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We make podcasts and newsletters that connect people with the cities they love.

City Cast Salt Lake

Terina Ria

Think you know what it costs to live in Salt Lake City? Take our quiz and guess the rent on these local listings.

The majority of Salt Lake City residents rent, how much are we paying in these streets? (Canva)

Shelby Hintze

 and sentenced to death for murder in Utah. His trial and subsequent death 

So, it’s fair to say Utah’s relationship with organized labor has been … complicated.

Utah is a right-to-work state, meaning workers cannot be required to join or financially support a union as a condition of employment. That can make organizing more difficult, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

When unions successfully negotiate better standards, they can help raise expectations for wages and working conditions across an industry. Better wages mean workers have more money to spend locally, while better benefits and greater job stability can make it easier for people to build lives and stay in their communities.

This Labor Day, here are some ways you can support organized local labor with your money and attention.

Several smaller groups of employees in Utah have joined larger, national unions.

 joined the local Teamsters 222. Winco is a local-ish grocery chain (the first location was in Boise) and is personally my favorite grocery store. Knowing the employees are able to collectively bargain makes me love it even more. And while you’re at it, here’s 

Utah ski resort employees paved the way for other mountain resort workers. In 2015, 

 joined the Communications Workers of America, and in 2022, Park City lift mechanics and electricians voted to unionize alongside them. Today, they're part of 

. In Utah, the union represents more than 200 Park City ski patrollers, roughly 50 lift mechanics and electricians, as well as ski patrollers at 

Utah Building and Trades for Your Next Project

 means supporting skilled workers, fair wages, safer workplaces, and quality training, while investing your money in businesses that help strengthen Utah’s workforce and local economy. Save this list for your next project.

IBEW 354 represents 3,000 electrical workers in Utah and has a 

plumbers, pipefitters, and HVAC specialists

Utah Union Businesses and Workers to Support Labor Day 2026

Your Labor Day To-Do List: Support Utah Workers

Keep It Local

Sign up for Keep It Local from City Cast Salt Lake

unionized city employees who keep our libraries

 running? Make sure you have a library card!

September is National City Library Card Signup Month. If you don’t have a library card already, that’s OK. It’s easy to 

. Remember, you will need ID and a piece of mail, a check, a paystub, etc. to prove you are a Salt Lake City or County resident. (You can still pay $80 a year if you live outside Salt Lake County but want the perks!)

All this month, if you show your Salt Lake library card, you can get discounts at local businesses like:

, my personal favorite place to get a classic combination plate, a crispy Diet Coke, and to try all the different salsas at the salsa bar before realizing I can only handle the mild.

 to stock up on all the witchy, cozy, fall romances. “

, especially since I keep forgetting to sign up for my free birthday cake! I definitely want to give the new Galactic Brownie a try.

. I’ve taken several watercolor classes there and want to try the 

other perks of having a Salt Lake City Library card

 featuring City Library Signup Month ambassador, Laufey, from the American Library Association!

Local Discounts With Your Salt Lake City Library Card 2026

Your Library Card Is More Powerful Than You Think

September is summer and fall: Keep enjoying warm days while settling into cozy nights. Here are some of the best ways to enjoy this in-between month.

Your Guide to September 2026 in Salt Lake

Head to Red Butte Garden for the Intermountain Hoop Dance Competition on Sept. 12, where Indigenous dancers use hoops to tell visual stories. Then stick around for drum groups, artists, food trucks, and community organizations.

Take an early fall road trip to Torrey in southern Utah for Fort Desolation Fest from Sept 24-26. The three-day outdoor music festival brings together Andrew Bird, Tune-Yards, and Bella White. It’s right near Capitol Reef so there’s plenty of adventuring to do between shows.

No hair? No problem. Meet some fellow baldies at this Salt Lake City meetup on Sept. 26. Among all the shiny heads, you can expect games, competitions, and giveaways. Bald caps are welcome, too.

