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Oct 30
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Bartending Tips from Park City’s Top Mixologist

By Eat & Drink

You needn’t be an award-winning resort-town mixologist like Tupelo’s Trevor Brown to mix a decent drink. The back-to-back PCARA Cocktail Contest winner took a moment to share a few tips on crafting the kind of elegantly classic cocktails that will keep your next shindig from having the aesthetic of luau night in a frat house basement. Among other pearls of wisdom, Brown said, “It’s very easy to add too much sugar to a cocktail, so err on the side of a touch too bitter or citrusy and add more as preferred,” and, “Practice makes perfect.” There’s your excuse for the extra cocktail next Tuesday night. Tupelo: 508 Main St., 435-615-7700, tupeloparkcity.com

Three Classic Drinks It’s Time to Stop Messing Up

To mix like a pro, start by mastering these three standards.

Margarita “The beloved cocktail that’s often brutalized.”

  • 2 parts tequila
  • 1 part orange liqueur
  • 1 part lime juice
  • ½ part agave nectar

“A margarita needs a salted rim, so do that first. Shake the margarita in a tin shaker for 15 seconds, then pour it over rocks in the salted glass and enjoy.”

Manhattan “It’s a straightforward cocktail, but one that’s easily messed up.” 

  • 2 parts rye whiskey
  • 1 part vermouth
  • Dash of angostura bitters

“Put it in a mixing glass with just enough ice that the liquid covers it. Stir it up for a nice dilution to take the alcohol harshness out of it. Serve it up or on the rocks depending on preference with a lemon twist or cherry.”

Negroni “A cocktail drinker’s cocktail that’s boozy and bitter but goes down easy.”

  • • 1 part gin
  • • 1 part Campari
  • • 1 part sweet vermouth

“Stir in a mixing glass with ice for 10 seconds. Serve it in a rocks glass with a single large rock, if possible, and a twist of orange.”

Bar Essentials

Base Spirits

  • Rye Whiskey: “It blends better in cocktails and adds a little more depth with a spicy character.”
  • Vodka: “You’ll need it for light, easy summer drinks.”
  • Tequila: “A margarita never hurts.”
  • Gin: “A good, dry gin makes a big difference.”
  • Rum: “Start with a good Jamaican rum if you want to get a little crazy.”

Flavorings

  • Orange liqueur of any preference
  • Campari
  • Grenadine
  • Sweet vermouth
  • Sugar cubes
  • An orange & a lime
  • Angostura bitters

See all of our bar coverage here.

Oct 30
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Join Park City’s Push for Sustainability with Eco-Friendly Ski Gear

By Community

Last week Park City played host to a meeting of the minds from ski communities around the country at the Mountain Towns 2030 Conference. Community and business leaders from Park City, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Vail Resorts, Alterra Mountain Company, Powdr Corp and more addressed the uncomfortable reality that the lifestyles many of us lead in mountain towns are contributing to climate change and threatening the future of those very communities.

During the Conference, Park City Mayor Andy Beerman described the town’s efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions from the town’s municipal operations by 2022 and a similar community-wide goal by 2030. Representatives from crested Butte detailed efforts by the town to electrify 100% of their municipal transportation fleet and reduce municipal building emissions by 50% by 2023 during the conference’s anonymous comment period. People from Frisco, Durango, Deer Valley and Steamboat echoed similar sentiments. The conference at the Jim Santy Auditorium was a refreshing moment of unity wherein rival mountain communities outlined tangible plans to combat the biggest existential crisis the ski industry faces.

What can you do to join in the effort? Choose products that emphasize sustainability. With temperatures dropping, many of us are frothing for some powder skiing and fueling that fire by buying ski gear for the upcoming season. Like it or not, many of the plastics, synthetic fibers, epoxies and more in our ski gear have a rough environmental impact. You can mitigate most of your impact by squeezing another season out of your functioning gear, but considering these eco-friendly ski gear options when upgrading is a step in the right direction.

