simple but sage message: Just to have fun. “That’s first and foremost. If you’re not having fun, you won’t want to do it, right? So find things that make it fun whether that’s concentrating on getting better or helping your teammates out.”

utahstories.com | 19

Some of the Sled Dogs at Rancho Luna Lobos

Eight Great Winter Dates From coffee to cocktails, birds to bitters, and sled dogs to sunsets, there’s a December activity for everyone

I

nstead of burrowing yourself deeper into the couch cushions this winter,

why not spice up your dating routine or family night with one of these cold-weather date night ideas? From meeting dog sled pups and learning how to curl like a Canadian, to visiting the South American birds at the Tracy Aviary and catching otherworldly sunsets at Great Salt Lake, we have plenty of ideas for getting you out of your wintertime rut.

20 | utahstories.com

Meet the Adorable Sled Dog Pups at Rancho Luna Lobos Who doesn’t love puppies, especially adorable dog-sledding puppies? Not only does Summit County’s Rancho Luna Lobos offer dog sled rides and beginner dog mushing courses, it also offers kennel tours where you can learn about the world of sled dog racing and meet their team of amazing dog athletes up close. Tours are family-friendly and allow for some handson time with the dogs, plus there may be new puppies to meet.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RANCHO LUNA LOBOS

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Learn to Curl like the Olympians What better way to spend date night than learning a new sport, especially one that looks as ridiculously fun as curling. The Utah Olympic Oval Learn to Curl Doubles Program is designed for beginners and makes a fantastic date night activity. This two-hour on-the-ice class teaches the basics of the sport including proper sweeping techniques.

Learn How to Make Craft Winter Cocktails with the Bitters Lab For an interesting date night from the comfort of your own home, learn a bit about the world of bitters while making some cozy winter craft cocktails with Salt Lake City’s very own craft bitters company, Bitters Lab. In addition to their virtual workshop options, they will be holding a New Year’s Eve Eve bash class where attendees will learn how to concoct some cozy winter cocktails while also enjoying a live musical guest. Partic-

22 | utahstories.com

ipants are emailed a shopping list for class in advance and can also purchase a cocktail kit from Bitters Lab to accompany the workshop.

Wander Through the World of Vincent Van Gogh at this Immersive Exhibit The bright lighting and quiet vibe of a traditional art exhibit may not be your first choice for a romantic date night or family outing, but the Beyond Van Gogh art experience is not your typical gallery. From now through December 31, 2021, Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is running at Atmosphere Studios, a new events venue in downtown Salt Lake City.

Scenes from Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous works come alive as they’re projected onto the floors and walls of the gallery so you can literally walk through the swirling clouds in Starry Night and the cobbled streets of the Cafe Terrace at Night.

Entry is timed to ensure enough distance among attendees, and all tickets must be purchased in advance online.

Create Your Own Charcuterie Board at 3 Cups Coffee Holladay’s 3 Cups Coffee is now open in the evenings for wine and cheese.

This quaint, family-run cafe is an

ideal happy hour spot for first dates or anniversaries. Their menu is simple — select a wine, choose among several cheese and meat options to build your own charcuterie board, and sample one of their house-made desserts. Want to learn more about wine?

Take one of their many winter wine workshops such as the Wine and Donuts class, where you’ll learn how to properly pair wine with sweets while breaking all the snobby wine pairing rules.

Visit the Love Birds at the Tracy Aviary

taken to save it, so go out and catch a sunset at the lake while you still can.

Winter sunsets are the best. The colors are much more vivid, and the colors tend to last longer due to the lower angle of the sun this time of year. Grab a picnic dinner, an extra puffy coat, and some shoes you don’t mind getting caked in lake mud, and head out to the beaches near Saltair or Antelope Island for a stellar light show.

Sled Down Utah’s Longest Snow Tube Lanes You don’t have to be a skier to enjoy Utah’s supposed Greatest Snow on Earth. Tubing is a way less-expensive way to enjoy Utah’s mountains plus it’s a great activity for all members of the family since it doesn’t require a whole lot of skill. Soldier Hollow near Midway boasts the longest tubing lanes in Utah, with a convenient lift to pull you back up the hill.

