I've got to say a story by Tribune biz writer Mike Gorrell made me laugh out loud. Apparently, Salt Lake's convention industry is immune to the mass cancellations of business meetings and and confabs that have accompanied the recession.

Why? Because we're perceived as the anti-party city. Whereas conventions in fab places like Vegas, San Francisco and even Seattle are being demonized as places for executives to go cut loose rather than work.

The Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau's Shawn Stinson told Gorrell the city's rep as a sober, nightlife-free backwater . . .

. . . is playing to our favor now. Salt Lake trips and meetings are not seen as an extravagance.

Gorrell's story, of course, calls into question the economic development wizards who say Utah's throwback liquor laws hurt tourism.