City Watch

When violinist David Porter first walked out on stage at Abravanel Hall to audition for the Utah Symphony, his nerves almost got the better of him. The auditions were blind, and a screen hung between Porter and the audition committee. No one saw how the young musician stood stunned by the vision of the hall, with its glittering chandeliers and gold-gilded balconies. 

“I remember starting my Mozart concerto, and it was just…a transcendent sound,” Porter recalls how the hall’s exquisite acoustics took him away from feeling nervous about what the committee thought of his playing.  “It’s just such a special space,” says Porter, who is now a violinist with the Utah Symphony. “It feels like part of me. I know it’s just a building, but it feels exceptional. It’s a part of Salt Lake and a part of its history…The idea that that hall would be torn down still seems impossible to believe.” 

When billionaire businessman Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz and chairman of Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), announced his plan for a Sports, Entertainment, Culture and Convention District in Downtown Salt Lake City, the plan for the development around the Delta Center seemed to put a new road right through the middle of Salt Palace, UMOCA and Abravanel Hall, which could be torn down and rebuilt as a result. The Musicians of the Utah Symphony, American Institute of Architects (Utah chapter), members of the public—even legendary film score composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jurassic Park) —voiced their desire to preserve the hall in its current location. An online petition to save the hall garnered 50,000 signatures. Their message: world-class symphony halls like Abravanel Hall are not replaceable. 

“It’s important for us to remind people that building a great concert hall is very difficult. It’s more of an art than a science,” explains Porter. Much like how a great violin maker will create a new violin that sounds wonderful and when he replicates the process to make another violin, cannot reproduce the same quality of sound. “That’s our concern. That, in our haste to create this new development downtown, we will forget how great our hall is and how important it is to retain.” 

The Musicians of the Utah Symphony’s hope is to save the whole hall in its current form. They say that does not mean that the hall cannot be renovated or have additions like a lobby to face the other side of the street so it better aligns with the orientation of the SECC district plan.

“We’re not at all against changing things for the better, but we believe that the best and most affordable option for the county, too, is to keep the hall that we have.” Salt Lake County, which owns and operates Abravanel Hall, authored a report claiming that needed renovations would cost $200 million, a figure that symphony musicians and city planning commissioners have disputed as overinflated. 

At the time of this writing, the future of the hall is still uncertain, but the tenor of some public officials has changed. According to a statement from Utah Symphony/Utah Opera (USUO), Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said at a May 20 USUO Board of Trustees meeting that the County’s “plan A” had included rebuilding Abravanel Hall. 

A month later (after the public backlash), the County was instead exploring “plans B and C,” but USUO had not seen any site plans from the County. 

The Salt Lake City Planning Commission unanimously voted against the requested zoning changes for the SECC, recommending to the City Council that “Abravanel Hall be maintained in its present form on its present site and with the possibility of funding through the district for a modest renovation.” 

They also objected to the speed at which the plan is being pushed through. The Planning Commission has only an advisory role, however, and The City Council voted to move forward with a deal with SEG. The council had a deadline to decide whether to endorse participation in the agreement by Sept. 1, as required by the legislature. After that, the proposed agreement goes to the revitalization zone committee, which has 30 days to send the plan back to the council for a vote on final approval.

Ultimately, the fate of Abravanel Hall will likely come down to whatever Salt Lake County officials decide.

Porter and the other Musicians of the Utah Symphony are asking members of the public to reach out to their city and county council representatives and ask them
to preserve Abravanel Hall. 

“I think we see ourselves as stewards of the hall,” says Porter, who has been heartened by the show of public support. “It’s just been incredible to see the support and the community springing into action to save it. I just. I hope it’s enough.”  

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Perhaps the most damning of the misconceptions about water is that water is “easy.” We go to our sink, turn on the tap and water flows out of the faucet. Easy. We do not perceive, at that moment, the energy, time, effort and infrastructure involved in getting the water to our homes and businesses. 

The director of the Utah Division of Water Resource (DWRe), Candice Hasenyager, uses an analogy to explain the challenge of managing water infrastructure, and—due to the complex, interconnected nature of our water systems—it will not be the last analogy we use. “If you hit a pothole, you know there’s a pothole, right?” she says. “Where, if there’s a leak in a pipe, you don’t see it. It takes time to find that leak.” Anyone who has ever had a leaky pipe knows the damage it can cause when left unmanaged. 

This is why the misconception that “water is easy” can be troubling. If we refuse to acknowledge the systems and infrastructure necessary to deliver water, we will certainly not recognize the leaks in that system, let alone address them. Having reliable water, after all, is pretty important. Everyone who participates in the system, all the way down the line from water policy makers to treatment to supply to consumers, has a stake in using water responsibly. 

The Plan for the Great Salt Lake

“The Great Salt Lake is in a water debt crisis. And the reason for that is because we’ve over-diverted the waters upstream for both agricultural and municipal use,” says Zachary Frankel, Executive Director of the Utah Rivers Council, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservation and sustainability statewide. The threat of the Great Salt Lake’s drying out is arguably the most urgent water matter. Salt Lake magazine and press outlets both local and international have covered the toxic dust and ecological collapse that would result if the lake dries up. Thus, awareness of the threat has risen significantly in recent years. Water elevation, meanwhile, hit an all-time low in November of 2022. Since then, a few exceptionally wet winters, and modifications to the causeway between the north and south arms of the lake, have at least raised the level of the South Arm of the lake. However, relying on the weather is not a sustainable solution.