Entrance to the Tracy Aviary is only a dollar on select Wednesdays during the winter months, making this a great economical winter activity for large families. Some of the aviary birds are much more active in the winter, such as Andy the Andean Condor who puts on quite a show. Just make sure to bundle up and arrive before 4pm. The Aviary closes at 5pm during the winter months.

Catch a Sunset at Great Salt Lake While You Still Can Great Salt Lake recorded its lowest recorded mark in history this summer thanks to drought and the Wasatch Front’s unquenchable thirst for water.

This trend of declining lake levels is expected to continue if action is not

utahstories.com | 23

Scary Ghost Stories & Tales of The Glories Have yourself a scary little Christmas

T

here are various pieces of holiday lore scattered around the world that might seem to fall more in the traditions of Halloween than of the jolly contemporary versions of the winter and Christmas Holidays. But these Winter Holidays have darker historical trappings than most people realize, as there are all manner of grotesque metaphysical beings and beasties that lurk about this time of year. Thus, the children who are generally afraid of sitting on Santa’s lap have far scarier things to worry about than the ominous, immortal toymaker whose elfish minions spend their days shadowing children to see if they are misbehaving.

On the topic of misbehaving children, our first dark helper comes to us from Germany, and is probably the most well known of the Holiday terrors. I speak of Krampus. Sometimes called Knecht Ruprecht, among other names, Krampus is counterpart to the immortal St. Nicholas, but whereas St. Nicholas rewards well behaved children with toys and candies, Krampus, a massive anthropomorphic “GoatBeast” who some might compare in

24 | utahstories.com

appearance with what mortals call “The Devil”, seeks out misbehaving children and swats them with his thorny switch every Krampusnacht, or December 5th. Some depictions have him carrying the children away in a knapsack or basket he has hanging from his back.

Another Holiday spook comes to us from France. Hans Trapp, a mortal who was prosecuted for practicing black magic, was banished from his village and became a wandering hermit in the nearby woods where he continued to practice his incantations.

He slowly began to lose his mind, started dressing like a scarecrow and developed a craving for the taste of human flesh. He also began seeking out children. Now, every Christmas Eve, parents warn their misbehaving children that Hans Trapp roams the night looking for naughty children to eat.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS BODILY

By Danny B. Stewart

Golf Course and decided to go for a 1am walk.

It had been snowing hard all day, and still was. The two of them bundled up and headed toward the golf course.

Now for a story a little closer to home. This was presented to me some years ago by a couple who wish to remain anonymous. The man claims to have seen a strange humanoid roaming across the wetlands of western Orem. It was December 17th, 2017.

They were living in a neighborhood that bordered the links at Sleepy Ridge

As they set out, the snow began falling harder. Pushing their way through the snow, they could see the far west edge of the golf course that led to the marshes that border Utah Lake. That’s when they noticed a thick fog bank coming towards them from the west.

It was roughly forty-feet high and moving at a quick pace even though there wasn’t a strong wind that night, just falling snow.

The young woman became uneasy and wanted to leave the area immediately, but the man wanted a closer look, so he continued to walk toward the fog until he reached the edge of the wetland, about twenty yards away from the fog. From time to time there were random breaks in the fog where he could see into it. He claims that as he peered into the fog, he saw an “eight or nine foot tall white armless creature with long skinny legs and a thick block-like head walking north at the edge of the fog bank.” The man said he watched it for only a “brief moment, maybe thirty seconds at most”, before it disappeared back into the fog. After seeing this, he quickly rushed back to his girlfriend, took her by the arm and said, “Let’s get out of here!” When she asked him why, his response was ...

“You don’t want to know.”

What could this have been? Was it a figment of “foggy” imagination, or was it some kind of holiday specter on the prowl for a naughty child? We may never know.

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OGDEN

Daily Rise Coffee building in Ogden at 2865 Washington Blvd.

Where To Warm Up In Ogden Specialty holiday coffees

By Cathy McKitrick

O

GDEN — With a population of just under 87,000 residents, this mountainside city boasts its fair share of unique coffee shops.

