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FeedOgden rising?
Is O-Town’s play for legitimacy the real deal or mere window dressing?
Business boomOgden has pushed not only to be a leader in outdoor recreation, but also to lure companies involved in that industry. Here is a partial list of the major outdoor companies with a stake in Ogden: |
A good friend slid an August copy of Outside across his dining room table. It was the magazine’s annual “Best Towns” issue, and Ogden made the list.
“Ogden? Really?” he asked. Like many in Utah, he had visited once—a decade ago. He wouldn’t recognize the place today. Despite the hype and facelift, the question still remains: Has Ogden truly revived itself, or is it all just window dressing and cheerleading from the mayor’s office, redevelopment agency and developers?
You might have read about this quaint, bustling, rejuvenated town in the shadows of the Wasatch Mountains—an undiscovered gem destined to be the next Boulder or Bend—in not only Outside but The New York Times and Sunset. Ogden is the it town.
The Ogden I remember was a haven for shirtless golfers in cutoff jeans. The annual Ogden Street Festival was heavy on mullets, heavier still on beer, which paired nicely with an arm-wrestling tournament and a deafening battle of bands. Then again, Ogden is also blessed with natural beauty, rivers, stunning canyons, a rich history, vibrant nightlife and beautiful neighborhoods chock-full of early 20th-century houses—albeit in various states of repair.
“What has been a constant in Ogden is the wonderful, beautiful setting,” says Anne Millner, Ogden-based Weber State University’s president, whose campus is changing almost as rapidly as the town.
Aesthetics aside, Ogden spent decades floundering as a town with an inferiority complex, and a scattershot approach to redevelopment, and as a victim of sneering ridicule from its civic neighbors. A place riddled with crime and uncouth characters. A place with nicknames like “The Hogpen” or “Dogden.”
“I feel that Ogden’s kind of getting out of that black hole,” says Naomi McCrary, an employee at the new downtown Bingham’s Cyclery.
Ogden’s history is rife with tales of brothels, whiskey and, of course, the railroad. “The railroad brought prosperity to this community, and when it went away in the ’60s, we didn’t have an economic engine to take its place. So, we went into a free fall for about 40 years,” says third-term Mayor Matt Godfrey.
Maybe the Utah-centric stigma was the problem. Instead of trying to impress in-state neighbors, the town and its leaders finally came up with a different solution: start wooing folks who didn’t have any preconceived notions. Under Godfrey, Ogden’s initial courting was directed, in vain, toward the high-tech industry.
But with the 2002 Olympics approaching, Ogden found its magic potion: recreation. It already had nearby ski resorts, including Snowbasin, home to the Olympic downhill and super-G. Capitalizing on that was a no-brainer, along with beefing up its trail system for hiking and biking and building two kayak parks.
It is the bold next step that could ultimately determine the town’s future success. Ogden is in the process of creating a downtown outdoor-sports “Disneyland” with a climbing wall, a surfing facility and indoor skydiving. Next up: a world-class BMX facility, a skate park, a one-of-a-kind ice-climbing tower and even a bicycling velodrome. The idea: Tap into the sporting desires of the current generation and use that to draw tourists.
“People in Salt Lake always think of Ogden as the dirty old railroad town with high crime,” says Godfrey, who is quick to point out that crime rates are actually lower in Ogden than the capital city. “When you start to say we’re really an outdoors recreation mecca, I think it hits a lot of Salt Lakers cold.”
Whether the adventure-sports approach to tourism will work is still a bit hazy. Godfrey acknowledges some trepidation with each step, though the most nerve-wracking moment was the opening of the Salomon Center downtown a year and a half ago.
“We were developing this indoor wind tunnel for sky diving, indoor surfing, then this huge climbing wall, and you hope it works. I mean, nobody’s ever done it before. It’s not like you can hire a consultant to tell you it’s going to work… Not all of [the venues] will work. There will be some that fail,” he says.
10 Reasons to Back Off O-Town1 25th Street. Then: Bootleggers, underground tunnels, brothels and other sordid tales. Now: Food, drink, music and shopping. |
“Now the sale [to potential companies] is a lot easier, because you don’t have to ask them to squint their eyes and imagine what it’s going to look like,” says the Boyer Company’s Steve Waldrip, who oversees operations at the Business Depot Ogden, a 6.5 million-square-foot industrial park.
The most visible change in Ogden is downtown. It’s unrecognizable—even compared to a few years ago—with a shiny, modern entertainment and shopping center surrounded by condos, apartments and renovated warehouses.
“It has more of an urban metropolitan-type feel, but in kind of a cool, unique way where you can have mountain terrain, but an urban feel, but it’s not hustle and bustle,” says Tom Widdison, who bought a house just east of downtown six years ago in a neighborhood his worried mother called a ghetto.
It’s definitely not the ghetto, but it’s still in the throes of revitalization. Ogden has blocks upon blocks of houses fit for any movie set in need of a slice of Americana, though the state of many of those houses reflects the hard times Ogden endured in the post-railroad era.
The process of revitalization is slow, yet the praise keeps coming for Ogden.
Does Ogden deserve it? Well, sort of. Even the mayor gets a kick out of it. “The exciting part for us is that we’re just getting started. We know we’re not there. We’re just in the middle of this transition,” says Godfrey.
Has it captured the charm of outdoor-recreation capitals it aspires to, Bend and Boulder? No, but maybe it shouldn’t.
Despite its blemishes, Ogden has a history that separates it from more gentrified towns. From a nostalgic, not financial, point of view, it’s hard to see biker bars give way to sushi bars. I’m rooting for my hometown, but I’m a little fearful indoor surfing and climbing walls may eventually go the way of water parks and roller rinks. Then what? More than anything, as this shiny new Ogden fights for a fresh start, I hope it still maintains its character and even a little of its grit.
About the author: As a kid growing up in Ogden, Michael Yount was oblivious to Ogden’s reputation around the state. At a young age, he regularly navigated its reputedly shady downtown without fear or incident. Though he now lives in Salt Lake City, Ogden will always be home.
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Reader Comments:
I never once thought about making Ogden, Utah my home. I was of the belief that Ogden was not a desirable place to live. I grew up in Sandy. I moved to Ogden when I met my wife. I moved skeptically, but that only lasted for a few short weeks. I moved to Ogden in the summer of 1999.
I love it here! I love the small town feel with all of the big city amenities. I love how the community acts as a family. I love how there is no traffic. I love that I get to run into people I know and admire nearly every day in the normal course of business. I love that that the Ogden City has such a diverse and rich blending of people. It is not unheard of the walk through Christmas Village and see a well known celebrity or Governor Huntsman standing within a few feet of a homeless individual. Where else in the world would this happen? Ogden is a great cultural melting pot that has yet to be discovered by the rest of the world.
I am anxious to get the word out about the hidden gem we call home, but in the same breath I almost want to keep it secret for selfish reasons. And things just keep getting better here in Junction City. Come on up and spend some time with some of the friendliest people in all of Utah all while enjoying some of the most breathtaking views on earth!