Newly opened Folklore Bookshop encourages community in a small Utah town

MIDWAY — More than a decade ago, picturesque Midway, nestled in the Heber Valley, played home to a used book store, ReBook, which has since closed down. At another time, there was a Latter-day Saint bookstore nearby, also long closed.

But three local women — Alison Russell, Audrey Lind and Lindsey Leavitt Brown — sought to fill this bookstore-sized hole. After years of planning and organizing, they opened Folklore Bookshop just off of Midway's Main Street.

An idea is born

The heart of the trio's partnership is simple — friendship. Brown and Russell were already in each other's orbits when the former met Lind at their kids' basketball game. Brown, an author and book lover, spotted Lind reading a book (waiting for the game to start, she made sure to add), and their friendship was almost instantaneous. Soon, the idea of opening up a bookshop in the community came to fruition.

The road to opening day was long — initially their grand opening was slated for 2023 — and hit a few roadblocks, but they're adamant on one thing: Going into their store should feel like coming home.

The shop's walls are covered in wallpaper that appears to have been ripped straight from the interior of a Swedish cottage and are lined with pale green bookshelves. A stone fireplace surrounded by chairs and a plush leather couch welcomes customers looking to sit with their books. Along the store's front wall is a laptop bar, where customers can bring their work for a tandem reading and work-from-home session. Sweetly-scented candles burn on the shop's front counter and, if it's cold enough outside, a fire warms the room. Either Brown, Lind, Russell or one of their booksellers greet walk-ins with genuine enthusiasm.

"We very much focused on creating that experience of the sensory detail, you know, the smells, eventually the taste," Brown told the Deseret News, teasing the addition of a hot drink bar in the near future.

"When buying a book in this store, you're buying that experience too," Brown said.

"We really see it as a community based space," Russell said, "for people here and people who come back to the area."

Folklore isn't just any bookstore; it's a third place, a community space that residents and out-of-towners alike can call their own.

What is a third place?

At a time when people are spending less and less time together, third places are important remedies.

After all, where do you go after work? After school? A recent analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's American Time Use survey revealed the answer tends to be unexciting: home.

And the concerning trend is on the uptick, the Deseret News previously reported. Loneliness, itself, is an epidemic on the rise, one that won't be solved with more alone time at home.

The analysis revealed that while COVID-19 distancing measures played a role in lessening in-person social time, the rise of the internet and social media culture had already kick-started that trend.

Kian Bakhtiari wrote for Forbes, "The internet, mobile phones and video games have opened a multiverse of new connections and opportunities. Yet digital interactions have failed to replace the need to connect on an emotional level in the physical world."

Bakhtiari wrote that the unhealthiness of loneliness can be tantamount to that of smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and that social isolation can lead to a 32% higher chance of early death.

This is where a third place comes in.

According to a 2019 study, third places play a major role in our social health as they "help buffer against loneliness, stress, and alienation."

Ray Oldenburg, the sociologist who coined the term, wrote that a third place hosts, "the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work."

Oldenburg deemed a place worthy of the designation if it meets these criteria:

• People are free to come and go with no obligations.
• A person's status is irrelevant.
• Its purpose is to encourage conversation.
• It must be accessible and accommodating.
• There are regulars and newcomers in attendance.
• It is homely and unpretentious.
• The mood is playful and wit is championed.
• Its environment is home-like, with feelings of ease and warmth felt throughout.

He wrote that they "lend a public balance to the increased privatization of home life," and stem from the designation of home as a "first place" and work or school as a "second place."

Read the entire story at Deseret.com.

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