“We have a really strong coffee community in Ogden and everybody has their own kind of specialty that they all do, which is cool,” said Nick Morris, who co-owns two Kaffe Mercantile locations with his life partner Lance Smith.

Their east bench neighborhood shop at 1221 26th Street, opened in

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2009, with the second South Ogden spot at 930 Chambers Street sprouting in 2015. A third downtown site succumbed to the Covid pandemic in 2020.

In addition to several interesting coffees, Kaffe Merc also serves up caffeine-free hot drinks such as Turmeric Chai and Roby Ginger Latte.

The Turmeric Chai contains organic turmeric. Also cinnamon, black pepper, cardamon, and clove, while the Ruby Ginger Latte has beetroot, organ-

ic coconut milk, cinnamon, ginger and ashwagandha root.

Morris anticipates brisk holiday foot traffic through the holidays.

“From (Thanksgiving) on, it’s just go go go,” Morris said. “A lot of people are getting out of the weather, studying, or just taking a break.”

In addition to drinks, Kaffe Merc offers vegan food options and fresh pastries.

The family-owned Coffee Links at 287 Park Boulevard in downtown Ogden also serves up food and unique, seasonal beverages.

Manager Mauricio Araujo said that customers tend to seek out hot chocolate, peppermint or pumpkin-flavored drinks as the temperature drops. But Head Barista Eric Bond also invented two noteworthy seasonal favorites.

The Grinch — which began as a Christmas beverage — contains white chocolate and Creme de Menthe flavoring, while Cupid’s Kiss substitutes raspberry flavoring for the mint.

“He (Bond) loves his job, he loves making coffee to make people happy,” Araujo said. “When you have that kind of passion, you get a lot of ideas.”

Araujo said they first opened in 2013 at a more remote spot before relocating to Park Boulevard in August 2017.

Loyal customers considered them a hidden gem and followed them there.

The cafe’s culinary fare includes sandwiches, quesadillas and salads.

Daily Rise first opened a drivethrough coffee spot at 2865 Washington Boulevard in 2004, then a second drive-through in Layton in 2008. And in 2012, owners Jeff and Beth Furton launched their own Layton-based roasting company.

Ogden gained its second Daily Rise at 2314 Washington Boulevard in the fall of 2018.

Barista Kate Cline said she’d worked there for three years and business is brisk. And yes, with the weather growing frosty and the holiday season almost in full swing, Cline said that hot beverages rule the day — including their signature coffees, lattes and caffeine-free hot chocolate.

“We make our own special housemade mocha mix,” Cline said of their hot chocolate. “It’s a secret recipe, and it’s absolutely divine.”

This summer, a Daily Rise employee opened another location in Park City.

The Daily Rise roastery at 1989 Antelope Drive in Layton is woman-owned, and sells twenty different whole-bean options. Customers can also find crepes, several varieties of toast and breakfast burritos at Daily Rise.

Natalia Ferrada & Sarah Adams launched Cuppa at 552 E 25th Street in 2017. The coffeeshop/eatery features vegan fare and beverages.

“We’ve got hot chocolates and tea lattes that are pretty popular,” Ferrada said.

And unique as well. Take the London Tea Latte, for example. The black tea beverage includes lavender, vanilla, and the customer’s choice of steamed alternative milk.

“All our tea lattes are steeped so they’re all timed and portioned out, then blended together fresh to order,” Ferrada said, touting the large number of tea and milk options Cuppa offers.

Adams mentioned another Cuppa latte — this one caffeine free — sure to chase the chills away: “Our Golden Milk Latte is really good,” Adams

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Coffee Links at 287 Park Blvd.

said. “We make our own spice blend — turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg — we steam it in with the milk so it’s a little bit spicy. So it warms you up for sure.”

The cafe features wide-ranging vegan food options and house-baked pastries, and live music is expected to make a comeback for Sunday brunch in December.

Bean-a-Colada first opened inside the Pleasant Valley branch of the Weber County Library system in 2009, and now has cozy cafes at the Library’s Main and Southwest branches as well.

Heather Jensen took over ownership of all three locations this July.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and it seemed like the right time,” Jensen said. “I got the chance to

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jump in and take it over.”

