_{Words by Zach Collier}

_{Photos by Alexandria Rhinehart}

Between Hell Week and opening a new location on Center Street, both The Toaster Oven and 3hive have been incredibly busy. Which means they obviously had a lot of time to put together a well-organized and thoughtful Provo Music Scene Town Hall. Not sure how either party is able to juggle everything they’re doing, but they juggle it well. Their efforts resulted in a casual, relaxed, and useful discussion that made me excited for future meetups.

The first ever Provo Music Scene Town Hall took place on August 5, 2025 in the basement of the new 3hive location. It was standing room only as the meeting kicked off, moderated by 3hive store manager Rex Blair (also of the bands Dog Years and Melancholy Club).

Among many others, notable attendees included representatives from Happy Valley Rockers, Velour Live Music Gallery, ABG’s, The Toaster Oven, 3hive, and Beautiful Cryptid. Also in attendance were Nate and Emma of Little Moon and Darcie Roy (music scene advocate and former owner and manager of beloved Provo venue Muse Music).

The conversation for the first town hall shifted fluidly but in an organized manner during the hour and a half meeting, managed gracefully by Rex. Topics included:

• The need for an affordable practice space for bands in the Provo Music Scene in a properly zoned location that adheres to city sound ordinances.
• Clarification on set length requirements for ABG’s.
• How changes to social media algorithms have negatively impacted awareness of live events and made it more difficult to reach followers.
• The need for better community coordination to get the word out about live events and the potential creation of a unified community calendar (with Happy Valley Rockers, Provo Music Magazine, local venues, and possibly Explore Utah Valley participating in said calendar).
• An exploration of the idea of a shared co-working space for creatives, with artists using it during the day and musicians using it for shows and rehearsals at night.
• Clarification on the types of events 3hive will be hosting in their basement space (shows focused on non-mainstream genres in Provo, plus community events and workshops like the Town Hall).
• An exploration of the idea of some kind of non-profit community creator fund.
• How to establish a drink culture in Provo that still brings in profit, but doesn’t try to force an alcohol culture on Provo’s unique situation. Ideas for Kombucha, Coffee, Tea, Energy Drinks, Mixed Sodas, Kava, Mate, etc. being sold at a markup were discussed, with the goal to educate the public that drink sales would go towards the performing artists.

The meeting concluded on time, with time until 9 PM afforded for attendees to mix and mingle and explore records upstairs, which was incredibly useful for making new connections and reconnecting with old friends.

The Provo Music Scene Town Hall is held every first Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 PM. The next will be held on September 2, 2025. All are welcome to come, share thoughts, visions, and ideas for the scene.

For more information, follow @thetoasteroven.mp3 and @3hive.