Evanston Is Utah’s ‘Sin City,’ Where They Can Get Booze, Gamble, And Buy Fireworks

Katie Chandler, who works as a bartender at Kate’s Bar in Evanston, can spot Utah residents right away. They’re the adults looking self-consciouslyover their shoulders before ordering a beer and a shot, like middle schoolers breaking the rules. 

Chandler gives them a sweet smile when she serves them their drinks, along with a piece of friendly, free advice.

“I always warn the people from Utah to be careful,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “Because we are at a much higher elevation, and you do get drunker quicker.”

Chandler, an Idaho transplant who has lived in Evanston for five years, experienced this while barhopping the first time in Evanston. She was drinking about one 5% seltzer an hour, which normally wouldn’t be a problem for her. 

But after the second one in as many hours, it felt as if she’d downed twice as many drinks in half as much time. 

“I was like, ‘Babe, we gotta walk home,’” she said. “So, I always warn people now: drink some water and stay hydrated.”

Just across the state line, Evanston is the first place people from Utah hit when leaving their state to dabble in vice. That state’s stiff liquor laws push some to make a run for the border to get stronger drinks and buy booze, along with placing bets and buying fireworks.

A new Utah law that went into effect Jan. 1 bans people convicted of DUIs with blood alcohol content measurements of 0.160% or greater from buying booze. That makes Evanston’s bars and liquor stores enticing for those who can’t buy alcohol close to home.

This One Time A Utahn Walked Into An Evanston Bar …

Kate’s Bar isn’t the only place in Evanston where the bartenders have stories about Utahns and their liquor. 

They’ve become the punchline in many off-hand jokes, and people love to tell their own “this one time, a Utahn walked into a bar in Evanston” jokes to whoever will listen. 

Rhonda Berlener, the general manager at Suds Bros. Brewery in downtown Evanston, has dozens of them. 

She, too, can spot the Utah “newbies” as soon as they sit down. 

They’ll order a beer, finish it, then carefully ask if they can have a shot now. It’s like they’re waiting for someone to swoop in and tell them it’s against the rules.

“‘OK, so we’ll take a beer, and then as soon as we’re done, we’ll take a shot,’” she recalled one Utah couple saying. “And we’re like, ‘Well, we can just bring you that shot.’ And they’re like, ‘What?’ And we’re like, ‘You’re not in Utah anymore. We can line them up. How many do you want?’”

Some get so tickled at the idea they can have more than one drink in front of them at once that they go a little overboard, ordering a whole line of shots across the bar, just because they can.

The situation has led to signs at some establishments poking fun at Evanston’s Utah neighbors — like the tavern which posted a sign making it crystal clear that the place really is a bar, just in case anyone from Utah was feeling the least bit confused.

The Joke Goes Both Ways

The funny stories run both ways, entertainer A.J. Lamb told Cowboy State Daily. 

He still laughs about the time he and a buddy discovered Utah’s famously weak beer at a party fresh out of college. At that time, Utah beer had a legal maximum of 3.2% alcohol content by volume. It was like drinking water to Lamb and his friend. 

It soon dawned on them that no one at the party was keeping up with them. They made a game of that, challenging anyone to outrank them. They still barely felt a buzz, even after guzzling a heroic amount of beer. 

A couple of weeks later, some of the Utahns from the party called Lamb up and said they were coming to Evanston for a rematch. They were “trained up and ready,” Lamb recalled with a chuckle.

What they didn’t count on was full-strength Wyoming beer at elevation. 

After just a handful of beers over a couple of hours, the Utah drinkers were wrecked. 

One managed to make it to his hotel room, though perhaps not the bed. The other fell asleep somewhere outside the hotel. The third landed in the Uinta County jail.

The takeaway line, which Lamb still uses when he’s talking to Utah friends, is “don’t drink with people from Wyoming.”

Here’s a funny, forgotten fact about that 3.2% beer, which was still in use up until 2019. When the law finally died, Budweiser brought its Clydesdales to Salt Lake City for a little parade — actually a funeral procession. 

Pallbearers carried a coffin that said “RIP 3.2% Beer.” Others held up signs that read, “Bud Heavy is coming Nov. 1!”

If Utah residents are the punchline in Evanston drinking jokes, it’s usually a gentle kind of ribbing, Lamb said, the kind where people don’t feel bad about laughing at themselves with you. 

t’s all in good fun, and usually includes a dose of empathy for folks who live in a state where ordering a nightcap has become a bit like taking the Uniform Bar Exam.

“People from Utah, they come up here and they’re just blown away,” Lamb said. “It’s like they’re on another planet when they see how we do things.”

No Sin City

With a population around 12,000, Evanston isn’t really a Sin City. You won’t see flashy signs and supermega hotels. 

It’s a friendly small town with tree-lined streets draped in charm and history. 

There’s an operating drug store with old-fashioned soda shop seats. Some of the restored buildings date back to the 1880s and house art galleries, restaurants and breweries, bakeries and coffeeshops, as well as the historic Strand Theater.

Despite the “Leave it to Beaver” vibe, Evanston has long had a Sin City relationship withUtah residents. It’s where they have been coming for decades to buy things their faithful neighbors might frown upon — a taboo trifecta of booze, fireworks, and lottery tickets. 

These days, Utahns can also add off-track horse betting and full-strength vapes to that shopping list. 

People still remember when the Utah Highway Patrol would set up in Evanston parking lots, watching their residents carting home illegal liquor from Wyoming, then confiscating it the minute those motorists crossed the state line.

Today, the law prohibiting out-of-state liquor from crossing the Utah state line has gone away. 

People may still feel like it’s hanging over them, but Utah residents legally buy up to 9 liters of liquor for personal consumption and haul it home.

A Tourism Tangent

But there are still a whole host of finicky liquor laws that rankle enough to keep Utahns driving to Evanston for the foreseeable future. 

Restaurants in Utah can serve drinks, but only when they’re tied to food. A plate of fries, then, even if you’re not hungry, is required.

Bars and taverns can pour without food, but they’re tightly age-restricted and carefully licensed. That means families with children younger than 21 aren’t allowed.

Restaurant or bar, only one drink at a time is allowed per person at any given table. Double shots in a cocktail aren’t allowed, nor shots to chase your beer. 

By contrast, Evanston’s border town offers Utahns a much simpler proposition. Walk in, grab a bar stool and order a drink. No need for a flowchart of what’s on your plate or in your glass. 

The relationship between Utah’s strict liquor laws and Evanston’s more relaxed bar scene isn’t just a cultural curiosity anymore. The dynamic has become part of the town’s tourism strategy. 

Business owners along Main Street talk about the importance of keeping things open for business on the weekends and maintaining a friendly, welcoming, no-fuss atmosphere.

“Those out-of-state visitors are a huge piece of keeping downtown alive,” Berlener said. “If they feel comfortable here — if they can find a place to eat, have a drink, walk around — they’ll keep coming back.”

And Evanstonians will keep telling those funny drinking Wyoming from Utah stories.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.