Their customer traffic took a hit during Covid, but Jensen said “it’s slowly picking up as we go, so that’s definitely helping out.”

Along with coffee, its cold-weather beverages include hot chocolate and a peppermint option. And for customers who crave a little caffeine in their lattes, Bean-a-Colado serves up the Dirty Chai.

“It’s just like our chai latte, but it has an espresso shot too,” Jensen said.

“They’re really delicious and are one of our very popular drinks.”

Food fare at Bean-a-Colada includes salads, sandwiches and wraps. Weber County Library locations are listed on its website.

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Outside of Lillie Bee and Commerce & Craft

Small Shops This holiday season, shop small and shop local

C

onsumers have been shopping online at an increased rate since Covid-19 swept across our country.

Many local stores had to close their doors early during the pandemic, and some were able to remain open with limited hours. Items that are usually bought on a trip to the local grocery store or home improvement store are now being purchased online more often.

Many consumers have been stay-

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ing away from malls, grocery stores, movie theaters, and other crowded places, while choosing to shop safely online and follow CDC, state, and local Covid-19 guidelines.

Local business owners Lisa Brady of Lillie Bee Emporium, Gail Piccoli of Commerce & Craft, and Nathan Hansen and Todd Olsen of Ward and Child - The Garden Store, are some of the local businesses that have managed to survive during the pandemic by

PHOTOS BY BRADEN LATIMER

By Alison Lafazan

when you see how nicely they’re made, how good they feel, how pretty they look, and the fact that they are handmade, it hits a different chord.”

“It’s a tactile experience,” says Brady.

offering unique items with a personal touch.

“I feel like we do a lot to make our shop special and to cultivate a relationship with all of the people that come in,” says Lisa Brady, owner of Lillie Bee Emporium, Unique Gifts and Tea. “A lot of the people who come in prefer to shop at a small business rather than go on Amazon.”

“I don’t feel like Amazon is competition for me; Etsy would be my competition,” says Gail Piccoli, owner of Commerce & Craft, Authentic Handmade Marketplace, “Anyone who comes into my shop clearly wants something that is more of an emotional connection with what they are buying. You look at half of the stuff online and they might not appeal to you, but

“Amazon has its place and my shop has its place,” says Piccoli. “I’m very fortunate that I have it here in Sugar House.”

To survive, small businesses need to bring customers in and keep them coming back. “Finding cool things and presenting them in a way that makes everything feel special,” says Brady. “I buy things for the shop that I love and that I would want for myself.”

“A lot of thought goes into who I carry, why I carry it,” says Piccoli, “We all have people in our lives that want something a little different, a little special, a little more found, they can come into the shop and find something that resonates with them. You’ve got to see it and feel it.”

When Covid-19 first started spreading, both businesses closed for a few months. They were able to open back up with the mask mandate.

“In this area people are really good about wearing masks,” says Brady. “I feel like they’re all community-minded. We’re happy to do things for the good of the community. Without support from the community, a shop like this could never survive. “I will do my very best to make it a fun, interesting experience to come in and see what’s here. I want people to leave the shop feeling happy.”

Nathan Hansen and Todd Olsen bought Ward and Child - The Garden Store, in March of 2020, one week before the first lockdown.

“We saw the closing sign,” says Han-

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Todd Olsen and Nathan Hansen of Ward and Child The Garden Store

sen. “Todd and I have been shopping here for years and just loved it; we didn’t want it to close.”

It’s been difficult having some of the goods delivered amid the global supply chain crisis. “We order from 200 different vendors; we sell furniture, outdoor concrete, a few textiles, scarfs.

Some things are local, some things come from India. Teak wood for outdoor furniture comes from Indonesia,” says Hansen.

To compete with Amazon and other online retailers, they offer a personal experience. “People like to come into a place that gives them an emotional experience and camaraderie,” says Hansen, “We love to engage with our customers.”

“We try to make it more family,” says Mikeal Jensen, Manager of Ward and Child - The Garden Store. “We know their life, we know what’s going on

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in their world. We get a lot of repeat customers.”