Mountain Flow Eco Wax

Most ski waxes are made from petroleum, which ought to be concerning as the wax on the bottom of our skis and snowboards eventually ends up in our local streams, rivers and drinking water. Most ski waxes also contain fluorocarbons, which are carcinogenic chemicals that don’t biodegrade in nature. That’s bad. Mountain Flow Eco Wax is made entirely from plants, so it’s non-toxic, and after years of testing and refining it performs just as well to traditional high-end ski waxes. That’s good.

Pick up Mountain Flow Eco Wax locally at Skimo Co and Sports Den, or online from backcountry.com, REI or EVO.

Soul Poles

Soul Poles are produced right here in the Beehive State from sustainably-sourced bamboo and 100% recyclable materials. Bamboo produces three times more material per harvested acre than lumber, doesn’t have the negative environmental mining and processing impact of carbon fiber and it’s far more durable than traditional aluminum ski poles. Plus, they look cool and a bunch of people on the lift will ask you questions about them.

Order your custom-engraved, responsibly-produced, guilt-free Soul Poles from their website.

Scarpa Ski Boots

Scarpa is a renowned Italian brand known for producing high-quality ski boots and mountaineering footwear. For the past decade they’ve embarked on a planet-friendly initiative to produce their ski boots in a more environmentally conscious manner. One result of their effort is Pebax Rnew, a plastic used in their ski boot shells that’s made from plant-based castor oil, instead of petroleum like most other boot shell materials.

Some boots, like their telemark-specific TX Pro are made entirely from Pebax, while others like their award-winning Maestrale RS use Pebax for some aspects of construction. Whatever flavor you choose, you can feel good knowing there’s less non-renewable petroleum in your new boots than in your friend’s.

You can purchase Scarpa products locally at Skimo Co or Freeheel Life, or online from retailers like backcountry.com.

Niche Snowboards

Based right here in Salt Lake City, Niche Snowboards specializes in high-performance snowboards produced with as little environmental impact as possible. 98% of their materials are locally sourced—including sustainable poplar, paulownia and bamboo cores as well as recycled base, edge and sidewall materials—before being put to use in their 100% hydro-powered Austrian factory on the river Gail.

Pick up Niche Snowboards online from a retailer like EVO or backcountry.com.

 

See all our outdoors coverage here.

Oct 30
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Trent Harris Sends Postcards to Himself

By Arts & Culture

In 1869, some genius in Austria invented the “non-postal”—cards, ones where you had to actually put the stamp on yourself. Within a year, everyone was doing it. Greetings from everywhere were being sent to friends and relatives around the world, often with the slightly passive-aggressive note “Wish you were here.” But Salt Lake artist and filmmaker Trent Harris still prefers postcards. The big difference—he sends them to himself and he often draws them himself.

So the image may not represent the town or beach or mountains where Trent’s has been traveling. He may not have traveled anywhere, except in his head. Then again, head trips are some of the best trips of all. “I always loved getting postcards,” says Harris. “ I loved the stamp, the address, the picture on the front. It takes time and thought to send someone a postcard.

Trent Harris

Filmmaker Trent Harris and his frog EL CROAKO! (Image not to scale.) Photo Courtesy Trent Harris/EL CROAKO!

“Texts and emails have no magic at all,” he continues. “A few years ago I realized that the best way to get a postcard was to send one to myself. Now, I have a whole collection. It is a history of my thoughts.”

Scroll down for more of Trent’s weird cards. See all of our arts coverage here.

 

Trent Haris Postcards Trent Haris Postcards Trent Haris Postcards Trent Haris PostcardsTrent Harris

 

 

Oct 30
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‘Form of a Girl Unknown’ Brings Teenage-Sized Emotions to SLAC

By Arts & Culture

What do A Midsummer Night’s Dream, menstruation and a string of mysterious deaths in the woods have in common? (I’ll give you a hint: the answer is not “a high school theatre kid’s stress dream.”) In her new play, Form of a Girl Unknown, Charly Evon Simpson combines all of these elements and more into a completely unique coming-of-age story. The show will run at Salt Lake Acting Company from Oct. 16 to Nov. 17.

