Utah's ubiquitous and increasingly creepy Julia Reagan tribute billboards are never going away.
Small Lake City
By Bill Frost @bill_frost
I'm not on Reddit often (or so I tell myself), but I recently ran across a lively and funny-AF discussion thread in the r/SaltLakeCity subreddit.
The "Julia Reagan Megathread" is dedicated to "Memes, tattoos, conspiracy theories, bad AI 'art,' and whatever else is topical." It's all about those ubiquitous billboards blocking your view of the mountains when you're stuck in traffic—varied tributes to the late Julia Reagan, who passed away in June 2024.
Julia was married to Reagan Outdoor Advertising founder Bill Reagan for 58 years, so the 60-plus tribute billboards are kinda sweet.
Or so it would have seemed—if they'd only stayed up for a couple of months. It's been nearly a year; we're now in creepy territory.
Most of the memes posted in the "Julia Reagan Megathread" at r/SaltLakeCity celebrate the creepy, like a "saint" candle emblazoned with her image from the billboards that reads "Julia Reagan: She's Watching Over Us All." The "Watching Over Us All" sentiment stings, because Bill Reagan has put us all under the eyes of Julia for waaaay too long.
The tribute billboards are reportedly set to come down at the end of June, but Reagan Outdoor Advertising also will restore them in June every year to commemorate their matriarch's death. Why not during her birth month of October? Again, creepy.
One commenter in the "Julia Reagan Megathread" opined: "Just remember: Every Julia billboard is an admission that they [Reagan Outdoor Advertising] have more billboards than customers. They could lose every single one of these billboards and still be in business. It's time to start removing these visual blights."
Hard agree. Back when I had a job in Corporate America, I'd have to drive from my laptop-and-internet-equipped home office in South Salt Lake to a CEO's laptop-and-internet-equipped vanity office in Draper, a 40-minute gas-guzzling commute down State Street (not I-15, which is for psychopaths).
During the first year of this return-to-office-or-else mandate, I mostly noticed the multitudes of American flags flying above businesses, ranging from standard issue to the size of Montana. (The USA's insecure/insatiable need to display the Stars & Stripes everywhere could be a whole other article topic if I were looking for an all-expenses-paid vacation to El Salvador.)
In 2024, I started seeing the Julia Reagan billboards during my drive. I thought, "While I'm on my way to work for one multimillionaire, I have to endure the whims of another multimillionaire? Cool. Cool, cool, cool."
At least I don't have that job or commute anymore. And, as one commenter pointed out in the Reddit thread, "Julia died so we could have memes. Thank you, Julia."
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