Heber Valley Life

Tag: Heber Valley Life

  • Free Rapid Covid-19 Tests offered in Heber

    Free Rapid Covid-19 Tests offered in Heber

    TestUtah will be providing free Covid-19 Rapid Antigen tests in Heber City. The drive-through tests will be available on January 11 from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm and January 12 from noon to 7:00 pm. The testing center is located at the Wasatch County Events Center. The Antigen tests can be completely processed in only 15-20 minutes.

    These tests will be provided free to anyone, regardless of symptoms or insurance. Anyone interested in participating in the free testing should go online to www.testutah.com. Participants are asked a short series of questions regarding possible symptoms and exposure. They will then be able to register for a test.

    The TestUtah initiative is sponsored through Silicon Slopes, in partnership with the State of Utah and private corporations. The goal of the initiative is to “dramatically increase the rate of COVID-19 testing” by providing free tests to all Utahns. All testing and equipment is provided by the State of Utah. However, many of the staff members are working as volunteers. In addition to Silicon Slopes, several other companies have also contributed, including Qualtrics, Domo, and ATL Technology.

    Wasatch County School District is encouraging members of the community to take advantage of the free testing. A recent post on the District’s Facebook page read, “As we wind down from the holiday break, we hope this free testing opportunity will help quickly identify new cases and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.” Free testing is always available to students at a site on the West Campus near Wasatch High School.

    According to TestUtah, “Widespread testing is a proven, effective way to combat the spread of COVID-19.” Testing across Utah enables greater tracking and containment of the virus. This will “help stem the spread of COVID-19, to get us back to normal as quickly as possible.”

  • 10 Reasons to Love 2020!

    10 Reasons to Love 2020!

    Goodbye 2020. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

    We have been barraged with negativity about the year 2020. True, there were some bad things that happened this year. Okay, a lot of bad things. However, there’s always another side to the story.

    10 reasons to love 2020:

    1. The kids got more sleep.

    Really, sleep has so many health benefits. So, when the kids all came home from school permanently in March, definitely a shocker, they were probably completely sleep deprived from years of waking up at unearthly hours to catch the bus or make it to school before the tardy bell. So, thank goodness they could finally sleep in, day after day, week after week, and get caught up!

    2. The adults got to work from home.

    We all had SO MUCH extra family time in 2020. Everybody was able to spend 24/7 with his or her significant other and children. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Mornings, afternoons, and evenings together. Wasn’t that fun?

    3. The environment received a much-needed break.

    Were there really dolphins in the canals of Venice? It was on Facebook anyway.

    4. We had a mini, preparatory earthquake.

    All those years of trying to get people to take the big one seriously finally paid off. And we switched out the size 2T clothes we had in our 8-year-old’s 72-hour kit. And got new granola bars.

    5. The government handed out free money.

    We don’t know where it’s coming from, but hey, free money! Who knew the government could just print whatever money they want? Maybe we should just print our way out of the national debt too. So many possibilities here!

    6. The presidential election is over.

    Or is it? Just kidding. Whether your first choice won or not, I think we can all agree that at least, for the most part, hopefully, it’s over, and we don’t have to watch any more debates.

    7. We had a preview of what things will go first in emergencies.

    I, for one, am buying an extra package of toilet paper every time we go to Costco from here on out. And water bottles. And maybe some yeast and flour in case there is no food, and I need to learn how to make bread. And whatever they make Oreo cookies from. Let’s stock up on that too. And maybe plant a cacao tree.

    8. We realized other counties are jealous of Wasatch.

    Remember when the Governor said Utahns could only recreate in their own counties? That was awesome! Could we make that an annual thing?

    9. The shelters ran out of dogs!

    Awwww…So many pets found new homes. And they were taken on walks all the time. And their owners got more exercise too.

    10. ESPN showed the Cornhole Championship, old spelling bees, and the NBA players in a super-competitive game of HORSE.

    Ha. That was super entertaining. I’ve never seen a huge, billion-dollar, maybe trillion-dollar, network scramble more. I can only imagine what the network meetings were like. “Ummm…We could have the NBA players compete in a game of HORSE.” Silence. The president of ESPN starts to cry.

    Bonus: We learned to be more resilient and thankful.

    Seriously, we all received a much-needed course in resilience. And we realized how many things we’ve been taking for granted. The Covid pandemic knocked us off our feet. Will we come back stronger and more prepared?

    We badmouth 2020 like it was the worst thing ever. Covid has been devastating for communities and families. We have lost almost 2 million people worldwide. It’s unquestionably a tragedy.

