Whalefest

 Whalefest is a festival to celebrate the unveiling of the new mural on the 9th and 9th Whale AKA Out of the Blue. It kind of feels silly that we, a landlocked state have a Whalefest, but it is fun and whimsical. Aside from the whale, there were a couple a vendors and food trucks. It was kind of neat, but I was a little disappointed. I guess I was expecting something closer to 801 Day and well, it was a lot smaller.

Quick Details:

Length: Depends on how much you explore. We did about a mile.
Trail Type: Meander.
Difficulty: It is paved and just a slight incline, DR2.
Elevation Gain: Not much.
Restroom: They did have some porta-potty's on site.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info: Free. Temporary event.

To Get Here:

From the south, take the West Temple Exit towards the north, be in the right lane though, you will turn right immediately on 9th South Harvey Milk Blvd. Head east towards 9th East, and find parking. Head towards 11th East on foot.

From the north take the 6th South exit, and make your way over.

The whale is located at 900 S 1100 E.

Downtown Salt Lake City (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Heading up 9th South, AKA Harvey Milk Boulevard (PSP). I love all of the pride flags.

We can see the whale poking out above the car in front of us (PSP).

The Tower Theater (PSP). I love the nod to Tum Curry (RIP) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is actually where I saw it for the first time. We will come back to this.

They had 9th South closed at 9th East for the festival, so we turned off onto 9th East and found a parking space easily enough.

The Trail:

Fun koi murals.

That put us about 2 blocks away from the whale now.

Cute mural on the Wicksmith Candle Co.

Walking next to the 9 Line Trail. I think that is going to be the next random city trail we tackle on a gross weather day.

The festival started at about McCleland Street (1040 East).

We decided to check out Out of the Blue’s new mural first, and then check out the rest of it.

Out of the Blue.

The west side.

I generally try to avoid having people in my shots but you know, sometimes that just isn’t possible. Particularly at an event like this. o.O

Again, with a few less people.

The new mural is called Open Your Eyes by Jiyoun Lee-Lodge. Out of the Blue is the sculpture it is painted on created by Stephen J. Kessler in 2022.

Going around clockwise today.

The north side.

Continuing around.

The east side.

Again. I like the new mural.

From further back.

Just for funsies, here is the old, original mural on this side. It was called Point Of Reference by artist Michael Murdock. You can see more of that from our 2023 trip here.

Continuing around.

South side.

Back to the east side.

Here is the old mural from this side.

The rest of the “festival”. There were 2 food trucks, some vendors, crafts, and information booths. It was a little… meh. But oh well, we got to see Out of the Blue’s new outfit.

The whale presiding over the festival.

Again.

Poster for the new mural.

The whale.

Closer.

Again.

We saw a couple whale themed pride flags today. I wish I had gotten a better picture of one.

The festival again.

Cute art.

The whale again.

Well, we decided to go see if either of the food trucks looked good.

Neat bear mural on Hip and Humble, plus you can see the little porta-potty station on the right.

Well, we were not feeling the food trucks, so we decided to walk down to East Liberty Tap House, which is just about a block further west than where we parked.

Again, I love all the pride flag along Harvey Milk Boulevard.

Random art.

I love that the street names are stamped into the corners in this part of town.

We made a quick stop in Cahoots.

They have a Zoltar machine! Correction, Fortune Telling Machine that happens to be called Zoltar. I was starting to think I wasn’t going to find one here.

Again. I found some of these in Seattle, but I believe this is the first one in Utah. That’s awesome!

Speaking of old timey things…

The back. I wish I had gotten a shot from the side. Only in this neighborhood.

The Tower Theater. They are currently renovating it, and restoring the original façade. Which will be super neat, but won’t be the tower I grew up going to.

Oh, here is a picture I took last November which shows this single tower before they took the lettering down. Pretty much how it looked for as long as I can remember.

And one at night.

They plan to open it late 2028 - early 2029 which will be the centennial anniversary. That will be amazing! I hope I get to step foot inside it again someday, and maybe even make a special post about it.

I went back as far as I could to get the whole thing.

If you look really closely you can see some discoloration and attachments points of the old Tower sign.

So, real quick. It was built in 1928 and looked more like a castle with 2 towers. The west tower was lost in the 1950’s renovation. They plan to bring back the original 2 towers façade. I am pumped!

Neat metal archway saying 9th and 9th Center, attached to the Woodman Building.

The original building (gray, in back) was a flour mill completed in 1878. The Woodman Building was added in 1911. It is on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992. Google says it is currently a bar, but it sure doesn’t look it from here. I might have to check it out some time.

Well… messing around on google maps, it looks like it was a freaking Barbacoa back in 2021. o.O So I guess the building is in good shape.

I’m not sure what the dark building to the right is.

Then we made our way into east liberty Tap house.

Conveniently enough, the tap house had pictures of the tower theater in its 2 main stages. Here is the original façade, if I remember correctly, it said circa 1933.

1950, after the remodel. This is pretty much how it has looked as long as I can remember. The shops on the left are definitely different though.

Fun NEON bar sign. The tap house was a little small and cramped, but it was alright.

Backside of a neat 9th and 9th sign.

9th and 9th Center.

Closer look at the Woodman Building.

The other building.

Woodman Building again.

Cahoots. You can see half of the whale pride flag on the left. Damn it I wish I panned down just a smidge haha.

More art.

We decided to stop at the Harvey Milk Mural.

“All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.” - Harvey Milk

On the side of Bubbly Drink.

Milk+ (PSP). We haven’t gone there yet, but are considering it.

That looks like an old Pier 1 (PSP).

Hah, yup, it was. Google maps, 2018. This one closed early, they failed in 2020.

Downtown Salt Lake City (PSP).

The Great Sears Lake (PSP). It was the former site of Sears, when they tore it down they left a big pit which eventually filled with water and made a little wildlife oasis. I have been meaning to check it out, it just hasn’t really happened yet. It sounds like they might actually do something with this lot soon. So, I need to get on it!

After this we went to visit some more cool street art, but I decided to put that in a separate post. So, I am going to break here.

Well, Whalefest was not quite what I was expecting, but it was a fun little event. And I enjoyed seeing the whales new mural. It wasn't super busy. I also enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and seeing some other neat stuff. 7 squirrels for Whalefest, 9 for the neighborhood, so we'll settle on 8 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is paved and pretty flat. DR2.

Dogs are allowed, but it is crowded and paved, so it might not be the best choice for them.