History

It was once known as Sharon, a mostly-level strip of land. The city wanted to attract more farmers with orchards to ship produce. In 1914, it was named Orem, after Walter C. Orem, the head of the Utah Railroad.

Located

Facts

• Population
  • 95,910
• Elevation
  • 4,774 Feet
• Area Codes
  • 801, 435, 385
• Named for
  • Walter C. Orem
• Settled
  • 1877
• Town Charter granted
  • May 5, 1919

Orem Fest

If you want to visit Orem in June, you must come during the first part of June, when Orem Fest happens.

It used to be called the Orem Summer Fest, which it was named for 51 years. However, in 2023, Orem got a letter from the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about a cease and desist letter about using the word summer fest since they have held the trademark to summer fest.

Check out this video.

However, the summer fest is a fun time with the following events: this was for 2024.

• Pool party
• Charity Golf Tournament
• Sportsfest Pickleball
• Orchard’s Jam
• Carnival
• Cornhole Tournament
• Oremfest Fit
• Kickball Tournament
• Got Talent
• Rotary Pancake breakfast
• Baby contest
• Grand Parade
• Fireworks

Education

Utah Valley University is located in Orem. It is the largest public university in Utah and is connected via hallways.

Located here

Food

There are plenty of restaurants in the Orem area. Twenty-five of them are at University Place, some inside and some outside. Here are some local food joints I would suggest trying.

• Five Star BBQ
  • Menu (https://www.5starbbqcompany.com/menu)
  • Address
    • 70 Geneva Rd, Orem
• Joe’s Café
  • Menu (https://www.joescafeorem.com/menu)
  • Address
    • 1126 S. State St, Orem
• Cubby’s
  • Menu (https://www.cubbys.co/menu/)
  • Address
    • 18 North State Street, Orem
• Callie’s
  • Menu (https://www.allmenus.com/ut/orem/614654-callies-cafe/menu/)
  • Address
    • 466 N State Street, Orem
• Tru Religion
  • Menu (https://trureligionpancakeandsteakhouse.com/our-menu/)
  • Address
    • 360 S State St., Suite 158, Orem
• Mama Chus
  • Menu (https://places.singleplatform.com/mama-chus/menu?ref=google)
  • Address
    • 1555 E 800 N, Orem
• The Chocolate
  • Menu (https://thechocolate.cafe/menu/)
    • The menu button might not work. Click on Order, and it will bring up stuff.
  • Address
    • 212 State St, Orem (I am unsure why it is this way. It is 212 S, but that way brings up the correct place.

Things to do

• Murdock Canal trail
  • This will connect to the Provo River trailhead, which goes up Provo Canyon and Utah Lake.
• Nielsen’s Grove Park
• Hale Center Theater
• All-together Playground
• Scera Shell outdoor theatre
• Mount Timpanogos Park
• Uncle Sam’s Army and Navy Store
  • I know an odd thing to do
• Orem City Center park
• Shopping
  • University Place (mall)
• Classic Skating
  • Roller ring
• SCERA center for the arts
• Museum of Art
  • Address
    • 260 W 1800 S, Orem, Utah 84058
  • Website (https://www.uvu.edu/museum)
  • This is off campus and is the house owned by the Bastian Family, one of the co-founders of WordPerfect. The wife of Bruce Bastian lived in this house after their divorce in 1993. Look at this article (https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2023/05/17/bastian-mansion-turned-into-uvu-art-museum/)
    He built a house in North Orem with a private dance club.

Start-Up Companies

Orem has its group of companies that were founded there.

• Bluehost
• Blend Tec
• Caldera
• Chess.com
• Fishbowl Inventory
• Flexsim
• Mity-Lite
• Novell
  • It was founded in Orem and then moved to Provo
• Omniture
• Power Quest
• Wahoo Studios
  • NinjaBee
• WordPerfect
  • Owned by Corel now.
• Xactware
  • Provider of estimating software for building repair and construction.
• Zuka Juice

Canyon Park Tech

Sports

Orem has been home to the following sports teams.

Notable People

Here are some people from Orem

• Alan Ashton
  • WordPerfect
• Lavell Edwards
  • BYU Football Coach
• Julianne Hough
  • Dancing with the Stars
• Gary Herbert
  • Former Governor of the State of Utah
• Chad Lewis
  • Eagles Tight end
• Donny Osmond
  • Singer and Actor
• Marie Osmond
  • Singer and Actor
• Brett Helquist
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Bert Mc Cracken
  • Rock band The Used
• James C Christensen
  • Fantasy, religious and surrealist artist
• Travis Hansen
  • Former guard for Atlanta Hawks
• Ally Condie
  • Author of the Matched series
• Allison Holker
  • Do you think you can Dance

Many more people

I found this information here.

Orem, Utah. (2024, June 27). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orem,_Utah

Transportation

Yep, Orem has got a FrontRunner station

Thoughts

I am partial to the City of Orem since I grew up there. It has grown since then. It is an excellent place to visit, with many things to do. Granted, you have to travel to do any hikes or anything in the mountains, but that is OK. It is given that the city is bustling and traffic is awful. That is just something that you will have to deal with.

Video