The Salt Lake ValleySublime hits Herriman, Butlerville Days in Cottonwood Heights, the Bees come home to Daybreak
Plus Treaty Oak Revival in West Valley, hot chicken worth the drive, and 28 countries of gardens hiding on the west side.
Good morning, Salt Lake Valley.
The heat finally cracks a little this weekend, and the valley is packing three days full. Sublime headlines a full ska-and-punk festival at the soccer stadium in Herriman on Saturday, the kind of all-day lineup that does not roll through the suburbs often.
Closer in, Cottonwood Heights throws its Butlerville Days carnival, the Salt Lake Bees start a homestand out in Daybreak, and there is a plate of Nashville hot chicken we think is worth crossing town for. Here is your weekend.
📍 30 seconds in the valley⏱️ 5 min read
- ⭐Sublime and friends take over Herriman
- 📰The lake slides toward a new low, downtown's record year
- 📅Butlerville Days, Treaty Oak Revival, Bees vs Reno
- 🍴Hot chicken worth the drive
- 💡28 countries hiding at Jordan Park
⭐ The Big One
Best of the week
Sublime and the Me Gusta Festival, Zions Bank Stadium, Herriman
A full day of ska, punk, and beach-reggae lands in Herriman on Saturday, and the lineup is deep. Sublime headlines, with Slightly Stoopid, Pennywise, The Ataris, and Long Beach Dub Allstars filling the afternoon at the soccer stadium off Redwood Road.
What makes this one worth circling: touring festivals like this almost always plant themselves downtown or up a canyon. This one set up in the far south valley, on the pitch at Zions Bank Stadium, so a huge chunk of the crowd gets a show in their own backyard for once.
Gates open at noon and the music runs all afternoon into the night. It is an outdoor stadium show in July, so the sun is the thing to plan around more than anything on the setlist.
Our take
Ska-punk nostalgia and a stacked undercard, all of it happening in Herriman instead of an hour away. If Sublime and Slightly Stoopid soundtracked your high school summers, this is your Saturday.⚠️ Heads up: It is a full-day outdoor festival in a record-hot stretch, so the sun does more damage than the mosh pit. Bring sunscreen and refill water often, and know that single-day tickets can climb as Saturday gets close.
$$$ musicfestivalnight out
📰 Around the Valley
The Great Salt Lake is sliding toward another low
After a winter that dropped less than half the usual snowpack, the lake is headed the wrong way again. It peaked around 4,192.6 feet back in April, a foot under last year's high, and now that summer evaporation is outrunning what flows in, the level drops week by week. It sits more than five feet below what scientists call a healthy lake, and a hot, dry stretch like this one puts a new record low back on the table by fall.
Downtown just posted its busiest year on record
Downtown Salt Lake logged 30.7 million customer days in 2025, the most it has ever counted, with visitors spending about $2.1 billion on food, shopping, and shows. A big driver was the Utah Mammoth, whose regular sellouts pulled crowds downtown all winter. Ticketed attendance across downtown venues climbed 16 percent, and the number of people actually living downtown grew 9 percent in a single year.
📅 This Week
Worth it
Butlerville Days, Butler Park, Cottonwood Heights
Cottonwood Heights runs its hometown celebration at Butler Park behind the rec center, with a carnival, inflatables, food trucks, a car show, and a stage going most of the weekend. Saturday is the big day: a parade steps off at 5, and a lighted drone show closes the night around 10.
Our take
A hometown carnival tucked right against the mountains. Come Friday evening when the ride lights kick on and the heat has backed off.⚠️ Heads up: Butler Park is small and the lots fill early, so most of the neighborhood just walks in. Leave the car a few blocks out and stroll the rest.
$ familycommunityfestival
Worth it
Treaty Oak Revival, Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre, West Valley City
The Texas country-rock band brings its loud, rowdy live show to the big West Valley amphitheater on Saturday night. They built a following the hard way, off streaming and relentless touring, and the room tends to sing every word back.
Our take
Rowdy young-country energy in a big outdoor room. Go if you want a crowd that shows up to actually sing, not scroll.⚠️ Heads up: Lawn seating means no shade until sunset, so that early set is a sunscreen situation. Getting out of the lot afterward is the usual crawl, so park facing the exit if you can.
$$ musicnight out
Worth it
Salt Lake Bees vs Reno Aces, The Ballpark at America First Square, Daybreak
The Bees are back home for the first homestand after the All-Star break, opening a three-game set against the Reno Aces in Daybreak. It is a good excuse to see the new south-valley ballpark if you have not made it out yet.
Our take
Baseball in Daybreak on a summer night, with the Oquirrhs behind the outfield. The kind of low-stakes, high-fun evening a Triple-A park does best.⚠️ Heads up: July evenings can still sit in the 90s at first pitch, so the shaded upper seats beat the field boxes early. Bring a layer for once the sun drops behind the mountains.
