Utah Stories March 2023 issue

Brewery

Innovators

Mazza

Still Fantastic

Women

Making Waves

MARCH 2023

Go to UtahStories.com to find exclusive online content:

• Find new dining experiences by following Ted Scheffler. In February, Ted wrote about a new Deer Valley Italian restaurant called La Stellina, which is part of St. Regis. He also visited Snowbasin Resort and reported on their slopeside dining options. Every week Ted explores all the latest events, openings, closings, and new offerings from local restaurants in Food & Drink 411.

• Richard Markosian did a deep interview with six homeless people and brought homeless advocate Ty Bellamy on the Utah Stories Show in Homeless Voices Need to Be Heard.

COMING SOON:

• Look for Utah Stories podcasts and online exclusives from Richard Markosian. Coming up this month: Shrimp fisherman on the Great Salt Lake, Big Brother in Utah bars, What would Jesus do with a billion dollars? SLC food hub, Homeless recovery through farms, and Tai chi.

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

Coming soon on our website will be an early release version of the Utah Stories issue Flipbook with additional online content. It will be available for a nominal fee.

BEHIND THE STORIES

M.K. Lott

M.K. Lott is a hypnotherapist who is based in Ogden, Utah. He graduated from Cedar City’s Southern Utah University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy while also studying entrepreneurship and small business management to complement his degree.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lott saw a need for better mental health practices and awareness, so he made a shift in focus from filmmaking and began his training to become a certified Law of Attraction life coach, working with college students to mix their degrees with their passions before stepping into their own lives and forming their own paths.

Within the same year of receiving his Bachelor’s, he went on to study at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in Tarzana, California’ where he earned his diploma in December of 2022. He is the third generation in his family to attend HMI, the fourth generation to pursue therapy of some kind as a career, and the second generation to have a concentration in hypnotherapy. He specializes in Kappasinian hypnosis, which allows him to provide stress and anxiety management and aid people in helping find direction in life.

His love for writing and storytelling led him to write for Utah Stories, become an award-winning screenwriter with his script, A Day with Jim, going on to become an Amazon bestseller in 2016 and Grand Jury Prize winner in 2017. He produces his own scripted podcast, Get Lost So You Can Find Your Way Home, which he has been running since 2022.

Rachel Fixsen

After growing up on the east coast and earning degrees in English and art from the University of Maryland, Rachel moved to Utah in 2010 and fell in love with its deserts, mountains, rivers and canyons. She has worked as a wildland firefighter, a park ranger, a field research technician, and a builder.

She now lives in Moab, where she writes for the Moab Sun News and the Moab Area Real Estate Magazine. She loves rock climbing, hiking, trail running, and summiting mountains. She also enjoys learning more about Utah’s history and culture, and how we are all adapting to a changing world.

Tim Haran

Tim Haran is an experienced marketing and communications professional with expertise in social storytelling and digital brandbuilding strategy. In 2018 he founded Utah Beer News as a project of Tim Haran Digital LLC. The journalistic-style website and accompanying podcast are dedicated to delivering stories important to the Utah craft beer community.

Prior to launching his consulting business, Tim spent nearly a decade at a billion-dollar nutritional supplements company. He directed the company’s expansive social media presence, which had grown to 90 web properties and more than 750,000 followers/ subscribers globally.

The company’s flagship, What’s Up, USANA? The blog was inducted into the PR News Platinum Hall of Fame in 2014.

USANA social media either had won or been a finalist for more than 75 awards and Tim has been named PR News Blogger of the Year, as well as Digital Communicator of the Year and Social Media Professional of the Year.

Tim earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley and spent several years as a newspaper and multimedia journalist before joining USANA Health Sciences in 2007. Tim lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Amy, and his Wheaten Terrier mix, Wrigley. He is a longtime Chicago Cubs fan and an avid homebrewer. Follow Tim on social media at @timharan or @utahbeernews.

| Why Is It Taking So Long For The City To Take Action?

Tuesday Allred

The state of Utah has no problem putting this statewide problem on one city to solve. I emailed County Mayor Jenny Wilson and asked if they have any services for the unsheltered. Her people emailed me back and said they do not, they leave it up to individual cities. While it is not fair to Mayor Mendenhall, she is doing next to nothing. She does not view unsheltered people as people, hence the term “abatement”.

Mendenhall has told Ty to reach out to her for a meeting, but she ignores emails and phone calls from Ty. Mendenhall does not care and has stated she will not allow a sanctioned campground for the unsheltered. Unsheltered people are ticketed and fined $650.00 for “camping” in city limits. They cannot pay that and end up with warrants. When an abatement happens or they go to a shelter, the police and shelter personnel check them for warrants and they get arrested. The only buildings open for the unsheltered are jails.

This woman is correct. Kudos for standing up for the homeless. We can house the thousands of illegals coming in, but not our own homeless. Pisses me off big time.

Vg Vi

WHY PRINT?

Why Pick Up A Print Magazine?

By Richard Markosian

Printing on paper kills trees; printing requires tons of energy; printing on paper requires ink that is not great for the environment. Printing is wasteful and expensive, it’s antiquated, it’s “legacy media”, it’s passe — so why do it?

I was reminded last week why we print on paper. YouTube struck Utah Stories channel with a “community violation strike”. This violation wasn’t for any new content we had recently published, rather, it was for a podcast we produced nearly two years ago based on a KUTV news story about a Utah woman who had allegedly died from the Covid vaccine. We debunked the claim and stated the facts directly from the CDC’s website. Still, YouTube removed our content, and now they are threatening to remove our channel “if we violate their standards again.”

