Small Lake City
Small Talk, Big City
Join host Erik Nilsson as he interviews the entrepreneurs, creators, and builders making Salt Lake City the best place it can be. Covering topics such as business, politics, art, food, and more you will get to know the amazing people behind the scenes investing their time and money to improve the place we call home.
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Episodes
199 episodes
A Giant Data Center Plan And The Fight Over The Great Salt Lake
A single vote in Box Elder County just set off one of the biggest Utah fights in years: a proposed mega data center campus on the northern edge of the Great Salt Lake, backed by O’Leary Digital and shepherded by MIDA. The numbers are staggering...
S2, E13: Tyler Glenn - Neon Trees
Tyler Glenn (Neon Trees) has lived a version of the Utah story a lot of people only whisper about: growing up Mormon, feeling out of place, and using music as the safest room in the house. We talk about what it’s like to build an identity when ...
Salt Lake City Feels Like A Real Sports Town Now
Salt Lake City is moving fast and the headlines prove it. One week we’re celebrating a first-ever NHL playoff win on Utah ice, and the next we’re asking bigger questions about what kind of city we’re becoming and who gets to shape it.We...
S2, E12: Guy & Debbie Perry - Salt Lake Running Company
You can buy running shoes anywhere, but you can’t buy real guidance, community, and confidence from a dropdown menu.We’re joined by the people behind Salt Lake Running Company, a Salt Lake City run specialty store that’s spent decades p...
Utah Wants To Grow Fast But The Tradeoffs Are Getting Loud
Utah can feel like it’s changing by the hour, and this Tuesday update is a quick tour through the stories that reveal what’s really behind that momentum. We start with the AI shift that’s changing how people search for answers and how businesse...
S2, E11: Dustin Crump - Found for AI
Google trained all of us to hunt through links. AI is training your customers to ask one question and take one recommendation. That shift is already changing who gets the call, who gets the booking, and who gets ignored even with a beautiful we...
Big Money, Potholes, and a Hockey Goodbye
Salt Lake City can feel calm right up until it suddenly is not, and this Tuesday update is proof. We bounce from serious stakes to absurd little moments without losing the thread: what’s happening in town, why it matters, and what it says about...
S2, E10: Erik Nilsson - Small Lake City Podcast
Shakespeare is supposed to be electric, so why does it so often feel like homework? We start there, swapping stories about live theater, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and why great acting can beat big sets every time. Then the conversation tak...
Great Salt Lake Water Deals And A City In Motion
A drying lake can feel like a distant problem until it starts changing where families imagine their future. This Tuesday update connects the latest Great Salt Lake developments to the real-life stakes people talk about at the dinner table: air ...
The ICE Facility, the Bible Bill, and Everything Else Salt Lake Is Arguing About
A warehouse on Salt Lake’s west side could soon hold the population of a small city, and local leaders may have almost no power to slow it down. That’s where we start this Tuesday update, because the proposed ICE mega center isn’t just another ...
S2, E9: Shannon O'Grady - Gnarly Nutrition, CEO
You’ve probably seen it too: hydration powders with massive sodium, “greens” packed with mystery blends, and ads that imply you need three different supplements before lunch. We sit down with Shannon O’Grady, CEO of Gnarly Nutrition and a PhD-t...
A Murder Verdict, A Pulled Bachelorette Season, And Utah Back In The Spotlight
A bachelorette season vanishes three days before it airs. A Utah murder case ends with a fast jury decision. People are reportedly seen in handcuffs at the Salt Lake City airport. If you felt like Utah hit the national feed on every app at once...
The Mystery of Fun Time Kidz Kare: What is this Place Really?
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 ...
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Tuesday Update 3/17: Discord Launch Plus, The Biggest Salt Lake Stories This Week, and This Week's Conspiracy Deep Dive Episode
Vault Episode 13: Howard Lyon
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 childhoo...
How Weather, Budgets, And Culture Collide In Utah Right Now
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 feeli...
S2, E7: Brendan Nicholson - Momentum Climbing Gyms
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...
Tuesday Announcements 2/25: Earthquakes, Dirty Sodas, And The Guy Making You Fall Off Plastic Holds
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, mea...
S2, E6: Keven Johnson - Johnson Natural Beef
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 r...
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Tuesday Announcements 2/17: Earthquakes, Politics, And A Castle You Can Buy
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 directi...
Tuesday Announcements 2/10: From CSAs To The Great Salt Lake: How Utah Chooses Its Future
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 ...
S2, E5: Moonshadow Farm - Andrea Morgan
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 t...
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Tuesday Announcements 2/3: Billboards, Ballots, & Big Tours — This Week in Salt Lake
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,...
The Woman on Every Billboard: The Shocking Julia Reagan Story
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 collisio...
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Tuesday Announcements: NEW SEGMENT, Protests, Sundance Turmoil, And The Fight For Utah’s Future
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,...