Frankel is concerned about the lack of attention paid to the water levels of the Great Salt Lake’s North Arm. The North Arm is home to some key ecosystems, like Gunnison Island, which is a crucial rookery for the American white pelican. “Because of these shrinking water levels, Gunnison Island is no longer an island and predators can run to the island,” he says. “If we don’t save Gunnison Island, how are we saving the Great Salt Lake?” 

For too long, we have withdrawn more than our available balance, and, Frankel says, we have not set up a way to pay it back. “If you walked into a bank to buy a house and go, ‘Here’s my down payment, it’s this coffee can of coins.’ The banker’s going to roll their eyes. Because that’s not a borrowing plan,” he explains. And that coffee can of loose change? “That’s what the Utah Legislature is doing for the Great Salt Lake. There is no program requiring any minimum volume of water flow, no goal about what lake elevation we should achieve and no water budget to repay the debt that Utahns owe for over-diverting water upstream for two decades.”

The state does, however, have a plan to make a plan that was funded by the Utah Legislature. The Utah Division of Water Resources released the Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan (GSLBIP) in April of this year. The GSLBIP’s purpose is to ensure an ongoing, resilient water supply for the basin. “A project of this scale has not been done within the Great Salt Lake Basin before,” says Hasenyager. “The key step to achieve that goal is to understand how this system is interconnected together.” 

Hasenyager imagines a basket, in which they’re weaving all of the available information, identifying the data gaps and then filling those gaps to provide tools for water projects and an over arching collection of all the data. This “mega model” will encompass the five basins and watersheds in the basin. With this wide-angle view, “we can provide information to legislators and decision-makers and the potential impacts or consequences of those decisions,” she says. 

But will the basket hold water? 

The tools, and the mega model, will be developed over the next two years. Among other projects in the basket, they are meant to provide vital information and guidance for reaching and sustaining a healthy Great Salt Lake.

The historical average elevation for the Great Salt Lake is 4,200 feet. “This is the water level that science indicates is the most sustainable level for all the various interests of the lake—everything from the 330 migratory bird species to recreation to industry, air quality and water quality for the lake,” says Frankel. “So 4,200 is the magic level.”

That would take an inflow of 8 million acre-feet of water. A Herculean goal. “If every man, woman and child in the Great Salt Lake Basin stopped using water for a year, it would still take four years to raise the Great Salt Lake,” says Frankel. Utah will need to reduce all water use by 19% to hit 4,200 feet by 2054.

The Utah Rivers Council created the 4200 Project to outline a way to meet the magic level, including policy changes, such as mandating lake elevation goals and conservation benchmarks; getting surplus agricultural water to the lake by fixing Utah’s Agricultural Water Optimization Program; protecting tributaries from new water diversions; ending the property tax subsidy for water districts; and, of course, fixing leaky pipes to eliminate water waste.

There is no single solution to reach that goal. It requires a wide, coordinated effort at all levels of the system, and that comes from the top. In two years, when the policy recommendations generated from the GSLBIP’s projects, tools and models come to fruition, there is no guarantee the Utah Legislature will adopt those policies. Just this past legislative session, the Utah Rivers Council gave the Utah Legislature a “D-” grade for its handling of water policy. 

“Good legislation at the Utah legislature is consistently defeated,” Frankel says. “It doesn’t even get out of committee. There were eight or ten good bills at that state house that died this year. Same as last year, same as the year before.” One of those bills would have required the DWRe to monitor how
much of the water conserved through public programs (on which the state has spent billions in recent years) reaches the Great Salt Lake.

“We have to stop thinking this is just about facts and data and understand there is a special interest profiting off of upstream water diversions that does not want to deliver water to our rivers and lakes because those are profits lost. We don’t need to study that,” says Frankel.“It’s just basic American business.”

Agriculture Called to Account: Agriculture Water Optimization Program

While guidelines are in place to conserve municipal and industrial (M&I) water; most of the state’s water goes toward agriculture. Thus, the most substantial water gains stand to be made in the agricultural sector. One option is shoring up the state’s Agriculture Water Optimization Program. “The biggest concern is there’s no requirement to deliver any of that saved water to the Great Salt Lake,” explains Frankel. States like Oregon and Washington have a requirement that “if taxpayers are putting the money in, they get a portion of the water saved relative to their investment,” he says. 

The Utah program has provided an estimated $265 million in grants to farmers to upgrade their irrigation systems and improve water use efficiency. While the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) called the program a success, funding hundreds of farmers’ projects, a 2023 audit reported that the program’s success is impossible to measure because of a lack of measurable data. The state audit called on the UDAF to take an accounting of the program and enforce its reporting requirements on all funded projects. Frankel says, “I would argue that if the Great Salt Lake is the measuring stick with which we’re measuring the success of that program, it’s failing.”