Why does this matter? YouTube, which is owned by Google, controls a huge chunk of all of the video that is streamed online. YouTube is incredible. I’m a huge fan of the platform, and we reach a much wider audience than we ever would without them. But now YouTube (Google), as well as Instagram (Facebook) and Twitter, are all getting marching orders from our deep-state authorities on what they must censor, and the FBI has been heavily involved in this censorship.

Certainly the rise of newspapers created problems with misinformation and disinformation, but especially in the United States, the government never silenced newspapers or prevented the spread of information. Civil discourse and debate allowed citizens to arrive at their own conclusions and the best ideas rose to the top while the worst ideas were tossed into the trash-bin of history.

Now we are witnessing centralized powers telling us what we are allowed to talk about and what we cannot say. We must reject this trend, we must be able to report and talk about facts, but also examine various sides of issues which involve people’s opinions. The silencing of conscientious objectors to government policies violates our First Amendment.

We print Utah Stories each month to keep our liberties and free speech alive and well in Utah. Perhaps you’ve noticed that we do not shy away from controversy and criticism of our government leaders no matter their political affiliation. We believe in debate, promoting critical thinking, and promoting democracy by sharing the truth.

Please support the printing of this magazine that is not afraid to hold truth to power by subscribing. Big thanks to the hundreds who already have.

PHOTO BY BANK PHROM/UNSPLASH

WOMEN MAKING wAVES

Meet Five Progressive Utah Women At The Forefront Of Change

By Morgan Olsen

Mayor Mendenhall is combating climate change with electric lawn mowers.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Utah Stories Magazine is celebrating women of Utah by naming five of the most influential women in the Salt Lake City area. One woman has been chosen to represent each of the following categories: politics, advocacy, fashion, food, and influencing social media.

Politics: Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake City Mayor

Erin Mendenhall was elected to serve as the Salt Lake City Mayor in 2019 and began her service in 2020. Mendenhall is loved by many Utahns for her work in women’s rights and her ability to face difficulties in her work with grace and passion.

“Something I look up to Erin for, and a big part of why I work for her, is the way she approaches the layers and expectation traps women in leadership often encounter,” said Mendenhall’s colleague Lindsey Nikola. “They have to wear so many different hats and pivot from one to the next seamlessly … ”

While Mendenhall’s time as mayor has been praised by many, it has also been criticized by some. Ty Bellamy, a wellknown activist for homelessness in Salt Lake City, says that Mendenhall’s efforts to end homelessness haven’t been enough to solve the problem.

“Mayor Mendenhall took this job knowing well that Salt Lake is an epicenter of homelessness in Utah,” Bellamy told Utah Stories. “Salt Lake City has had a serious homeless problem since she was elected, and still, Mendenhall is not showing the courage to change the inhumane policies in place.”

Humanitarian Work: Gail Miller

Gail Miller has played a major role in the business and humanitarian world of Salt

Lake City. She and her husband, Larry Miller, formed Larry H. Miller Charities in 1995, and owned the Larry H. Miller group of companies for decades. When Larry passed away in 2009, Gail took over as chair of the Larry H. Miller group and has used her role as chairwoman to accomplish great things for the community.

In 2021, Larry H. Miller Charities donated $30 thousand to Jordan School District, and the money was split up to help many families in need.

In the same year, the Gail Miller Resource Center also donated $10 million to help homeless resource centers in Salt Lake City. She also committed to a $100 million private/public initiative to renovate and build affordable housing in the Ballpark Neighborhood after the Salt Lake Bees (under the Larry H. Miller Group) decided to move to South Jordan, although the details have yet to be confirmed.

Most recently, the Miller Foundation provided meals and clothing to more than 3,000 unhoused and food-insecure members of the community.

Advocacy: Stephenie Larsen, founder of Encircle

Stephenie Larsen saw a need for a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth in Provo, Utah and started Encircle in 2017. Encircle is an LGBTQ+ center that provides resources like therapy, friendship circles, courses, and support groups for LGBTQ+ youth and

their families. The first Encircle home opened in Provo on Valentine’s Day in 2017, and has since added two new homes — one in Salt Lake City and another in St. George.

Larsen’s love for the LGBTQ+ community is what led her to start Encircle, which has served more than 100,000 people since it started in 2017. She is well-loved for the life-saving resources she has made available to so many LGBTQ+ individuals and families throughout the community.

Fashion: Kylee Middleton, founder of Piper & Scoot

When Kylee Middleton, founder of Piper & Scoot clothing company, created an Instagram account to start selling her own clothes she didn’t wear anymore, she had no idea it would take off into a fulltime clothing business.

“We started Piper & Scoot back in 2014,” said Middleton. “My husband and I had just gotten married and moved into a studio apartment together and I didn’t have enough closet space for all of the clothes that I had collected over the years, so I started selling off my clothes on Instagram.

Eventually, I ran out of used clothes to sell and began to purchase

packs of new clothes in higher volume to continue to sell through the channel I had created.”

Middleton’s determination and creativity have led Piper and Scoot from its Instagram beginnings in 2014 to four retail stores in 2023.

“Don’t let anyone tell you how to do it,” said Middleton. “Starting a business is not a prescribed experience. It needs to be authentic in order to be sustainable, otherwise, you’ll be working to appease someone else’s timelines and game plans for you.”

Influencers: Jane Williamson — The Utah Mom

Jane Williamson has made her mark in the social media world as “THE Utah Mom.” She pokes fun at the recently-trending “Utah mom” stereotype that includes things like Stanley mugs, a Swig obsession, uniquely-spelled childrens’ names, and decorating way too early for Christmas.

“I love following Jane on Instagram,” said one of Williamson’s followers, Hannah Graves. “Her content is so hilarious and relatable and it’s nice to have lighthearted reels on my feed.”