Form of a Girl Unknown

Photo courtesy Salt Lake Acting Company

Form of a Girl Unknown

Salt Lake Acting Company – Chapel Theater

Oct. 16 – Nov. 17

Wednesdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Additional performances on Oct. 22, Nov. 2, Nov. 9 and Nov. 12

Tickets and info here

The play follows 12-year-old Amari (Amanda Morris), who is navigating pubescent dramas both typical (like backstabbing friends, distracted parents and changing bodies) and not (like those pesky killings in the woods). 

Simpson previously workshopped the play at Salt Lake Acting Company. Now, Form of a Girl Unknown will have its world premiere on the same stage. “I left Salt Lake City last summer hoping the play would some way, somehow make its way back to SLAC … and now the dream is coming true,” Simpson said.

This play is entirely focused on the perspective of a young black girl, which is still depressingly rare. The play, however, should still be relatable to anyone who had a tough time growing up — so, pretty much anyone. “It is about the transition — the awkward transition — between childhood and adulthood,” said director Melissa Crespo.

Read all of our theater coverage here.

 

 

Oct 30
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Behold The Great Pumpkin!

By City Watch

Why yes, yes there is. Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers (UGPG) consists of a group of folks who love to grow pumpkins, and it’s not about how many, the taste or color. Their quest is to grow the greatest pumpkin in all of Utah.

Andrew IsraelsenAnd it’s no small feat. Long before the growing season begins, as any gardener knows, from germination to full fruition, there are a lot of Cucurbita pepo-growing smarts that come before you’d ever be expected to grow a 1,608 lb. giant pumpkin. This weight just so happens to be the very same as this year’s UGPG-winning bad-boy. The weigh-off took place at Thanksgiving Point and was brought in by a local grower and second-time winner, Andrew Israelsen.

GET PUMPED!!

America First Credit Union cashed in and purchased this pumpkin. The carving will begin on October 25, 2019 and the pumpkin will be on display at Station Park mall in Farmington.

Israelsen has been growing all his life but became compelled to grow big-enough-that-you-need-a-backhoe to lift pumpkins about 20 years ago. His first attempts were impressive but did not exceed 100 pounds. Then fate brought Israelsen to Thanksgiving Point, he became aware of the UGPG and began sharing and asking questions with fellow mega-pumpkin growers and the rest was well, cake, or pie, I personally really love a nice piece of pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

Secrets to growing a big pumpkin? Like any proper garden space, he uses mostly organic ingredients, lots of cow/horse/chicken manure, compost from his fields, fallen leaves and lawn trimmings, some fertilizers, really stinky fish emulsion and seaweed. Israelsen also shared that every fall he plants barley as a cover crop (that’s a term we farmhands call green manure) which he tills into the soil in the spring.

Here’s another bit, after the pumpkin plant has germinated and as the vines start to produce fruits, Israelsen measures and compares each to determine which ones are the biggest and strongest. Eventually, the largest gets to stay on the vine, and he then trims off the inferiors, so that all the energy from the plant goes toward only that single one (sure, glad my mom didn’t raise us that way).

Here’s to our community gardeners and urban AG enthusiasts. To read more about what’s growing, go here.

Oct 28
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Growing Up is Hard to Do in SLAC’s ‘Form of a Girl Unknown’

By Arts & Culture

In the very first moments of Charly Evan Simpson’s new play Form of a Girl Unknown, 12-year-old Amali (Amanda Morris) explains directly to the audience that she’s getting her first period. The scene might inspire empathetic pangs of recognition for any audience member with a vagina. Amali’s response, however, is anything but typical.

What: Form of a Girl Unknown
When: Oct. 16 – Nov. 17
Where: Salt Lake Acting Company Upstairs Theater
How: Tickets start at $32 and are available here.

Amali reacts to her first period not with embarrassment and dread, but with curiosity. Though she immediately recoils from her mother (a quietly affecting Latoya Cameron,) to both the audience and her best friend Finn (Bradley Hatch,) she is endlessly fascinated. Though all of the period-talk makes Finn queasy, Amari can’t help herself — her observations come out in an uncontrollable flow. (I’m sorry.) 

