Salt Lake is a diverse and eclectic city with a vibrant portfolio of festivals celebrating everything from culture and the arts to heritage and history that offer visitors a way to mingle with locals and enjoy the simple pleasure of having a locally brewed beer in the sun. The main season runs Spring through Summer, and the variety and regularity of Utah’s festivals mark the passing of the warmer months like clockwork. We encourage visitors to plan their trips around these unique Utah events and join in the fun. Here’s a sample of what’s in store for 2024.

Celebrating Salt Lake’s diverse peoples and history

The Living Traditions Festival — The Living Traditions Festival is the traditional kick-off to Salt Lake’s summer festival season and is filled with dance, food from around the world and a celebration of Utah’s diverse culture. Of special note is an international range of food served by local restaurants allowing you to taste cuisines from cultures around the globe in one place. (May)

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. (June)

Days of ’47 (Pioneer Day) — Utah’s official state holiday, Pioneer Day, on July 24, celebrates the arrival in the Salt Lake Valley by the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847. The celebration is kind of a “second Fourth of July” marked by fireworks and the largest parade in Utah. Meanwhile, cheeky non-Church members mark the occasion with “Pie and Beer” Day celebrations around Salt Lake. (July)

Utah Pacific Islander Festival — August is Utah Pacific Island Heritage Month and each year, a month-long celebration of culture happens at locations around Salt Lake. From Tongan kava ceremonies to Hawaiian Kanikapila music jams, Utah Pacific Island Festival events celebrate the Pacific islanders in Utah who make up one of the largest populations of Pacific Islanders in the mainland U.S. (August)

Salt Lake City Greek Festival — When the transcontinental railroad was connected in Utah in 1869, many of the workers were Greek who stayed and established a rich community. As the largest Greek festival west of the Mississippi, it gathers Greek communities from around the state to celebrate Hellenic arts, dance, culture and, of course, fantastic food. (September) 

Hispanic Heritage Parade and Festival — Starting with a parade in the morning that becomes a street festival in the afternoon, the annual event features dancing, live music, food, drinks, and more from various Hispanic cultures. (September)

Festa Italiana — Founded by members of the Italian American Civic League the two-day festival highlights include live Italian entertainment, food booths highlighting the regions of Italian cuisine, an Italian beer and wine garden, arts and crafts, historical displays, a bocce tournament, live raffles, exotic Italian cars and roaming street performers. (September) 

Exploring arts and culture (nerds welcome)

Sundance Film Festival — One of the largest and most prestigious independent film festivals in the world was started in 1985 in Park City by Robert Redford, AKA the Sundance Kid. One of the best-kept secrets surrounding the festival is the ease and accessibility of the numerous screening venues in Salt Lake as well as Visit Salt Lake’s annual Festival and Queer Lounges that ensure you don’t have to be a famous director or actor to get in on the fun. (January)

‘Damn These Heels’ Queer Film Festival — The longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival in the Mountain West, ‘Damn These Heels’ campy monicker is inspired by the notion that walking a while in someone else’s shoes inspires understanding and empathy (especially when those shoes are a fierce set of 6-inch stilettos). The festival showcases dramatic and documentary films from around the world that explore LGBTQ+ issues, ideas, and art. (October)

Mural Festival — Salt Lake’s Creative Industries Zone is home to the largest collection of street art in Utah. Dozens of artists from Utah and across the country have left their mark on the funky and post-industrial buildings in the area. A festival debuting new works and showcasing existing murals happens in May but Visit Salt Lake also offers its West of Conventional Mural Tour and Mural Tour Pass year-round guiding visitors to artworks around the city that celebrate the vibrant and diverse cultures that come together here. (Year-Round)

Utah Arts Festival — The Utah Arts Festival is the largest outdoor multi-disciplinary arts event in Utah with attendance hovering over 70,000 each summer. It features music, food and dance surrounding the centerpiece Artists Marketplace which each year brings renowned local and national artists together to create a jury-selected art-buying experience. (June)

Craft Lake City DIY Festival — Utah’s largest local-centric art, music, science and technology festival. The DIY Festival celebrates ingenuity and makers and features hundreds of local artisans, vintage vendors, food, youth entrepreneurs, performers, and STEM exhibitors over three days. (August)

Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival — Modeled after the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival is an eight-week DIY frenzy of pop-up theater, street performance, visual arts and edgy artistic expression held in various repurposed spaces at The Gateway in Salt Lake. (August).

FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture & Comic Convention — Wondering why someone just walked by dressed up like a Pokemon? The most attended pop culture and comic conventions in the state of Utah and one of the largest comic conventions in the U.S. is a wild weekend full of cosplay, celebrity appearances, comic and art sales, workshops and just general nerdy tomfoolery in the heart of Salt Lake. (September)

Urban Arts Festival — Utah’s largest free and perhaps funkiest art festival (free admission that is) highlights street art and represents artists and creators from outside of the traditional art world. (September)

Music to your ears

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. Last year’s event saw the festival move to the larger Utah State Fairpark Venue and expand to three days of music from top national acts including a reunion of ’90s cult favorite Pavement. (May)

Twilight Concert Series — Set in the center of Downtown Salt Lake, The Twilight Concert Series, draws summer crowds with its big-name acts. Last year’s season saw Lord Huron, Father John Misty, and Death Cab for Cutie (to name drop a few) light up the Gallivan Center’s outdoor stage. (June through September)

Utah Blues Festival — There’s a long history of celebrating the 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. (June)

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 to Salt Lake and along the Jordan River Parkway Trail. (May)

Mind the Gap Fest — New in 2023, The Mind the Gap Fest is a two-day showcase of indie artists headlined this year by Alt-rock darlings Beach Bunny. The social justice-focused event is centered on education about “gaps” in our society—income, leadership, education and representation, for example. (August)

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. (May)

For the convivial foodie

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. (June) 

Utah Beer Festival — Utah’s largest assembly of local and national brewers, the Utah Beer Festival boasts upward of 200 different beers to sample and taste every year. Sure, there’s music and food and all that but this one is truly about the suds. (August)

Snowbird’s Oktoberfest — Celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2022, Snowbird’s Oktoberfest is a high-mountain beer festival in the Bavarian tradition. (Yes, there are Oompah bands.) A family-friendly affair with activities, food, and, of course, brews, the festival begins mid-August and lasts through mid-October, every Saturday and Sunday and Labor Day. (Late Summer into Fall)

Eat Drink SLC — Set in the bucolic Tracy Aviary this two-day event is a chance to sample seasonal fare from Salt Lake’s best restaurants; sip from a selection of more than 100 wines from an international assortment of family-owned wineries; taste craft cocktails from small-batch distilleries and enjoy local beers from award-winning Utah craft brewers. Also, there are birds. (September)

Fourth West Oktoberfest — Centered around the seasonal creations of Mtn. West Hard Cider, the Fourth West Oktoberfest brings live bands, DJs, food trucks, games, and together on Salt Lake’s west side for an all-ages family-friendly event in the Bavarian tradition. (October)