Adapting to Climate Change

When I first wrote about water conservation for Salt Lake magazine, most of the state was experiencing significant drought. Now, the Utah Department of Natural Resources reports that “Utah’s water situation is robust,” following two winters of heavy snowfall and higher-than-average rain this past spring. Drastic swings in precipitation are not a result of praying for rain, but the impact of climate change. And dramatic extremes, from severe droughts to record-breaking snowfalls, make the job of managing Utah’s water supply even more challenging. 

“Today, we’re doing great, but if you talked to me two years ago, I would have told you that 99% of the state was in severe and extreme drought and our reservoirs were half full. So, it is dynamic,” says Hasenyager, and our water systems have reservoirs to save water during wet periods for drier times. “But our challenge is, as we are getting these wetter wets and these dryer dries, how do we try to reduce our water use and use our water as wisely as possible to make us more resilient to big extremes?” At the end of the day, the wetter wets will not make up for the dryer dries. Over the long term, increases in precipitation will be overwhelmed by rising temperatures and evaporation.

“We’re simply not adapting to the reality of climate change, all of us, collectively,” says Frankel. He points to Lake Powell, America’s second-largest reservoir, which is at one-third of capacity. 

“We heard from our water conservancy district down in Southern Utah,” Hasenyager says. “They received a call saying, ‘this reservoir is looking low. Can you fill it back up?’ And that’s just not how reservoirs work. Our reservoirs are filled by our snowpack and the runoff and not just for recreation. They’re an important part of our water supply.” But the Colorado River Basin has seen a 20% decline in runoff as a function of climate change.

The Colorado River Basin occupies the eastern and southern parts of Utah, as well as six other states, providing water to 40 million people. It will take far more than the efforts of Utah and other Basin states to reverse the impacts of climate change, but we can do more to be good neighbors and better stewards of the water we share. “We all know we can fight over water,” Frankel says. “The real question is, can we learn to share?”

That fight is playing out right now as the Upper Colorado Basin states face off with the Lower Basin states on how best to save the Colorado River and cut water use by 4 million acre-feet per year. In short, the Upper Basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) want to cut water sent to the Lower Basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada) while not bearing any of the burden of cuts themselves. The Lower Basin states’ proposal has all states, Upper and Lower, making sacrifices to meet the conservation goal. Both plans use reservoir levels as the trigger for implementing the water cuts. 

It would be tempting to cut every state’s allotment equally, but equality is not the same thing as equity. Frankel says we should ask, “What do we really need?” Currently, Utah draws about 1 million acre-feet of water out of Colorado annually. The Las Vegas Valley has a similar size population but Nevada only pulls about 300,000 acre-feet of water. “Why do two different populations, the same size, have different water-sharing agreements? Why does Nevada get one-third of the water that Utah gets? Are we better? Is it because Nevada is a ‘place of sin?’ These are questions we need to answer.”

State Water Conservation Goals

Utah set regional goals for M&I (Municiapl & Industrial) water conservation in 2019, aiming for 11%– 20% conservation of M&I water by 2030. Previously, M&I per capita water use saw 18% reductions  from 2000–2015. Recent legislative efforts have totaled roughly $500 million for water conservation, says Hasenyager. “We are running as fast as we can to get that money on the ground and start making those efforts.”

Supplying Growth

The challenges brought on by climate extremes feed into other water issues as well. “The kind of extreme nature that we’re dealing with, from a water supply standpoint, makes it more challenging to deal with a growing population,” says Hasenyager. As communities grow, typically, so does water demand…right? Further water diversions, such as the Bear River Development and the Lake Powell Pipeline, have been proposed to meet the projected increase in water demand as some Utah towns top lists for the fastest growth in the nation. 

However, Frankel makes a point that he says often gets lost in the conversation about growth and projected water demand. If you live in an urban area, very little, if anything, needs to be irrigated. Irrigating agricultural land is the top water use in Utah by far. Much of the new development in Utah is taking over land that was once put to agricultural use, but it takes a lot less water to grow people than it does to grow crops. 

“We’re creating a surplus of water when we pave irrigated farmland,” says Frankel. With some changes, we could make do with the water we have without creating more diversions.

A report on Washington County’s water use and the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline observed something similar. The water consultancy Water Demand Management found that the pipeline was unnecessary because Washington County could instead reduce its water use, store excess water from the Virgin River during wetter years for use in dry years, reuse its wastewater and better manage water demand. The report authors suggested that if Washington County used water the same way as in Denver, Albuquerque or Los Angeles, they could continue to grow and still have the local water supply meet their needs. 

Other cities in the West, like Denver, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix, have found ways to not just conserve water but actually manage water demand, even as they continue to grow. This is called “decoupling.” “The idea is, yes, these populations are growing, but by instituting sustainable water strategies, they can reduce total water demand,” says Frankel. A survey by Colorado Mesa University looked at 20 growing Western cities and found the secret to successful decoupling is reducing per capita water use.

