For people who want to perform in the street, Salt Lake City’s annual Busker Fest is providing that opportunity.
The annual event, on Regent Street and Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City, is set for June 24 and 25 — and organizers are taking applications for performers.
In past years, the event has featured musicians, dancers, comedians, hula-hoopers, jugglers, fire-eaters and other performance acts.
The event is hosted in conjunction with Open Streets, an initiative by The Blocks to create a pedestrian-friendly street plaza on summer weekend nights. The city will stop automotive traffic on Main Street between South Temple and 400 South on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.
Busker Fest, event director Kim Angeli said in a statement, “will showcase local talent and encourage performers and the public to embrace street performers throughout the city.”
For those applying to perform, gigs would be paid. All acts and themes are welcome, but the line-up is being programmed with a vaudeville theme, employing a type of performance centering on entertaining sketches.
Angeli said the festival is “harkening back to the city’s rich vaudeville roots.” Theaters that played live vaudeville acts used to line the streets of downtown Salt Lake City; one of the last such theaters, the Pantages Theatre on Main Street, saw demolition begin on Tuesday, after decades of decline and disrepair.
The deadline to apply is May 15 and applications can be found at BuskerFestSLC.com.
