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SALT LAKE CITY — What started as a way to safely draw people back to downtown Salt Lake City businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic has become an unofficial test lab for future opportunities to draw visitors to businesses across the city.
Salt Lake City's Open Streets event will return for a fourth straight year, as the city plans to close off a small section of Main Street to vehicular traffic for a pair of weekends this month — but with a much smaller section than previous events. Main Street will be closed to automobile traffic between 100 South and 200 South from July 12-13 and July 19-20, coinciding with various events planned for the block on both weekends.
While it's just two weekends instead of a month or an entire summer, the event will return later this year in another place. City officials plan to close off a road segment in the Granary District every weekend in September, marking the first time the city tries the concept away from Main Street and outside of downtown.
"Open Streets fosters community in the heart of the city with an electric atmosphere that prioritizes pedestrians and families while supporting our small businesses," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall in a statement on Monday.
Open Streets 2024
Both Open Streets weekends this July will center around events happening on Main Street. Salt Lake County Arts and Culture will hold "Salt Lake Speaks – Poetry Slam" on the front steps of Eccles Theater on July 12, and The Blocks Arts District will host "Main Street: A Fashion and Music Experience" at the theater on July 13.
Then on July 19, both groups will partner with Steppin' on Main and Consulado de Mexico en Salt Lake City to hold "Mariachi Festival" on the theater's front stops, featuring four local mariachi bands and Mexican classical guitarist Sergio Fuentes Oseguera. That's the same night Watchouse will headline the Twilight Concert Series at nearby Gallivan Plaza.
It wraps up with events on June 20 at Exchange Place Plaza and Eccles Theater that highlight DJs and theater. Closing down Main Street to cars offers more space for spectators to gather safely around the street performances.
The street closures come from leftover funds from last year's Open Streets event, said Peter Makowski, deputy director of Salt Lake City's Department of Business Development Division. In fact, there was enough money left over to cover a test of Open Streets in the Granary District this September.
The Granary event will look similar to the past Main Street closures, with some slight changes.
We're testing out another neighborhood to see if it works. We hope it catches on; we hope it's popular.
– Peter Makowski, Salt Lake City Business Development Division
Makowski explained the city is looking at events they can't hold on Main Street because of the space occupied by active light-rail lines, but also events that appeal to the growing district. The city is planning to set up a beer garden and hold live music in the street while it's closed off to vehicles. An "urban soccer" pitch is also planned, where matches can be played on the road.
"We have a lot more real estate to work with (in the Granary District)," he told KSL.com. "Where the street is laid out and the size of the street there, we can do different things."
The September event will be used as a way to gauge if the concept could be applied to various neighborhoods in the city. If successful, Open Streets could ultimately expand to other neighborhoods with twists that reflect each neighborhood's character.
But that remains to be seen. Salt Lake City's Business Development Division has yet to commit to anywhere outside of Main Street and the Granary District to this point, according to Makowski.
"We're testing out another neighborhood to see if it works. We hope it catches on; we hope it's popular," he said.
Open Streets beyond 2024
Salt Lake City's 2025 fiscal year budget includes $400,000 marked for Open Streets events beginning next summer, which will likely target Main Street first. It's the most consistent funding the program has received since it was created during an emergency in 2020.
This will help Salt Lake City officials map out a more prominent plan for the section of road downtown. Makowski explained that activities and concepts applied to Main Street over the past four years have been used to determine final plans for the proposed Main Street promenade.
"We've been testing out different concepts, different activations, and seeing what works and what doesn't in hopes of securing ongoing funding to host the event long-term," he said.
Some concepts released by the city earlier this year show that each block between 400 South to South Temple could have its own theme, including galleries, restaurants and an "all-ages wonderland" closer to City Creek Center.
There's no update as to when that could come to fruition, though. The $125 million project has been overshadowed by the new downtown revitalization zone by the Delta Center this year, which will be home to the NBA's Utah Jazz and Utah's new National Hockey League franchise. But Mendenhall said back in May that the two projects are connected in a way that she believes can improve downtown.
"The NHL can be this key that unlocks a whole spectrum of downtown: residents, businesses and centers of energy like our culture," she said at the time. "It would absolutely do so with the Main Street promenade and — potentially — the Green Loop, as well."
