This is part two of our Summer Entertainment Guide: Tips for keeping your kids busy during the long summer days. On City Cast Salt Lake, we chatted with Bryant Heath of SLSees about his favorites for family-friendly fun on the cheap.
🏕️ Camps
Bryant recommends: SLC School District, Camp Wildlife, and the University of Utah
“Basically any hobby or interest, there’s a camp for. If both of the parents are working, there really aren’t that many options for those months long, full day camps. That’s where it gets hyper-competitive. It’s like trying to get tickets to the Taylor Swift concert, so you're right on at midnight on the computer ready to login and register. Here in Utah, there's Instagram accounts (like Utah Fun with Kids and Utah Family Travels) sharing their own spreadsheets and calendars.”
🎊 Events/Festivals
Bryant Recomments: The Gateway
“One place I like to go often for events is the Gateway mall. They typically have recurring events like Urban Flea Market and a maker’s market. There's also other things for your kids to do: a splash pad, the movie theater, they have the indoor food hall, you can beat the heat there. We take my two-year-old upstairs and just let her run amuck and go wild up and down the escalators.”
Fun at Westminster. (Bryant Heath/SLSees)
🚲 Bike/E-Bike
Bryant Recommends: Biking to Westminster College
“Westminster College is an excellent place for kids. In the summertime, it's pretty much empty, but they have a lot of features. Emigration Creek runs through with a nice trail that you can walk along. My oldest is learning how to ride a bicycle, so we just take her to the top of the parking garage and she can do loops. They have a couple of water fountains that they can splash around. It's one of those things you don't really think about being full of activities, but through the lens of a young kid, oh man, it's basically like Disneyland. A poor man's Disneyland.”
🌳 Parks
Bryant Recommends: Fitts Park
“We like going to Fitts Park down in South Salt Lake, on like 500 E. and 3100 S, it has sunshades. That's the biggest deal in the summertime. If you go to a park with direct sunlight, it's just way too hot for the kids. They hate it, and then you wind up leaving and going home. They also have different difficulty levels of playgrounds, which is also important, especially if you have multiple kids.”
- Related: Check out Bryant’s picks for the best pocket parks (say that five times fast). [City Cast Salt Lake 🎧]
