Sugar House Park

The Sugar House Park Authority is now accepting applications from interested individuals who desire to serve on the Park Authority's Board of Trustees.

The board is the governing body for Sugar House Park and is composed of nine individuals, seven of whom are volunteer members. The Board oversees operations of the Park, approves special events in the Park, sets policy, and determines future growth and direction of the Park. The board meets once a month, 10 months a year, with meetings usually lasting three hours. Board members are expected to participate in the monthly meetings and occasional committee meetings.

This is an opportunity for anyone who is passionate about Sugar House Park to give back to the community and gain valuable board experience. Anyone interested in applying should download the application form and then send to Craig Cheney at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The board is accepting applications until August 1, 2010.

Sugar House Park's signage project, which features the new pavilion signs that were installed last spring, is moving forward toward an anticipated conclusion late this summer.

The Park Authority is working with its signage designers on new signs in three remaining categories: park rules signs, directional signs, and traffic and regulation signs. When the project is complete, the Park will boast a completely new and updated set of signs, and the Park Authority will have completed one of the major tasks recommended in its Master Plan. 

In the first phase of the project, completed last April, the Park Authority renamed the Park's picnic pavilions, replacing the old directional names. The new pavilion names, with the old ones in parentheses, are: Fabian Lakeside Pavilion (Lake Terrace), Sego Lily Pavilion (West Hill Terrace), Mt. Olympus Pavilion (East Hill Terrace), Sugar Beet Pavilion (Southeast Terrace), Hidden Grove Pavilion (Northeast Terrace), Parley's Creek Pavilion (Central Terrace), and Big Field Pavilion (Northwest Terrace).

The annual tradition of Fourth of July fireworks in Sugar House Park gloriously continued this July, thanks to the determined efforts of Sugar House businessman Scott Workman, who ultimately raised roughly $85,000 to rescue the event.

The Park Authority board had announced in 2009 that it could no longer afford to sponsor the event, as it had for many years, but left the door open for an outside entity to step in and try to continue the tradition. Workman stepped forward last summer, worked with the board in the fall on the parameters of the event, and then raised the money and staged the event successfully.

Many thousands flocked to the Park on the evening of July 3 to see the fireworks, launched by Vortex Productions, which has staged the pyrotechnics in the Park for many years. The Park Authority is grateful for the efforts of Workman and his group and hopes he can continue this tradition in future years.

The Sugar House Park Authority, in conjunction with Tree Utah, is offering individuals the opportunity to honor family or friends by donating a tree to be planted in Sugar House Park. The Commemorative and Memorial Tree Program will be administered by TreeUtah, which will arrange for the purchase and planting of the donated trees (a memorial tree will cost $300). For more information, call TreeUtah (801-364-2122).

The Sugar House Park Authority has remained focused on the Sugar House Park Master Plan, which was developed in 2007 and approved by the Park Authority board in January 2008. By the middle of 2009, the Park Authority had either completed or at least addressed 62 percent of the 79 recommendations that were made in the Master Plan. But much remains to be done, including all the major capital improvement projects, and the Park Authority will be concentrating on these improvements in the coming years.

A copy of the final master plan can be downloaded here: SHPA Master Plan - SHPA_MPLANFinal.pdf Please note that the file is 10 megabytes and may take some time to download depending on your connection speed.