Williamson is well-loved by many Utahns and her Instagram reels have been viewed by millions. Those interested in learning more about the “Utah mom” stereotype can follow Jane on Instagram (@jane) and TikTok (@janeinsane_).

Stephenie Larsen.

Kylee Middleton.

Jane Williamson.

maci winn: competitive weightlifter

Lifting Herself To Success

By Morgan Olsen

At 26 years old, Salt Lake City native Maci

Winn is one of the state’s up-and-coming weightlifters on a national and international scale. From her involvement in athletics at an early age, to working towards her MD/PhD Degree at the University of Utah, Winn is setting the stage to make a name for herself.

Many of Winn’s family members work in the healthcare field, which has influenced her decision to study medicine.

Her parents were supportive of her involvement in sports throughout her early years, and at Highland High, where she participated in a variety of sports.

“Sportswise, I loved high school,” said Winn. “When I think about high school, I only think about sports. I did a little bit of everything — gymnastics, diving, and track and field — but the sport I mainly did in high school was diving. I had a phenomenal coach. She was a great role model and leader.”

After high school, Winn attended college at Southern Utah University in Cedar City.

“I decided to start doing Crossfit and learned pretty quickly how strong I was naturally. I realized I had a natural ability with a barbell.”

As a result of Crossfit, she became more interested in weightlifting competitively, and in 2016, the Olympic Trials were held

ever,” said Winn. “I was completely in love with it the second I watched it in person. I remember turning to my dad and saying, ‘I’m going to do that one day.’”

Since Southern Utah University didn’t have a competitive weightlifting program, Winn decided to continue with Crossfit until graduating from college, when she moved back to Salt Lake City to further pursue her education at the U of U. This led her to begin her competitive weightlifting journey.

Winn’s passion for weightlifting was apparent from the time she attended the Olympic Trials, but that passion grew even stronger the first day she entered the gym.

“I remember my first day was just kind of one of those moments where I thought, ‘this will be one of the best decisions I make in my life,’” she recalls.

A couple of months later, she participated in her first competition at a local meet

in St. George.

“I hadn’t competed in any sport for a while, so I remember being nervous, but it was so much fun. It reminded me how much I love competing. I was motivated to continue working hard and trying to get better at weightlifting because I loved it from the get-go.”

As the training and competitions continued, Winn began to hit her stride as a competitive weightlifter, eventually competing in the National Championships in July 2022.

“At the National Championships … I was competing and trying to make a spot on the World Championship team because that was the first Olympic Qualifier for 2024. We were going for the biggest numbers I could possibly lift.”

Winn was well on her way to qualifying for the 2024 Olympics with this lift when catastrophe struck.

“There’s two lifts — the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. I won in the Snatch. During the Clean and Jerk, I made my first, missed my second, and got myself under the bar, but my back foot ended up slipping. I fell on the ground and the barbell landed on the back of my leg and snapped it in half. I was rushed away on a stretcher, and while in the ambulance, I found out that I ended up winning the whole competition. My little sister had to stand on the podium for me.”

This injury would have been career-ending for some, but Winn didn’t waste any time feeling sorry for herself.

“I took a week off after my injury before I went back to the gym,” she explained. “It took me two surgeries and six months to be able to walk without crutches. Most of the past eight months have been trying to see what my body is capable of. My teammates have primarily helped me through

my injury and I am so grateful for them.”

Winn is optimistic about her future in weightlifting.

“Unfortunately, the next Olympics are off the table because of my injury, but I think my weightlifting goal hasn’t changed,” she said. “Hopefully, I can do what it takes to become one of the best weightlifters in the country.”

Weightlifting has affected many aspects of Winn’s life and continues to teach her important lessons every day.

“A big lesson I’ve learned from weightlifting, in general, is how important it is in life to do the things that you love to do.”

She also said that this past year has taught her new life lessons that she will apply to her weightlifting as she rebounds from her injury.

“I think, especially this past year, I have learned a lot about patience and resilience. I don’t even think I really knew what those two things were until this past year. Success doesn’t happen overnight. I’m still learning that lesson in hard ways, but I’m hopefully a more patient and resilient person after this.”

Winn plans to compete in the National Championships this summer in order to get back into the competition routine. She also wants to give others hope that a return to the sport is possible after such a major setback.

“I think it’ll be good for people to see me at the event this year. It’s been a huge part of my recovery process. I hope to be able to help people through their own process of injury and help them see that it’ll be okay.”

Winn will document her journey to the National Championships this summer on her TikTok and Instagram accounts. Users can find her by searching @maciwinn on either platform.

housinG & camping crisis

By Richard Markosian

The wind-swept painted desert canyons, arches and vistas are calling. Moab beckons the masses during the spring, summer and fall. Annually, we pack up our SUV with our dogs and hiking gear for days of long, quiet walks in the desert. The redrock contrasting the white-blue La Sals is spectacular. We hear only a gentle wind through sagebrush. After a few days, our frazzled city nerves are calmed. The wind drives the sand, and the sand carves the stone as it has for eons. Today, the winds of change are blowing.

To say that Moab is a “boom town” or is “suffering from growing pains” doesn’t accurately capture the town’s dynamics.

Moab’s growing pains are systemic. Residents feel a sense of belonging, but without a sense of ownership. Not only river guides and restaurant employees, but also teachers are having an incredibly difficult time finding affordable housing. Many are resorting to living out of their vehicles. The process of traditional gentrification is a well-known story for tourist towns. Park City, Aspen or Vail, and even Sugar House started out being great for the working-class poor, but once the wealthy elites discover how “hot” the real estate is becoming, they swoop in like vultures and buy up land, houses, rental properties.

The corporate elites buy and build hotels.