Water Conservation

Water conservation is an integral part of any solution to Utah’s most pressing water issues. Water conservation is also an issue we seem to struggle with on its own. Utahns use more water per capita than people in other states. There’s some contention over exactly how much more because of discrepancies in measuring water use, but according to data from the USGS, Utah had the highest total domestic per capita water use of any state in 2010 and the second highest in 2015. 

Why do Utahns use more water? “We have the cheapest water rates in the United States,” says Frankel. “And that’s a really disturbing observation for a lot of reasons…We can’t care about water and simultaneously value it like it doesn’t matter.” When water is cheap, we use more of it. But, with water rate increases, water use drops by as much as about 20%, according to a Utah State University study. Utah Rivers Council advocates for a change in the pricing structure for outdoor water use, which would charge outdoor use at a higher rate while maintaining lower rates for indoor use. They argue that if water suppliers stopped collecting property taxes to subsidize water rates,
and replaced the lost revenue by raising outdoor water rates, consumers would use less water and water suppliers would
not be worse off financially.

It’s possible our struggle to cut back on our water use is tied to the troubling misconception that water is “easy.” Why else would it be so cheap? Because of that, “We’re not holding ourselves accountable for saving water,” says Frankel. “We turn a blind eye to water waste.”  

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Thousands of children make the journey against their will to residential ‘troubled teen’ treatment programs in Utah. Not all will return, and those who do call themselves ‘survivors.’ 

“These programs are like whack-a-mole. When one gets shut down, a new one opens up under a different name,” says Katherine Kubler, the documentarian behind the 2024 Netflix series The Program who set out to uncover the lies and abuse of the residential treatment center (RTC) she survived as a teen—the Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg, New York. Kubler followed the money and chain of abuse to Utah and to the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP). While most WWASP programs have since shuttered, some who worked there went on to start spin-off organizations with nearly identical programs. (The Program traces connections to Soulegria and Three Points Center in Hurricane, Utah.) The “troubled teen” industry (TTI) is a tangled, incestuous network of companies, programs and trade groups, and pulling on any thread in that network will often lead you to Utah. As Kubler puts it, “Utah is the epicenter of the ‘troubled teen’ industry.”

Meg Appelgate is the co-founder and CEO of Unsilenced. This non-profit organization raises awareness of the abuse in the industry and offers support to TTI program survivors by linking them to trauma-informed mental health professionals and legal services. “We’re dedicated to forcing transparency into this industry because, let’s face it, not only does it not exist, but it’s discouraged,” says Appelgate. Unsilenced keeps an archive of documents and testimonies related to TTI programs, tracing them through rebrandings and reorganizations. “It’s a constant shift from one LLC to another, and it’s extremely hard to track,” says Appelgate, but lives are at stake. 

This year, North Carolina authorities shut down the Trails Carolina wilderness program after a 12-year-old died during his first night there. Trails Carolina is owned by Family Health & Wellness, which also runs at least seven programs in Utah. In 2022, 14-year-old Sofia Soto died at Maple Lake Academy in Spanish Fork as a result of staff negligence, her parents claimed in a lawsuit. That same year, staff at Diamond Ranch Academy, a wilderness program in Hurricane, refused medical treatment for 17-year-old Taylor Goodridge, and she died of sepsis from a treatable infection, according to her parents’ lawsuit. While Maple Lake Academy is still operating, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) did not renew Diamond Ranch Academy’s license. A similar program under a different name is already trying to take its place. The “new” entity, RAFA Academy, is seeking a license to operate with some of the same staff and in the same facility as Diamond Ranch.

Both Utah deaths came after a 2021 law passed with the help of Paris Hilton. Hilton herself is a survivor of Provo Canyon School and advocated for more TTI regulations and oversight. The sponsor of S.B. 127, Utah State Senator Mike McKell who appeared in The Program, spoke on the need for federal regulation and expressed concern that shutdown facilities can start up again and “bad employees bounce around.” When asked if there has been substantial change since S.B. 127 took effect, Appelgate says, “If you’re looking at the quality of treatment of youth in Utah facilities, my opinion would be no,” but she says there is more information available from inspections and more reporting from DHHS to the Office of Licensing.

The Disability Law Center released a scathing report last year based on a year-long investigation. “Time and time again, facilities that mistreat vulnerable residents and fail to provide them with appropriate treatment…continue to operate,” the report reads. “It is imperative that the state of Utah act now.” It’s an old refrain. As far back      as 2007, a Government Office of Accountability investigation found thousands of allegations of abuse, including deaths, at residential treatment programs. 

A 2022 investigation by American Public Media found more children are sent to programs in Utah than to any other state. Utah is home to a high number of TTI facilities partly because minors have fewer rights here. Their willing participation in a treatment plan is not required, as in some other states. “If you look at how most of these youth are coming to these facilities, such as being abducted in the middle of the night,” says Appelgate. “Obviously, there’s a lot of mistrust and a lot of trauma…If there is no trust, then there really can’t be an effective therapeutic relationship.” Many of these programs still employ level-based systems that require strict obedience to earn even basic privileges, such as those WWASP used, as seen in The Program. “They are operating on antiquated belief systems that are largely based on behavior modification and other ‘tough love’ sort of mentalities,” she says. Analysis from Pew Charitable Trusts found similar “scared straight” programs to be unproductive in terms of per-participant cost and preventing participants’ future criminal activity. The same analysis observed the early success of a Utah policy that, in part, intended to “keep youth out of costly residential placements.” But, youth from other states are still forced into Utah programs. 

