After delay, Salt Lake City's Open Streets returns with 'urban playground' twist

SALT LAKE CITY — Leaders of Utah's capital city say Main Street will look more like an "urban playground" on Fridays and Saturdays over the next few weeks, as it revives Open Streets for the first time in over a year.

Main Street will be closed off to cars from South Temple to 400 South beginning at noon on Friday, as it transforms into a walkable promenade. This closure will remain in place through 1 a.m. Saturday before closing again from noon Saturday through 1 a.m. on Sunday, Salt Lake City leaders and members of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance announced Wednesday.

Similar closures are planned every Friday and Saturday through the end of October.

"We are going to have some fun again on Main Street," said Dee Brewer, executive director of the Downtown Alliance. "We believe that Main Street and downtown are at their best when people are put first, and that's part of what this event is about."

Meanwhile, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said progress is being made on implementing infrastructure that could make the program a permanent fixture in the coming years. Future plans could also include adding 100 South from Main Street to West Temple as a part of the promenade plan.

Open Streets' return

Open Streets dates back to COVID-19 pandemic-related closures in 2020, although the idea to turn Main Street into a walkable promenade was included — but forgotten — in a 1962 downtown plan. The idea three years ago was to draw business back to Main Street in a safer manner during the height of the pandemic.

It returned during the summer months in both 2021 and 2022, seeking to continue to build back foot traffic. Researchers at the University of Toronto report that downtown Salt Lake City has exceeded pre-pandemic levels every season since late 2021, and city leaders attribute unorthodox ideas like Open Streets as a part of that growth.

For example, last year's series brought in an estimated 33,000 to 43,000 visitors every weekend for 15 weeks straight, according to Salt Lake City Councilwoman Ana Valdemoros, whose district includes downtown. This led to some spikes in restaurant sales that exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

"This began as an experiment ... and it was a success by and large," Mendenhall added.

However, the program didn't launch at the start of this summer because of regulatory hurdles that emerged. Salt Lake City's Downtown Alliance previously ran the program because of language outlined in an emergency proclamation tied to the pandemic.

Since that has since expired, city leaders determined they needed to make code changes to allow the program to continue in the future. The City Council also set aside funding to bring the program back in 2023.

Turning Main Street into a 'playground'

This year's event may end up providing a more enjoyable experience because it's happening in the fall, Brewer said. He explained that a challenge with previous summers was that it was often too hot to enjoy any of the previous programming ideas, while the sun also didn't set until about the same time any city programming had ended.

That's not the only change, though. While a good portion of this year's program will look similar to the past three years — bars, restaurants and shops along the road will be allowed to extend their service onto sidewalks — there are more musicians, artists and activities planned for the closures than in previous years.

This weekend's schedule includes live mural paintings, yoga in a pop-up park, a silent disco event held in shipping containers placed near Exchange Place and a scavenger hunt on top of the the traditional closure.

These types of additional activities will rotate every weekend, said Britney Helmers, the program director of The Blocks, a section of the Downtown Alliance that centers on arts and entertainment programs. For example, it plans to add an "urban golf course" on Sept. 30, where people will be able to play a round of nine holes along Main Street while using a club and a Nerf golf ball.

Many of the plans on how to activate downtown during the NBA All-Star Game weekend this winter influenced the changes coming to Open Streets, she told KSL.com. The city is even working with some of the same collaborators and using some of the same infrastructure as it did in February while coming up with new ideas.

"Every single weekend is completely different and different for people every weekend," she said. "We also wanted to focus on children, we wanted to focus on all ages, we wanted to focus on the health and wellness as well as the artists that we have in the community. So really expanding on that, we have something different every single weekend to apply to those aspects."

Brewer said the city ultimately decided to nix Sundays this year to save costs and because the Downtown Alliance had a "hard time" coming up with programs to provide on Sundays.

This year's festivities wrap up on Oct. 28. While future Open Street events are desired, Brewer said it's still unclear when the next series will begin.

Will Open Streets become a permanent fixture?

Work is also underway to make the program more permanent. Salt Lake City's Department of Economic Development launched an online survey regarding the plan earlier this summer, and the city will host an open house at Gallivan Plaza on Oct. 20-21, where preliminary designs will be shown to the public, according to Mendenhall.

The mayor said the plan has the potential to improve traffic flow on Main Street and contribute to the "long-term economic heath" of the downtown core. Depending on how far the planning process goes and the results of this November's mayoral election, she said her budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year may include funds to begin engineering a design.

"It's time, I think, for Salt Lake City to make Main Street permanently open to pedestrians," she said. "With our doubling downtown population, we need spaces like this."

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