Happy Valley (Utah County)
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Happy Valley is a nickname for a number of Utah communities, especially Utah County. (The nickname is also used for many other communities in the United States and around the world.)
The term "Happy Valley" when used to describe any quiet, idyllic locale is probably adapted from Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia.
There are a number of reasons for the nickname:
- About 88% of Utah County residents are Latter-day Saints [1] (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0%2C1249%2C455030805%2C00.html); members of that faith are known for their typically calm and non-confrontational nature.
- LDS-owned BYU is located in Provo, Utah, and is generally a well-regarded university, ranked high in many categories by the Princeton Review.
- Utah County has rather low levels of crime and drug abuse [2] (http://www.unitedwayuc.org/your_community/communityassess/06-Crime_and_Substance_Abuse_Statistics.pdf), when compared to other areas in Utah, and rather low rates of poverty and unemployment [3] (http://www.unitedwayuc.org/your_community/communityassess/03-Employment_and_Poverty_Statistics.pdf).
- Utah County's scenery is generally considered pleasant or attractive, and allows for significant outdoor activities: hiking, skiing, fishing and so on.
"Happy Valley" is — especially when used with air quotes — sometimes used in a pejorative or ironic sense when describing Utah County, for a number of reasons:
- Some studies and antecdotal evidence suggest Utah County residents have higher than average use of anti-depressant medications, especially Prozac [4] (http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/062401/tec_124-4635.shtml), [5] (http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon197.htm) Note that other researchers have questioned the accuracy of such reports. [6] (http://familycenter.byu.edu/columns.aspx?id=63)
- The large number of Latter-day Saints — arguably the highest concentration of the faith in the world — has led some Utah County residents to charge that some Latter-day Saints practice overt or tacit religious discrimination against non-LDS individuals, against persons who have chosen to no longer practice the LDS faith, or against critics of the LDS church. [7] (http://www.exmormon.org/larson1.htm)
- The fervently conservative atmosphere of the region has found more culturally non-native and liberal Latter-day Saints complaining of discrimination by the more conservative locally-rooted Utah Mormon culture.