PHOTO

BY RICHARD MARKOSIAN

Then, the question and challenge for city leaders becomes: Will Moab remain a town for working class adventure-seekers and working-class residents, or will it become yet another place for the elites to bank their money in mansions and attempt to set rules and guidelines that protect their investments?

The conflicting sets of priorities engage in a tug-of-war. The reason for this new tug could be summed up in a bumper sticker that reads, “Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Moab”. In terms of what one night in a Moab room can fetch at peak season, Moab has been surpassing its big city companions on that sticker. $390 per

night at Moab’s La Quinta Inn.

This astronomical figure, despite the ever-increasing inventory of lodging, has attracted big-capital investors: Wingate, Weston, Marriott, Curio Collection by Hilton, Hyatt. Just in the course of the past five years, all have opened shop in Edward Abbey’s once sleepy Moab. While the city has shunned corporate chains when it comes to restaurants — Denny’s closed its doors last year — it seems, prior to their building moratorium, that the city opened its arms to lodging developers. And why wouldn’t they? Hotel guests spend their money, they mostly stay inside of the parks, they provide jobs, they

bolster the economy.

Navtec’s Land Battle For Employee Camping

Brian Martinez of Navtec Adventures is preparing dozens of Land Cruisers, rubber boats, life vests and first aid kits for his fifty rugged guides who will soon be returning to town for the upcoming season. Navtec is one of Moab’s oldest and most-respected adventure guide outfitters.

In January 2022, Moab City and Grand County decided to enforce a “no-city-limits camping ordinance”. Martinez said that they assured him that their three-acre plot beside the waste-water treatment facility, where many of their guides camp, would not be impacted by the new law.

However, the law makers and law enforcers were not communicating. Martinez says, “once the ordinance passed, they wanted us gone.” Most of his guides, he tells me, are there to save up money so they can leave first-thing when the season ends. “Right now I have two guides in Africa; five are living in South America; most of them are ski-bumming somewhere in Colorado or Utah.

Martinez says most of his guides aren’t seeking long-term housing, they want a cheap place to stay so they can save their money, up to $40K including salary and tips, and head out on new adventures once the season ends. “If they can’t camp, I won’t have guides,” he says.

Martinez had to fight for an entire year to pass an “Alternative Dwelling Overlay” to create a legal pathway for people to camp while also providing a minimum standard of living, offering access to water and bathrooms. Navtec’s fighting for their rights on their three-acre property has paved the way for more employers to apply for more overlays. Employers who own land can apply for the overlay to be applied to tiny homes, camp sites or RV parks. This mostly will be applied for seasonal workers for a set period of time. The Grand County Commission passed this overlay 7 to 4. But Martinez says that along with the official camping overlay, he was required to pay some hefty “impact fees” even before he breaks ground to build the restroom and water facilities.

“I need to pay a $55 thousand dollar impact fee even before I put in running water and bathrooms.” Martinez says the

campsites will be official, but now all of those additional fees will come out of their bottom line.

Nearly every restaurant that we visited told the same or similar story of the dearth of affordable employee housing. Car camping or “van life” has become the norm, and for many in Moab, living out of vehicles or renting at astronomical rates is the norm. One interesting nuance of this situation is that some folks prefer the van life.

Van life has become especially appealing to workers who come to Moab to spend as much time as possible rock climbing. We met two employees working at the Spoke on Center who love the van life. Driving their van outside of the city to BLM lands doesn’t require a lot of gas or expense, and there is still plenty of space outside of town to park a van. But as this is happening more frequently, the BLM has started to clamp down and impose more camping restrictions.

We were told by an employee at a local restaurant that she was amazed to find signs on BLM land that required campers to scan a QR code and submit a payment before settling into a campsite at Willow Springs. But as it goes with every place that becomes popular, more people equals more complexity. Which is why we are recommending more BLM trails and out-of-the-park experiences around Moab.

More than influencers, Moab is attracting USU faculty, nurses, welders and construction workers who are all having trouble finding housing. Visit UtahStories. com to listen to our upcoming podcast interview with USU welding instructor Chloe Wilson and her husband Kiefer Smith, who are currently living out of their RV, due to not being able to pay the $10,000 deposit for a condo.

Subscribe to Utah Stories free digital newsletter to listen to our podcast each week.

PHOTO FROM INSTAGRAM/@KRIZTIANG35GTR

Christian Emmanuel is a traveler, adventurer and Jeep enthusiast. Follow him on Instagram @kriztiang35gtr

Moab

Out-of-the-Parks

ITineraries

Canyonlands and Arches National Parks fill up fast, so it’s nice to go someplace less crowded than the most touristy trails.

After visiting Moab for ten years, usually four times per year, we avoid the parks unless we are hosting outof-the-country visitors, enjoying the seclusion and solitude of lesser-known, but no less spectacular treks. Here, I share with you a few of my favorite out-of-the-parks trails.

Moonflower Canyon – It’s not a full-on backpacking excursion, but it’s a nice two-hour hike where you can enjoy some leave-no-trace camping under the vivid stars of the Milky Way just off Cane Creek Road, about 12 miles out of town.

This canyon does get quite as crowded during the height of the season, but early March is a good time to visit if you are the adventure seeker who wants to dip your toe into backpacking.

The Bar “M” Trails – Located about ten miles north of town on Highway 191, the Bar Trails offer a good degree of wide-open expanses of mostly smooth terrain stretching all the way to the arches which can be seen in the far distance. Take your bike and take your dogs. Just make sure to clean up after them.

Seven Mile Trail - It’s a one-sizefits-all that leads to small pools cut out of the sandstone, and eventually to the wide and welcoming Courthouse

Wash, which offers spectacular views. Take water and plenty of poop bags for your dogs. Pack out your dog poop!

