Downtown Alliance - Salt Lake City, Utah

Try the Salt Lake City Arts Council's Brown Bag Concert Series, held every day at various locations in Salt Lake City from July 12 to Aug. 27.

Casey Jarman, who began working with the series 27 years ago, said Brown Bag offers free music for those hoping to escape the daily grind momentarily and enjoy something different downtown.

"Over the years I have seen the ups and downs of the local art scene, and I think right now it's very strong," Jarman said. "We're just trying to hang in there, to provide something that's free, that's a good experience for the artists and audience."

The performances begin at 12:15 p.m. and last for 45 minutes, which Jarman said gives people time to walk over and get back to work on time. This year, Jarman said audiences can expect to see an all-local lineup featuring everything from jazz to indie music.

"We did have a lot of out-of-state artists apply, but the local talent just shined through this year," Jarman said. "I don't think we should constrict the concert series to local artists because they want to go other places, too. This year it really just turned out that the panel just selected what they think is best."

Michael Mack, vice president of services at the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, served as one of the panelists involved with choosing artists for this year's Brown Bag Concert Series and said panel members sifted through close to a hundred submissions before choosing the lineup.

"The thing that stood out for me," Mack said, "was there was a lot of Irish-type music and Celtic music that came forward and a wide variety of instruments in every category, so it was fun to see the nontraditional-type music getting performed."

Mack said the series adds flavor to downtown for both tourists passing through and local residents who are looking for something to enrich their lunch hour.

"It's a very small scale thing, but it's meant to be," Mack said. "It has a great downtown following. I think it's really appreciated and contributes to the fabric of what we promote as a vibrant downtown."

The Brown Bag concert series began as a street theater project in 1978, when it became notorious for holding shows in unusual places, such as tennis courts, buses and elevators throughout Salt Lake City.

"Those were the early wacky days of the series," Jarman said. "It was started by Gerald McDonough, and he was more of a theatrical person, so his emphasis was more toward that theatrical-type stuff. It was a really good idea, but it became difficult. The simplest way to manage it now is to do locations where people can come to it at their choice."

This year, Jarman said the concert series stuck to three locations — Exchange Place Plaza (350 S. Main), Salt Lake City and County Building (451 S. State) and City Creek Park (State Street and 2nd Avenue) — which rotate weekly and will draw in crowds of anywhere from 25 to 200 people.

Jarman, who founded the burgeoning Twilight Concert Series, said the smaller scale and localized feel of the Brown Bag Concert Series is an intentional breath of fresh air during the festival season.

"It's a very different scale, but I think it's a really good mix," Jarman said. "Twilight is huge, big-name artists, lots of people, and Brown Bag is for the local artists. It's refreshing. In many ways it means a lot more than the Twilight series because it is our local artists."

Local singer-songwriter Kate MacLeod has performed at the Brown Bag Concert Series "many, many times" and said that although she has booked national gigs, she still loves being part of the series each year.

"All the musicians really like to play because it gives the people working business hours a chance to see music on their breaks, and that's a great service to the people and a great way to showcase the arts," MacLeod said.

MacLeod said the series offers an opportunity for her to gain fans who otherwise might not have checked out her new Americana and folk-style music.

"We get a wonderful response — many people who come know who we are, and half the audience is brand new and are glad to hear something they like," Mac-Leod said. "So (people) can go out on their lunch break and be pleasantly surprised."

Brown Bag typically hosts a bevy of genres, and Jarman said this year is no exception.

"I'm excited about all the groups this year," Jarman said. "We have a really nice mixture of experimental, new indie rock, traditional jazz and good longtime performers."

Jarman said the biggest focus of Brown Bag is to expose the lunchtime crowd to a variety of performers and help people discover artists they might not have typically sought out.

"You have to bring something new in, maybe a little challenging sometimes and let them walk away with a little bit more information than they came with," Jarman said.

If you go

What: Brown Bag Concert Series

When: Mondays to Fridays through Aug. 27, 12:15 p.m.

Where: Various Salt Lake locations

How much: Free

Web: www.slcgov.com/arts