Thousands of art lovers strolled through Salt Lake City’s Library Square on the final day of the 34th Utah Arts Festival, sampling the various visual, verbal and musical treats provided by hundreds of artists.
Though final numbers were not available on Sunday, Lisa Sewell, the festival’s executive director, had cause to celebrate.
“Average attendance at the festival is between 76,000 and 78,000. This year, we are definitely on track to exceed that,” Sewell said Sunday afternoon. “It has been a record attendance, more like what we saw at Triad Center [a decade ago].”
For evidence, organizers say there was a dramatic increase of ATM usage on the site, a 20 percent increase in traffic to the festival’s website and more than 1,400 iPhone application free downloads of the festival’s schedule as of Saturday at midnight.
“This year has had a great feel,” said Sewell, who has been involved with the festival for 15 years, the last four as director. “The most fun is coming up with new ideas to attract new and diverse audiences.”
She was particularly excited about the participation of Richard Elliott, an organist for the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Elliott, who told Sewell he enjoys playing outside of church settings, performed Mussorgsky’s “Scenes from an Exhibition” on a mobile pipe organ in the main library hall.
“Coming into the library was like entering a cathedral,” she said, and with the mix of blues, indie jazz and hard rock, it provided an eclectic experience for festival-goers.
There was standing room only in the Fear No Film program, featuring about 60 short films in the library’s auditorium, Sewell said. And the Fine Art exhibit on the library’s upper floor attracted more than 3,000 attendees.
Another new feature, Flash Mob, a group of dancers that breaks into unannounced movement at unpredictable spots on the plaza, was another crowd favorite, she said. “They are so young and so spontaneous. Audiences loved them.”
This was glassblower Laurie Thal’s first year at the Utah festival and she was impressed.
“It is amazingly well organized and well run,” said Thal, of Jackson Hole, Wyo. “I am very impressed with the music especially,” she said.
Last year, Thal’s exquisite designs attracted President Barack Obama, whose staff purchased her Peacock Bowl as an official gift for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, of India.
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