Grid City Music Festival preview 

• Courtesy Image
• Grid City Music Fest promotional art

If you're a lover of local art, music and delicious brews, boy do we have great news for you. The Grid City Music Festival is back for another year of all of the above across several days, and you won't want to miss out on any of it. There aren't too many events like this one, so you don't want to experience FOMO until the event comes back next year for another round.

Grid City Beer Works is a lovely brewery in South Salt Lake that brings excellent food and alcohol selections to the area, as well as a space to hold events and just hang out and have a good time. "The brewery wanted to have its own music festival," co-owner of Grid City and festival organizer Drew Reynolds recalled of the event's origins. The festival grew to involve more breweries and venues in the area, bringing more folks to see what South Salt Lake has to offer.

"Although it has the Grid City title on it, it's not necessarily just for Grid City Beer Works. I'm kind of trying to make the city of South Salt Lake get more recognized," Reynolds added.

You'll be able to see 62 beautifully-designed murals throughout the city, and 54 local bands on seven different stages across three days of fun. "The Zone," as it's called, has plenty to see, and luckily it'll be easy to reach these different locations with the free Fun Bus returning this year to shuttle event-goers to the different spots in "The Zone." "You can literally just go from brewery to brewery, and ... venue to venue, and basically enjoy free music and drink libations and really have a good time," Reynolds said.

The Fun Bus will take you to all of these fun locations where there are plenty of free events, but if you truly want to support the festival, the afterparties at The Commonwealth Room are where it's at. These ticketed events are worth every penny, however, with acts like The Pour, J-Rad Cooley, The Plastic Cherries, Triggers and Slips, The Pickpockets and Pompe 'n Honey. While you're out exploring the festival, you can pick up a passport on Saturday to fill up with stamps, and if you bring that into The Commonwealth Room you'll get a free commemorative glass to immortalize your time at the Grid City Music Festival.

The hopes are to get as many folks to these after-party shows at The Commonwealth Room as possible, because sponsorships only go so far. If you're a lover of the local music/arts scene, now is your time to share that love. Reynolds mentioned that these after parties are going to have a sort of "carnival" feel to them, with things besides music like palm-reading, spinning pottery, podcasting and all kinds of other artisans offering their goods.

The Grid City Music Festival is about showing off what the city has to offer, but it's also about appreciating the amazing talent we have in our hometowns. "I'm really psyched about really focusing on these musicians and these people who, most of them have two, three jobs and they're trying to make it in the music biz. And we pay all the musicians, and we want them to enjoy it too," Reynolds expressed.

The festival is a great time for music-lovers, but it also gives local bands a chance to see each other play and perform when they may not have time normally. "I love our local music scene, and Grid City is 110% behind it," said singer/songwriter/guitarist Terence Hansen, who will be at the festival. "I am really looking forward to hearing some of my favorite local bands and discovering some new ones!"

The hope is that Grid City Music Festival can come back each year, with more bands for attendees to discover and chances to patronize great local businesses in the area. "We just don't throw enough parties. And I think this is a good time to party and celebrate Salt Lake City," Reynolds said. "You have to come and support it if you want to keep it happening," he added. "It's not just about Grid City, it's about that whole area and the great businesses that are there and great business owners."

Come out and enjoy a great evening with even greater art, music and drinks starting Friday, Aug. 23 through Sunday, Aug. 25. You can buy individual tickets for the weekend or double up for some good deals. For more info head to gridcitymusicfest.com.