Geography, weather and a culture burgeoning with festivals and seasonal opportunities make Utah’s Salt Lake City and Park City great group destinations all year-round. While it may be famous for its world-class skiing, the area is packed with other stellar options the rest of the year, plus lodging rates are seriously ratcheted down outside the winter season.
“Geography gives us incredibly cool situations,” says Mark White, vice president of sales at Visit Salt Lake. “Weather plays in our favor for year-round recreation. Salt Lake City is on the edge of the Great Basin Desert at 4,200 feet. We have very little precipitation because the Wasatch Mountains stop clouds and storms. It snows up to 42 feet in the mountains, but there’s almost no snow in town.”
Carolyn Creek-McCallister, senior national sales manager at Visit Park City, agrees.
“Without question, it’s a four-season destination,” she says. “For groups who don’t want to ski, golf or mountain bike, there are the concerts, the festivals, the spas. There’s something for everyone to enjoy.”
Spring
In spring, mild temperatures make it a perfect time for outdoor adventure. As the trees begin to bud, prices fall in Park City.
“Winter sells itself, from a group perspective,” says Creek-McCallister. “We focus on spring, summer and fall. You can get incredible values here from mid-April through June, and from October through mid-December.”
Golf season kicks off in March and lasts through November, though winter golf is sometimes possible. Salt Lake City boasts six full-service public golf courses, with nearly 20 courses in the region. Of the city’s public courses, Bonneville, Forest Dale, Mountain Dell and Rose Park golf courses welcome group outings for tournaments at affordable prices.
By April, the weather is warm enough to host group fun runs to City Creek Canyon and Nature Preserve from Salt Palace Convention Center. The paved trail, reserved for pedestrians and cyclists, begins just three-quarters of a mile from the center. Within the canyon, an important watershed for Salt Lake City, there are 30 picnic areas with capacities ranging from 12 to 200 people.
Each May, the Salt Lake City Arts Council presents the Living Traditions Festival. The colorful three-day celebration highlights all of the cultures that have contributed to Salt Lake’s vibrant heritage. Japanese taiko drumming, mariachi music, Latin and Scottish Highlands dance, Maori pottery, Belarusian woodcarving and artisan foods from around the world are on offer downtown at Washington and Library squares, and admission is free.
Summer
Salt Lake gets hot in the summertime, but it’s reliably dry and quite pleasant. In fact, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is holding its annual meeting and exposition in the city this August, and the opening and closing receptions will take place outdoors.
If it’s too hot in town, take groups up into the foothills, where the higher elevations offer cooler temperatures and golfing. Wasatch Mountain State Park offers four golf courses, including the highly rated Mountain and Lake greens, at a cool 6,000 feet. Banquet facilities can accommodate nearly 300. Wolf Creek Resort, an hour’s drive north of Salt Lake in Eden at 5,000 feet, overlooks Ogden Valley and Pineview Reservoir. Groups can golf the 18-hole championship course and gather in 3,700 square feet of event space.
Also thanks to elevation, it’s possible to get some skiing in on weekends from May through Independence Day. Groups can take the aerial tram up to 11,000 feet at Snowbird Resort, where the final snows of the year linger on Hidden Peak. Other summer adventures at Snowbird include the exciting mountain coaster, the 1,300-foot Alpine Slide and the giddy heights of the Vertical Drop. A climbing wall and ropes course are available for more traditional teambuilding opportunities.
Biking is big in Park City. In fact, the International Mountain Bicycling Association has named the town a Gold Level Ride Center for its terrain, scenic views and extreme bike-friendliness. There are more than 450 miles of biking trails in the area, and facilities spend a combined $1 million on trails each year. Park City will host the opening and closing of the seventh stage of the Tour of Utah cycling race in August this year.
Other summer activities available in Park City include guided group hikes, fly fishing on the Provo River, river rafting and hot-air ballooning. Those who are less inclined to active sports can enjoy chairlift and gondola rides to take in the majestic mountain vistas.
