what are the Utah state colors? you can do a lot with John's themes, depends on how much time and PS experience you have...
you have tangerine as default now,
here is my version for NJ and
here is MD
It's a great stlye for a regional forum, also Talk Stuff, idk is smooth will really look that great for it, reminds me more of a PC site or something.
You do have LOTS of sections, condense them down and later you can expand them if need be.
I don't like the big top stats at the bottom, but that is personal preference i guess
you should try a
custom welcome header, should help a lot too...top of that page is a link to make a regular welcome header.
good start, keep it up!