Tag Archives: Art

Westside Arts Fest Draws Big Crowds

It was a sunny day with a light breeze and kids ran around with painted faces and balloon animals.  The first annual Westside Arts, Food and Music Festival was in full swing. “This is our first year and we couldn’t be happier with the turnout!” said Restore North Temple Founder, Jade Sarver.  “The whole purpose of this event is to bring our entire community together to appreciate all the things our neighborhood is known for.  Our food, our art, our music and our history!”  The event was well attended with estimates in the range of about 500 people.  The event was free to attend and featured over 30 local artists and vendors, as well as 3 stages packed all day with live music from bands like The K Tones, individual guitarists and singers like local favorite Dan Weldon, and local dance groups like the popular Malialole Dance group, who performed several traditional dancers, and even got a few audience members to jump in.  “I’m here for the food trucks!!” said one festival goer.  The Red Food truck sold delicious Peruvian sandwiches, and Facil Taco truck sold locally flavored fare.  “We are so thankful to Westview Media, the River District Business Alliance https:_cdn.evbuc.com_images_32259416_8331759901_1_originalNeighborworks and Rocky Mountain Power for being our key sponsors.  We were able to put on this free event for neighbors through generous donations from local businesses,” said Sarver.  The event was held at the Sugar Space Arts Warehouse.  “This was a hugely successful event,” said Brittany Reese, owner of Sugar Space.  “We would love to host more events like this in the future.”

Restore North Temple is a citizen-led, grassroots movement to bring the entire west side community together to support the restoration of our Grand Boulevard, North Temple.   The purpose of this movement is to unite residents, community organizations, and businesses to reduce crime, increase economic development and improve the perception of the west side of Salt Lake City, particularly focused on the North Temple corridor.

West Side Spotlight: Angela Brown, SLUG Magazine, Craft Lake City

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“I feel like Fairpark is the Sugarhouse of tomorrow. It really reminds me of Sugarhouse from 10 years ago! There’s so much potential and so much passion, and it’s a great time to be a part of that growth. There really is momentum building on the west side. It’s so close to downtown, and I love it!” ~ Angela Brown, SLUG Magazine

Spring is almost here and as one of our favorite local alternative magazines SLUG (Salt Lake Underground) celebrates 27 years, we felt that it was fitting to sit down with artist, writer and uber-creative businesswoman Angela Brown. PastedGraphic-1

A four year resident of Fairpark with 20 years of experience working on the west side, Angela is also throwing a fabulous summer event, Craft Lake City. If you’ve never been, this event (August 12-14) celebrates local crafters and artists and is a wonderful festival for families, local crafters, and shoppers alike. Angela is expecting to see 60,000 visitors from both in and out of state. Angela had this to say about Fairpark:

“I feel like Fairpark is the Sugarhouse of tomorrow. It really reminds me of Sugarhouse from 10 years ago! There’s so much potential and so much passion, and it’s a great time to be a part of that growth. There really is momentum building on the west side. It’s so close to downtown, and I love it!”

Angela has been with SLUG magazine for 17 years with the last 15 at the helm.

“SLUG magazine has become a pillar of the alternative community, and it’s important that we keep that independent spirit alive. We have a great team, and it is very important to us that we maintain our local voice, writing about local events, and local music.”

She also sits on the Business Advisory Board representing District 1, which advises the Mayor and City Council on issues affecting Salt Lake City’s business community.

“We get together once a month and talk about problems small businesses face. Mayor Jackie Biskupski is really paying attention to that. When we meet, we think, ‘How can we make it easier for small business to get the process started?’”

PastedGraphic-2A true original, Angela’s goal is to empower our community to share our voice through our art.

“I think creation is a form of meditation. It’s a way for us to express ourselves, relieve stress, connect with others and show something beautiful, or maybe not so beautiful,”

she laughs,

“but art helps build our community culture.”

Let’s use this inspiration to make Fairpark beautiful again! Submit your applications to be a vendor in Craft Lake City by April 15th.