Do They Serve Polygamy Porter at the Merry Wives Cafe?

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  05.23.08 | 11:11 AM ET

imageThe Merry Wives Cafe in Hilldale, Utah is the only sit-down restaurant on the 55-mile stretch of highway between Fredonia, Arizona, and Hurricane, Utah. And, yes, it’s run by polygamists. The Work of Jesus Christ of Centennial Park opened the cafe last year in part to sweeten polygamy’s really, really bad image. The Centennial Park group broke off decades ago from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints—whose chapter in Texas has been the focus of damning media reports about child sexual abuse—and says it condemns underage marriage and child labor. 

“We’re just saying we’re normal, and we live normal lives,” manager Cherise Dutson told NPR. “We pay our taxes, and we don’t have anything to hide. ... We are law-abiding citizens.”

Well, kinda sorta law-abiding. Bigamy is actually a felony in Utah. It also unsettles many patrons, who leave their phone numbers on the tables in case the “Merry Wives” are actually miserable slaves looking for an escape to the monogamous world.

Not that this is putting much of a damper on business. Some days, the Merry Wives are so busy that they have to turn customers away.

 

Tags: Food, News and Briefs

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


1 Comment for Do They Serve Polygamy Porter at the Merry Wives Cafe?

Rhodney Reck 05.23.08 | 12:29 PM ET

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  THIS TEXAS CPS COMPLAINT, AFFIDAVIT, AND JUDGE’S ORDER AGAINST THE FLDS CUSTODY CASE IS BASED ON:
 
  (X) [POLYGAMY “SLIPPERY-SLOPE ARGUMENT”] AS A FALLACY,” AND
 
  (X) [RELIGIOUS FREEDOM “SLIPPERY-SLOPE”] ARGUMENT AS FALLACY.
 
  (X) “CHILD PROTECTION SLIPPERY-SLOPE” ARGUMENT AS A FALLACY
 
 
  FIND THE DEFINITION OF (48) OR MORE TYPES OF FALLACIES. (WITH OR WITHOUT A PRIORI PROBABILITY)
 
  SIGNED: RECKIPS
 
 
  Available at: http://www.geocities.com/rre5/MOMS.html


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