Get ahead of your winter weaving and attend a class at Bewitched by Alpacas in Bluffdale. You’ll learn the basics on a handcrafted loom while alpacas and goats hangout nearby. Classes take place on various days throughout the month.

Atelier’s fourth annual Dollhouse Show on Sept. 12 features tiny worlds handmade by more than 20 local artists. It might even inspire you to take on a tiny hobby of your own.

Make the most of September in Salt Lake with meetups, crafting, hoop dancing, and festivals.

Your Guide to Salt Lake in September 2026

Find the best of everything that Salt Lake City has to offer.

Salt Lake’s Best

Salt Lake's Best

Ivana Martinez

September in Utah screams festival season. Here are some recommendations to add to your list.

: Rise up, mi gente Latina, 'cause from Sept. 4-7, we’re dancing and eating our hearts out in Utah County's Historic Courthouse. Bring the whole family and make a day (or weekend) of it.

: Immerse yourself in Afro culture on Sept. 5 at Salt Lake City’s Library Square. You’ll shop local, see fashion and art showcases, and hear live music performances. Make sure to come with an empty stomach.

: Enjoy the fall foliage at Snowbird with a stein and a brat, now till Oct. 11. Make the most of it and rent a room at the resort or plan a ride back. Pro-tip: Thrift your stein mug or borrow one so you don’t get up-charged.

: Experience the locals version of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” from Sept. 11-13 at Holy Trinity Cathedral, marking the festival's 50th year. You already know I’ll be in the baklava line.

: Samba your way to Orem on Sept. 12, home to one of the state's largest Brazilian festivals. Expect live music, capoeira, art, activities, and a full day of culture.

 For vegetarians and animal lovers, VegFest is back on Sept. 12 at Salt Lake’s Library Square. Prepare yourselves for a beer garden, kid-friendly activities, and delicious food.

: Calling all pasta lovers to the Gateway from Sept. 19-20; get ready for the food coma of your lives. Bring on the vino.

: Head up to the Capitol Hill neighborhood Sept. 26 for some live music and dancing next to the Marmalade Library.

Salt Lake Festivals September 2026

September 2026’s Best Festivals

After Utah's thrilling wins in the newest MICHELIN travel guide region, we’re holding out hope that another Utah restaurant will take home a star in the future.

Hell’s Backbone Grill is a perfect example of the MICHELIN criteria — innovative, consistent, sustainable, and well worth the trip.

If you know me IRL or have gathered anything from reading this newsletter, I’m an indoor cat. So I’m not making many trips to Southern Utah for hikes or camping. That said, I WOULD make a trip just for 

The Boulder, Utah, restaurant is a longtime destination for farm-to-table dining, with offerings made from ingredients grown at its own 

 or from local suppliers. The menu changes with the seasons, so you'll have a new experience with each trip.

The restaurant has been serving diners in the heart of southern Utah since 2000, when chefs Jen Castle and Blake Spalding decided to build a restaurant around their shared commitment to food, community, and sustainability.

Over the years, it has become part of Boulder’s community fabric and an advocate for the landscapes surrounding it. The restaurant’s commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship is woven into its operations, and Castle and Spalding became 

vocal advocates for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

. Their work has earned national attention, including multiple James Beard Award nominations.

In 2025, after 25 years of renting the property, Castle, Spalding, and longtime team members purchased the Boulder Mountain Lodge and restaurant, giving this beloved Utah institution a new chapter.

Black powder biscuits (and buying mixes to give as gifts), Three Sisters posole, butter dipped farm radishes, trout ‘n herbs, summer buttermilk pie.

Hell's Backbone Grill in Utah is Worthy of a MICHELIN Star

A MICHELIN Star? We’d Give It to Hell’s Backbone

With the announcement of Utah’s MICHELIN-recommended restaurants this week, we started thinking: 

 if we were handing out the honors? One star means a restaurant is worth a stop, two stars mean it’s worth a detour, and three stars mean it’s worth planning a trip around.