Form of a Girl Unknown

The cast of “Form of a Girl Unknown” Photo courtesy Salt Lake Acting Company

These unexpected reactions are everywhere in Form of a Girl Unknown, which takes familiar coming-of-age tropes and twists them into something wholly unique. Amali is a brainy but awkward adolescent — she whizzes through Shakespeare plays but only spends time with Finn after a fight with her ex-best-friend Marina (Daisy Allred). At home, Amali feels misunderstood by her overworked mother and perpetually eye-rolling older sister Charise (Aalliyah Ann). As Amali’s life gets more confusing, she becomes fascinated by two dead children whose bodies were found in the woods, developing an obsession that begins to alarm the people around her. 

In the past few years, a new wave of films and TV shows, including Eighth Grade, Lady Bird, Pen15 and Big Mouth, have reframed narratives about teenage girls, telling stories with emotional candor and sexual frankness. Like these projects, Form of a Girl Unknown is a very funny story that takes its characters seriously. Amali, in all her idiosyncrasies, defies stereotypical portrayals of black girls in pop culture, and the play treats her larger-than-life emotions with compassion and complexity. 

Form of a Girl Unknown

Amanda Morris in “Form of a Girl Unknown” Photo courtesy Salt Lake Acting Company

As Amali, Morris effectively anchors the play. Normally, I have an allergic reaction to adult actors playing children, but Morris is completely convincing in the role — fifteen minutes in, you’ll forget that you’re not watching an actual 12-year-old. The creative team is equally effective. Director Melissa Crespo’s fluid staging complements Amari’s irrepressible energy, and Shoko Kambara’s clever set constantly contracts and expands into cramped bathrooms and vast forests. 

Form of a Girl Unknown is so breezy and funny, you almost don’t notice the big ideas it subtly tackles, like poverty, mental illness and queer identity. You probably didn’t grow up exactly like Amari. But if you grew up at all, you will find something to relate to in this winning play.

See more Utah theater coverage here.

Oct 28
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Good-bye Gorgoza, Hello Woodward

By Adventures, Outdoors

Gorgoza was such a simple premise—a rope tow took you up the hill. You slid down the hill. Wheeee! Too cold? Get some hot chocolate in the yurt. But simplicity seldom survives long and Gorgoza is gone. You will still be able to slide down the hill this winter, but the replacement amusement park, Woodward Park City, will offer lots more.

Woodward promises to be the first all-in-one sports and ski resort in the country. The company started out 40 years ago as a summer camp—now there are locations in Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, even Cancun. Each camp is a little different and Woodward Park City is unique to Utah—it’s open all seasons, offers all sports (well, most of them), for all ages, indoor, outdoor and it’s open every day. It’s a big promise and a giant leap from the rope-tow and inner tubes of its predecessor, but Woodward lives up to its hype. Ten different sports and games are offered at the new resort, each one designed to teach players to excel and get to the next level of expertise: snowboarding, skiing, tubing, mountain biking, skateboarding, BMX, scooter, parkour, cheer and digital media (which is now a sport?).

In the summer, biking and skating will replace the snow stuff. Digital and cheer, of course, have no season. Whatever, the point seems to be to learn to have fun so … wheeee!

Monthly memberships are available now for the introductory rate of $100/month, where you can purchase all-access passes, day sessions, lift tickets, drop-in sessions, day camps, lessons, monthly memberships, and special events. Go to woodwardparkcity.com for more info. 

See all of our outdoors coverage here.

Oct 24
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Join Park City for 24 Hours of Giving with Live PC Give PC 2019

By Community

Park City is gearing up for the annual Live PC Give PC event on Friday, November 8, 2019. The 24-hour fundraising smorgasbord supports more than 100 local nonprofits in Summit County. Last year’s Live PC Give PC raised in excess of $2.4 million through donations from thousands of Utahns in support of issues important to them.