Besides the personal touch they offer at the shop, they also pride themselves on their curated, artisan, and Fair Trade products, as well as the garden supplies they offer in their store.

“People know they can get something unique that they can’t buy somewhere else, and they can’t get them on Amazon,” says Jensen.

The highlight for many of their regular customers is a walk through the garden. It is like a mini Red Butte Garden with grapevines, wisteria plants, and different kinds of pears growing up and over the arbors, a pond with goldfish, and a bench to relax on.

“Come in and experience our shop,” says Hansen. “We’ve been told that there is nothing else like this in Utah.”

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Fireside Dining at Deer Valley Resort

Eat In, Ski Out Five Distinctive Winter Dining Destinations

By Ted Scheffler

I

f, like me, you’ve been mostly cooped up during the pandemic and not venturing out very much, maybe now is the time to do so. I’m ready to get back in gear and explore some of the more unique winter dining destinations at our local resorts — options ranging from Mongolian yurt dining to a raw bar ensconced in a cabin. Here are five can’t-miss picks for distinctive Utah winter resort dining.

Solitude Mountain Resort offers one of Utah’s most unique dining opportunities with their Mongolian-style yurt.

Hungry guests kick off an evening at the Solitude Mountain Resort Yurt with a not-too-strenuous guided tour — hiking or snowshoeing — through a moonlit (or lantern- and headlamp-lit) forest. The resort provides guests with snowshoes, which are included in the price of the meal.

Once you arrive at the cozy yurt

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which seats 26 people, you’ll warm up and enjoy your favorite libations along with a delicious five-course dinner prepared tableside by Solitude’s talented chefs. The communal Solitude Yurt dining experience is a wonderful opportunity to gather with old friends and to make new ones.

One of my very favorite dining destinations during ski season is Deer Valley Resort’s Fireside Dining, where dinner courses are cooked and served from a quartet of large stone fireplaces at rustic Empire Canyon Lodge. A busy lunch spot by day, in the evening Empire Canyon Lodge morphs into a European Alps style dining experience with a huge array of rustic foods.

I can’t get enough of the gooey Raclette cheese melted over the fire, but I also love the selection of cured meats and cheeses, roasted leg of lamb, veal and wild mushroom stew, and so

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much more. Kids and adults both go gaga for the fondue station, with dark chocolate, caramel, and white chocolate Grand Marnier fondues served with a variety of dried and fresh fruits like pineapple and strawberries. There is also a fully stocked bar and a terrific beer and wine selection. For the adventurous, consider a pre-dinner snowshoe trek or a horse-drawn sleigh ride.

Each month, Snowbird Resort hosts a fun Full Moon Dinner which is held at the 11,000 foot Summit Restaurant at the top of the Snowbird Tram and Hidden Peak. Up there, the views are nothing short of spectacular. And guests get a double-dip: getting to see the sun set in the west, while also watching the moon rise in the east.

The mode of transportation to the Full Moon Dinners isn’t standard, either. You won’t be using Uber or Lyft; rather, you’ll be swiftly ushered up to Hidden Peak and The Summit restaurant via an Aerial Tram Ride, which is included in the price of dinner. It’s all part of the Full Moon fun. Since the Snowbird Full Moon Dinners are buffet affairs, there’s lots of time to wander around The Summit Restaurant — both inside and outside — to take in panoramic views and shoot plenty of photos. It’s a leisurely evening where guests dine at their own pace.

The menu changes from month to month, but you can always count on an array of tasty hot and cold goodies that range from charcuterie and chilled seafood, to salad and carving stations, vegetarian dishes, and an opulent dessert display. Wine and beer are also available and live music fills the air of the 23,000 square foot Summit Restaurant.

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One of my favorite off-the-beaten-path eateries is Utah’s first ski-in/ ski-out raw bar, called RIME, “Where powder meets chowder,” and which is tucked away in a cabin adjacent to the Jordanelle gondola at Deer Valley Resort.

