Dirt finally started flying Friday for a long-proposed $20 million remake of Salt Lake City’s oldest park.
After more than five years of discussion, planning and design work, the north end of Pioneer Park will now undergo a green transformation by year’s end, intended to make the 10-acre park safer and more inclusive and appealing to families.
With speeches and ceremonial turns on a row of gold-colored shovels, officials including Mayor Erin Mendenhall, downtown’s City Council member, Eva Lopez, and other folks from City Hall guiding the improvements sought to add a new chapter to over 175 years of park history.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and the city's Department of Public Lands host a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the start of construction at Pioneer Park on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
Bond money and cash from fees charged to developers has been set aside since 2019 for renovating downtown’s only major green space, located at 350 S. 300 West.
Those funds will now pay for new groves of trees and native plants, along with refreshed walkways, improved lighting, a performance pavilion and park ranger station, new sports courts, a fenced on-leash dog park and other features.
Pioneer Park “plays a vital role as a gathering place, event space and a historic landmark,” said Kim Shelley, director of the city’s Department of Public Lands. “Our goal is to make it safer, more welcoming and more usable every day of the week, while preserving its character.”
Importantly, this phase of improvements is tailored to more closely meet the perceived needs of thousands of new residents who’ve moved into the downtown area since 2020.
The project also represents the city’s latest attempt to shake the park’s reputation as run-down and inhospitable space vexed by chronic crime and vagrancy.
(Salt Lake City) An aerial rendering of a promenade in Pioneer Park, part of nearly $20 million in improvements launched Friday by Salt Lake City.
The city’s plans are meant to craft a more conducive setting for the seasonal Downtown Farmers Market, staged in the park on Saturdays from early June to late October.
Ultimately, market organizers will shoot for a permanent building in the park, they announced last year.
While the north end of the park is set for closure during the work, Shelley said the Farmers Market nonetheless plans to operate at Pioneer Park through its summer season.
(Design Workshop and Sparano + Mooney Architecture, via Salt Lake City) A rendering of a guided path envisioned for Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park.
The hope now is that carefully planned upgrades will ultimately draw additional visitors, with the help of a cooling canopy of trees; new attractions such as pickle ball courts, playgrounds and a misting fountain; more seating and restrooms; and a cafe as well as added safety from regular staffing at the ranger station.
“All of the changes are intended to make this park more family friendly every single day of the year,” said Mendenhall.
(Design Workshop and Sparano + Mooney Architecture, via Salt Lake City) An aerial rendering of the playground proposed for Pioneer Park.
The mayor recounted some of Pioneer Park’s myriad uses in over its 179 years of documented history and well before, including as a longtime Native American gathering spot prior to being dubbed “Old Fort” by early Latter-day Saint pioneers.
The block-size park has served as an early home site, a place for community gardens, a youth sports hub, and a locale for visiting circuses and for public swimming pools. The park has been proposed for stadiums and soccer complexes and more.
“So many bold plans that never came to fruition, but the green space remained,” said Mendenhall. “Now we owe it to Salt Lakers, especially our downtown families, to care for downtown’s only park with responsibility and with stewardship.”
(The Downtown Alliance) A rendering of a new building proposed at Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park, designed to house portions of the seasonal Downtown Farmer's Market and activate the urban park year-round.
Other improvements including permeable sidewalk surfaces and native plant species are also expected to help set new benchmarks for the park’s environmental sustainability and water conservation, officials said.
Residents around the park and across the city have consistently favored improving Pioneer Park in a series of surveys. Polling in 2023 found that nearly half the respondents were either extremely or somewhat dissatisfied with the park in its current condition.
(Design Workshop and Sparano + Mooney Architecture, via Salt Lake City) An aerial rendering of a pavilion anchoring proposed improvements to Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park.
Lopez Chavez said the upgrades would expand and create new spaces for children and adults of all ages, while also boosting surrounding businesses.
“This is the type of green space where kids will learn how to ride bikes. Grandparents can sit in the shade,” she said, “and you can imagine yourself walking around here after purchasing some delicious sandwiches at Caputo’s [Market and Deli.]”
Shelley said work on Pioneer Park would be completed later this year, with Big D Construction as the general contractor.
“We appreciate the public’s patience,” she added, “as we invest in a park that will service downtown for decades to come.”