BANQUET PARK

Downtown Garden Stroll 

SLC Downtown Alliance
Wood, Dirt, Grass, Flowers
8’x20’x3’
Salt Lake City, Utah | 2016

Downtown SLC Presents wanted to provide a sense of playfulness, surprise and discovery for downtown visitors. Anyone who has been in Downtown Salt Lake City during the Spring knows is bursting with color. As a way to engage visitors Downtown SLC Presents started the Pop Up Park Garden Stroll. They asked artists to create the Pop Up Parks using a floral or garden theme that incorporating landscaping and seating along with elements of art, playfulness and fun. The Garden Stroll builds upon one of the premier urban gardens in the west, at Temple Square. Banquet park was part of the second year of the Garden Stroll, and was on display from April 1 to May 8 and led up to the flowers blooming for Mother’s Day.

I find the most successful installations allow for interaction and actually are used by viewers. The concept of banquet park was to engage people during the busiest time of day downtown, lunch. The park provided a relaxing place to eat and gather. It was a simply banquet table divided into seating areas by planters filled with a range of flowers and plants. The park was 8’x20’x4’ built from standard 2x members, mostly 2x4s. The flowers added color while providing screening around the park.  The project was filled with a range of different flowers like Dusty Miller, Kale, Persian Shield, Scirpus, Rockapulco, and a number of different Geraniums. All of which thrive under constant sunlight and were ideal for this project because they would stay colorful for the entire month.