'Sin City' Evanston irresistible to some Utahns

What many people don't realize, Porter said, is that you can buy fireworks in Utah, except aerials and some of the bigger pyrotechnics. Those are illegal in several states but legal in Wyoming. M-80s, cherry bombs and other explosive types of fireworks are not for sale here though. Those are illegal nationwide. Still, Porter gets phone calls every day from Utahns asking how much cherry bombs cost.

"There's a myth that you can get anything in Wyoming," Porter says. "We like that myth of being viewed as an outlaw town. I wouldn't say we're an outlaw town but that's how Utahns see us. The business we built in Evanston is based on that myth."

The myth is good for business.

Porter's Fireworks and Liquor is no ordinary roadside fireworks stand. Boxes and boxes of almost every pyrotechnic imaginable are stacked from the floor to the roof of the giant warehouse of a building. Some boxed sets cost as much as $1,200.

Porter's has stood for 50 years, and other fireworks megastores have popped up on the same block. Relatively new to the neighborhood is a triple-X adult store, located across the interstate from Porter's. Its big sign advertises its novelties and videos for passersby on the freeway.

"It's a dirty little secret, but they have them in Utah, too," Porter says about the porn shop.

The adult store is located next door to a "family restaurant," which has a lounge and liquor store in back.

Evanston has the closest liquor stores to Salt Lake City that aren't owned and operated by the Utah state government and the nearest bars that don't require club memberships.

In Utah, you can't buy Bud Light with an alcohol content above 3.2 percent because it's distributed by the state, although you can usually find other brands of beer with normal alcohol content of about 5 percent.

"People just don't know where to look, and the state (of Utah) doesn't advertise where to find it," Porter says.

Evanston may be Wyoming's Sin City, but it's no Las Vegas. You won't find bright lights and supermega-hotels. Evanston is mostly a small, friendly town with clean, tree-lined streets.

Despite the Super Wal-Mart at the edge of town, downtown Evanston and its small shops along Main Street are hanging on. They're quite busy, actually, for a small town on a Friday night.

Sadly, downtown Evanston lost its vintage movie theater to a fire earlier this year. The blackened, gutted facade of the old theater was still standing on Main Street, barely. Scrawled in spray paint across the lobby entrance, partially covered by a for sale sign, are the words, "Please save me."

Next door to the theater, locals pour into Suds Brothers Brewery. On Friday night, the joint is jumpin'.

Absent from the bustling brew pub is the smell of smoke. Evanston is one of three Wyoming cities to stomp out that particular sin.