Provo Utah, how is it for non LDS people

[Lamar_Mundane]

I can confirm the school/religion thing. I worked in the schols and spent a great deal of time in them, including the Provo School District, and I never once saw or heard of any religion in the classroom.

I also agree about the paranoia - listening to talk radio while driving around made it seem like half the state had emergency supplies and guns to last a year stashed in their homes. There is definitely a feeling of “When the revolution comes…” in the state. People don’t agree on what the cause of the revolution is going to be, but they sure seem to think it’s going to hit Utah first.

[CalMeacham]

Literally everything? (except for emergency services such as police and hospitals). Do 24-hour places like Denny’s, IHOP, and convenience stores actually close on Sunday, or do such businesses even exist in Provo? Being from Idaho you’d think I’d have been there a time or two but my travels have never taken me in that direction.

I spent most of my time in Salt Lake, where there were, I swear, more 24 hour things than ther are here in Boston. Within a block of my apartment there were two 24 hour convenience stores, a 24 hour supermarket, a 24 hour Winchell’s donut shop, and one or two 24 hour gas stations. I’d be surprised if Provo was THAT different. The stores and restaurants in SLC certainly didn’t close on Sundays.

I seem to recall being in Provo on a Sunday, and I thought there were some open businesses. But I couldn’t swear to it. I seriously doubt if the gas stations all close on Sundays, though.

[Lamar_Mundane]

@CalMeacham

I spent most of my time in Salt Lake, where there were, I swear, more 24 hour things than ther are here in Boston. Within a block of my apartment there were two 24 hour convenience stores, a 24 hour supermarket, a 24 hour Winchell’s donut shop, and one or two 24 hour gas stations. I’d be surprised if Provo was THAT different. The stores and restaurants in SLC certainly didn’t close on Sundays.

Yes - donuts and ice cream - the two acceptable vices for the LDS. Anytime I had people from corporate come in for client meetings, I had to teach them rule #1 - bring donuts!

[BurnMeUp]

@CalMeacham

I seem to recall being in Provo on a Sunday, and I thought there were some open businesses. But I couldn’t swear to it. I seriously doubt if the gas stations all close on Sundays, though.

A lot of things are opened. Grocery stores, convenience stores and such. However a lot of things do close (more than in other cities). Like if you tried to go to some restaraunts, or a camera store, or a computer store. That sort of thing. That’s one thing that was refreshing when I left Utah, being able to get things done on a Sunday.

[pepperlandgirl]

@dangermom

I would disagree with that. Some of my best friends aren’t Mormon! You may be correct about a lot of Mormons in Utah, but the rest of us live out in the regular world where we’re a distinct minority. If I was “politely distant” to anyone who wasn’t Mormon I wouldn’t have ever had any friends. And even Utah Mormons aren’t a monolithic population.

Well, yes, I’m talking about the Mormons you’ll find in the rather insular world of Provo and the surrounding areas, not every Mormon on the planet. Utahns are wary of outsiders for various reasons. My personal theory is that is has something to do with the history of the state–they never really lost the sense that everybody else was out to get them, somehow.