While TTI programs are often one-size-fits-all, the children sent to programs are not. Some “troubled teens” are privately placed by their parents or families for reasons from mental health and developmental challenges to drug use to gender identity. Some are sent from foster care, juvenile justice systems, school districts, refugee resettlement agencies or even mental health providers—paid for by taxpayer dollars. “The only people I’ve ever seen turned away from a program are those who can’t pay for it,” says Appelgate. 

A 2024 lawsuit filed by 18-year-old Finn Richardson claims Elevations RTC in Syracuse (owned by Family Help & Wellness) cared more about receiving money from his father than it cared about Richardson’s well-being. When Richardson told his Elevations therapist that his father sexually abused him and sent him away as a punishment for being gay, Elevations failed to report the abuse. 

A court-appointed psychiatric evaluation later determined that Richardson did not need treatment and more time at Elevations would be “detrimental to his psychological, emotional, social and academic well-being.” Richardson said at a press conference that he filed the lawsuit as a way to stand up for others in similar situations. “I said, ‘no more.’ I can’t   keep watching this happen to myself  and my friends.”

“It’s important for everyone to know that it’s not just parents of troubled teens who need to focus on this health crisis. It’s every single person,” says Appelgate, and awareness is key to spreading that understanding. “The sad fact is that there are far more poor and traumatic experiences coming out of these facilities.” says Appelgate. “They cause these youth to change how they view themselves.” After the program, she says, they call themselves “survivors.”  

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The historic gay bar, The SunTrapp will reopen Saturday, June 8, 2024, at 7 p.m., after the bar closed in January of this year and owners surrendered its liquor license. This weekend, the bar will reopen with a new liquor license and a slightly different name—as you might have noticed—The SunTrapp (one word, instead of two), according to new owner Mary Peterson. 

Peterson had worked as the accountant for The Sun Trapp, and says, in addition to her role as owner, will continue in that capacity for The SunTrapp as well. 

The history of The SunTapp (formerly known as The Sun Trapp and, including past iterations, The Sun Tavern and just The Trapp) traces back to 1973, when Joe Redburn opened the doors of Salt Lake City’s first and only openly gay bar, The Sun Tavern. 

Stories of The SunTrapp (formerly known as The Sun Trapp)

In the last 50 years, the bar has closed and reopened multiple times overs and changed names, owners and locations, but its repeated phoenix-like returns are a testament to the impact it has had on the queer community in Utah.

The SunTrapp is no longer the only LGBTQ+ bar in town, and that’s partly thanks to its former owners, managers and employees who have gone on to open up LGBTQ+ bars and clubs like Club Verse. But, for many queer folks who came before, the Trapp was the only place where they felt welcome and safe to be themselves. 

“I really enjoyed my time there. I got to know the gay community a lot better. I’ve met a lot of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise,” says Michael Walton, former security at The Sun Trapp, who hosts regular events with his group Utah Bears at the gay bar Club Try-Angles and DJs Thursday Night Psych-Out on KRCL. Even before he worked security around 2018-2019, Walton’s connection to The Sun Trapp goes back to celebrating his 21st birthday there. 

“I frequented there during my twenties, and it was a fun, kind of skeezy country bar back then,” he remembers. “They had a disco ball shaped like a cowboy boot.”

“The year that I worked there was kind of a hedonistic time for the bar,” says Walton. “It was so popular.” He recalls former co-owner Michael Repp (now co-owner of Club Verse) getting on the roof with a giant inflatable unicorn sprinkler and spraying people who were dancing outside. “People loved it and went crazy for it, and would get their phones ruined because they were having so much fun.” 

Walton also sings the praises of once-regular Sun Trapp DJ, DJ Naomi, who now spins over at Club Verse. “She was fantastic and had a good finger on the pulse of what people wanted to dance to. She was a big draw.” 

While a place for celebration, The Sun Trapp often courted tragedy as well.  

During Walton’s brief time there, a mainstay of the Utah gay community and The Sun Trapp, Dennis Rowley Gwyther was murdered in 2019. “Dennis was an absolute sweetheart. He was really nice. He was the DJ for years.” Not long before, The Sun Trapp had lost one of its then-owners, Rob Goulding, to pancreatic cancer. 

50-plus years of The Sun Trapp

In February 1973, Joe Redburn bought the Railroad Exchange Saloon on the corner of 400 West and South Temple. He reopened the doors as an openly gay bar and called it The Sun Tavern, sometimes shortened to just “The Sun.” (As the story goes, it was a nod to the San Francisco bar Midnight Sun.)

Less than a decade later, in the early ‘80s, the bar was torn down to make room for the future Delta Center. The Sun Tavern found a new location, in the former home of the Kozy Bar, at 700 West and 200 South. In 1990, Redburn sold The Sun Tavern and opened up The Trapp a year later. 