If it were up to me, here’s where some Utah favorites would land.

One of the things I love about the MICHELIN Guide is the range of restaurants it recognizes. Fancy or casual, the philosophy is simple: Good food is good food.

That’s why Victor’s is at the top of my list. I know a restaurant has won me over when, no matter how hard I try to convince myself to order something new, I end up going back to the dish that made me fall in love with the place in the first place.

The filling is packed with flavor, while the masa is moist, tender, and just the right amount of fluffy. And while the tamales are the star of the show for me, the rice and beans might be my favorite part of the meal. They’re consistently delicious and make the whole plate feel like comfort food in the best possible way.

 The smothered tamales combo comes in under $15, and the portions are generous enough that I can stretch one order into both lunch and dinner.

I’m a firm believer that we should eat more tapas. I want a bite of everything, not necessarily one big plate. Which is why I love Koyote. And so did the MICHELIN reviewers, who recommend the SLC ramen and tapas joint.

At the heart of Koyote is food designed to be shared. The menu takes familiar ingredients and pushes them in unexpected directions, layering spicy, savory, sweet, and tangy flavors into dishes that are as fun to eat as they are to talk about. It’s the kind of place where you might order something because you recognize an ingredient, only to discover it prepared in a way you’ve never tried before.

Koyote also embraces the idea that a great meal should feel like an experience rather than a formal occasion. The atmosphere is energetic and welcoming, making it easy to settle in for a few rounds of food and drinks.

house gyoza, karage wings, deluxe chashu-don, whipped tofu

The MICHELIN reviewers gave this Jewish deli a Bib Gourmand award, which celebrates “restaurants worldwide that serve exceptional food at a great value.” Which is exactly what Feldman’s does best. The french fries and fry sauce alone are worth it. But I will have a sandwich, too. I’m making good choices here.

. After discovering Utah was missing the Jewish deli food they grew up with, the couple opened Feldman’s in 2012, bringing classic New York-style pastrami, bagels, matzo ball soup and more to Salt Lake City.

MICHELIN Star-Worthy Restaurants in Salt Lake

Move Over, MICHELIN: These Are Our Utah Picks

 began with a freezer full of food and a new mom trying to make life a little easier. In 2016, founder Allyse Jackson started preparing freezer meals before the birth of her first child. She made far more than her family could eat, so she shared the extras with friends, neighbors, and families who could use a home-cooked meal.

She then decided meal prepping was something she was good at and 

Jackson officially launched Beehive Meals in 2019, initially preparing and delivering freezer meals herself from a rented commercial kitchen. Demand grew during the pandemic as families looked for convenient ways to avoid grocery shopping and still eat at home. The growth hasn’t slowed.

Beehive Meals produced more than 1.2 million meals in 2025 alone, bringing its lifetime total to more than 4 million meals. What started as one Utah mom’s solution for getting dinner on the table has grown into a nationwide business, 

Today, Beehive Meals offers ready-to-cook freezer meals, including gluten-free options and higher-protein meals. The rotating menus offer a mix of comforting family favorites and globally inspired flavors that you can cook in your slow cooker, Instant Pot, or on your stove. Recent options have included bang bang chicken, BBQ pork, Swedish meatballs, sausage marinara and chicken tortilla soup. Many meals can be served over rice or pasta, tucked into tortillas, or turned into sandwiches, giving families flexibility with sides and presentation.

The newer Flat Top line takes a more hands-on approach, with meals such as Greek chicken, steak fajitas, jalapeño cheddar smash burgers, and taco hash. Ingredients arrive prepped and frozen, so there’s no chopping or measuring — just thaw and cook.

How Beehive Meals Turned Dinner Into a Big Business

The season of tomato sandwich lunches and popsicle dinners is winding down, and with it comes more responsibilities and fewer daylight hours. Whether you’re looking for single-serving, ready-to-eat meals or prepared dishes to feed the whole family, turning to a local meal service can take one more thing off your plate.

