Every rural person and place has a story. Change is part of that story.
“Rural Utah at a Crossroads” is part of the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, which explores the changing meaning of rural life and identity. Utah Humanities is touring Crossroads to eight rural communities across Utah in 2024. As part of the tour, Utah Humanities and Utah Public Radio are partnering with exhibition hosts to interview local residents about change in their communities.
This interview took place at the Wasatch County Library in Heber City, Utah.
Joshua Knight: My name is Joshua Knight and I was born and raised here in the Heber Valley.
So I am a floral designer. I've had a studio here for 15 years; I've had three different locations. Now I work and live out of my house. I have a studio in my backyard, plus I have a little small, little urban flower farm on my property here.
It was very serendipitous how a lot of this happened for my business. I called in a lot of favors, my brother called in a lot of favors, and that's what happens when you have a small community that you rely on. And that's one thing I hope we don't lose here in Heber City. I hope we don't lose the sense of community, the sense of longing, the sense of belonging.
When I opened up the shop, my biggest fear was being outed as a gay man because I was afraid it was gonna affect my business like no one's business, no pun intended. And so that was my biggest fear, was that if I was outed, or when I did come out, my business was going to struggle. So my livelihood, what I had built, and for five years at that time, before I came out, was going to just be—I thought they were going to be picketing my door with torches and pitchforks.
It was quite the opposite when I did come out in 2015. I had been open for five years at the time and I was welcomed with open arms. I had a couple people that I noticed stopped coming to the studio to buy flowers, which I was fine with me because it brought more people in for love, understanding, joy, and to be able to have those people in my life. But in the long and the short, the only fear I had was retaliation about my sexuality. It was never about them supporting me, loving my work, my craft, or what I would design. This community does bless. They do care and they do bless, which is an amazing experience to see it from so many different facets and in so many different angles.
I sit on the City Planning Commission here in Heber City, and we are constantly, constantly thinking about what we can do to make this more walkable, more livable, more community-oriented. I am the only one that's out as a proud gay man on the planning commission and in any of the municipalities in Heber City that I know of. I have a different perspective when it comes to different things and comes to a lot of these issues that we're running into here in Heber City and Wasatch County as a whole.
With everything that I do every day of my life, I get to deliver joy through my work. And when I see people smile, when their parent has just passed away, or a child has passed away, that is one of the biggest blessings about living in this small town, that's not so small anymore. But there is still that sense of community. When you're walking through the aisles of Smith's and you run into a friend that you've known for 30, 40 years, that is the beauty that is Heber Valley, and I hope and pray that we never lose that. I hope we never lose that sense of community and of heart.
“Rural Utah at a Crossroads” is a collaboration between Utah Public Radio, Utah Humanities, and the community hosts of Crossroads: Change in Rural America, a Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibition made possible in the Beehive State by Utah Humanities.
Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.
