With 400 miles of trails and an emphasis on thoughtful management, there's no need to panic about the state of Park City trails.
Read More
Deer Valley Summer Concerts, including Utah Symphony’s Deer Valley Music Festival, have returned for 2022. Just leave the cooler at home.
Read More
Of course, I wanted the chocolate covered beans on top. Frankly, I was baffled by the question because the thought of someone willfully eschewing such a delicacy, one perched with attentive care atop the coffee cup, was difficult to wrap my head around. Perhaps it’s because I drink coffee almost exclusively without milk, sugar or other hint of flavoring, but I find the first sip after crunching that delectably sweet bean to be one of the finest moments of consumption, right on par with a cold beer after a bike ride. Anyway, you’ll never catch me saying no to a free chocolate covered bean at Silver King Coffee unless I’m actively choking on another one I already wolfed down so quickly.
Silver King Coffee is a bastion of familiarity in Park City, one of the few constants in a tumultuously evolving community that serves as comfort food for the soul. The relatively indistinct drive-through in the parking lot adjacent to a state-run liquor store may not seize the attention of passersby in Snow Creek, but make no mistake, what’s housed inside is a local special. For more than a decade Silver King has serving up the goods to everyone, whether they’re visitors on the way to enjoy the mountain or locals heading to work. I, myself, used to stop there every morning to slightly delay the indignity of walking into a truly useless office job.
Silver King’s current location, where it’s been since early 2020, is a convenient stop any time of day accessible from both SR-224 and SR 248 in either direction. That’s a good thing since there’s a lot more to the menu than just the aforementioned delicious coffee. While I am a java fiend to the point I’m not sure it has anything more than a placebo effect on me at this point, the slightly less caffeinated can enjoy a sampling of smoothies, snacks and food.
The breakfast burritos, available with options to suit both meat eaters and vegetarians, are not only tasty items to start the day, but are also a relative steal in Park City in the Park City dining scene at just $7. You can also get a bagel, some bruschetta, a cinnamon or ham and Swiss coffee roll, a variety of muffins and pastries and more all with the convenience of having to leave the driver’s seat. For a post activity recharge, it’s hard to beat the smoothies. The Green Monster—with some almond milk, spinach and agave—makes you feel healthier while you’re still drinking it, and the Berry Delicious is a delightful iteration on the classic smoothie from the halcyon days before everything we eat became a statement on health philosophy—it’s still relatively healthy.
And while I’m somewhat of a coffee purist, Silver King has lots of intricate coffee creations to suit any taste. The Lavender Latte, which features a house made syrup, is uniquely delicious, while the Superfood Coffee has a veritable buffet of dietary supplements infused with your caffeine including organic butter, MCT oil, cacao and a maca blend with six superfoods. It’s not for the faint of heart, or likely those with atherosclerosis either, but it sure tastes good and will help your exercise.
Long story short, stop in at Silver King on your next trip through town. There’s a lot going on behind those inconspicuous walls and a local legacy you can feel good about supporting.
If You Go
1450 Snow Creek Dr., Park City
silverkingcoffee.com
435-640-8261
Read more about what to eat and drink in Utah.
Whether indoors at a too-cool underground venue in Portland with a craft beer in hand or outdoors among the towering evergreens, there’s no shortage of adventure in the Beaver State.
Read More
Park City is oft defined by its relentless pace of change. Growth and development are turning what was once considered a low-key mountain town into world-famous destination with all the trappings that entails. But if the change of pace today—while seemingly sudden—is merely a gradual evolution compared to what transformed Park City from a mining outpost into a mountain sports mecca. The Historic Park City Alliance (HPCA) is inviting people to explore the town’s deep historical roots this summer both by visiting the Park City History Museum and through special events including Guided Walking Tours and History Speaks Lectures.
The Park City History Museum is a hidden gem, tucked on Main Street amid a sea of single-brand stores, high-end restaurants, souvenir shops. Inside, a collection of interactive exhibits traces the area’s history from the arrival of settlers on the Western Frontier through its metamorphosis into a booming mining community and ultimately the resort destination it is today. The town’s historic underground jail cell still stands intact, and relics of the “Skier Subway” that turned mining infrastructure into the area’s first lift system are on display. The museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day, and admission is $15 for adults and $5 for children over six. For those looking to save a few bucks while learning about the past, the museum offers free admission on the third Saturday of every month.
