In what is being called a “bold step” in revitalizing Pioneer Park, the business-backed Downtown Alliance says it has a new pact with Salt Lake City to manage the green space to create a safer, more visible, friendly and daily presence there.
Officials with the Salt Lake Chamber-supported alliance, which represents downtown merchants, said a new “memorandum of understanding” envisions new attractions and a permanent multipurpose building at the gritty urban park that would serve as a year-round home for the popular Downtown Farmers Market.
The latest additions to the historic park are proposed to happen in conjunction with almost $18 million in city-backed improvements already planned for Pioneer, including new sports facilities and a pavilion at the north end.
(The Downtown Alliance) A rendering of a new building proposed at Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park, designed to house portions of the Downtown Farmers Market and activate the urban park year-round.
Thursday’s announcement came as the Downtown Alliance held its yearly gala and unveiled numbers showing increases in visitors, daytime workers, residents and event ticket sales downtown in 2024 as the urban core of Utah‘s capital continues to grow its residential population.
News for Pioneer Park also comes as downtown advocates and business leaders are heralding the transformative effects of some $4 billion in pending investments to build a new sports, entertainment, culture and convention district around a revamped Delta Center, meant to better showcase NBA and NHL teams — as well as extensive renovations planned at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
The new public market building at Pioneer Park, said Carly Gillespie, director of the Downtown Farmers Market, will act as a permanent home for producing the market year-round and activating the park’s spaces.
The structure will also host other community events with a large multipurpose hall, she said, while offering clean, attended public restrooms and places for staffing the park seven days a week.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Carly Gillespie, who oversees the Downtown Farmers Market, discusses improvements planned for Pioneer Park on May 22, 2025.
“It’s designed as an urban shed with transparent walls of glass that open and integrate well into the park,” Gillespie said Thursday of the new building, which will be city-owned but operated by the alliance.
Besides that facility, the city‘s own park upgrade plan calls for lawn games, cafe seating, a beverage bar and staffed restrooms. Meanwhile, the alliance’s uniformed Downtown Ambassadors will be based in the new building and provide a visible daily presence.
Officials with the alliance and the city say they will finalize their public-private agreement this year, with project development and actual construction expected to start in 2026.
The move, according to the alliance, will also shore up the success of the farmers market, which launched more than three decades ago and is currently the park’s largest draw on the Saturdays it is open. That includes providing a reliable home for its winter market, Gillespie said, removing uncertainty for some farmers, vendors and entrepreneurs.
“The social and economic benefits of the market,” she said, “need to be secured for the neighborhood, Salt Lake City, our vendors and community.”
(Scott Sommerdorf |The Salt Lake Tribune) Kids play with soap bubbles at the Downtown Farmers Market in 2014.
Revenues from private event rentals at the new building would help pay for expanding daily park programming, activation and operations, according to the Downtown Alliance’s executive director, Dee Brewer.
“Our success programming in Pioneer Park is a model for creating a vibrant park every day of the week,” Brewer said in announcing the new arrangement with the city. “Pioneer Park has endured a bad reputation for decades. We know we can change the chemistry of the park. We have done it every summer Saturday for 34 years with the Downtown Farmers Market. Pioneer Park is safe, active and communal on market days. We are ready to build on that success to vitalize the park and the neighborhood.”
Besides widening park programming and boosting a sense of safety, Brewer said, the alliance will pay for additional public benefits and pursue private philanthropic funding.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Michael Porcelli plays with his dog, Lilly, at Pioneer Park on Friday, May 16, 2025.
“We want to help rehabilitate Pioneer Park and make it safe and welcoming to all,” said Gillespie, who added the alliance has a goal of doubling visitation to the park, meaning up to 200,000 more visitors a year.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall welcomed the new direction, saying it dovetailed well with the city’s broader goals for upgrading the park, bringing more activation and improving public safety.
“There‘s no doubt,” she said as part of the announcement, “we’re stepping into a new era for one of our city‘s most historic public spaces.”
Pioneer is one of Utah’s oldest parks and has seen an array of uses in its century-plus history: from ballparks, a swimming pool and soccer fields to the erstwhile venue for the Twilight Concert Series. The mayor noted that due to its tarnished image, regular visitors to Pioneer Park are dwarfed by usage levels at other city parks.
“The potential of Pioneer Park activation is just waiting to be tapped,” Mendenhall said. “I couldn‘t be more excited that we’re finally exploring this public-private partnership to get the most out of our downtown park.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Matt and Yelena Caputo at the deli near Pioneer Park in 2023.
The owner of a nearby business said the plan for the new building “sounds fantastic.”
Matt Caputo, CEO of Caputo’s Market and Deli, 314 W. 300 South, said the farmers market was one of the reasons why the shop opened up across the street from Pioneer Park in the first place.
Caputo describes the seasonal market as a weekly “reset” for the park.
“The care and the effort put in by the people at the Downtown Alliance and the people that run the farmers market have been really helpful in ways that just aren‘t impacting business,” Caputo said, “but in terms of keeping the park feeling safe [and] vibrant.”
Thursday‘s news comes as the city seeks an array of long-sought upgrades and additions to the park, whose past patterns of attracting vagrancy and crime have vexed elected officials intent on bettering its conditions as more and more people move downtown.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Two women swing at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 16, 2025.
The city is pressing ahead with improvements that include a grove of newly planted trees at the north end, a picnic pavilion and several refreshed interpretive paths through the park, as well as new playground equipment, and basketball and pickleball courts.
City officials have set aside more than $18 million for bettering the park. Mendenhall said construction on those will start this fall.
“We’re excited,” she said, “to weave in this vision.”
“A future where Pioneer Park is utilized to its full potential,” Mendenhall said, ”is a future where Salt Lakers feel more connected — to each other, to the outdoors and to our community.”