$ sportsfamilynight out
Worth it
Downtown Farmers Market, Pioneer Park, Salt Lake City
The Saturday market fills Pioneer Park with more than 300 vendors: Utah produce, grass-fed meat, honey, bread, and a full row of ready-to-eat breakfast. It is the closest thing the valley has to a weekly town square in the summer.
Our take
Three hundred vendors, peak Utah summer produce, and the best people-watching downtown gets on a Saturday. Bring cash and a tote.⚠️ Heads up: Parking around Pioneer Park thins out fast after 9, so the TRAX Green Line or a bike saves you the circling.
Free familyfoodfree
Worth it
Holladay Summer Concert Series, City Hall Park, Holladay
Holladay puts on a free concert on the City Hall Park lawn every Saturday through the summer, and this week keeps the run going. It is the easy version of a night out: no ticket, no parking garage, just live music and a lawn full of neighbors.
Our take
A free Saturday-night concert on a neighborhood lawn, the kind of low-key summer tradition Holladay does well. Pack a picnic and let the kids wear themselves out.⚠️ Heads up: Seating is bring-your-own and street parking near the park is tight, so walk or bike over if you live anywhere close.
Free musicfamilyfree
🏟️ The Scoreboard
Royals host Orlando at home Saturday
The Royals are back at America First Field on Saturday looking to bounce back, after a rough night against one of the league's best. It is a chance to catch top-flight women's soccer in Sandy without a road trip.
RSL rolls Burnley, now back to the league grind
Real Salt Lake used the international break to hand Premier-adjacent Burnley a 4-1 result at home, then turns right back to the games that count. They have been one of the West's better teams all season.
🍴 Eat & Drink
Worth it
Pretty Bird Hot Chicken, downtown Salt Lake City
Chef Viet Pham, a James Beard finalist who used to cook fine dining, put all of it into a tiny hot-chicken counter, and it holds up years later. Order the sandwich: fried chicken with the sweet-salty-spicy rub, slaw, house pickles, and the buttermilk Pretty Bird sauce, at medium heat so you taste the bird and not just the burn. Get the crinkle fries fried in beef tallow on the side.
Our take
Nashville hot chicken done with a fine-dining brain, and still one of the best five-dollar-idea meals downtown. Medium is the sweet spot unless you have something to prove.⚠️ Heads up: The heat levels are no joke past medium, so the Hot Behind tier is a dare, not a flavor. Keep a drink close.
$ foodlunchquick bite
💡 Hidden Gem
Worth it
International Peace Gardens, Jordan Park, Salt Lake City
Tucked along the Jordan River on the west side sits a quiet 11-acre garden split into 28 plots, one for each of 28 countries, each landscaped in its own national style. It opened in 1952 as a lesson in getting along, and most people who have lived here for years have still never walked it. The flowers run from May into October, and on a hot afternoon the tree cover along the river keeps it cool.
Our take
Twenty-eight countries in one quiet loop, free, and hiding in plain sight on the west side. The kind of place you screenshot and text to the friend who thinks they have seen all of Salt Lake.⚠️ Heads up: It is a public park with no staff on site, so bring your own water and pack out what you bring in.
Free outdoorsfamilyfreehidden gem
🎟️ Also Happening
Freddie Gibbs
The rapper plays downtown Salt Lake City on Friday night.
World Cup Championship Watch Party
Catch the final on the big screen Sunday in West Valley City at the Impact and Prosperity Epicenter.
Third Saturday for Families: Word Art
Free drop-in art for kids Saturday at the art museum on the University of Utah campus.
The Debate
📰 Valley News
A Millcreek car shop makes way for 115 affordable apartments
A developer wants to swap an auto shop on State Street for 115 income-restricted apartments, a project called Stonebrook. The one- and two-bedroom units would sit above a bit of ground-floor retail, aimed at households earning 60 to 80 percent of the area's median income. On less than an acre, that pencils out to roughly 120 units per acre, dense even for a corridor that has been filling in fast.
Downtown Daybreak keeps stacking up restaurants
The heart of South Jordan's newest district is turning into a real dining hub. Hires Big H opened out in Downtown Daybreak, Nami Lily is pouring ramen and rolling sushi, and more names keep signing on around the walkable core. For a part of the valley that was open fields a decade ago, it is a fast build toward a place people drive to on purpose.
💙 Good Neighbor
Tell us who's making the valley better
Every issue we want to spotlight one neighbor, teacher, coach, or cause quietly making the Salt Lake Valley a better place to live. Know someone who deserves it? Send them our way.
Nominate a neighbor →That's the weekend. Sublime in Herriman, Butlerville Days in Cottonwood Heights, and the Bees back home in Daybreak.
Reply and tell us what you want more of: the shows, the food, the trails, the news. We read every one.
Forward this to the neighbor who always asks what's going on this weekend. That's exactly who we're for.
— The Salt Lake Valley crew
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