This year is the 16th birthday of Craft Lake City’s DIY fest, and visitors swarmed the Utah State Fairpark to celebrate.
The weekend festival featured over 500 artisans, vintage vendors, food vendors, youth entrepreneurs, performers and STEM exhibitors. Every booth and product was local, said Craft Lake City director Angela Brown.
Admission to the vibrant festival was $15 for humans and $7 for dogs, according to the festival’s website.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Allegiant Dance Crew performs at the Craft Lake City DIY Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024.
Local artists take the stage
The festival action Saturday began at the performance stages, which showcased local musicians and dancers throughout the weekend. At 1 p.m., the Allegiant Dance Crew was up. Their mission is to encourage empowerment and self-expression through dance, especially to those from low-income communities, the Craft Lake City website states.
Modeling their inclusivity, the crew’s performance extended to the crowd. Playing a Missy Elliot song over the speakers, the dancers entered the audience and encouraged people to join them in some hip-hop moves.
Performers were scheduled back-to-back so that the stages would always be busy.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Figures of Barbara Lockwood at the Craft Lake City DIY Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024.
Kid Row features the future of Utah art
Next to the stage was Kid Row, a tent that held the artist booths of Utah’s youngest creators. Kid Row was only active on Saturday at the festival.
One 9-year-old at Kid Row, named Mei, who was joined by her 6-year-old brother, Ren, seemed to be the future of local journalism. “So our main thing that we’re trying to sell are the newspapers,” she explained. “So we have our fashion edition, and we also have our ‘Harry Potter’ edition.”
Flipping through her laminated “Kid News” fashion edition, she pointed out an interview she did about fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Another page held a movie review of “Cruella.”
Her career started at the age of 4, she said, when she became interested in investigating all the names of the pets in her neighborhood. Since then, her papers have gotten bigger and more complex, she said.
Kid Row is supported by Craft Lake City’s Youth Artisan Entrepreneur Program, which offers art instruction and mentoring to the young artists debuting at the DIY fest.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Craft Lake City DIY Festival in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024.
Inside the DIY festival
The DIY festival flowed from the outdoor stages and booths to indoor sanctuaries of art and technology on the south and eastern ends of the grounds.
In the southernmost building sat graphic designer and sketchbook designer Trent Miller. His sketchbooks are all upcycled from brown paper grocery bags that he and his friends saved up. They are then decorated with stickers that he designed. The idea came because he always liked to draw on toned paper.
“It’s a cooler place to start,” he said.
The STEM building, on the east edge of the festival, featured a higher percentage of interactive booths. Attendees could play with robots, examine model cars or experience a virtual reality video game.
For more permanent fun, they can also get a tattoo. The tattoo booth was operated by Dark Arts, a shop from Midvale that offered flash designs that could be completed within an hour.
“A lot of the people are just spontaneously choosing to get a tattoo done,” said tattoo artist Ethan Lund.
When asked what tattoo he hopes to draw on someone, Lund pointed to a rat carrying a spiked club. “I like this guy, the battle rat,” he said. Another tattoo artist behind him agreed.
The DIY festival expected to have welcomed 20,000 people this weekend. It “offers something new to be experienced by all,” stated Brown in the festival program.
Correction • Aug. 11, 11:15 a.m.: This story has been updated to correct the name of “Kid News” creator Mei, as well as her brother’s age.