: NUR Kitchen is a family-run Salt Lake City meal delivery service focused on fresh, nutritious, chef-cooked meals made from scratch. You can choose from a lunch or dinner menu. Lunch options feature lighter fare, like salads, while dinner options are a little more hearty. You can also choose portion sizes based on your nutrition goals.

👨‍🍳 Menu Sample: roasted corn salad (lunch), coconut lime salmon (dinner)

: Meals from Avant arrive ready to heat and eat, with no subscription required, although it is an option to save a little money. Its reusable containers are collected, professionally washed and sanitized, reused up to 1,000 times, then recycled. The menu features ready-to-eat meals, as well as bulk proteins, like four servings of grilled chicken, and premade sides to help round out a meal for one or a family.

👨‍🍳 Menu Sample: bibimbap power bowl, Swedish meatballs, lasagna Bolognese

: Beehive Catering is banishing the sad desk lunch for our friends in Utah County. Its weekday box lunches offer a convenient option for workdays, while family meals feed about five and arrive chilled, ready to reheat for dinner. The lunch menu features a weekly sandwich and a daily entree or salad choice, and each entree is also available daily as a family meal. Consider this my official plea to deliver to Salt Lake County, too!

👨‍🍳 Menu Sample: beef gyudon, braised beef enchiladas, turkey bacon club

: Citrus Pear meals are designed to feed your whole crew. Meals come assembled and ready to cook in a slow cooker, pressure cooker, oven or on the stovetop, with small and medium family portions available. Generally, these meals are a protein you can serve however your family enjoys it — like enchilada chicken can be used in actual enchiladas, on a taco salad, or served over rice.

👨‍🍳 Menu Sample: garlic parmesan chicken, honey lime ginger pork, carne asada street tacos

: Blue Door Kitchen lives up to its motto, “We make the meals you'd cook — if you had the time.” Its rotating weekly menu offers customizable family-style portions for two to six people, ready to heat and serve. Choose pickup or delivery, with no subscription required and new menus each week. The meals are simple, crowd-pleasers.

👨‍🍳 Menu Sample: cheese and spinach manicotti, chicken pot pie and biscuits

The season of tomato sandwich lunches and popsicle dinners is winding down, and with it comes more responsibilities and fewer daylight hours. Whether you’re looking for single-serving, ready-to-eat meals or prepared dishes to feed the whole family, turning to a local meal service in Salt Lake can take one more thing off your plate.


Utah Meal Delivery Services For Busy People

Get Back on Schedule With Local Meal Services

Think you know what it costs to live in Salt Lake City?

Guess the Rent in Salt Lake City

What Salt Lakers have been wondering. We break down why things in Salt Lake City are the way they are and how they work.

Salt Lake, Explained

Twenty-seven years ago today, a destructive tornado tore through downtown Salt Lake City and left behind an unusual piece of history: a desk. In honor of the anniversary, we’re looking back at that story and a few other Utah deep cuts.

On Aug. 11, 1999, an F2 tornado in Salt Lake City killed one person, injured more than 80, and damaged 300 buildings and homes. Salvaged wood from uprooted trees at the Capitol was turned into a “tornado desk” that now sits in the Governor’s Ceremonial Office. Then-first lady Jacalyn Leavitt even 

turned the story into a children’s book

 in 2001, with tickets starting at just $29. Fair organizers at the time loved booking “rising stars,” including the likes of NSYNC and Britney Spears.

 at the Outlets at Traverse Mountain’s 2013 Christmas tree lighting. What are the chances we’ll get her for the 13th anniversary?

In May 1972, Salt Lake man Michael Hansen 

 in protest of the Vietnam War, and redirected it on a Salt Lake City → Los Angeles → Dallas → Tampa → Havana joy ride.

