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SALT LAKE CITY — New Year's celebrations downtown will be bigger than ever this year with citywide passes, lower bowl tickets to the Utah Jazz and a two-story mirror ball.
The giant disco ball, created by a team led by local artist Derek Dyer, will weigh 2,300 pounds — including 1,500 pounds of aluminum. It will be covered with 1,200 mirrors and stand two stories high and two stories wide. Many of the materials for the ball — that carries a $50,000 price tag — were donated by local companies.
On Dec. 29, the mirror ball will be unveiled on the Plaza at the Salt Palace, 200 S. West Temple, and members of the public will be able to step through a trap door and inside the temporary art installation.
"A mirror is a good way to think about ourselves and how we're living, how we're behaving and what the world could be in the following year," said Jason Mathis, executive program director for the Downtown Alliance.
The mirror ball was created as an inversion-friendly replacement for the end-of-year fireworks at the request of the Salt Lake City Council. It will be hoisted up to 120 feet in the air on New Year's Eve.
EVE Winter Fest runs from Dec. 29 through 31 and is a city-wide effort to bring Utahns of various backgrounds "into the urban center for a shared community experience."
"With EVE, we really hope to appeal to everyone. This is the one event that is sponsored by City Weekly and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Squatters Beer," Mathis said. "And we think that that's important that we're able to provide that diversity."
With EVE, we really hope to appeal to everyone. This is the one event that is sponsored by City Weekly and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Squatters Beer. And we think that that's important that we're able to provide that diversity.
–Jason Mathis, Downtown Alliance
Tickets include three days of admission to the Leonardo, Discovery Gateway, the Clark Planetarium, Off Broadway Theatre, Broadway Centre Theatre, Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the Salt Lake Tabernacle beginning Dec. 29. The first 1,000 people who buy tickets will also receive lower-bowl tickets to the Dec. 30 Utah Jazz game when the team takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Salt Palace will also have its ballroom filled with more than 2,000 giant beach balls, more than 20 bounce structures, and live music, including a New Year's Eve concert by Fictionist and other performances.
Prices are $20 for adults and $15 for children. Ticket buyers will receive a 50 percent discount on Friday, Dec. 12, by entering the code "winterfest" during their purchase.
The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art will host a VIP event for adults, ticketed separately. It will include local celebrity chefs, micro brews, fire dancers, hula hoopers and bagpipers.
For those looking for free entertainment, Temple Square will host 400 concerts at the Assembly Hall and Tabernacle during the Christmas Season and three days of free performances during EVE. Exhibits at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and events at City Creek Center will also be free to the public.
During EVE, alcohol sales will be limited to venues that traditionally serve and sell alcoholic beverages.
Eventually, those at the Downtown Alliance hope that EVE — "really a celebration of all things downtown" — will become a regional attraction.
For more information or to buy tickets visit eveslc.com.
