Small Lake City

A neon green building with purple doors shouldn’t feel terrifying, but for years Salt Lake City drivers couldn’t shake the same question: why does a “working daycare” look abandoned, silent, and sealed off from the world? Fun Time Kidz Kare at 1248 South 300 East became a piece of modern Utah folklore because locals claimed they never saw a single child walk through its doors. That one observation was enough to turn a commute time ...

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A good life in art rarely follows a straight line. We sit down with fine artist Howard Lyon—whose work spans Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and the worlds of Brandon Sanderson—to trace a path that runs from a tech-filled childhood in Mesa to global conventions, cathedral-quiet studios, and a thriving creative home in Utah.

Howard unpacks the moment tabletop fantasy turned from hobby to compass, and how video...

Headlines don’t always line up neatly, but this week in Utah they traced a clear arc from climate reality to civic choices and the culture that holds us together. We start with Salt Lake City’s warmest winter in roughly 150 years—February feeling like April, snow arriving late, and avalanche risk spiking after dry spells. That weather whiplash sets the stage for a bigger question: how do we adapt our habits, from trail days to trav...

What happens when a lifelong climber with an artist’s eye and a designer’s brain gets the keys to build the gyms he always wished existed? We sit down with Momentum Climbing’s creative director, Brendan Nicholson, to chart the leap from medical illustration to route setting and full-scale wall architecture—and why a great climb should feel like a choreographed dance you can’t wait to repeat.

Brendan pulls back the curtain ...

The week hit hard: reports of a gunman targeting Imam Shuab Din, a fresh wave of controversy over Prop 4 signatures, and courts signaling the redistricting fight is nearly done. Add a new constitutional court fast-tracking hot-button cases, measles exposures popping up locally, a 3.5 quake near Magna, and avalanche danger rising with new storms, and you can feel the ground of civic life and literal earth shifting at once. We pull t...

What happens when a fifth-generation ranch kid earns a PhD in molecular biology and decides to rebuild the bridge between land and table? We sit down with Keven Johnson to unpack how a century-old Wyoming ranch now feeds Utah families and top restaurants through a modern, transparent, and surprisingly intimate supply chain.

Keven grew up branding calves and rolling hay near Lusk, Wyoming, then dove deep into lab life, gran...

A hard choice came first: I pulled a planned conversation after learning about alleged misconduct tied to the guest. That accountability moment set the tone for a brisk, honest tour through a week when Salt Lake City felt alive in every direction—tremors underfoot, signatures under scrutiny, bills moving from talk to consequence, and a long-overdue storm finally pointing our way.

We start with the Magna-area quake and what...

Ever wonder how a single week can reveal what a city wants to become? We unpack a fast-moving stretch for Salt Lake—where your dinner plate, your commute, and your sense of home all tie back to choices on the hill and stories on the ground. We start with a challenge to the “who cooks Sysco best” mindset by spotlighting Moonshadow Farms and its CSA model, a simple way to get seasonal produce delivered to your door while keeping doll...

What if your favorite restaurant’s best dish started as a quiet decision at dawn—harvest now, while the sugars are high? We sit down with Andrea Morgan, the farmer behind Moonshadow in Hoytsville, to explore the winding path from ballet shoes to biodynamic soil, from student activist saving UBC’s farm to Utah landowner supplying kitchens like Urban Hill and High West. Her story pulls you into the real engine of “farm to table”: rel...

Local stories rarely arrive one at a time, and this week proves it. We kick off with a new narrative series exploring Salt Lake lore through the Billboard Queen, Julia Reagan—how one woman’s image turned into a citywide mirror for grief, money, curiosity, and the power of attention. The tale blends mystery with media mechanics and shows how public fascination can pull private lives into the spotlight, lawsuits and all.

Fro...

A single image. A simple line. And then that face was everywhere. We dig into the story of Julia Reagan—how a quiet memorial spread across Utah and into multiple states, why it captured national attention, and what it reveals about the collision of grief, power, and public narrative. Julia wasn’t a celebrity or a politician. She was the wife of Bill Reagan, whose company, Reagan Outdoor Advertising, shapes skylines across the West....

A week of Utah headlines rarely lands with this much force. Downtown protests over the killing of Alex Pretti brought thousands into the streets and sent a charge through the Wasatch Front, while Sundance wrestled with the pressure of politics, safety, and a looming move to Colorado. We unpack the stories behind the scroll: how a rumor about an ICE detention facility erupted and was shut down by the owners, why Park City’s Marquee ...

Reinvention isn’t always a straight line. Natalie Parkin grew up sweeping hair in her mom’s salon, built a high-performing career in IT and telecom sales, then bought a beauty school and discovered a larger mission: empower people—especially women—to build flexible, credible careers in aesthetics. What started as a business opportunity became a commitment to advocacy, education, and client safety in one of the most dynamic markets ...

Salt Lake thrives on people who build with heart, and this week we spotlight two of them. We share why Rocksteady Body Works—launched by Jeff Roche and Jessa Munion—caught our attention, blending Pilates, bodywork, and teacher training into a space that helps locals move better, recover smarter, and even pursue a path into teaching. Their backstories and their commitment to Utah’s growth make this more than a fitness plug; it’s a p...

A phone call during 9/11. A train ride west. A splitboard cut by hand and a whiteboard full of climbs. That’s the unlikely path that led Jessa Munion and Jeff Roche to build Rocksteady Body Works, a place where movement isn’t a trend—it’s medicine—and wellness is a practice you live, not a product you buy.

We trace Jessa’s pivot from DC consulting to yoga leadership in Park City, and the moment she chose massage therapy to...

The calendar turned and our city feels wide open again. We’re back from a December reset with clear eyes, a full slate, and a promise to feature the people who make the Wasatch Front feel like home. Season Two kicks off with a story where hospitality meets service: the Grand Hyatt at Deer Valley dedicates 25% of its rooms to military members, an initiative rooted in Utah’s Olympic-era promise to protect military recreation access. ...

A luxury mountain resort that actually lowers the cost of family time for those who serve—this is the story unfolding at Deer Valley’s East Village. We sit down with Kristen Kenney Williams of MIDA and Grand Hyatt GM Nate Hardesty to unpack how a first-of-its-kind partnership guarantees 100 rooms at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley for eligible military guests at heavily discounted rates, alongside up to 75% off Deer Valley lift tickets...

Have a Question? Ask it here!

50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY

Use cod TROLLEY26 for 30% off a day pass at momentumclimbing.com/trolleysquare/reservations

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

Support the show

Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP

Subscribe to the Newsletter!...