Support the community causes that are important to you. Photo Courtesy of Live PC Give PC

Live PC Give PC 2019 aims to mobilize at least 5,000 unique donors to give whatever they can to help strengthen their community through charitable acts. 2018’s average gift size was $231, but individual donations ranged from just a few dollars to impressively sizable sums. Katie Wright, Executive Director of the Park City Community Foundation stresses it’s the spirit of involvement and community giving that’s important. “It’s about participating, giving what you can—no matter what amount—and seeking opportunities to help spread awareness about causes you feel passionate about supporting,” she says.

That call to action should resonate in Park City, where people are rarely shy about issues they hold near and dear. Support affordable housing efforts by giving to Mountainlands Community Housing Trust, adaptive sports initiatives through the National Ability Center, open lands protection with the Summit Land Conservancy or animal welfare along with Nuzzles & Co. Head to the Live PC Give PC website to see a full list of participating organizations.

To participate Live PC Give PC, visit livepcgivepc.org and choose the cause important to you. You can donate any time during the actual 24-hour giving marathon between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on November 8 or any time in advance of the event that’s convenient.

Since 2011, Live PC Give PC has raised $10.3 million to support the community. That’s a cause for celebration, so you should do exactly that. The public party honoring this year’s  donors will be hosted by High West Distillery and Saloon. It starts at 8:00 p.m. and features live music along with High West’s famous food and drinks until midnight. Help build the community you want to live in. Support your favorite causes, share in the efforts with your friends and celebrate as the donations are tallied.

High West: 703 Park Ave, livepcgivepc.org

See all our community coverage here.

Oct 22
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Talisker Club’s Courchevel Comeback

By Eat & Drink

Talisker Club is embarking on a multi-faceted new phase in Park City. The public-facing centerpiece is a new restaurant, Courchevel, housed in the heart of Old Town in the historic Coal and Lumber building on Main Street. City regulations mandate the street level be available to the public, so the Courchevel restaurant and bar is the everyman’s slice of the Talisker Club lifestyle. Courchevel is both Talisker Club’s public-facing landmark and its year-round anchor to downtown Park City, though the downstairs lounge and patio is for members only. 

Talisker Club Courchevel

Photo by Adam Finkle / Salt Lake Magazine

Courchevel is only part of the new chapter. Talisker Club is investing in new amenities across several properties. Tuhaye—which overlooks the Jordanelle Reservoir and is home to a Mark O’Meara signature golf course—will feature an expansive family-friendly outdoor park and pool complex, while the Tower Club at Empire Pass will feature a spa expansion and renovation. New real estate offerings will be available at both Tuhaye and Empire Pass, and for the first time Talisker Club will offer shared ownership opportunities, which could significantly broaden its customer base. 

Sister City

Park City has a long-time but little known sibling—Courchevel, also a world-renowned ski resort town, is located in the French Alps and the two towns officially united in 1984. Their popular student exchange program has strengthened their ties, and municipal interaction helps each city with new ideas for solving mutual problems, like retaining small-town charm in the face of growing tourism.

The Talisker moniker has a bit of complicated history in town—including a fraught stint while operating the Canyons Resort—which the modern incarnation of Talisker Club hopes to shed after being purchased by Georgia-based real estate firm Storied Development in early 2018. “We want to tell our story again,” Storied Development Partner Mark Enderle said during an interview at the Tuhaye Welcome Center. “Talisker Club is a living, breathing thing. We have more than 450 members who all understand we’re not on an island but are part of the fabric of this community.” 

Naturally, the real estate expansion and new restaurant requires a workforce increase. Enderle didn’t provide specifics about how Talisker Club would help address the growing workforce shortage and dearth of affordable housing in Summit County, but he reiterated that Talisker Club had already met Park City’s affordable housing quota and pledged the company’s continued charitable efforts in the area. “Nearly all of our staff live here in Park City, and they want to do the right thing for the community and the company,” Enderle articulated. 

201 Heber Ave, mytaliskerclub.com.

See more Eat & Drink content here.