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- Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park will undergo a six-month renovation starting March.
- The project affects the Downtown Farmers Market, which draws 10,000 visitors weekly in the summer.
- Organizers are considering alternative locations or street events for this year's summer market.
SALT LAKE CITY — After years of planning, Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park is about to receive a massive makeover, but the project will also impact one of the downtown park's premier events.
Construction fencing is on track to be installed in early March, signalling the start of the project that is expected to take approximately six months to complete, according to the city. It'll likely end by October, which means it will overlap with most, if not all, of the Salt Lake City Downtown Farmers Market summer schedule.
Leaders of the popular event — which draws in over 10,000 visitors to the park every Saturday from June through October — are currently weighing their options for alternative locations this summer because of the impacts associated with the project.
"Three-quarters of the park is going to be under construction, so we're either going to have to be in the street or program in another location," said Dee Brewer, director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance. "It's hard when you're popping up. We don't own property; we program on public property, so that complicates (it)."
Salt Lake City unveiled its final vision for Pioneer Park's new look at the end of 2024, following planning that began in 2019. It calls for more trees, public restrooms and pickleball courts, as well as a new promenade for food vendors and a pavilion for events. City leaders set aside $18.4 million for the project, most of which is from a sales tax bond approved in 2022.
There can always be unforeseen delays, but Big D, the project's contractor, has stockpiled all necessary supplies ahead of construction to reduce those risks, said Nancy Monteith, a landscape architect for Salt Lake City Public Lands who has overseen the project. The company also plans to complete everything all at once.
The Downtown Alliance has explored temporarily closing some streets in the area and converting the Downtown Farmers Market into a street event this summer, but that's expensive and a "difficult lift" to pull off without shade, Brewer told KSL.
Event organizers have also reviewed at least two other undisclosed locations, one of which was determined to be unfeasible. A few more meetings are scheduled over the next few weeks to secure their plans.
"We've got to come to an understanding very soon," he said, with a nervous chuckle.
It's the second time organizers have scrambled to find a new location for their winter market after their space at the Gateway became unavailable. Salt Lake City opened a room at the old Leonardo Museum for the event. It continues every Saturday through April 18.
A final decision on the summer market is expected by this spring, ahead of its June 6 opening.
