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SALT LAKE CITY — Stormtroopers, Greek dance performers, local foodies and University of Utah football fans were among the crowds swamping downtown Salt Lake City at the convergence of several large events Saturday.
Salt Lake Comic Con, the Greek Festival and Downtown Farmers Market brought heavy foot traffic to areas along 300 West, while the Utah State Fair and the Utes' game against Fresno State also saw thousands of visitors.
Tina Truong, a cultural performer at the farmers market, says she enjoys seeing people attending multiple events downtown.
"With Comic Con, everyone's dressed up. Here, it's just casual," she said. "It's kind of nice to see the mixture of the two."
Salt Lake Comic Con saw about 90,000 visitors at the Salt Palace Convention Center on Saturday, with more than 120,000 unique visitors over the course of the three-day convention, according to Bryan Brandenburg, event co-founder and chief marketing officer.
"We know a lot of our fans went over to the Greek Festival and had some dinner," Brandenburg said. Having multiple events downtown "just had to have a huge impact on a lot of people."
In some ways it's good because it brings people downtown, but for people that have vehicles, it's hard to get around. There's so many people down in this part of town right now. It's hard for people to park for the different events.
–Bill Pippas, Greek Festival organizer
Bill Pippas, whose family has been organizing the Greek Festival at the Holy Trinity Cathedral for more than 40 years, said having so many large events at one time presents both benefits and challenges.
"In some ways it's good because it brings people downtown, but for people that have vehicles, it's hard to get around," Pippas said. "There's so many people down in this part of town right now. It's hard for people to park for the different events."
Pippas said the festival is expected to draw about 50,000 people by its third and final day Sunday. But the event usually peaks between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. each day, with a full tent of about 15,000 people, he said.
Kim Angeli, farmers market manager with the Downtown Alliance, said the market at Pioneer Park typically sees about 7,500 people each weekend, but with other events in the area, attendance was slightly lower Saturday.
"I'd say traffic is down maybe 15 percent," Angeli said. "I think there's probably a lot of people that do cross over on events. I think the farmers market is a little bit unique because you're down here buying perishable goods, so it makes it a little bit more challenging."
The University of Utah announced that 45,864 people attended Saturday's football game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Ticket sales at the Utah State Fair are already 170 percent of what they were in 2013 and "slightly ahead" of 2012, according to Jeff Kooring, the fair's director of sales and marketing. Projected attendance for this year is 300,000, he said.
Kooring said he's seen several people in Star Trek costumes and other apparel, indicating that the fair shares a large portion of its audience with Comic Con.
"I think it's good to have all those (events) fairly close to each other," he said. "It just adds to the vibrancy of downtown."
Contributing: Josh Furlong
