The 2017 ARCC conference is almost upon us. The conference planning committee has published the program and a few points of interest regarding the impending event.
View the program on their website.
The committee has also provided a list a things to do and see while in Salt Lake:
Event Guides
Salt Lake has excellent music, symphony, theater, and dance scenes.
The best place to find out what is happening in the music scene is probably Slug Mag’s online calendar.
For theater and dance, I’d suggest Ballet West, Ririe-Woodbury (contemporary dance), and the Utah Symphony as fantastic local companies that are national/international caliber.
The new Eccles Theater has some great shows the Sunday before and after the conference depending on when you are getting to town.
The Visit SLC site has a more comprehensive guide to all types of events in town.
The Friday night you are in town is Gallery Stroll, which is usually a pretty great way to see several galleries since they are open later than normal.
In Town – Main Attractions
I’m attaching a walking tour map we put together a few years ago with a little information on some of the buildings listed.
Downtown core most popular buildings: Temple Square, City Creek shopping center, City & County Building, downtown Public Library, the Leonardo museum, and the LDS visitor’s center are all within walking distance of each other (in SLC block-adjusted walking terms) from the Library, City Center, or Galvan Center TRAX stops.
Please note that there is a ‘free fare zone’ downtown that is inclusive of some of the major cultural sites you may be planning to visit. Depending on what you want to see, in the downtown area I would suggest:
- Temple Square (including the LDS Visitor’s Center, which has a great scale section model of the temple)
- Mormon Tabernacle
- Utah Museum of Contemporary Art
- 111 Main (mostly for it’s column-free lobby) – new SOM tower
- Eccles Theater
- City Library – Moshe Safdie design with a great roof garden that you can walk up to from the plaza to the south of the library
- The Leonardo – art and science center next to downtown library (209 East 500 South)
- City and County Building
- US Federal Courthouse – designed by Thomas Phifer Architects
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir pr actices 7:30 to 9:30 PM Thursday nights – it’s free and open to the public. In the summer, they practice in the Conference Center not the Tabernacle, but it’s right across the street and a pretty great experience. You can come and go throughout the time and I think you can probably get the whole effect within 15-30 minutes.
Gilgal Sculpture Garden is a truly unique Utah experience if things like a sculpture of a sphinx with the face of Joseph Smith sound interesting.
Some of the more popular shopping areas are City Creek, Trolley Square, and shops in the 9th and 9th area (at the intersection of 900 S and 900 E).
Galleries and Museums
Natural History Museum of Utah – Ennead designed museum on the Bonneville Shoreline trail. The museum is on the university campus and within a mile walk of the University Guest House. The exhibits are beautifully curated and situated right along the Bonneville Shoreline so you get unobstructed western views of the sunset.
Utah Museum of Contemporary Art – great contemporary art museum in town – don’t miss the giant Chihuli sculpture in the lobby of Abravanel Hall next door
20 South West Temple
Gilgal Garden is a truly unique Utah experience, if sculptures of the sphinx with Joseph Smith’s face on it sound like your cup of tea. 🙂
749 East 500 South
Outside of Town
If you are looking for a scenic drive, I’d suggest Park City (20 min +/- each way), Antelope Island (45 min each way), Bonneville Salt Flats (1.75 hours each way), Spiral Jetty (2 hours each way), or one of the ski resorts (20-30 minutes each way) depending on how much time you want to spend in the car. Snowbird resort has the pretty awesome and surprisingly affordable Cliff Spa – which is a way more appealing winter sport to non-skiiers like myself. The resorts are also pretty beautiful in the summer for hiking and biking.
If you are looking for a scenic drive, I’d suggest Park City (20 min +/- each way), Antelope Island (45 min each way), Bonneville Salt Flats (1.75 hours each way), Spiral Jetty (2 hours each way), or one of the ski resorts (20-30 minutes each way) depending on how much time you want to spend in the car. Snowbird resort has the pretty awesome and surprisingly affordable Cliff Spa – which is a way more appealing winter sport to non-skiiers like myself. The resorts are also pretty beautiful in the summer for hiking and biking.
A great hour or two outing in Park City is lunch at High West (with or without a tour of the saloon distillery) and a ride up the scenic gondola from the Town Plaza.
Food and Drinks
Breakfast/Lunch
Laziz – new Lebanese restaurant with great breakfast and lunch
Rye – great breakfast – get one of the scrambles – clean modern interior
Eva’s Bakery – excellent breakfast and fantastic pastries
Market Street – great classic breakfast downtown
Eggs in the City – cool local eatery
East Liberty Tap House – excellent cocktails and food – cool converted building and beautiful interior in 9th and 9th area – good for lunch or dinner though I’d recommend it more for lunch
Oasis – great healthy breakfast spot
Gourmandise – fantastic pastries all day, great lunch and dinner food (quiche, salads, soups, sandwiches, etc)
Lucky 13 – best burgers in town at a biker bar near the baseball stadium with outdoor seating
If you have a car and are willing to drive a bit, there are two breakfast places that have good food and really showcase the landscape:
Silver Fork Lodge – 20-30 minute drive out of town into Big Cottonwood Canyon – definitely worth the drive but in need of 4-wheel drive this time of year. Also check to make sure the canyon is open – we’ve gotten a lot of snow in the past few days.
Ruth’s Diner – 15 minute drive out of town in Emigration Canyon
Dinner
HSL – newly opened SLC location of a Park City favorite. Excellent food and drinks. Cool interior. Definitely a place to take people you want to impress or a great spot for foodies.
HSL – newly opened SLC location of a Park City favorite. Excellent food and drinks. Cool interior. Definitely a place to take people you want to impress or a great spot for foodies.
Table X – new restaurant and excellent space – a little bit away from downtown
Avenues Proper – great food (especially breakfast/brunch) and local brewery
Copper Onion – very good food and drinks downtown next to the Broadway Theater
Pago – excellent farm to table food – cool space in 9th and 9th area
Takashi – best sushi in town – downtown
Mazza – great Middle Eastern food in 9th and 9th area
Finca – cool upscale hipster interior downtown – tapas style food and good drinks – it’s also a good place to go for happy hour to sit in the bar area and get appetizers – they have private dining areas you can reserve (not sure if there is a minimum number of people required)
Current – upscale seafood restaurant on 300 E and 300 S – beautiful space in recently converted historic downtown building
Eva – tapas and good cocktails – downtown
Drinks
Bar X – definitely good cocktails and a SLC original, but it has gotten a bit crazy crowded since Beer Bar opened adjacent to it. I know a couple bartenders there though if you want to set up something special for your clients. They have a ‘secret’ small back bar that is much better on busy nights if it’s open.
Lake Effect is the best new bar in town – great cocktails and food.
Under Current and Copper Common would be my two top recommendations for cocktail bars otherwise. Copper Common is smaller and can get crowded quickly. Both have small bites available and Copper Common has food.
Water Witch – great design and new bar in Central 9th area – the only drawback is that it’s small so fills up quickly.
The Rest/Bodega – you know these. I assume you’ve been to the downstairs area, which is the cooler part.
We look forward to seeing everyone in Salt Lake City!