This is HUGE! St. George Is Getting… A WHAT?!
Have you heard of the new Black Desert Resort here in St. George? Well, it's the new golf course that will be hosting both the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour! This will be the first time in over 60 years that the Tour has come to Utah, and this will be a massive event. The PGA Tour will be happening in October of 2024, and the LPGA Tour will be happening the following year.
An instagram video surfaced today showing some GROUNDBREAKING things that will be coming to the Black Desert Resort in the coming months or years as well. The video posted by St. George Real Estate Agent, Paul Tangren.
In the video you have someone representing Black Desert Resort showing the "Masterplan" of the development. The man speaking says "When we got the PGA and the LPGA, we thought we were going to have to step up the game on entertainment, so this is being designed as a 12,500 seat concert venue that has a hotel that wraps around the venue, and a retractable roof, so it can be an indoor and outdoor concert venue. We have a contract with the Utah Jazz. One of the components of that agreement, is that they're going to come play their preseason games in our arena."
This will be something that will change St. George and Southern Utah, FOREVER if this actually is happening! A 12,500 seat venue is about 9x larger than Tuacahn, and around 3x larger than the Burns Arena at the Utah Tech University campus. We could FINALLY be getting huge concerts coming to town, as well as the Utah Jazz preseason games!
Las Vegas A's New Stadium Renderings Are UNBELIEVABLE!
It's signed, sealed, and delivered! The Oakland Athletics will soon become the Las Vegas Athletics, and their new home looks INCREDIBLE! Coming in 2028, the A's will be found on Las Vegas Boulevard in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. This April, The Tropicana Hotel & Casino will be closing it's doors forever and will be torn down. The demolition and clean up is expected to take a full year. Once the site is cleaned up, construction will begin on the BRAND NEW stadium on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana.
TECHNOLOGY:
This ballpark will have some never before seen views and technologies that only Vegas can offer. It will include an 18,000 square foot Jumbotron, making it the BIGGEST Jumbotron in the entire MLB. The current biggest Jumbotron belongs to the New York Mets, where it stands at 17,400 square feet.
RETRACTABLE ROOF?:
Many have assumed with the heat of Las Vegas, the roof will be retractable like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, and more. However, Las Vegas A's new home WILL NOT have a retractable roof, but instead the world's LARGEST cable-net glass windows showing the view of the Las Vegas Strip. Officials studied up and found that many teams with retractable roofs don't open them very often, so it made more sense to just keep it closed in with the air conditioning. These windows will allow for plenty of natural lighting as well as possibly the best view in all of professional sports in deep center field.
CAPACITY:
This new stadium will seat 33,000 fans, there will be 2,500 parking spots on location, with a 3-acre plaza leading up to the stadium. On the plaza, there will also be art, food trucks, shaded areas, activities, and pop-up retail spaces.
Hollywood's Newest Celebrity Couple Is Utah Royalty!
When it comes to celebrity couples, we've got Blake & Gwen, J.Lo & Ben Affleck, and Taylor & Travis. But now there's a new celebrity couple, and they've both got STRONG Utah ties.
The NEWEST Celebrity Couple that we'll be seeing around Utah is...
Kevin Costner & Jewel!
Kevin Costner has had ties to Utah for the past for years with Yellowstone shooting a lot of the series in Utah, his newest movie Horizon: An American Saga that was shot last spring in Southern Utah, and now the news of Costner bringing in a film studio to St. George in the next couple years.
Jewel is a decorated singer-songwriter out of Payson, Utah. Jewel hasn't been shy about her Utah and Mormon upbringing as well. She even sang the National Anthem at the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.
Sources close to Costner and Jewel has commented, saying "The relationship is fresh, but not new." The two of them were seen in December at a tennis fundraiser for the Inspiring Children Foundation. Both Costner and Jewel are coming off recent divorces, and it appears this relationship is the real deal.
The couple then flew out to the Caribbean, where they were trying to keep the relationship discreet but "Everyone around them could tell something was going on."
This could be the biggest celebrity couple with Utah ties since Donnie & Marie!
We Did It, Southern Utah! We Bullied DQ Into Bringing Back The Cherry Dipped Cone!
Last week, I wrote an article about Dairy Queen breaking the hearts of us Southern Utahns and discontinuing the Cherry Dipped Cone. It has been my favorite item at Dairy Queen since I was a kid, and they just KILLED IT! DQ never gave a reason as to why they were discontinuing the item, but they did say they were bringing in the Confetti Cake Dipped Cone. I'm a HUGE fan of Confetti Cake, so it did take the edge off a little bit.
