Gallivan construction moves Salt Lake City's Twilight concert series to Pioneer Park

SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News) — A hotbed for crime on the city's west side, Pioneer Park for years has been a place most avoid after dark.

This summer, however, Salt Lake City leaders expect thousands to come for Twilight.

With its longtime home, the Gallivan Center, undergoing an $8 million makeover this summer, the Twilight Concert Series is moving to Pioneer Park, and city officials say it will be a chance for people to experience the ongoing revitalization of an often disregarded neighborhood.

"There are some perception issues, and that's the only thing we have to overcome," said Casey Jarman, who organizes the free Thursday night concerts for the Salt Lake Arts Council. "I can't say what the audience numbers are going to be this year. Once you come down to the first show, I think you're going to see this is a great, great area."

The park is a daytime hangout for a number of the city's homeless, and police installed cameras there last year to help curb rampant drug activity.

But the park is home to a popular weekend farmers market, and officials hope the park could one day be an anchor for a year-round public market.

A summertime film series and other activities have helped spring up condominiums, apartments and upscale restaurants around the park's edges.

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