The abundance of living history in Park City can’t be contained within the walls of a single building, which is why HPCA offers guided walking tours during the summer from June 28 through Sept. 3. Amid the sheen of mountain luxury still exist the fingerprints of history. The walking tours traverse Historic Main Street explores the architecture, people and events that shaped the Park City along the way. Check the events calendar for a complete list of dates and times.
Finally, the Park City History Museum is offering a free lecture series, History Speaks, which dives into Park City life from before the town was known primarily for powder and après. Upcoming lectures include “Life About Town in Park City’s Mining Days,” which includes a book signing by author Dalton Gackle on June 22 and “Through European Eyes: Imagining the American Frontier West” with Curator Lee Silliman on June 30. These entertaining and educational lectures offer unique insight into a place most of us are just scratching the surface to understand.
Visit the Historic Park City Alliance website for more details and a full list of events for the summer season. Read more about news, people and things to do in Park City.
Labor disputes, limited operations and low snow defined a tumultuous ski season for Park City Mountain.
Read More
There were bumps in the road for this 19-year-old mogul skiing Parkite.
Read More
After a five-year hiatus, the Outdoor Retailer (OR) trade show is returning to Salt Lake City in 2023 in spite of Utah officials’ ongoing attacks of two national monuments in the state. In 2017 OR left Utah in response to the state’s hostile stance towards conservation, particularly Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The Biden administration restored the monument boundaries to those originally designated by former president Barack Obama in 2016, which had been significantly reduced in the interim by the Trump Administration.
Utah officials had pressed the Trump administration to take unprecedented action in overturning the monument designations, leading OR’s owner Emerald Expositions to relocate the twice-yearly show to Denver because such anti-conservation sentiment was antithetical to the goals and values of the outdoor industry.
Under Governor Spencer Cox, Utah has continued to pursue a lawsuit against the Interior Department to not only reverse Biden’s protective order but also to negate the 1906 Antiquities Act that allows presidents to designate monuments. Nevertheless, Outdoor Retailer cited in a statement their partnership with Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, “whose values align with ours following tremendous investments in clean energy and a strong commitment to public lands,” as justification for a return to Utah.
So, the OR show is coming back to the Salt Palace Convention Center while a Washington-based law firm, Consovoy McCarthy, is seeking to gut the 1906 Antiquities Act at the behest of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. It’s a stunning reversal of conscience for those affiliated with OR, and not one that everyone is on board with. 24 companies, including influential behemoths Patagonia, REI and The North Face, said in a joint statement they would not return to a show in Utah. How the absences of industry mainstays will affect the viability of Outdoor Retailer remains to be seen, but Salt Lake is a town with a successful AAA baseball team, so Utahns have proven they’ll show out for the minor leaguers.
Meanwhile, the efficacy and even necessity of trade shows has come into question during the pandemic as outdoor industry sales have surged in the absence of such shows. Traditional sales and distribution models are evolving, in part because it appears the internet is here to stay. Trade shows themselves are relatively unsustainable with all the travel they require, so perhaps overlooking the Utah’s anti-conservation efforts while the federal government is doing the protective heavy lifting isn’t too much of a logical leap. Conservation and consumerism rarely align, after all.
Still, Mayor Mendenhall is right in thinking Outdoor Retailer’s return is a boon to Salt Lake City. The show brings an estimated $45 million to Utah each year, and its presence in Utah reaffirms the state’s place at the center of the outdoor industry. It’s even possible collective industry action could press Utah leaders to reverse course and support conservation at home. I wouldn’t get my hopes up, however, as Governor Cox insists the state’s actions are in opposition to federal overreach rather than conservation. Many states’ rights arguments have a sordid history with dubious intentions, but I’ll leave it up to each individual to decide whether they back the protection of lands with ancestral native ties to numerous tribes or “local” control over historically federal lands for myriad commercial uses.
And that’s where we’ll leave it for now. OR is returning to Utah while the state Legislature has set aside $5 million to fund the lawsuit seeking to gut protected lands and the 1906 Antiquities Act. OR leaving certainly didn’t change the state leaders’ minds. Who knows? Maybe coming home will.
While you’re here, subscribe to get Salt Lake directly to your mailbox.
