It would be difficult to underestimate the value of the 2010 Twilight Concert Series on the Pioneer Park neighborhood and downtown Salt Lake City. As tens of thousands of people poured into the city every Thursday night for eight summer weeks, sidewalks were full, restaurants hummed, businesses boomed and people smiled.
When the program director Casey Jarman suggested moving the series to Pioneer Park there were plenty of naysayers. Some worried that holding concerts in a place known for drugs and prostitution would ruin the popular series. They were wrong. The concerts attracted thousands more people.
Casey, Salt Lake City Arts Council director Nancy Boskoff, Mayor Ralph Becker and the City Council deserve great credit for their courageous decision to move the series.
As I looked over the crowd at the final concert featuring She and Him, I saw a sea of Utahns fully engaged in their urban center, swaying to the music, bordered by trees, with grass underfoot, stars above and smiles all around. I caught a vision of the great American city Mayor Becker promised in his campaign. And I was proud to call this place my home.
Jason Mathis
Executive Director, Downtown Alliance
Salt Lake City
The new vision for Salt Lake City encompasses ideas large and small, bold and restrained - for shaping downtown's future. 