The Salt Lake ValleyWest Valley throws its Día de los Muertos Saturday, BooLights goes nightly at Hogle Zoo, and Little Shop of Horrors opens at Pioneer Theatre
Plus burnt ends in South Salt Lake, a foothill hike before the rain, and the dates the Cottonwoods open for skiing.
Good morning, Salt Lake Valley.
The Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City fills with altars, mariachi, and chalk artists Saturday for its Día de los Muertos party, and a family of six gets in for $20. Below: what to see first and where it fits in your Halloween week.
Today and Wednesday are the picks of the week outside, both mostly sunny and around 70. Rain moves in Thursday afternoon and Friday looks like the wettest day, so get your hike in early. Saturday dries out but only gets to the mid-50s, so bring a jacket to West Valley.
📍 30 seconds in the valley⏱️ 8 min read
- 💀Walk the altars at West Valley's Día de los Muertos
- 🎃See BooLights at Hogle Zoo now that it runs every night
- 🍖Order the burnt ends at Pat's BBQ
⭐ The Big One
Best family afternoon of the week
Walk the altars at West Valley's Día de los Muertos
West Valley Arts has thrown a Día de los Muertos celebration at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center every fall since 2005, and this year's is Saturday afternoon.
The ofrendas are the reason to come. Families build altars for the people they've lost, and the ofrenda bearers stand by them and tell you who each one is for. Around that there are nine performing groups, from folkloric dancers to mariachi, plus 16 artists doing chalk art on the pavement all afternoon.
Kids get their own zone with paper flowers, skeleton puppets, face painting, and an alebrije display. There's a market of local vendors, food, and a beer garden for the grown-ups.
Our take
See the ofrendas first, while you can still hear the stories behind them, and save the chalk art for your way out. The 16 artists work on the pavement all afternoon, so the later you walk it, the more finished pieces you get.⚠️ Heads up: Food, drinks, and the market all cost extra on top of admission. With a family of four or more, the $20 pass beats buying single tickets.
$ kidsculturewest side
📰 Around the Valley
The plans for the new downtown arena district finally have details
Smith Entertainment Group, the company that owns the Jazz and the Mammoth, released renderings last week for the district it's building around their arena downtown. The plan includes a 6,000-seat Live Nation concert venue, a hotel close to 250 feet tall, housing, shops, offices, a new Salt Palace Convention Center, and a new building for the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. Most buildings will stay under 200 feet, and Abravanel Hall will be renovated with most of the building kept.
The Cottonwoods have opening dates for ski season
Alta and Solitude are both aiming to open Nov. 20, and Snowbird is targeting Nov. 27. Brighton hasn't announced its date yet. All three dates are projections, and they depend on how much snow falls and how much the resorts can make before then.
📅 This Week
Worth it, skip the rainy night
See BooLights at Hogle Zoo now that it runs every night
The zoo's Halloween light walk has been a Thursday-through-Sunday thing since late September. Starting Thursday it runs every night through Oct. 30, with giant glowing displays, Spiderella's Lair, and the Tale of the Mountain Screamer.
Our take
Eat at the Beastro when you get there, because the displays look brighter once it's fully dark. Time your walk so you're at the Wildlife Theater at 8 for Dr. Frankenstein's Mad Lab, a 25-minute puppet show that's included with the ticket.⚠️ Heads up: Thursday night and Friday look like the wettest stretch of the week, and it runs rain or shine with no weather refunds, so book Saturday or later. Masks, face paint, and anything that looks like a weapon aren't allowed, and most animal habitats are dark.
$$ kidsHalloweeneast bench
Worth it, call Monday for cheap seats
Catch Little Shop of Horrors on the U campus
Pioneer Theatre Company opens the musical about a florist's assistant and a plant that eats people Friday, in a co-production with Arizona Theatre Company. It runs through Nov. 7.
Our take
Every performance holds back a few Curtain Call for All seats where you pick the price, starting at $15. The phone line for this show opens Monday at 801-581-6961, so that's the call to make before they're gone.⚠️ Heads up: The theater recommends it for ages 12 and up for mild language and comic horror violence.
$$ theaterdate nightHalloween
Worth a Friday dinner stop
Shop the Friday market at Millcreek Common
The Millcreek Farmers Market has moved to Friday nights on the plaza for the end of the season, with produce, local food, food trucks, and live music from the Sound Bites series. There are two Fridays left, this one and Oct. 30.
Our take
Head up to The Grandview on the sixth floor of City Hall. An ofrenda exhibit is up there from Monday through Halloween, and if you're going to West Valley on Saturday, it's a good way to show the kids what an altar is before they see dozens of them.⚠️ Heads up: Friday looks like the wettest day of the week, so bring a rain shell. The ofrenda room is open 9am to 5pm and closes right as the market opens, so see it Friday afternoon or on a weekday.
free marketfoodMillcreek
Skip unless bass is your whole weekend
Skip Get Freaky at Saltair unless you've already got a pass
The Halloween EDM festival takes over The Great Saltair for three nights, with FISHER and Subtronics among the names on the lineup. It's 18 and up.
