June 15, 2021—A Utah shop owner recently retired with quite the celebration after 34 years of work.

Highlighted in a recent Deseret News profile, Bobby Rose, owner, operator, and head mechanic of a Phillips 66 gas station and two-bay car repair shop in Salt Lake City recently sold his business. 

Closing down at the end of May, Rose’s family decided to throw him a retirement party. What they didn’t expect was for the entire community to show up.  

The first plan was to have some water and soft drinks and hang a “We Love Bobby” banner from the canopy. Then someone pitched in to bring in the Silver Moon Taqueria food truck to provide free tacos. Then a band called High Nowhere, including some former 3rd Avenue residents—and of course Bobby fans—agreed to provide the entertainment. A professional photographer, Kent Miles, volunteered to take photos of Bobby and display them for the party. Someone else ordered a huge cake in the shape of the 3rd Avenue Car Clinic set on top of a chocolate automobile tire.

“We didn’t ask one person to do one thing,” said organizer Jesselie Anderson. “It was all so spontaneous, so grassroots.”