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 Utah State University Eastern Campus in Price, Utah.
Richard Tatton: My father had an insurance agency here, and he had a totally disabling stroke while we were in Ohio, and basically wondered, "What the heck are we doing here, when family needs us there?" So I quit, and we moved back, and Sandra and I ran the agency until we retired a few years ago.
I'd say that it's pretty static right now, and incidental to age and stuff and getting around, I don't mind that. I like to see it growing when we're in business, but there's a comfort level in not too fast of growth like a lot of places are getting.
We're getting started in the elections for the local officials, and you can see there's more interest in it from competent people if that makes any sense. It's good just to see the enthusiasm that's there for some of those positions. That's fun or rewarding, I guess is a better word, to see people that are enthused about doing that and think first of what's best for the community and not for their own personal gain.
I've been fortunate in that I was able to serve on City Council and did Planning and Zoning for the county on a volunteer basis for 30 years. So it's fun to be in a community where you can watch those things and see what's going on. And you get a better appreciation for all the what seem non-consequential things that you have to think about, the utilities, the accessibility, and also the land itself. The ground— is it suitable for development?
If somebody wanted to build, you have to be zoned correctly. So if it's a commercial or an agricultural zone, they've got to get it zoned residential. And then you need to look at what are the services that are available on that parcel, like water and electricity and those things, sewer. You have to watch that, and is it going to infringe on somebody else? I enjoyed that. It was fun working with the developers.
Like anything, we had a few developers come through that were in it just to try and make a quick buck. And you can kind of discourage them. The city itself has had a couple of developments, but the county has quite a bit of development residential, so it spread out into the county, the growth in the area.
I think it'll look pretty much the same, but with an increase, just because every place is increasing in population, so you get more retail and business. I've worked with a guy who has a steel fabrication operation here, and he's looking at bringing another business to the area. And so as the mines go down or layoff, it's creating good jobs, opportunity-wise, for the citizens. So it works out real well that way.
I look to just kind of normal growth for the community. Sometimes you wish it would go a little faster, but you see some, you're around it, you see the communities that have just exploded, and it creates a lot of just extra problems because of the population increase.
“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.