Summer is also the peak of festival season in both Salt Lake and Park City.
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“Groups are finding there’s so much to do,” says Creek-McCallister of Park City. “There’s music going on almost every night each week in most outdoor venues. Many concerts are free.”
In July and early August, Deer Valley Music Festival brings the Utah Symphony plus a wide array of musical guests to Deer Valley Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater and St. Mary’s Church. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for discounted tickets. At the same venue, Park City Institute presents the St. Regis Big Stars Bright Nights on Sundays and Thursdays through July and August. There are discounts for groups of 20 and members of military plus their families.
Each June, Salt Lake is host to the Utah Pride Festival. The three-day event is one of the largest LGBT pride events in the country.
“There’s a perception that Salt Lake is going to be very conservative, but that turns out not to be true,” says White. “It turns out that everyone is welcome here.”
Salt Lake’s gay community has a lot to celebrate at Pride this year. Not only did Salt Lake swear in its first openly gay mayor, Jackie Biskupski, in January, but in May the city named a downtown block in honor of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk.
On the fourth weekend of June, the Utah Arts Festival takes over Library and Washington Squares in downtown Salt Lake. The award-winning festival draws 80,000 attendees for three days of juried visual arts, live music, dance, film and even literary and culinary arts. Discounted tickets for groups of 20 or more are available in advance.
Through July and August, the Twilight Concert Series fills Salt Lake’s downtown Pioneer Park with live music, beer and hip crowds each Thursday evening. Since 1973, Snowbird Resort has put on a killer Oktoberfest starting in mid-August. Visitors can enjoy German-style craft beer, traditional music, yodeling and alpenhorns every weekend through the beginning of October. This immensely popular festival draws 60,000 each year.
Autumn
In autumn, the yellow and orange of scrub oaks, fiery red maples and glowing gold of aspens paint brilliant flashes amongst the dark green of the pines. This stunning display makes a perfect backdrop for banquets.
Located in a historic log mansion set in Wasatch National Forest, Log Haven Restaurant surrounds guests with forest splendor. There are four private dining rooms seating 24 to 150 guests, respectively.
The Aerie Restaurant & Lounge is located atop the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird. Diners enjoy dramatic views of Cottonwood Canyon. The Aerie can seat approximately 75 in the lounge, 100 for private dining or 200 utilizing the entire restaurant.
Park City’s Autumn Aloft festival is a particularly spectacular way to appreciate fall scenery. The event, held in mid-September, fills the air above Park City with scores of colorful hot-air balloons for three days.
While it’s difficult to positively predict when the leaves will turn, in general the color begins in mid-September in higher elevations, and the show is over by early October.
Utah bills its winter sports as “the greatest snow on Earth,” and ski season traditionally kicks off on Thanksgiving. Apart from quality powder, and lots of it, accessibility is also a major benefit of ski outings in the Salt Lake area. There are 11 ski resorts within an hour’s drive of Salt Lake International Airport, which is consistently ranked as one of the top on-time airports for its size.
“Accessibility is a key point,” says Creek-McCallister. “When we bring planners here, they’re blown away. It’s a hop-skip.”
Winter
After a huge lighting ceremony on Thanksgiving Day, Temple Square remains lit up every evening until the New Year. The holiday season of lights culminates with Eve, a massive festival with 12 live performance venues. Eve enlivens downtown Salt Lake over the last three days of each year with family-friendly music and activities and adult-friendly beverage options.
The legendary Sundance Film Festival takes over venues in Park City, Salt Lake, Ogden, and of course the Sundance Resort for 10 days each January. Ticketing options for larger groups are available with corporate sponsorship.
Of course, winter is the peak of the region’s vaunted ski season. Due to Salt Lake’s dry climate, it may even be possible on some winter days to golf in the morning and ski in the afternoon.
Other winter activities include backcountry snowmobile tours at most resorts, ice fishing for trout and ice-skating at the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake.