The Slick Rock bike trails

Whether you are taking your bike or walking with your dogs, the slickrock trails are fantastic and are just a stone’s throw from town. This terrain is much more heavily buckled than the Bar Trails and a bit more technically challenging.

On a weekday, you will enjoy few people (in early to mid March) and spectacular scenery leading up to the edge of Abyss and Echo Canyons. The trail offers a big loop for those who are ambitious and tough.

We completed the entire six-mile loop and we had a blast going up and down the undulating sandstone. One certainly feels like they have blasted off to Mars on this terrain, and there is plenty of parking around the trailhead.

Other out-of-the-parks trails I recommend include Gemini Bridges and Poison Spider trails (if you don’t mind sharing them with Jeeps).

For the more adventurous, Horseshoe Canyon and Great Gallery are some of the most incredible, most remote places in Utah. If you don’t want to fret over all the preparations for these spectacular canyons, we can highly recommend booking a trip through the experts at Navtec Adventures.

PHOTOS BY GOLDA MARKOSIAN

proper brewing opens

Onsite Beer Store And Brewery Lands In Moab

By Rachel Fixsen

Proper Brewing held the grand opening of its new Moab location on February 10, but even before that, the brew pub and eatery has been popular.

“The soft opening was definitely busier than we anticipated,” said Proper Brewing co-owner Andrew Tendick. “It was a great experience for our staff. Moab gets hit so hard during the tourist season, with volumes and volumes of people coming down — so getting a taste of what it will be like to be inundated with people and work out some of the kinks … was really helpful.”

Tendick is familiar with the seasonal ebb and flow of Moab, where he went to high school and where he still has family. He now lives in Salt Lake City, the site of the original and three other Proper Brewing locations. The Moab location is the first one outside the state capital.

“I have a pretty strong connection to the community,” Tendick explained. “I don’t think we would have expanded if it had been St. George or somewhere else.”

Tendick wants to keep those connections strong. He’s hoping to incorporate live music events as the weather gets warmer, with local artists performing at the brewery’s outdoor patio, and he’s considering family movie nights. Proper has also partnered with Utah State University

Moab’s technology department, arranging for USU welding students to create bike racks for the new brew pub.

“That’s an example of something we want to be doing more and more, partnering with local businesses and organizations in the community,” Tendick said. He mentioned that Proper has supported the local nonprofit Youth Garden Project in the past, and will consider incorporating local farm produce into the menu and participating in the garden’s fall dinner series.

The new pub will also dedicate one of its guest taps for a selection from the Moab Brewery, the long-standing brew pub on the other end of town. Brewers from the two businesses collaborated together on creating a beer for the Utah Brewers Guild Collab Fest last year.

“We’re supporters of them, they’re great to work with,” Tendick said of the well-loved Brewery.

Jeff Van Horn, head brewer at Moab Brewery, said it’s great to see another brewery come to Moab.

“As far as Moab Brewery is concerned, the more the merrier. Proper Brewery is a great local brewer and we welcome them with open arms,” he said.

With the spring tourist season around the corner, it’s likely all of Moab’s eateries will be buzzing. Tendick said that so far, patrons at the new Proper have been a mix of locals and visitors; he expects to see more out-of-towners throughout the tourist season. Regardless of where patrons are coming from — from down the street once a week, or from across the globe just once — Tendick said Proper focuses on good quality beer and good quality food.

The Moab location has 20 taps and 50 can and bottle selections. Most of the taps will have Proper-made beers, but Tendick said there will be consistent guest taps and some special-order and unique beers.

“If you’re from out-of-state, you’ll be able to have a nice selection not just of Proper beer, but craft beer in general. If you’re a local, you can come in a couple times a month and try new beers.”

Soon, there will also be an onsite beer store where patrons can buy bottles and cans. Tendick is hoping that it will be open this spring.

In honor of the new location, Proper has created a new beer, a West Coast IPA-style brew called “The Daily,” named after a stretch of the Colorado River that is popular with Moab locals and visitors.

A West Coast IPA, Tendick explained, has a more piney, bitter flavor profile, in contrast to a “juicy” or “hazy” IPA, which is slightly sweeter. The Daily was released in mid-February.

Tendick is pleased to be open for business in Moab.

“More than anything, we’re excited to be down there and getting our doors open,” he said.

The M.O.A.B: Mother of All Burgers.

women of ogden

By Cathy McKitrick

OGDEN – In honor of Women’s HIstory Month, we’re highlighting five Ogden women who work tirelessly to build community.

Tamara Brown-Johansen

Her students call her Brown-Jo. At 63, she’s in her 38th year teaching Consumer and Family Science classes at Ben Lomond High School.

“When I did my student teaching, I absolutely fell in love with it,” Brown-Johansen said. “I like the weird adolescent mind.”

In addition to teaching, Brown-Johansen strives to connect with students in and out of class. The Title I school is filled with teens who qualify for free and reduced breakfast and lunch.

“When I hear some of their back stories, it’s a miracle they’re here. A lot of them don’t have what they need to be a successful adolescent, let alone grow into a successful adult,” she said. “So we try — as a whole school — to bridge that gap.”

Kym Buttschardt

Kym Buttschardt, 55, grew up in Ogden when lower 25th Street was in serious decline. Little did she know that she’d help

spur its renaissance.

After college, she moved to Washington D.C. with no plans to return to her hometown. But life had other ideas.

“Ogden didn’t have a magnetic pull for me,” Buttschardt said. “The magnetic pull was that I met my husband [Pete], and he moved to Ogden to open the Union Grill.”

It opened in 1991 — and the couple decided to plant their proverbial flag in Ogden.

“We wanted to be a community gathering place first and a restaurant second,” Buttschardt said.