Our take
There's no re-entry, not even to grab a jacket from the car, and it runs rain or shine. If you're going anyway, ride the official shuttle so you aren't hunting for $20 cash and a spot in a small lot.⚠️ Heads up: You need a physical ID to get in. Photos of your license and student IDs don't count.
$$$ EDM18+Magna
🏟️ The Scoreboard
The Mammoth lost to McDavid's Oilers and host Pittsburgh tonight
Edmonton came to the Delta Center Saturday and won 6-2, with Connor McDavid scoring twice and setting up three more. It ended a three-game win streak that included Thursday's 4-2 win in Edmonton.
The Jazz open the regular season Wednesday in Memphis
Utah finished the preseason 3-1 with a 119-116 win in Phoenix Thursday. Lauri Markkanen scored 19, and rookie Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, had six assists. The home opener is Friday.
Utah football is 6-0 with Houston coming to Rice-Eccles
Devon Dampier threw three touchdown passes in Boulder Saturday night, and the Utes held off a Colorado rally to win 27-24. Braden Pegan's 6-yard catch put Utah up 27-17 with 3:43 left, and Colorado's late touchdown came too late. Houston comes to town next, fresh off a 35-32 win over Oklahoma State.
🍴 Eat & Drink
Worth the detour off State Street
Order the burnt ends at Pat's BBQ
Pat's has been smoking brisket and ribs on Commonwealth Avenue in South Salt Lake, and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives came through to film it. The menu covers brisket, St. Louis ribs, pulled pork, smoked wings, and mac and cheese.
Our take
Get the burnt ends, the crispy, caramelized brisket ends Pat's is known for, with a side of mac and cheese. It's a short drive from the Grand Theatre on State Street, so it's an easy dinner before Thriller's last week of shows.⚠️ Heads up: It's closed Sundays, so a Sunday-after-church barbecue run won't work here.
$$ barbecuekidsSouth Salt Lake
Details → 🌲 Get Outside
Worth it today, while it's 70 and sunny
Hike the Shoreline Trail from Hidden Valley before the rain
This stretch of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail runs about 6 miles of moderate singletrack along the old Lake Bonneville shoreline above Sandy, dipping through small canyons and past boulder caves to the Bear Canyon bridge in Draper.
Our take
From the east end of the parking lot, walk the paved path uphill about three minutes to the trail signs. The northern route is a steep doubletrack. For the easier start, stay on the pavement a little longer and take the singletrack on your left about 100 feet past the fork.⚠️ Heads up: The park's water fountains and flush toilets are a summer-only thing, so fill your bottles at home.
free hikingSandyDraper
Details → 🎟️ Also Happening
Watch Ballet West's Dracula
The season opens Friday, Oct 23, at 7:30pm at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, with a live orchestra and seats from $30.
See Thriller before it leaves Salt Lake
Odyssey Dance Theatre's Halloween show plays its last Salt Lake week at the Grand Theatre on State Street, closing Saturday, Oct 24.
Dress up for the Vampire Ball
The County Library throws a free adults-only dance Saturday, Oct 24, from 7:30 to 10pm at the Viridian Event Center in West Jordan, and you have to register.
📰 Valley News
The Bangerter on-ramp at 7800 South is closed in West Jordan
The on-ramp from 7800 South to southbound Bangerter Highway closed Thursday, Oct. 15, for about 10 days. West Jordan city crews are working on a waterline next to it. If you get on Bangerter at 7800 South to head toward Daybreak or Riverton, plan a different on-ramp until about Oct. 25.
An escaped hawk spent 100 days at the Salt Lake Country Club
Stax, a 14-year-old Harris's hawk, got loose from HawkWatch International's Sugar House headquarters on June 29 because of an equipment failure. About a week later a birder spotted him at the Salt Lake Country Club, where he spent most of the summer hunting and taking food the HawkWatch staff left out. With the cold coming, they set out his food at the same time and place every day, then swapped in a surface with small foot loops and caught him Oct. 6.
Most Utahns say they'd pay to help refill the Great Salt Lake
A Weber State University study surveyed 1,050 Utahns about what they'd pay each year to help the lake. When people were fairly confident their money would actually help, they said they'd pay about $113 to $144 per household a year. Across the state's 1.1 million households, that adds up to as much as $162 million a year.
The Debate
💙 Good Neighbor
Nominate the person who helped this week
If a neighbor did something specific that made your week easier, reply with their name, city, and what they did. We may feature them in a future issue.
Nominate a neighbor →If you only do one thing this week, take the family to West Valley Saturday afternoon for Día de los Muertos. If you want a night out, Little Shop of Horrors opens Friday on the U campus.
Reply and tell us what's on your Halloween list this week.
— The Salt Lake Valley crew
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