Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Life in Green River, Utah, is slower-paced, appealing to many residents.
- Businesses like Ray's Tavern depend on tourism, raising concerns about sustainability.
- Efforts to boost outdoor recreation and improve infrastructure aim to encourage growth.
GREEN RIVER, Emery County — Life moves a little slower in Utah's rural communities. That's the way many people who live in Green River like it.
"It's a great place. And it's a great place for kids," said Cathy Gardner, owner of Ray's Tavern. She's called Green River home ever since her husband got a job there in 1978.
"He has been ready to leave several times, but me and the boys, we're not going anywhere," Gardner said.
Ray's Tavern is one of those mom-and-pop restaurants you tell your friends to stop at if they're in the area.
"That is the best advertisement you can get," she said. But like most businesses in town, Ray's relies on tourists.
"We get our fair share of local people, but that's not enough to keep a business going," Gardner said.
She worries Green River may be getting too small — to the point she's concerned kids here will have to leave to find jobs.
"What's going to happen when they're older? I worry about it every day," Gardner said.
But there's hope, and a little more attention to the area lately, thanks to a new focus on outdoor recreation. Rafting the Green River has always been popular, but city leaders are also looking to make mountain biking part of its identity, with new trails and courses to attract more people. They also aim to improve the look of Main Street.
"I think they're on the right track and doing all that they can do," said Shannon Johnson.
Johnson, whose family is from Green River, runs the Holiday Inn Express in town. It was built four years ago in hopes tourists would use Green River as an outdoor base camp because of how busy nearby Moab has become.
Like many people here, she doesn't want Green River to become as busy as Moab, but she agrees some growth would be good.
"I do like to see Green River grow, and I like to see new things come in and things fixed up," Johnson said.
One of the challenges right now, though, is housing. If Green River wants to grow, that should be an issue at the top of the list.
"If more industry comes, there would have to be some housing to go with it," Johnson said.
It's an issue Green River is working on, and even though Gardner also hopes some growth is coming, she wants Green River to keep its small town feel.
"Here, you go to the grocery store and it's a social outing," Gardner said.
It's the little things that kept her, and many others, here for so long.