Named for the Old Norse word for “the layer of frost that develops on an object when bitter wind freezes fog or clouds,” Rime is the brainchild of Tupelo restaurant owners Matt Harris and Maggie Alvarez. The main draw — for me, anyway, at RIME are the Connecticut-style lobster rolls, which I think are the best lobster rolls this side of Interstate 95. Other RIME delights include oysters on the half shell, ahi tartare, market crudo, clam chowder, shrimp cocktails, tacos, and one of the tastiest French dip sandwiches I’ve ever gotten my lips around. And, there’s beer, wine and bubbles to enjoy, as well.

Not to be outdone by Solitude, Park City Mountain Resort has a yurt of its own. Dinner at The Viking Yurt kicks off with a 23-minute snowcat-drawn sleigh ride up 1,800 feet, offering gorgeous views of Park City as well as the night sky. It’s a thrilling and solemn experience between the only people on the mountain at night. Once settled into The Viking Yurt with a complimentary mug of glogg, guests will enjoy a gourmet six-course meal that includes soup and salad, an entree such as braised short ribs, a cheese course and dessert. Live music adds to the festive evening, and you’ll want to ask your hosts how in the world they managed to get a baby grand piano into their mountaintop yurt.

Good Tidings we BRICK Dented Brick Distillery would like to wish you and your loved ones many happy returns this holiday season. May your coming year be filled with love, light, and joy.

Cheers,

Children & The COVID-19 Vaccine Are Parents For or Against?

T

his past spring, when children became eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine through Pfizer-BioNTech, it was great news to Janette, the mother of a 15-year-old daughter who lives in southwest Utah.

“I thought it was in her best interest to protect her,” Janette said. “I was trusting the medical field in making that decision.” After receiving the vaccine as well as the booster, Janette’s daughter felt no ill side effects and

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essentially sailed through the process.

Given the risks involved in contracting Covid-19 or it’s variants, including respiratory distress, fever, pneumonia, sore throat, cough, long-term fatigue and for some, death, receiving a vaccine could seem like an easy choice to make for a virus that caused a nationwide pandemic in March of 2020.

Lockdowns, social distancing and masks immediately followed the rapid onslaught of Covid cases.

ILLUSTRATION BY DUNG HOANG

By Gail Veley

While vaccines quickly became available to adults, it would be months later before it was available to children.

For those choosing to vaccinate today, protocol dictates that children ages 5-11 receive a half-dose (compared to a normal adult dosage) while those 12 and up receive a full adult-size dose.

However, given the calculated risks that parents take on a daily basis protecting their children, Jennifer, a mother of a 12-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl, feels the vaccine may be too risky for them to receive.

“I have heard from lots and lots of people that menstrual cycles have been severely interrupted by the vaccine,” Jennifer, a breast cancer survivor, said.

While she herself is fully vaccinated given her weakened immune system, “with my life circumstances I have vowed to listen to my gut and not be a people pleaser,” she explained.

“And my gut is saying ‘this doesn’t seem right.’ Yet, my sister-in-law is an OBGYN and had all of her daughters vaccinated.”

While Jennifer has less-specific concerns about her son receiving the vaccine versus her daughter, she is concerned about the age cutoff for receiving a full dose versus a half dose.

“I’m not in the anti-vax camp,” she emphasized. “Rather I’m in the ‘wait and see’ approach and in the ‘wait and see’ camp.” “I just don’t understand how a 12-year-old and up can get the same dose as an adult and those 11 and under get a half dose,” she said. “That concerns me. Six months ago, my son was eligible for a half dose, but now that he’s 12, he would get a full dose?

There isn’t that much difference between an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old.

It seems like when you are full-grown (at age 18) that is a better place to draw the line. Why 12? That’s because we are rushing to do this. They don’t know what they don’t know. I don’t believe this virus was engineered to behave like a normal virus. Getting the vaccine is not in my kid’s best interest.”

Other Utah parents who have yet to vaccinate believe their children building natural immunities is ultimately better for their overall long-term health.

“I think some vaccines are ok-ish,” offers Bre’tte, mother of an eight-yearold boy and two-year-old daughter.

“But I also think that it is better for children to be natural and naturally build their immune system. Neither of my children will be vaccinated for Covid. Because with the amount of research that has been done on the vaccine there is not nearly enough for me to put them at risk. And Covid itself can be controlled by washing your hands and staying sanitary.”