In 1999, the Salt Lake City tornado destroyed The Sun Tavern. I’m sure you can imagine the jokes of the time about God exercising His will against the gay menace. Around the same time, Redburn sold The Trapp. Goulding bought the bar and renamed it in honor of The Sun and The Trapp, and it’s been The Sun Trapp (now The SunTrapp) ever since.  

In its long history, The Sun Trapp has often been down but never for the count, at least, so far. While the bar keeps coming back in some form or another, it has not remained unchanged. 

When it comes to maintaining the culture of a gay bar, longevity and popularity take a toll for some. “There was always a long line on the weekends. We would always get to capacity, and it was still fun. It was still a nice bar,” says Walton. “But that dynamic changed as it got more and more popular. And with development in that neighborhood, that is very likely to change the dynamic as well.” As Walton puts it, a gay bar is only a gay bar as long as the clientele is gay. Otherwise, it’s just another bar with rainbow flags hanging in the windows. 

The umbrella of the queer community has expanded in the last 50 years to include more identies and expressions of gender and sexuality, and maintaining queer spaces for queer people might seem at odds with the oft-stated goal of inclusion.

As far as what this latest iteration of the bar will be—a gay bar, an LGTBQ+ bar or a queer-friendly bar, etc.—we will have to see for ourselves this weekend, when The SunTrapp once again rises like the phoenix. 

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See our guide to LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Utah and more stories like this and all of our culture and community coverage. And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah. 

People will come, Ray. They’ll come for reasons they can’t even fathom…And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. People will come, Ray. Oh…people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.” So intones James Earl Jones’s Terrance Mann in the final scenes of the 1989 baseball film Field of Dreams. 

Utah is indeed dreaming big, about baseball, hockey and, once again, the Winter Olympic Games (2034). Here we go again. In 2002 Salt Lake hosted the Winter Games, maybe you heard about that, and it is widely accepted as Utah’s debut on the national stage. Careers were made and Mitt Romney, well, you know what happened there.

The big dreams are two-fold. Big League Utah, backed by the Larry H. Miller group, wants to build its Field of Dreams—a Major League ballpark for an MLB team on a patch of land near the Utah State Fair Park, on the TRAX Green Line. Meanwhile, back at the idea factory, current Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith is pushing to bring a National Hockey League team to the Delta Center and eventually—wait for it—rebuild the Delta Center into a world-class NHL-NBA-Olympics Venue. The trifecta! 

There is juice behind both. The Millers have come to the table with $3.5 billion in funding and it turns out the Utah State Legislature wants to play ball (and hockey). Two bills signed by Gov. Spencer Cox paved the way for some sales and hotel tax jujitsu that could be used to back both efforts to the tune of $900 million. Let’s just call that a cool billion.

But if we build it, will they come?

Consider this. Currently, Utah has two major league teams, the Utah Jazz (NBA) and Real Salt Lake (MLS). These big dreams, if realized (and that’s one big if) would bring that number to four. We also have two professional minor league teams, the Bees and the Grizzlies. The Wasatch Front has a population of about 2 million. In other cities about our size, only Minnapolis-St. Paul and Denver have four majors. Phoenix, which has 6 million people is about to lose its NHL franchise the Coyotes, because of a lack of fan support (and also hockey in the desert is weird). 

Yes, Utah has fans. Average attendance at Jazz games is a not-to-shabby 18,000, considering how the team is playing. At the college level, the Cougars and the Runnin’ Utes create devotion bordering on insane. However, the Bees rarely fill up Smith’s Ballpark, unless it’s a firework night (because it’s a cheap night out with the kids) and the Grizzlies’ average attendance is about half of the capacity of the Maverick Center.

And, of course, it would be “way cool” to have as many teams as stupid Denver. The State of Utah itself was based on the big dreams of its settlers. But is that ancient precedent enough? 

Will they come?  

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The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA) has released the Rio Grande District Vision & Implementation Plan, revealing the future vision for the Rio Grande District in Salt Lake City. The area contains about 11 acres of RDA-owned property in Downtown Salt Lake City, which will be transformed to include a portion of the “green loop,” public art spaces and residential, retail and maker’s spaces, a new hotel and space for nonprofit operations.

This vision for an urban, walkable community will be flanked by the State’s multimodal transit hub and the historic Rio Grande Depot. The six-chapter plan is a result of the city’s partnership with global architecture and design firm Perkins & Will. Which, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall says, “Thoughtfully addresses the neighborhood’s past, present and future. Technically, it identifies and explores functional designs for spaces and buildings that will advance creativity, community wellness, economic growth and opportunities for all.”

The planned new developments in the Rio Grande District also aligns with Mayor Mendenhall’s “Tech Lake City” initiative (which is meant to develop Salt Lake City into a pipeline for tech and life sciences industries) by providing incubator, laboratory and office spaces.

Plan for walkability and transit

The Rio Grande District will bolster and add to the so-called “Green Loop,” the City’s proposed 5.5-mile urban trail and park, which connects multiple downtown neighborhoods and will run through the RDA site along 500 West. 

