The 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented by Harmons

There's no shortage of art to check out at DIY Fest. Photo: Derek Brad.

Image: Chay Mosqueda, Derek Brad, Diego Andino, Dominic Jordon, Hayley Stoddard, Jovvany Villalobos

Community

Another DIY Fest for the books! The 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons was a blast and proves once again how Craft Lake City has created unrivaled exhibition opportunities for local creators in Utah since 2008. This year’s festival hosted an astounding 500+ local artisans, vintage vendors, craft foodies, STEM exhibitors, youth entrepreneurs, food trucks and so much more!

Of course, none of this would’ve been possible without the DIY Festival’s incredible sponsors. The 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons featured the GFiber STEM Building, the VIP Lounge Sponsored By Utah’s Own, Mark Miller Subaru Leave Your Mark Park Kids’ Area, the 90.9FM KRCL Stage, the GOFHA stage, the Utah Afterschool Network’s Kid Row, the Offside Print & Apparel Volunteer Lounge and the PupTub Club Dog Park. Additional support is provided in part by the Willard L. Eccles Foundation, Stephen G. and Susan E. Denkers Family Foundation, UTA, PCTV, Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation, McCarthey Family Foundation, PBS Utah, 90.1 KUER, KUAA, Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office ACE Grant, Meta, STEM Action Center, Hypha, 24tix.com, Visit Salt Lake, Water and Wellness, Cricut and XMission.

Friday kicked off with incredible local acts on the KRCL Stage featuring Tolchock Trio and Talia Keys and the Love along with The X’D and Goldie and The Guise on the GOFHA Stage. The night’s performances wrapped up with indie pop star Kacy Hill closing the night with her dreamy vocals, playing tracks off her newest album Bug. Many SLC locals and others from outside the city flooded the fairgrounds to see all that Utah’s artisans have to offer.

Saturday hosted the largest number of artisans during the three-day festival, including many that SLUG covered in our August DIY Fest issue like Ten Cent Pistil, Cheeky Dish Vintage and Dark Muse Altars. A Saturday only youth entrepreneurs set up shop to sell their unique creations, including Kid News!

Each day, guests could participate in Craft Lake City’s many STEM activities like “Build Your Own Rocket,” where kids and adults alike transformed 2-liter bottles into reusable water rockets, or “Ink Credible!” where guests learned about the science that makes tattoos permanent. Some daring participants even sat down to be tattooed themselves by artists from Dark Arts Tattoo with STEM-inspired flash designs.

The 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons wasn’t just a place to buy incredible art and learn about science—it was also an excellent place to be fed. This year’s DIY Fest featured over 20 craft food vendors including Parami and Raw Eddy’s along with food trucks like Happy Tummie and Mama Africa dishing out delicious bites.

Sunday featured some of Utah’s best and brightest locals acts with Musor, Shecock with a Vengeance and Drusky gracing the KRCL Stage and Jimi Dead, Vincent Draper and the Culls and Purr Bats on the GOFHA Stage. leaving everyone with bags and baskets full of unique local art, crafts, and stomachs full of unbeatable local cooking. SLUG, like many of you, can’t wait for the next one.