However, while agreeing these viewpoints can be valid, Abby, the mother of two teenaged asthmatic daughters, ages 18 and 19, the latter of whom is substantially overweight and on the spectrum for autism, strongly felt the vaccine was the only real way to keep them both safe from succumbing to Covid. After receiving the vaccine, the overweight daughter had no side effects. Yet the other developed an immediate migraine and sore arm.

“The doctor thinks she may have already had Covid and that’s why her response was so strong,” Abby said.

“But I’m glad they are both vaccinated because it’s very important for their health, well-being and safety.”

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Pioneer Semi-Centennial

Peter Marshall Recounting Plum Alley and The Chinese Tong and Mafia

By Richard Markosian

D

owntown Salt Lake City’s Main Street is probably best known as the home of Temple Square, where millions of lights (usually, but not this year) shine around the reflecting pond that rests just outside of the 130-yearold Mormon temple.

Downtown is the place where pious Latter-Day Saints worship and do billions of dollars of business, from banking, to insurance, to books, publishing and broadcasting in dozens of buildings throughout the city.

But Salt Lake City has always had a strong counter-cultural element. As for gaining a greater understanding of the weird and macabre stories — that touch on the darker element of a people who attempt to please God in their worship and in their works, Pete Marshall’s Utah Book and Magazine Shop is something like a caretaker of a museum on the other side of Salt Lake City.

Pete’s family has done business in Salt Lake City for nearly 100 years, and Pete’s shop is one of the last

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window-display shops that celebrates the seasons and the holidays with a well-thought-out display that includes “Letters to Santa”, faces of elves, and dozens of antique Santa figurines throughout the ages, which Pete says, “aren’t for sale.”

Inside, Pete and sister Helen might look a bit rough around the edges, but they are always happy to greet customers and help them find the perfect gift.

Today, I’m seeking stories. Pete, never one to disappoint, shares three stories that describe the seedy underbelly of Salt Lake City.

Pete shares with me first the story of how, when he was eight-years old, his father, uncle and older brother were asked by Harvey Lee Scheen, the unofficial Mayor of Plum Alley, to come and clear everything out. “You can take anything you want and it’s all free.”

Sheen had brokered a deal that would end in the demolition of one of Salt Lake City’s most notorious blocks.

“We got robes, knives, jewelry, tons of furniture … The secretaries were

solid cherry wood, there was so much stuff in there,” Pete tells me.

“Wasn’t Plum Alley a place where there was an opium den and a brothel?”

“Yes, we got a bunch of opium pipes.

And these big silk robes with dragons on them.”

Pete informed me that the Chinese Tong (gang) operated Plum alley, and the men all carried around hatchets with them, and sometimes they were brutal in their in-fighting.

The Tong were responsible for assisting Chinese immigrants in finding jobs, homes and integrating into western culture beginning around the turn-of-the-century. The Tong were described as a “secret society” of a sworn brotherhood, and they had affiliations with Chinese organized crime syndicates that were in every Chinatown in America.

The organization’s base of power was centered in San Francisco, and the growth of Chinatowns all across America were the result of the initial hostility that Chinese immigrants faced when they landed in America. Like most new immigrants, they were accused of “stealing jobs” and displacing workers. Today, however, every national Transcontinental train museum, including the one in Ogden, Utah, credits the 12,000 Chinese immigrants who helped build the Central Pacific Railway from Sacramento to Promontory, Utah, the site where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869. Without their dedicated, tireless labor the job could have been completed. But exclusionary acts and laws prevented Chinese from integrating into western society until

those laws were repealed in 1945.

Peter’s father was a friend of Scheen’s and he made friends with them, so when it was determined that Salt Lake City was going to bulldoze Plum Alley to make way for the first Salt Palace Convention Center, Harvey Lee Scheen knew just the person to call on to clear the place out.

“After that, they just scattered around the valley everywhere,” says Marshall.

