Tuesday Announcements 12/2: Season 2 Kicking Off, Kilby Block Party Anyone?, and New Content Coming Your Way

Season two kicks off with momentum, local stories, and a guest who puts real dollars behind the phrase “community impact.” We sit down with Jeff Miller, the fourth-generation owner of Mark Miller Subaru, to unpack how a family dealership wields influence in Salt Lake City—and why they’ve tied every car sold to a direct donation. The model is simple but bold: $250 to a buyer’s chosen nonprofit, plus an extra $250 when that organization is based in Utah. We talk about how this per-sale structure changes expectations, invites customers into giving, and sets a new baseline for what corporate responsibility can look like in our city.

From there, we zoom out to the culture of dealerships across the valley: the sponsorships, the power, the traditions, and the pressure to keep up. Jeff shares perspective on growing up inside that ecosystem and how transparent philanthropy can nudge peers toward measurable impact. If you care about local accountability—who funds what and why—this conversation gives you questions to bring to any business: per-unit giving, local preference, and public reporting.

We also share what’s next for our platform. Social posts on Utah history, true crime, and Salt Lake lore have struck a chord, so we’re launching a YouTube series that turns quick hits into 10 to 20 minute deep dives with sources, maps, and context. On the community front, we just wrapped a Jonas Brothers ticket giveaway and we’re opening a Kilby Block Party giveaway featuring Lorde, The XX, and Hayley Williams. December’s light on snow but heavy on plans, and we’re here for it—events, stories, and the people who make the city feel like home.

If you’re into civic impact, local music, or the untold corners of Utah history, this one’s for you. Hit follow, subscribe on YouTube to catch the new series, and share this episode with a friend who loves Salt Lake. Your reviews help more locals find the show—drop one and tell us which nonprofit you’d support next.

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Now through January 2nd, buy or lease a new Subaru at Mark Miller Subaru and they’ll donate up to $500 to local Utah charities like USARA and Girls on the Run. Drive a new Subaru and give back to the community at the same time.

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

Chapters

• 4:45 Welcome Back And Season Two
• 5:05 Announcing Guest Jeff Miller
• 5:21 Dealership Power And Community Impact
• 5:30 The $500 Per Car Donation Program
• 5:51 December Vibes And Local Giveaways
• 6:21 Kilby Block Party Ticket Giveaway

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 3:10

What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another Tuesday update. It is me, Eric Nielsen, the host of the Small Lake City Podcast. Uh, few updates for all of you. As I announced about a month ago, I was taking a break in between season one and season two. And thankfully, we are back in the saddle to kick off season two this weekend. Now, stoked to announce that this week's guest is going to be with Jeff Miller. Now, Jeff Miller is the fourth generation owner of Mark Miller Subaru. Now, Salt Lake has a really interesting dynamic when it comes to car dealerships, owners, uh the families behind them, and kind of the power that they have. So excited to talk to him about that, but mostly excited to talk to him about how much Mark Miller gives back to the community compared to a lot of the other dealerships. Now, they have a sale going on right now where if you buy a car, uh they will automatically donate$250 to an organization of your choice. But now, if you choose an organization in Utah, then they will donate another$250 on top of that. So for every car they sell, there's a potential for a nonprofit in Utah to get$500 donated to there. So excited to talk with him more about growing up in a car dealership family, the car dealership dynamic across Salt Lake and how much they give back to the community. Also, it is officially December, and even though we don't have any snow both in the valley and in the mountains, uh, Christmas time is coming. I'm excited, lots of lots of gatherings, lots of social events, so make sure to plan those all ahead. I wish I had more on the map as far as that goes, but we do have some giveaways coming up. We wrapped up the giveaway for Jonas Brothers, which was a fun concert last Saturday. I had way more fun than I thought I was going to, but in case you didn't know, Kilby Block Party announced their lineup. And guess what? We are gonna be doing a giveaway for one lucky winner to win some tickets to go see Kilby Block Party this coming spring, where you can see Lorde, you can see the XX, you can see Haley Williams. Uh, check their website for more insights into who is actually going to be there. But I'm pumped to be there. Um, and hopefully you are too. And I can hopefully help you get there for free. So keep an eye on Instagram, going to announce that in the next day or so. But also have some new content coming your way that I'm excited to announce. So social media has been doing really, really well. And a lot of the things that I talk about are these deep dives into history of Salt Lake, um, Utah crime, uh, Utah history, a lot of different topics um just around Utah and Salt Lake in general. But what I'm gonna start doing is releasing a YouTube series going deeper into these topics. So instead of having uh one to two minutes covering the topic, it's gonna be something like 10 to 20 minutes. So I'm not sure the release cadence on those yet, but keep an eye out and make sure to go subscribe on YouTube so that when they launch, that you will be the first person to find out. So stay warm, turn on the heater, go put on your favorite slippers. Winter's here as far as cold goes, but we haven't seen much snow, and hopefully we see some more soon so that ski resource can open. But yeah, see you this Saturday with Jeff.