By 1995, they also opened Roosters, a thriving brewpub on lower 25th Street. And two decades later, they’ve added three locations — on B Street in West Ogden, in Layton, and inside the Salt Lake Airport.

“I genuinely like people and enjoy figuring out how things work,” Buttschardt said. “In Ogden you can do that.”

Kathie Darby

Growing up on Ogden’s 2nd Street in the 1950s and ‘60s, Kathie Darby’s first two decades of life were marked by poverty and struggle.

“I was that pregnant girl in high school,”

PHOTOS CURATED BY CATHY MCKITRICK

Tamara BrownJohansen.

Kym Buttschardt.

Darby said. “I had to leave the school. My husband (now her ex) got to stay.”

Darby later earned her GED, and dove into child-rearing, work and volunteer service.

Her children are now college educated, and Darby has served on almost every charitable board and committee in town. She took a vigorous but unsuccessful stab at politics, running for the Utah House in 2016 and again in 2018.

“It was worth the effort, but sad to lose,” Darby said.

Now married to Joe Darby, the 70-yearold Darby views life’s struggles as testaments to the human spirit: “I’ve witnessed a lot. The goal is to try to make other people’s lives easier.”

Betty Sawyer

After graduating from Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, Betty Sawyer moved west.

Now 69, she’s been in Ogden for 43 years, championing rights and opportunities for people living on the margins.

“I was one of 10 children that integrated my local high school in Baltimore,” Sawyer said of her coming of age in the 1960s.

Once in Ogden, she and husband “Butch” ran the Marshall White Center for decades.

“We took a lot of pride in having a place where we could come together, have fun

and provide education for our youth and families,” Sawyer said.

Her leadership roles in Ogden’s NAACP chapter also span four decades.

In 1991, Sawyer helped launch Project Success to boost education and job opportunities for Ogden’s inner city youth.

She also dove into politics, running once for state House, once for state Senate, and once for the Ogden School Board.

While those campaigns came up short, Sawyer said that other women told her she inspired them to run for office.

“That’s part of the work I do … to open those doors of opportunity,” Sawyer said.

Marcia White

At 59, Marcia White is in her 10th year on the Ogden City Council. The Nebraska native grew up surrounded by politics.

“My great uncle was a two-term governor and three-term US senator from Nebraska. My mom helped run his field office in Lincoln,” White said.

White moved to Ogden 12 years ago, equipped with a Masters degree in Public Administration along with a powerful skill set.

“I’m data-driven but also administrative and organizational, ” White said.

In her role on the Ogden City Council, White said she’s most proud of their efforts to make the community more environmentally and fiscally sustainable.

“It’s understanding how we fit into the greater good of Ogden,” White said.

She also works as economic development director for Wasatch Front Regional Council.

Kathie Darby.

Bettie Sawyer.

Marcia White.

Mazza Man

Ali Sabbah & 23 Years Of Mazza

By Ted Scheffler

Ali Sabbah is no stranger to awards and accolades. As owner of Mazza Cafe, he has garnered countless “Best Of” honors for the Middle Eastern cuisine and hospitality generously dished up at his iconic Salt Lake City restaurant. And, although he doesn’t call himself a chef (more on that later), he was recently nominated for a James Beard Award as Best Chef in the Mountain region, which includes Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. That’s pretty heady stuff.

Mazza is also one of the longest-lived independent restaurants in Salt Lake

City, having opened in the winter of 2000. Back then, the cafe served Middle Eastern fare on paper and Styrofoam with plastic utensils in the small space that was formerly home to Smoky’s Records and then to a bakery in the eclectic 15th & 15th neighborhood. It’s now a cozy, beautifully decorated eatery with white tablecloths, a full wine list, and, as always, award-winning Middle Eastern cuisine. Although, Ali doesn’t call it that. When I asked him if he considered Mazza to be a Lebanese or Middle Eastern restaurant, he said that his cuisine is really Levantine. It’s a cuisine built around the sharing of food and flavors ranging from Turkey to Jordan, with Lebanon — Ali’s home country — smack in the middle.

As we sat down to chat, he said, “I’m getting ready to make a dish of chicken with olives and dried fruits — more North African style — a slow-cooked, braising kind of dish that combines savory, spicy, lemony, and sweet flavors. It’s fun!” He’s also quick to add, “I don’t call myself a chef. I’m just a cook. A chef, to me, is someone who has attended culinary school and has a degree.”

PHOTOS BY JOHN TAYLOR

Elaborating on the “fun” factor, Ali says that “I’m really enjoying cooking again now that I only have this place [the 15th & 15th restaurant] and I’m only doing dinner.” This means he can spend more time in the kitchen developing dishes rather than focusing solely on the business operations, finances, staffing and such, that consumed so much of his time when he was running three different Mazza restaurants.

In 2007, Ali opened a second Mazza restaurant at 9th & 9th, and then, in October of 2019, launched a third Mazza in Sandy. The latter was a huge space, oc cupied formerly by a Training Table restaurant, that he wound up having to sink approximately $1 million into in order to meet his and his customers’ standards.

“We were just starting to turn the corner after six months and beginning to see a steady stream of customers at the Sandy location when the pandemic hit and restaurants closed for dine-in,” says Sabbah. Terrible timing. “It didn’t make any sense to have three restaurants doing takeout, so I decided to close the two newer ones and did takeout at the 15th & 15th location.” It was nearly ruinous financially, and Ali says he’s still recovering from the effect the pandemic had on his businesses. “But,” he adds, “we were all going through the same thing. Every restaurant owner was affected.”