Peter Marshall of Utah Book and Magazine

Plum Alley and Chinatown only exist in the memories of those who still remember this very vibrant part of downtown that was home to restaurants, laundry’s, brothels and gangs, but also hundreds of hard-working people who helped build Salt Lake City and the west into what it is today. The Chinatown of Salt Lake City today is at the Chinatown Supermarket located at 3390 South State.

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Holiday Flowers The Art Floral’s commitment to the community

A

s temperatures and COVID numbers keep falling, families across the valley look forward to enjoying every minute of the 2021 holiday season.

But sometimes hardship and tragedy can make the holidays a desperate time. In 1984, after tragedy struck for Vasi Sergakis, the minutes couldn’t move fast enough.

Earlier that year, her husband Mike passed away, making her sole owner of The Art Floral. Despite being a part of the family business, Vasi focused on running the family while Mike ran the

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business he started in 1951.

In July 1984, as the calendar started its downhill slide to December, Vasi Sergakis started the uphill climb as a single parent and the sole breadwinner. At the time, she was still speaking broken English. Then the Great October snowstorm came, covering the city with a record amount of snow.

Financially, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas wouldn’t make it.

“The end of summer and beginning of fall are a slower time in the flower business and everyone ramps up for

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ART FLORAL

By John Michael Pantlik

Wedemeyer said. Vasi applied her baking skills to demonstrate customer appreciation. She made platters of homemade Greek pastries to offer customers along with their holiday

the holidays,” explains Vasi’s daughter and current owner, Stefanie Sergakis Wedemeyer.

“Those first few months were a blur for my mom, so the holidays took her by surprise just like that October storm did to the city.”

The Art Floral did survive that Christmas, as well as every Stefanie Sergakis Wedemeyer one since, but with her mother, Vasi Sergakis they didn’t do it alone.

“I think my mom took what she knew, which was running a Greek family, and applied that to the business,”

flower orders. Decorative wreaths began adorning family headstones in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Poinsettias were hand-picked with certain families in mind. All under a mother’s watchful eye.

These traditions continue to survive and thrive because of The Art Floral’s commitment to family and loyalty to community.

“If you’re a member of the family you support the business, and if you support the business you’re a member of the family,” says Wedemeyer, whose watchful eye has overseen expanded holiday traditions that include all of their staff volunteering at church and community events. The holidays are happy thanks to Stef’s workshop of four full-time staff members, three tiny dogs, two teenage kids, and a Partridge Family-sized flock of chickens.

The Art Floral is located at 580 E 300 S in Salt Lake City. Come in person, visit us online at theartfloral.com, or call 801-3630656. Holiday orders will be accepted through December 23, 2021.

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City Creek Antiques Closing at End of Year After Eighteen Years in Business

By Richard Markosian

C

ity Creek Antiques has been operated by Carmen Von Bothmer for the past eighteen years and will be closing its doors after December 2021.

Originally started by Carmen and her late husband David as Litven Gallery, Carmen says she “grew up with antiques,” and she met and married her husband over their common love of antiquing.

Back then there were five people working in her shop. Now she is the sole proprietor with the assistance of Pam, who formerly operated Utah Artists Hands. Carmen has operated her store downtown for the past eighteen years.

Ten years ago there were at least three other antique shops, which gave the area the nickname “antique row”.

Until recently, there were Carmen Maranda’s, Euro Treasures, Antionettes, and Briar Patch Antiques. Now all are closed. Still remaining are the Green Ant, Jitterbug Antiques and Urban Vintage.

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Carmen Von Bothmer in front of City Creek Antiques

Von Bothmer said that Covid is not the reason for her closing, and that her business did very well during the pandemic and does well currently, because, she says, “Antiques have no supply chain shortages.” But she says that the city has not been responsive or receptive to small business owners’ major problems. “They would rather only come by to ticket my customers.”

Von Bothmer was burglarized on several occasions over the past few years. She has photographs of the culprits, and even knows where some of them attend school, but she says the police will not go after them.

City Creek Antiques offers a wide selection of paintings, Christmas decorations and plates, silver, jewelry, and antique cameras. Von Bothmer had a loyal clientele who loved her lovely, clean and organized shop on Broadway. City Creek Antiques will surely be missed.

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