Legislative boundaries sound boring. Get about two sentences in talking about them, and most people’s eyes will glaze over. Hey, you. Wake up, please. See what I mean? That dull veneer is kind of the point because it keeps people from paying attention to something that matters a lot: representation in government. As happens every 10 years, legislative districts were redrawn in late 2021. Summit County was split between four State House districts (4, 23, 59 and 68) and two State Senate districts (3 and 20). The County was also split into two Congressional Districts at the federal level (the first and third). Summit County residents of all stripes should be miffed as the community’s influence will likely be diminished.
“It’s certainly worse than before, but we’ve been gerrymandered for 10 years in Summit County,” says Summit County Democratic Party Chair Katy Owens. “It just represents a further effort to dilute the voice of Summit County voters.” Owens’ counterpart, Summit County Republican Party Vice-chair (acting as temporary chair) Karen Ballash did not respond to requests for comment.
Without question, winners and losers emerge after each round of redistricting. However, in this instance, it seems the will of a majority of Utah voters was deliberately subverted and Summit County is in the crosshairs of the skewed redistricting effort. A statewide ballot initiative in 2018 passed by 7,000 votes asking for the creation of a non-partisan commission to draw political boundaries. In drawing the new boundaries, the Utah Legislature completely ignored the recommendations and maps created by the independent commission.
“The commission was very open and transparent, taking feedback from public meetings and posting maps during the process,” Owens says. “The legislature dropped their map on a Friday night at 11 p.m. and voted for it on a Monday without any public input. It was clearly drawn as incumbent protection.”
So, what does redistricting mean for representation? It’s difficult to pin down exactly, but Summit County appears to be in a representative black hole. “We don’t have a single representative who lives here in Summit County despite how populous the county is and how influential it is to the state’s economy,” Owens says. “But some people do argue that we have numerous people in the legislature who could advocate for the county and a single representative may not have much bargaining power,” she concedes.
For the next decade, Summit County will be represented in small slices. Time will tell how the community will be impacted, but in the meantime, it’s difficult to argue with voters who feel slighted.
The Federal Split
Voters in Park City are now part of the third congressional district for the first time since the 1990 census. Unincorporated Park City voters including residents of Snyderville, Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook and Summit Park remain in the first district, splitting what has been a relatively cohesive voting bloc in two. Leaders of both political parties have long held the county would hold more influence if included in a single district.
Get more Park City news from Salt Lake magazine.
The word “craft” is an oft overused descriptor for breweries, but it couldn’t be more apt when applied to Offset Bier. Upon walking into the brewery and taproom the first thing you’ll notice is the unmistakable scent of mashing grains, fermenting wort and I honestly don’t know what else that brewery smell is, but it’s just really good and lets you know delicious beer is being made just out of sight. You can tell you’re in for something that’s not just tasty, but also unique to a place.
That’s exactly what Conor Brown and Patrick Bourque were aiming for when they conceived of Offset. The duo wanted to provide a space in Park City where people could enjoy the product of their community right in the heart of their community. It’s part of a by-locals-for-local ethos that’s as refreshing as the brews on tap and is reflected in almost every aspect of the business.
Offset’s beers aren’t widely available. You have to come to source at the brewery itself to buy beers to take home, and they’re only available to enjoy at a handful of local establishments in Park City. That’s because Brown and Bourque are focused on quality and creativity that reflects the place they live rather than widespread distribution.
The brewery’s rotating handful of beers range from modern experimental hop-focused brews that highlight creative and bold recipes to traditional European-style lagers that emphasize meticulous brewing processes. Right now, visitors to Offset can try varieties from the Riwaka Single Hop Pale Ale to the German Style Altbier Brown Ale to the Extroversa Fruited Quick Sour. And where else are you going to get a Kölsch served from a traditional German gravity keg?
The Offset taproom is open only during traditional après hours from Wednesday to Sunday, making it pretty clear they value catering to a core group of local skiers, bikers and runners. One of the Offset’s first house beers was a pale ale called Dopo, which is Italian for after. “It’s aromatic but light enough to enjoy a couple after running or skiing,” Brown says. The brewery even organizes a weekly Thursday ski or run group, where people of all abilities are invited to meet up for a jog from the brewery or to skin up Park City Mountain at 5:30 p.m. before heading back to the tap room to enjoy a couple beverages.
Stop into the new taproom for small-batch, locally produced beer that will blow away any misconception about Utah brewing culture. You can view Offset’s current tap list as well as their list of beers to go on the brewery’s website.
1755 Bonanza Dr., 435-659-7517
Read more on drinking in Utah.