He’s grateful for the community support he’s received over the 23 years that Mazza has been open. The year after he launched Mazza, 9/11 happened and Middle Easterners were quickly stereotyped as villains by many Americans. And yet, in the days that followed the attack, Ali says that there were lines down the block of people waiting to get into Mazza and to demonstrate not just their love for Ali’s cuisine, but for him and his family. “It was very moving,” he says.

Fast-forwarding back to the present day, Ali says “So here we are. This is it for me now. I’m happy. I’m enjoying the restaurant business again, but it sure wasn’t fun there for a while.”

As we wrap up our conversation, Ali asks “Que tal?” and greets an employee reporting to work in fluent Spanish. He then introduces me to Agustin, saying “He’s been with us since April of 2000, a month or so after we opened.”

It’s an expression of the type of loyalty that many of his longtime staff, as well as his enduring customers, feel toward Ali Sabbah and Mazza Cafe.

So, here’s to another 23 years of fantastic falafel, muhammara, kebabs, shawarma, lamb & rice dolaa, baked kafta, and many more magnificent Levantine delights from Mazza.

Chicken, olives, and a preserved fruits stew on top of Mazza’s turmeric rice.

SUGAR HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

Infrastructure Improvements Will Affect Business Access

By M.K. Lott

Projected to span over the next four years, Sugar House will be experiencing a one-two punch of construction. First, Highland Drive will be getting a resurfacing that was supposed to begin at the end of February. This project will start at around 1700 South and new paving will go all the way to the 1-80 freeway overpass at around 2200 South.

Then, 2100 South will begin construction. For this project the city is doing a major street renovation including new infrastructure lines for sewer, electrical and gas. But the major contention is over the width of the sidewalks and final design to balance a new bike lane, with the huge amount of traffic that the major artery accommodates.

The big question remains, could these punches mean a knock-out for some of Salt Lake City’s oldest, most beloved local businesses? Located right in the

oldest furniture store: Sterling Furni ture; Utah’s oldest coin shop: All About Coins; One of Utah’s most beloved and oldest watch repair shops: Fankhauser Jewelry, and at least another half dozen flourishing local businesses such as Raunch Records and Artistic Frame Co. and more.

Fankhauser Jewelry has been a Sugar House mainstay for the past 81 years. Howard bought out Fankhauser Jewelry eleven years ago from the previous owner, Gary Davis, who bought it from the Fankhauser family in 1941. Howard says the area had been under construction since before he started.

“The traffic is hard to get to unless you’re already in Sugar House,” he explains. Howard experienced the negative effects of the changes, including losing a quarter of his traffic flow due to construction.

“If you lose 25 percent of your busi-

PHOTO BY RICHARD MARKOSIAN

because you can keep the doors open.”

Howard, how ever, is in a somewhat advantageous position as he says his trade can permit him to work at home, but that’s something of a last resort for him. And not every business owner has the possibility of remote work, such as Bob Campbell of All About Coins, who was willing to take a bolder approach to the construction.

“It will affect our business,” Campbell

construction would be a median that would separate the east-bound and westbound lanes.

“They say it’s going to be a little 8to 10-inch wide barrier to force people not to turn. I think the only way you can be friendly to businesses and also allow cars to come up and down freely and make it safer for everyone is just not to put up a divider in the road. It isn’t broken like they think it is.”

Bob Campbell of All About Coins.

The mayor has elected to adjust the sidewalk and bicycle lanes to make them wider for those looking to use them as their main commute. Campbell’s 40-year history at the store has led him to believe that this approach is a bigger change than Sugar House residents will appreciate. “I remember when we used to have parking on the side before all the trees were installed. We had narrow sidewalks,” he says.

Campbell, a former cyclist, understands the logistics of making this move in favor of a more environmentally friendly strategy. From his experience as a cyclist, Campbell under stands better than most the dangers that would come with the changes of this new construction. “With this particular road being as busy as it is, and trying to restrict it further, people will probably lose their lives. The city will become liable because these decisions weren’t thought through.”

Campbell is preparing to hopefully counter these results by starting a petition to reverse these effects and other projected consequences of the construction.

But some owners, like Brad Collins of Raunch Records, are experienced

enough that they aren’t too worried about potential blockages to the entryways. He explains, “I don’t know if they’re gonna do 11th East ... but they will come down 11th East past the post office over there for all the drainage. And then they’re going to do 21st pretty much right away, I think ... My impression is that they’ll do both of these things while we’re open. So I’m thinking there will be some issues that way ... “

Collins counters that when the time comes, “They’re going to have to leave an entrance, so they’ll do an entrance. I don’t know what they’re going to do on 11th East in terms of the lanes ... they’re trying to put drainage in, really. Because at the post office, I heard that it pools up with a lot of water.”

Seeing how Raunch Records had been in business since 1986, there wasn’t much that was still uncharted territory for Collins, allowing him to be more prepared for new and unexpected changes.

But whether it’s because of the risk to cyclists, or simply finding the right crowd, the stores battling the construction have the longevity and concern to fight back and adapt to the upcoming changes regarding access to their businesses.

Chris Howard of Fankahuser Jewelry.

BEYOND BASIC BREWING

Utah Breweries Innovate To Survive Pandemic And Keep Beer Flowing

By Tim Haran

Necessity is the mother of innovation.

COVID-19 dominated headlines in March 2020. The hammer fell on the hospitality industry mid-month when Salt Lake County ordered bars and restaurants to close to dine-in customers. It wouldn’t be long before the rest of the state followed suit.

The pandemic forced Utah’s craft breweries to pivot. Creativity and innovation were no longer luxuries; they were now necessary for survival.

“We opened with a model of being taproom-only where everybody’s coming to us,” said Cody McKendrick, whose Bewilder Brewing opened its doors in December 2019. “All of a sudden, we’re in an economy where nobody can come to you. It was pretty terrifying.”