    However, the Spanish Flu, the one that our pandemic is sometimes compared to, happened at the same time as World War 1. Can you imagine how difficult that would be? It’s estimated that 20 million to 50 million people died worldwide from that flu, in addition to the 16 million who died in the war. Some estimates have Spanish flu deaths as high as 100 million because of difficulties in record keeping. Could we have handled that?

    2020 brought with it plenty of trials, but also amazing advances in science and worldwide cooperation to stem the tide of this most-recent pandemic. 2020 was amazing in so many ways. Plus, now we have bragging rights to talk forever more about how we handled the pandemic of 2020, how it affected our lives, and how it made us stronger, more creative and innovative, and better able to handle challenges in the future. We’ve got this! Bring it on 2021!

    Kidding. We don’t actually want 2021 to bring on anything. But if it does, I have lots of Costco toilet paper in the garage.

  • Heber City’s Envision 2050 General Plan Receives Prestigious Award

    Heber City’s Envision 2050 General Plan Receives Prestigious Award

    Heber City is gaining some state recognition for its Envision 2050 plan. The Utah Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA Utah) recently presented Heber City with a High Achievement Award for the innovative community plan.

    The APAUT award recognizes planning excellence. “It’s a really important thing for us to celebrate great plans . . . and to learn from those award winners,” said Chapter President Ted Knowles.
    According to the Envision Heber website, “Envision Heber is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to contemplate the long-term goals of our city and imagine the future we want for ourselves, our families and our neighbors.” The plan was created using feedback from the community through public meetings, community open houses, workshops, and public surveys. Heber City’s new General Plan was then based on the input.

    An award ceremony was held over Zoom on Wednesday, October 21, 2020. Several local officials and committee members were in attendance.

    Heber City Planner Matt Brower stated, “This is quite an amazing award for Heber. We’re so honored to receive it for Envision Heber 2050. Never has a city undertaken such a comprehensive effort to outreach and try to garner as much input as we possibly could from the community.”
    Morgan Brimm, head of the Awards Committee, read a prepared statement about the plan. “Heber City Envision 2050 recognizes that Heber City is at a crossroads with significant growth along the Wasatch Back. The city, the general plan steering committee, residents and consultants worked together to create a thorough public involvement process to ensure that the general plan captures a vision that represents Heber’s values and hopes for the future.”

    Brower added, “As everyone knows, great things can’t happen without great people. Without [the City Council’s] vision . . . this would not have happened, and my hat’s off to them for supporting this.”

    The Envision Heber 2050 plan is available here: https://envisionheber.com/.

  • Utah Lt. Governor Spencer Cox Visits Wasatch County

    Utah Lt. Governor Spencer Cox Visits Wasatch County

    The lieutenant governor and GOP gubernatorial candidate Spencer Cox, along with his running mate Utah Senator Deidre Henderson, stopped by the Spin Cafe in Heber City on Wednesday to meet with local residents. The event provided an opportunity for Cox and Henderson to discuss issues important to Wasatch County. Cox also visited the Kohler Dairy Farm earlier in the day.

    A native of rural Fairview, Utah, Cox has made it a goal to visit each of Utah’s 248 cities and towns during his campaign for governor. He currently continues to reside in Fairview, commuting 200 miles almost every day to work in Salt Lake City. One of his main priorities is strengthening rural economies.

    Cox discussed the growth-related challenges that rural Utah is facing and emphasized that infrastructure must be in place ahead of growth to manage growth more effectively. “There are a couple of things that are really important, and one is we want to maintain our quality of life, … and when infrastructure precedes growth, the quality of life stays high. Where growth precedes infrastructure, the quality of life goes down,” according to Cox. He added that the type of growth and where it happens is also important. “For example, we need localized opportunities,” he stated. However, Cox mentioned that the ability to work from home more, due to the COVID pandemic, has had its own benefits. “That is one way to change growth patterns,” he suggested.

    When asked about the balance between strengthening rural economies and preserving open space, he said that “the best way to preserve open space is to work with agriculture and make sure that our agricultural communities can succeed.” He mentioned the many dairy farms that used to be in the Heber Valley, of which there are very few left. “There are things we can do to preserve [those lands] for future generations and keep farming happening. . . . Making sure food is produced [in our state] is critical, and that’s one way to preserve open spaces.” Cox said that they are working with the agricultural community to incentivize farming, thus encouraging land to be passed down to later generations without being developed.

    COVID-19, mental health, and education funding were also among the many topics discussed at the event. To learn more about the lieutenant governor’s initiatives for Utah, go to: https://ltgovernor.utah.gov/

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