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Extreme Ogden — Railroad city rebuilds itself through extreme sports

And after all of the above, of trying to rid themselves of the "dirty railroad town" image, they name their fake downtown The Junction, after the railroad.

It's been tried before, in different ways. Before The Junction, there was a mall with one of (or THE) first Nordstrom stores in Utah. Ogden's populace didn't support any of that, either.....and it was redeveloped. Now, there's still no shopping but a few elites can now power-climb and play downtown.

Meanwhile, we're all still driving to far south SLC where we can shop at Nordstrom, and visit higher-quality merchants.

GO OGDEN!!!!
You can recreate yourself! I am with you all the way!!!

Great work Ogden - glad to see so much happening up there. Keep the momentum up!

Not enough Restaurants in Ogden. Have to go to Riverdale to find any national-chain restaurants--and those are always packed! Ogden needs to add more eating choices in the Junction.

Odgen is no longer the armpit of Utah. Downtown ROCKS. I work in the city's center and am delighted with how the Salomon Center has turned out. I love bringing my visitors to Ogden-- the new movie theatre is amazing, the little shops on 25th are still kicking, and indoor skydiving? Are you kidding? How cool is that? And FYI 'Joe' there is life beyond the national chain restaurant-- Union Station has always been my favorite. El Matador has killer chips & salsa.

Why drive to eat the same meal yet one more time at some lifeless chain restaurant when you can eat at one of the many locally owned restaurants lining 25th Street? One of Ogden's main charms is the lack of chain restaurants downtown. Who needs 'em?

good for ogden - i've always seen it's potential and can't wait til my next trip back to see all the progress and try out some of the cool new things!

Ten years ago I interviewed for a job in Ogden, and while I grew up there, I couldn't bring myself to move back and passed on the job. It's good to see what has happened since. If Mayor Godfrey ends up losing the election, I hope the new mayor will have enough sense not to turn her back on what has been accomplished.

Um... KP.. the election was yesterday, and Godfrey did win.

I think it's a good thing. Many people were skeptical about the price tag on The Junction/Salomon center (justifiably so), but you've got to take risks and do things that aren't being done in other places.

Personally, I love what they're doing. When they tore down the old mall, I thought "Great. More space to build cheap Chinese buffets, Dollar stores, and Payday Loan stores." That's all we've ever had in Ogden. The key will be getting people from all over to come up and use the facilities, because it won't survive on local patronage alone.

I also worry about how it will do during the winter. Some of the activities (particularly the surfing) may not seem so appealing when it's 30 degrees outside. Or maybe it will, who knows? The consumer is a fickle beast.

The arcade is kind of lame, I'm sorry to say. Too many stupid ticket-winning games. I think the bumper car attraction will be gone by next year, too.

My nephew came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we took him to the Junction. His comment: "I wished they something like this in San Jose. . ." Now that SLC has a Davis county friendly mayor, prideful "Laytonites" or whatever that was can support their "high end" businesses. We'll continue to support our Mayberry town.

The elections are still non conclusive Ryan, but the truth is there is a core of dedicated, involved people who will work with whatever administration is in place to keep Ogden moving forward. I salute the GOAL Foundation for it's vision and vigor and the local business people who keep making good things happen in Ogden.

Larry is right, Ryan. Provisional and absentee ballots will not be counted until 11/13/07 and the election is too close to call. Godfrey may have been instrumental in helping to foster growth and turn things around, but you need to give credit to PRIVATE businesses locating here too- especially those who are doing it without the public being responsible for building them new facilities. Taxpayers are responsible for making payments on the Salomon Center if the lessee defaults.

I live in Arizona, and first heard about Ogden in an Adventure magazine. I drove (twelve hours) up to Ogden with my 13-year-old son and went crazy for it! I met some wonderful real estate people, Larry and Bill with Provedent Partners Real Estate. I made some real estate investments with their help and I know it will pan out just great! I am very excited!

I moved from Park City to the Upper Ogden Valley (where Snowbasin, Powder Mtn. and Wolf Mountain are) because of the incredible natural beauty of the area and the incredible recreation. Then I began to feel the buzz of Mayor Godfrey's high adventure vision and knew I had made the right decision. Now, the hip city of Ogden and the resort areas in the Uppper ogden Valley are working in unison to bring sporting and high adventure events to augement the excitement of all the ski related firms that have moved here and added to the "hipness" of the region. I took my stepdaugher Lindsey Van, who is the #2 Nordic Ski Jumper in the world, to the Salomon Center last week and she was blown away. She competes all over the world and she said it was the "coolest place" she'd EVER been. She can't wait to come climb the ice tower when it's complete.Great article Ray! You nailed it!

Go Ogden! It's about time to get life in this quaint town. If I was planning an exciting vacation to a new spot, I'd certainly give this area a try!

Thank You Mayor Godfrey....You are a visionary and it seems the good times have just begun to roll for the renaissance of our wonderful town.

What an amazing transformation! Mayor Godfrey deserves the lion's share of the thanks, yes there have been many contributing, however, IT takes a visionary and he is the principle one who dogged the ski companies, fought and won many battles with the no growth, stick your head in the sand old guard who are so afraid of success that they attempt to stand in the way of progress or change. We now have wonderful new opportunities for our youth, high paying jobs, national and international recognition. He is building a tax base tied to new business which will limit or eliminate future tax increases with up scale jobs that encourage new blood to come into this community. Anyone out there who hasn't been in Ogden for years, please come back and see the new improved Ogden, it is a happening place.

Why live anywhere else? Utah looks like Hawaii in the summer...you can surf here and ski in the same day! Best of all world right here within an hour! I realize some may enjoy balmy temps year round, but for island transplants like myself...this is the life! Still not quite a college town but a good respite to "2 hours to somewhere" country-dom.

This really is the place... I've lived in southern Cali and traveled many places but never have i seen so much on 1 block. This is the place dreams are made.