OGDEN, Utah — A popular brewery in Ogden is open for business after a fire nearby forced them to close for two days. Now, the community is rallying around small businesses that are at the heart of the city.
"It’s important for the community to rally among these jewels within our community that we love much, and UTOG is one of them,” said Jackie Skinner, who lives in Ogden. She, her mom and daughter spent their evening at a local business that needs a little extra help this week.
"Everything in here is controlled by electricity, so we're pretty much dead in the water if we don’t have it,” said Carson Foss, who owns UTOG Brewing.
That’s what happened to them Saturday evening, when an apartment building under construction in Ogden was lit on fire by a 16-year-old suspect who was arrested Tuesday.
Power was shut off at multiple businesses nearby, including UTOG. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire, but UTOG didn’t get power back till Sunday. They stayed closed till Monday evening. They also lost food in the fridge and employees lost out on tips.
"It’s been slow this year,” explained Foss. “We haven't had quite as good of snow as the years before, so our January is not full of skiers like it usually is. And it’s ‘Dry January,’ so a lot of people are not hitting breweries this time of year, so if you wake out a weekend, we really do feel it."
That’s when he posted on social media, asking people to support local a little extra this week, and people like Skinner answered that call on Tuesday.
"And especially right after the LA fires, of course, we're all like PTSD, even though that didn’t happen in our community, but then it happens in your community and you're just like, we rally, we gather, how can we support each other, and anything else that was affected because of those fires,” said Skinner.
It was quite the sight on a weeknight — people bustling through to come together and show their support.
"It just means a lot that people actually do care,” said Foss.