From Salt Lake’s tornado desk to Destiny’s Child at the State Fair, revisit four surprising moments from Utah history.

4 Utah History Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

Utah Deep Cuts You Should Know About

Only true local news nerds will ace this one. See how well you’re paying attention to the headlines. Every answer can be found in recent editions of the newsletter. 

Salt Lake June News Crossword Puzzle

Ice cream is a yearlong treat but especially satisfying when the weather gets warm. As we head into summer, put your knowledge to the test: Do you know where you can find these frozen delicacies?

Spring in Salt Lake means blooming trees, warmer days, and that unmistakable smell. Test your knowledge on the city’s most notorious tree. 

Test Your Salt Lake Knowledge

Name That Ice Cream

Test your memory with our mini news crossword. Every clue comes straight from a recent City Cast Salt Lake newsletter!

Salt Lake April News Crossword Puzzle

Maybe you skim the news, maybe you read everything: see how much stuck with this week’s mini news crossword.

Hint: Find the answers in recent City Cast Salt Lake newsletters.

Salt Lake March News Crossword Puzzle

Lately, I’ve seen a number of Australian-style coffee shops in Salt Lake City popping up on my feed. But what even is Australian coffee?

“Australian coffee” isn’t necessarily a specific bean or roast, it’s more about the culture. Instead of chains, Australia’s coffee culture evolved through neighborhood cafes, with baristas focusing on quality and craft. It’s no wonder they fit right into Salt Lake City’s independent coffee scene.

If there is one drink that represents Australian coffee the most, it’s the flat white (though Australia and New Zealand both claim to have invented it). A flat white is made with espresso and finely frothed milk for a signature silky texture. Compared to a typical American latte, it’s stronger and contains a lot less milk.

Generally, flavored syrups aren't as common. But if you want something sweet try an iced coffee, which is espresso, milk, and ice cream. And if you’re in Tyra Banks’ Australia (aka Sydney) you can get a 

Where To Find Australian Coffee in Salt Lake

: One of the newest coffee shops in Millcreek. They take the laid back approach to Aussie coffee culture. Plus, they have a sick kookaburra mural, so you know they’re legit.

An Australian-owned restaurant in Park City that serves Aussie-style iced coffee (cold brew nitro and ice cream).

: With locations in Salt Lake City and Sandy, the founder has over 20 years of coffee experience that started in Sydney. You’ll find flat whites and iced coffee here.

: An Australian-style coffee truck, on a brief hiatus while the owner (a professional rugby player) plays rugby in Boston. But they’re set to reopen in the summer. Bonus: They 

What Is Australian Coffee?

Where To Try Australian Coffee in Salt Lake

This winter has been the warmest in Salt Lake City history, but that’s not the only thing we have in the record books. Think you know what other records SLC holds? Test your knowledge in our mini crossword.

A Mini Crossword of Salt Lake’s Record-Breaking Moments

Are you keeping up with Salt Lake news? See how much stuck with this week’s mini crossword.

Pssst: You’ll find the answers in recent 

Salt Lake, Explained

Guess the Rent in Salt Lake City

Terina Ria

Share article

Salt Lake, Explained

Utah Deep Cuts You Should Know About

Salt Lake June News Crossword Puzzle

Name That Ice Cream

Salt Lake April News Crossword Puzzle

Salt Lake March News Crossword Puzzle

Where To Try Australian Coffee in Salt Lake

A Mini Crossword of Salt Lake’s Record-Breaking Moments

Salt Lake February News Crossword Puzzle

The latest in Salt Lake

Your Labor Day To-Do List: Support Utah Workers

Your Library Card Is More Powerful Than You Think

Your Guide to Salt Lake in September 2026

September 2026’s Best Festivals

A MICHELIN Star? We’d Give It to Hell’s Backbone

Move Over, MICHELIN: These Are Our Utah Picks

How Beehive Meals Turned Dinner Into a Big Business

Get Back on Schedule With Local Meal Services