BULLYING WINS!
After a week of our complaints, the DQ has announced the Cherry Dipped Cone will be COMING BACK! However, it will only be coming back for a limited time. DQ will be rotating Dipped Cone flavors. Does this mean the Butterscotch Dipped Cone will be making a comeback too?
St. George Restaurant Dead... But Still Lives On!
If you grew up in Southern Utah, you probably frequented Larsen's Frostop fairly often. My family definitely did. The Frostop was my FAVORITE restaurant growing up. They had the best burgers, Piccadilly Chips, Glaciers, machines I could buy a temporary tattoo, and the food was super cheap too! Larsen's Frostop changed ownership a few times, went out of business a few times and is now officially dead.
HOWEVER... The heart of Frostop lives on with it's new owners. Sip-N Drinks & Treats. Yes, I know what you're thinking: "Another Soda Shop?" I thought the same thing, and I decided to go in and check it out! The soul of Frostop is STILL there, but it's much cleaner inside and got a much needed facelift. ALSO! Sip-N has decided to keep two of the original staples of Frostop! You can still get the crinkle cut fries, and Glaciers at Sip-N!
CRINKLE CUT FRIES & GLACIER:
The Crinkle Cut Fry is my LEAST FAVE fry of all time, but they did a good job with these. They're crispy and seasoned too! They have plenty of dipping sauces to go with the fries, also. But the thing I was really worried about was the Glacier. Would it be as good? Would the ice cream be different? It was SO GOOD, it reminded me of the old Glaciers Frostop used to have!
Sip-N owners told me people are still confused by the change, though. Some people have showed up trying to order burgers. There's no burgers for sale at Sip-N but there's tons of other treats like
- Seasoned Fries
- Loaded Fires (Cheese & Bacon)
- Homemade Oreo Cookies,
- Rice Krispie Treats,
- O'Henry Bars,
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies,
- Chocolate Chip Cookies,
- Sugar Cookies
- Double Cocolate Fudge Cookies
- Biscoff Cookies
- Peanut Butter Bars
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- and there will always be a "Cooke Of The Month"
Sip-N is even is even open Sundays too! This is a perfect place for a birthday party, or even a place to hang out after a night out, ball game, or school dance. They even have Happy Hour from 7am-10am on 32 oz. Faves & Hydrators.
This is a new business in town, and they understand, appreciate, and respect the history that this building holds. They're even going to keep the giant burger boy sign out front. Instead of complaining about ANOTHER drink shop, maybe stop by and support them. We could all use a little more support everyday.
It's BACK! Awesome Inflatable Park In St. George!
If you've driven past the old K-Mart parking lot on Bluff Street, you've probably noticed SOMETHING going on in the parking lot. Massive tarps covering the pavement, lots of trucks, people working, etc. Well, we finally know what it is... and your kids are going to LOVE IT! It's 23,000+ square feet of inflatable fun.
It's Monster Bounce Inflatable Park and it's here from February 29 - March 23. They offer tickets for $12 for one-hour and $18 for two-hours. However, if you buy 5 or more tickets, you'll save 15%! Military, emergency services, and healthcare workers can receive a 15% discount at the door when they show their ID (not available online). This is absolutely something you DON'T WANT TO MISS! Buy your tickets at MonsterBounce.Com
It's Finally Happening! A 2nd In-N-Out Burger Is Coming To St. George!
I've been dreaming about this day for years now. An announcement has been made that a 2nd In-N-Out Burger is ALL but officially coming St. George! The 1st In-N-Out was brought to Telegraph in Washington in 2007. The lines were HOURS LONG for weeks, even months after that location finally opened up! Nearly 17 years later, we're finally going to get ANOTHER location here in St. George!
I've been very vocal about the necessity of another location on the other side of town for a while now, and while the new location will NOT be where I was thinking (Bluff Street in K-Mart Parking Lot), it's even closer to my home!
The NEW In-N-Out Location in St. George is set to be coming to Exit 2 on the Southern Parkway exit next to the Terrible's Gas Station and diagonal across the street from Big Shots Golf! This location is awesome! It's right off I-15 for all the traffic coming North from Arizona, California, and Nevada.
This announcement was also confirmed to be on it's way from Macrae Heppler on his "What's Happening Here In Southern Utah" series. If you don't follow Macrae on Facebook, you should. He's always dropping "#MacBombs" about new construction, restaurants, stores, and more!
In Macrae's video, he also mentioned a third location of Del Taco hitting St. George, right next door to the In-N-Out Burger! This south end of town is absolutely blowing up, and I am THRILLED about it!