Three Utah bars received their coveted liquor licenses during the state liquor board’s last meeting of 2023.
The Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services’ commission on Thursday also granted two liquor licenses to restaurants — and revoked the license of a Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge over compliance issues.
The bars that will receive their full licenses are:
Riata VIP, Ogden.
Rusty Nail Saloon, 7273 S. State St., Midvale.
Marquis Park City, 427 Main, Park City.
Marquis, a music venue on Park City’s Old Main Street, is slated to open Thursday with rapper Nas performing.
“We are ready to go. The furniture is there. The bars are all set,” Kenny Griswold, Marquis’ managing member, told the board. He touted the $10 million invested in the building, formerly known as Park City Live and Harry O’s.
The two restaurants that received their licenses Thursday were Bower Lodge, at the Wolf Creek Lodge in Eden, and the Warehouse MotorClub, a car club in Park City.
At Thursday’s meeting, which lasted less than an hour, commissioners considered the license of the VFW Post 3586, in Salt Lake City’s Sugar House neighborhood. DABS staff said the lodge did not have the required paperwork — including proof of insurance or a bond — for a fraternal organization that holds a liquor license.
The lodge’s commander, Levi Lee, told the board that its nonprofit status had been revoked two years ago, and that the lodge’s current leadership was only recently made aware that it was out of compliance with DABS.
The board, after first considering delaying a decision to January, voted to revoke the license and told them to reapply.
“Please come back when your paperwork is in order,” Tara Thue, the commission’s chair, told Lee. She advised the lodge to work with DABS staff to get their documents together.
“This shouldn’t be an adversarial process,” Thue continued, adding that staff are ”trying to get you to be able to provide service to the community, and we want that for you.”
In other news, Tiffany Clason, DABS’ executive director, praised the department’s employees for spearheading donation drives at the agency’s buildings.
Collection boxes were placed at DABS’ warehouse, administrative offices and all state liquor stores for a drive that will run through February, Clason said.
Staff at each store decided which charity should get donations — a list that included The Road Home, Ronald McDonald House and Toys for Tots. “Those stores know their communities best,” she said.
