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(Below and Right) Busker Fest runs in June with street performances around Salt Lake City
The Living Traditions Festival— The traditional kick-off to Salt Lake’s summer festival season is filled with dance, food from around the world and a celebration of Utah’s diverse culture. saltlakearts.org
Blues in Utah. Many legendary blues artists performed at earlier blues-centric festivals from the 1980s into the 2000s. (BB King, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, to namedrop a few.) The Utah Blues Festival was started to revive that tradition and bring national blues acts to the Beehive State once again. utahbluesfest.org
LOVELOUD Festival—Founded in 2017 by Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons and Tyler Glenn of the Neon Trees, LOVELOUD brings communities and families together to celebrate (and love) LGBTQ+ youth and encourage acceptance and community. Also, it’s a killer show. loveloudfest.com Kilby Block Party—Kilby Court is one of the most celebrated music venues in Salt Lake. The stage at the all-ages club has seen legendary artists pass across its stage. To celebrate that history, its owners started the Kilby Block Party, to bring together the local music scene and internationally renowned performers for one giant concert. kilbyblockparty.com
JUNE
(Above) The Utah Arts Festival and (right) an Intertribal Pow Wow at the Living Traditions Festival
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Utah Pride Festival and Parade— The Utah Pride Festival and Parade is held in downtown Salt Lake in June celebrating Utah’s diversity and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The event is a program of the Utah Pride Center, and includes the state’s second-largest parade, after the Days of ‘47 Parade. utahpridecenter.org Utah Blues Festival—There’s a long history of celebrating the
SLC Busker Fest—Busker Fest is a free event held annually in Salt Lake to showcase local and traveling street performers. The festival celebrates the city’s rich Vaudeville history by bringing the living tradition of busking and street theater downtown. It happens in conjunction with SLC’s Open Streets event that closes off a large section of Salt Lake’s Main Street to cars making it a fun and surprising time of year to stroll the city. buskerfestslc.com Brewstillery—Brewstillery is Utah’s all-local beer-and-spirits event that brings together local breweries, local distilleries and thirsty patrons, all in one space. slugmag.com Utah Arts Festival—The Utah Arts Festival is the largest outdoor multi-disciplinary arts event in Utah with attendance hovering above more than 70,000 each summer. uaf.org
PHOTOS: (BUSKER FEST) COURTESY BUSKER FEST, (LIVING TRADITIONS) COURTESY LIVING TRADITIONS; (UTAH ARTS FESTIVAL) COURTESY UTAH ARTS FESTIVAL
MAY