“Designed as a low-carbon community, it leverages its proximity to a variety of transportation choices and provides a healthy walkable environment,” says Geeti Silwal, Principal and Urban Design Practice Leader for Perkins & Will. They plan for the re-development area to serve as a bridge between Downtown and neighborhoods west of downtown.

The Rio Grande Distrisct plan also includes the creation of new mid-block street connections to break up larger blocks and form connections to transit (like the adjacent Utah Transit Authority Salt Lake Central Station and the proposed Orange Line) and public spaces, such as the planned transformation of 300 South into a people-first “Festival” street. This would allow the street to be closed to vehicle traffic and programmed for events and an Arts Campus Alley, an outdoor venue for local arts and performances.  

“It’s always an exciting and unique opportunity when we get to invest in the future of our communities,” says District 2 Salt Lake City Council Member and RDA Board Chair Alejandro Puy. “I am thrilled to support this transit-oriented development that lay the groundwork for an accessible and bustling area in our city.”

What’s next?

To accommodate the first phase of development, the RDA plans to lay the groundwork by upgrading utilities to support higher density at the site.

According to the plan, the development will be built in phases “over many years” and could change, dependent on the market and available funding.

Phase 1. Development is focused on the southeastern portion of the site, including:

• Construction of Market Street and a segment of Woodbine Court.
• Major mobility and access improvements to the existing 300 south (Festival Street) and 400 South Frontage Road rights-of-way.
• Construction of the southern portion of the Arts Campus plaza and possible plaza along 500 West.

Phase 2. Development is focused on the reopening of the Rio Grande Depot and adding housing onto the site, including:

• Construction of Pierpont Avenue from 600 West to Woodbine Court and the nortnern segment or Woodbine Court from 300 South to Eccles Avenue.
• Completion of the Rio Grande Depot renovation with State of Utah departments and additional civic tenants moving into the Depot along with a publicly accessible grand concourse with new active uses.
• New multi-family residential projects with active uses on the ground floor.
• Anticipated construction or commercial mixed-use high-rise tower. The project can accommodate a tech anchor tenant in an urban campus setting or multiple tenants including allowances for new wet and dry lab spaces to support Tech Lake City initiative.

Phase 3. Development is focused on the parcels adjacent to Salt Lake Central Station and the Green Loop:

• Reconfiguration of 500 West as a multi-modal street, including improved intersections at 400 South and 200 South.
• The construction of the Green Loop urban trail and linear park on the eastern portion of 500 West.

Phase 4. Development is focused on the landmark mixed-use residential tower on 500 West and the mixed-use development along the 400 South Overpass:

• Construction of the northern portion of the Arts Campus plaza.
• Construction of permanent park programming at the 400 south underpass such as dog park and soccer courts.
• Construction of the landmark residential mixed-use tower along 500 West and 300 South.

For each re-development site, the RDA says it is prioritizing projects that include climate-positive design, affordable housing for families and seniors, affordable commercial spaces for locally-owned businesses and the creation of educational and workforce development opportunities. As far as exactly how those stated priorities will manifest in this particular development, time will tell.

The RDA says it is currently developing construction drawings for the development and plans to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) from developers later this year to start building out select sites on the north block. For more information, visit slcrda.com/riograndedistrict.

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It certainly catches the eye more than the old double wide did. The McGrath Mountain Center, the new on-mountain home of the National Ability Center (NAC) at the base of Park City Mountain, isn’t just roughly five times the size of the organization’s prior operations facility consisting of a mobile trailer and a couple of sheds. It’s a stunning, modern facility befitting the essential work the NAC does.

For nearly four decades the non-profit NAC has fostered a safe and inclusive environment for people with disabilities through adaptive recreation. The organization, initially known as the Park City Handicapped Sports Association (PCHSA), was started in 1985 by Meeche White and Pete Badewitz, a Vietnam Veteran, out of their home. A grant from the Disabled American Veterans of Utah funded ski lessons for veterans at the base of Park City Mountain. 

From those humble beginnings, the National Ability Center has continued to grow and develop into a leading organization in adaptive recreation. And what started as an idea out of White’s and Badewitz’s home has grown into a comprehensive campus on a 26-acre ranch in Round Valley—which includes an equestrian center, ropes courses, an indoor hub with a climbing wall and an on-site lodge for visiting participants—that’s now joined by a state-of-the-art facility at the base of Park City Mountain at the very site of the first ski lessons the organization taught in 1985.

“This is a dream come true,” says Tracey Meier, Chief Program and Education Officer at the NAC. “Our new McGrath Mountain Center is a 9,400-square-foot, fully ADA-accessible facility situated at our home resort of Park City Mountain. Through this new center, we offer world-class adaptive skiing and snowboarding, providing individualized experiences for people with disabilities.”

Park City Mountain donated the land for the McGrath Mountain Center, and Laurie McGrath, an NAC Board Member, donated a significant portion of the funds that made the project possible. As monumental as the new facility is, the opportunities it affords are more of an extension of what the NAC has been doing all along, albeit with a fair bit more comfort and space.  