Bewilder’s draft-only model at the time

meant it needed to find ways to get its beer to consumers who could no longer drink inside its taproom. The fledgling brewery began filling growlers (using a machine on loan from a fellow brewer) and ordered custom growlers. It revamped its website and leaned into social media to “communicate the good, the bad, and the ugly that we were facing,” McKendrick said.

“If we didn’t make it through, we didn’t want anybody to say that it was for lack of effort,” he continued. Innovative tactics designed to draw people and keep the beer flowing included parking lot car shows, barbecues, and Pinewood Derby-style competitions.

“You name it, we gave it a shot,” McKendrick said.

Meantime, Shades Brewing, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2020, also

PHOTO COURTESY OF BILLIE JO

jumped into action amid uncertainty.

“When the pandemic came, we knew we had to come up with something,” said Alexandra Ortiz, Shades Brewing’s CEO. “You get a few minutes of freak out as a business owner. When we got the news that there was going to be a shutdown, it was momentary panic and then, ‘OK, guys, we need a solution.’”

Bewilder and Shades, like many breweries throughout the state, got creative. They implemented innovations to help them survive the onslaught of the pandemic and put them in position to emerge stronger in the long term.

Innovative Ideas to Keep Beer Flowing

In a matter of hours after learning of the shutdown, the Shades team decided to build a Quarantine Kit. The mixed case of 24 beers featured a variety of beer styles. Customers picked up the quarantine kits “dockside” — from a tent set up outside the brewery’s loading dock.

Shades also infused its acclaimed Kveik 1 sour ale with a variety of flavors to create sought-after limited-edition brews that patrons lined up to try. Then, Shades created a limited-edition within a limited-edition when it packaged and sold a Kveik Earthquake Series, which commemorated the 5.7 magnitude earthquake northern Utah felt on March 18, 2020.

Through it all, breweries statewide hustled to develop to-go procedures to ensure the health and safety of their staff and customers. Several got creative in how they transferred beer to consumers or maintained a connection with beer drinkers:

• Grid City Beer Works planned to open its doors in mid-March when word of the shutdown hit. It pivoted to temporarily become a curbside pub in April 2020.

• Kiitos Brewing took the opportunity amid shutdown to remodel its taproom

and expand its tap handles.

• RoHa Brewing Project sold its new Transom Dark Pale Ale from an inflatable raft in its parking lot.

• Roosters Brewing conducted a “virtual tasting” of six beers, coupled with a beer education class, live on Facebook.

• SaltFire Brewing compiled “Self-Isolation Survival Packs,” which, at times, included beer, Girl Scout cookies, and condoms.

• Salt Flats Brewing included a bottle of hand sanitizer (produced by its distilling enterprise) with each $30 beer purchase.

A few breweries either built or expanded their patios for thirsty beer drinkers to enjoy their brews outside.

Moving Forward with the Community

Brewers continued to brew and sell beer with the hope the pandemic would soon end. Dine-in restrictions eased in late spring of 2020 to provide some relief. Masked-up patrons could once again pull up a barstool and enjoy a (socially distanced) pint.

Still, breweries weren’t certain if or when the next shutdown would occur. Many ramped up packaging production to ensure their product was readily available in grocery and liquor stores. Others began canning their beers for the first time to better serve their communities.

“The support from the community was incredible,” Ortiz said. “People were literally driving to the businesses they loved just to support them. That is the only reason we stayed in business.”

McKendrick agreed.

“We’re thankful, and it’s so meaningful to have received all the support of friends, family and the beer community — as consumers and other brewers,” he said. “We really feel like without that support there’s no way we could have gotten this far.”

BREWERY INNOVATORS

By David E. Jensen

Shades Brewing

The art of innovation is alive and well at Shades Brewing, where CEO Alexandra Ortiz and her business partner Trent Fargher have capitalized on creativity.

“Sometimes you have to get super creative, and not just with beer,” Ortiz explains.

Lacking an assembly line for packing and shipping beer made it hard for Ortiz and her staff to keep pace with the growing demand for their products.

“We’d have someone gluing the ends of the boxes and someone else filling them by hand,” Ortiz says. “It’s not anyone’s favorite job and it can be overwhelming.”

It was time-consuming and tedious work. And that’s when Trent stepped in.

By modifying a pizza box-making machine, he was able to adapt it for stuffing beer boxes, and he automated the manual process by adding a conveyor. Now, four people can do the whole job.

ale and inoculate it inside the foeder with wild strains of yeast and it sours the beer,” Miller explains. “That can take months, if not years. Oak-aged sours are complex beers.”

Miller then draws off the top of the foeder. “About half,” he says, “then we refill it with freshly fermented ale. At this time, we don’t have to inoculate it because now there’s a culture.”

Using the solera method, SaltFire creates a uniquely distinct brew that, once aged, is bottled and ready for consumption. Often, it’s an eight or nine month process, but it can take longer depending on environmental factors such as temperature.

Stop by SaltFire and enjoy a cold one. Cheers!

2199 S W Temple, South Salt Lake, UT 84115

www.saltfirebrewing.com

385-955-0504

“It’s pretty fast! Ortiz exclaims. “Two people load cans and a third person case-packs them and stacks them onto a palette. The fourth person runs the machine and loads it with boxes. It’s allowed us to have multiple-case packs at the grocery store.”

A machine designed for this purpose costs around $200,000, but Trent bought the pizza box part and the conveyer for about $20,000.

Shades is also trying out a robot on their canning line that’s still in the beta testing phase, and they love their lime cutting machine that takes the work out of all that slicing for the 800 to 1,000 customers they serve on a Saturday night.

Creative innovation is alive and well at Shades.

154 W Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake, UT 84115 www.shadesbrewing.beer 435-200-3009