Some 80 adaptive ski instructors have been working out of the new facility this winter. Undoubtedly it’s an upgrade over the crowded confines of the nearby trailer, which managed, through the diligent work of staff and endless enthusiasm of participants, to serve as the base for countless incredible experiences for adaptive skiers and snowboarders over the years. The NAC served more than 5,400 people last year, and the number should only grow as opportunities abound both in snowsports and with year-round seasonal activities and events.  

 “The inclusive approach at the McGrath Mountain Center goes beyond just skiing,” Meier says. “It encompasses a broad spectrum of activities such as adaptive mountain biking, hiking, and day camps, ensuring a holistic adventure for individuals, families, and groups. Serving all ages and all populations, we have the people, equipment, and program to provide each person with a memorable experience!”

The opening of the McGrath Mountain Center is a crowning moment, especially for the people at the NAC who’ve never lost sight of its critical mission. “Having a new mountain center completes my original vision for the evolution of our facilities,” said NAC co-founder Meeche White at the center’s unveiling last October. “After seven years of planning, I am thrilled to celebrate this joyous occasion with the community.” 

And in the longer term, the facility is a monument to the Park City community’s commitment to the NAC and the work it does. Without the critical support of partners like Vail Resorts, Park City Mountain, and the town itself, such a project wouldn’t be possible. The mountains are for everyone, and the new McGrath Mountain Center is a reminder of Park City’s support of that vision for decades to come.

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2023 Union Scholarship Celebration

Sept. 14, 2023
A. Ray Olpin University Union Building at the University of Utah
Photos by Ryann Combe & Téa Schmid

The A. Ray Olpin Union at the University of Utah held its 13th annual Scholarship Celebration at the University Union on Sept. 14, 2023. The theme for this year’s event was, “Vibrant Community.” The event was both a celebration of this year’s scholarship recipients and a fundraiser to raise funds for future recipients. The scholarship program helps students who are doing amazing work in their respective communities and who help to create an inclusive community on campus. This need-based scholarship program assists extremely deserving students who otherwise might not have the opportunity to continue their education. 

Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival Opening Night Party

Oct. 12, 2023
Pierpont Place
Photos by Maya Dehlin

Utah Film Center celebrated the 20th Anniversary of its Queer Film Festival, Damn These Heels, with an opening night party on Oct. 12, 2023. The event, held at Pierpont Place in Salt Lake City, brought together attendees after the screening of the festival’s opening night film, A Run for More, a compelling documentary chronicling Frankie Gonzales Wolfe’s city council campaign. Among the highlights of the evening were engaging and meaningful conversations about LGBTQ+ stories and films, as well as the opportunity to meet special guests Miss Coco Peru and Frankie Gonzales Wolfe.

Empty Bowls

Sept. 15, 2023
FKR Architects Salt Lake City Headquarters

Last September, Catholic Community Services of Utah and FFKR Architects hosted Empty Bowls, an annual event. Artist-designed bowls—provided by Utah Clay Arts, Utah Association of Woodturners, Art Haus, and Iron Desert Arts—are sold to raise funds for St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall. Maglebys, Goldman Sachs and Ogden’s Own Distillery contributed food and libations to the event.

Assistance League’s Women of Distinction Luncheon

Sept. 30, 2023
Cottonwood Country Club
Photos by Lars Erickson

Last fall, the Assistance League of Salt Lake City announced its Women of Distinction Award. Since 1993, the Woman of Distinction Award—named after Karen Schmitt Johnson, a long-time member of the Assistance League’s Consociates Auxiliary—has recognized a woman in the Salt Lake City community for her service, education reform, professional accomplishments or civic leadership. This year the League recognized Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera. For more information visit alslc.org.

The Lodge At Blue Sky Celebrates: One To Watch Award Of The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023

Sept. 5, 2023
|The Lodge at Blue Sky
Photos by Venue Communications

The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Resorts Collection, celebrated the global win of the Lavazza One To Watch Award as part of the inaugural World’s 50 Best Hotels awards 2023.  Located 35 minutes from Salt Lake City airport, The Lodge at Blue Sky offers luxury as nature intended. The luxurious resort’s 46 rooms and suites are positioned along the contours of the creek or in harmony with the hillside slopes outside of Park City.  Visit here for more information: aubergeresorts.com/bluesky.

Catholic Community Services of Utah’s 2023 Humanitarian Awards

Nov. 7, 2023
The Little America Hotel
Photos by Kearstin Fernandez, CCS Communications Director

Each year, Catholic Community Services of Utah’s Humanitarian Awards Dinner aims to bring together and honor community members who have partnered with the agency’s work of providing help and creating hope. This year’s honorees included Paul and Ruth Cherecwich, Jeanne Audiss, FFKR Architects, and Saint Thomas More Catholic Church. Also among those recognized were Anna Neumann and Teresa Hislop as our 2023 Volunteers of the Year and Kyle Mortensen as CCS Employee of the Year.

CALL FOR PHOTOS

We welcome your photos of recent social events around Utah. Please send high-resolution photos (.jpg format) to magazine@saltlakemagazine.com with the subject line “Social” and a package of images and event/caption information in a file transfer service we can access. Submissions must be accompanied by names and a description of the event (who, what, when, where, why).

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