Sandy's holiday season starts on a short stretch of the city grid. Mountain America Expo Center sits at 9575 South State Street. Hale Centre Theatre is at 9900 South Monroe Street. City Hall sits at 10000 Centennial Parkway, with the Promenade just south at 10085. Nearly every holiday tradition on this year's calendar takes place at one of those addresses, between the Friday before Thanksgiving and the second weekend of December.
This year the season gets one new date. Sandy City says the new Sandy Recreation Center opens December 14 at 9565 South Highland Drive, on the east side. The deadline that matters most comes earlier. The opening discount on annual memberships ends November 30, which is three days before Santa and Mayor Monica Zoltanski switch on the lights at City Hall.
The season on one page
Here is the calendar in order, so the overlaps are easy to spot:
- Nov. 20–21: Crazy Daisy Holiday Show, Mountain America Expo Center
- Nov. 25, 27 and 28: VOICES at Hale Centre Theatre, 7 p.m.
- Nov. 26, Thanksgiving: Utah Human Race, 8 a.m., Sandy Promenade
- Nov. 27: Hale's 42nd annual A Christmas Carol opens
- Nov. 30: Last day for 20% off annual memberships at the new Sandy Recreation Center
- Dec. 3: Light Up the Cairns, City Hall, 5 to 7:30 p.m.
- Dec. 11–12: Sandy City Winter Market, Union Middle School
- Dec. 14: Sandy Recreation Center opens
Five of those events happen within about a mile of City Hall. The Winter Market and the rec center are where the season moves into the rest of the city.
The weekend before Thanksgiving belongs to the Expo Center
The Crazy Daisy Holiday Show opens the season at Mountain America Expo Center on Friday, Nov. 20, from noon to 6 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. According to Visit Salt Lake's listing, general admission is $5 and covers both days, and children 10 and under get in free. The organizer lists more than 200 local vendors, plus entertainment, treats, giveaways and Santa.
Because the ticket covers both days, Friday can be a first look and Saturday the day to buy. With more than 200 vendors, one afternoon goes quickly.
Thanksgiving week packs four days on Monroe Street and Centennial Parkway
The busiest stretch of the season is the four days around Thanksgiving, and all of it happens on the same few blocks.
On Wednesday, Nov. 25, Hale Centre Theatre presents VOICES, a 90-minute musical revue featuring Tyler Bryce, on the Miller Family Beehive Stage. It plays at 7 p.m. that night and again on Nov. 27 and 28. Tickets are $43.
On Thanksgiving morning, the Utah Food Bank's Utah Human Race starts at 8 a.m. at the Sandy Promenade, 10085 South Centennial Parkway. Registration is $30 for the 5K and $35 for the 10K. The $5 early discount ended Oct. 31, so those are the prices now.
On Friday, Nov. 27, Hale opens its 42nd annual A Christmas Carol on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage, with performances at 2, 5 and 8 p.m. Later dates on the calendar add 11 a.m. matinees, and prices vary by date. Adult tickets run $64 to $94. Youth tickets for ages 5 to 17 run $32 to $47. Children under 5 are not admitted, which matters for anyone planning a family outing.
That puts two Hale productions on the same Friday night: VOICES at 7 p.m. on the Beehive Stage and A Christmas Carol at 8 p.m. on the Jewel Box Stage. Both draw a crowd to 9900 South Monroe Street at about the same time. Arriving early on the 27th makes sense whichever show you're seeing.
One correction for anyone searching online: the A Christmas Carol staged at The Ruth is a separate production. The Ruth is in Pleasant Grove, at 401 South Pleasant Grove Boulevard. According to The Ruth's own FAQ, it and Sandy's Hale Centre Theatre are separate nonprofits, both founded by members of the extended Hale family. In Sandy, the show to book is at hct.org.
December 3 is the free night at City Hall
Light Up the Cairns is Thursday, Dec. 3, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the South Courtyard at City Hall, 10000 Centennial Parkway. The Sandy Area Chamber's listing says admission is free. It puts the lights and Santa's arrival at 5:30 p.m. and lists free Santa photos, an elf scavenger hunt, local vendors, food trucks and free hot cocoa.
The city's own description invites everyone to "arrive early to join Santa and Mayor Zoltanski as we turn on the lights." The music includes Hale Centre's choir, The Broadway Stars, and choirs from Canyons School District. Of all the season's events in the city center, this is the only one with no ticket at all.
The setting has changed this year. In the city's Oct. 13 newsletter, Mayor Zoltanski wrote that the Utah Mammoth practice facility and team headquarters "have added new energy to an area already anchored by America First Field." She also pointed to the announced Utah Jazz practice facility as part of "Sandy's growing role as a sports and entertainment destination." The holiday lights now go up in a city center that stays busy all year.
For a stop on the way, Pinkbox Doughnuts opened its Sandy shop this August at 10235 South State Street, a short drive from City Hall. The company says the location has its first Pinkycade arcade, and the Deseret News reported on the crowds when it opened.
The Winter Market is the season's one trip north
The Sandy City Winter Market is the one tradition held away from the city center. It runs at Union Middle School, 615 East 8000 South, on Friday, Dec. 11, from 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The organizer lists more than 80 vendors, along with food trucks, choirs and live music, free Santa photos, Grinch appearances and gift-card prizes. The first 100 attendees each day get a swag bag, so the opening hour on both days is the time to arrive.
The two shopping weekends work differently. Crazy Daisy, with more than 200 vendors, is the big shopping weekend before Thanksgiving. The Winter Market is about a third that size, held at a neighborhood school two weeks before Christmas. It's a good place for whatever is still left on the gift list.
December 14 ends the season on Highland Drive
Two days after the Winter Market closes, the season ends somewhere new. The new Sandy Recreation Center at 9565 South Highland Drive stands where the Alta Canyon Sports Center operated for 41 years. KSL reported that the old building had been in use since 1984 and that the rebuild would keep the outdoor pool.
The Sandy Journal reported the project's cost at $23.5 million. Sandy City is funding it, along with a $3 million Salt Lake County grant and a $2 million contribution from the Miller Family Foundation. The Miller name is already on Hale's Beehive Stage, which links this new building on the east side to the theater downtown.
In an Oct. 28 alert, the city put the opening date plainly:
"Celebrate our upcoming opening on December 14 with 20% off annual Youth, Adult, Family, Senior Single, and Senior Couple memberships purchased November 2-30."
The same alert lists what's inside: a gymnasium and an indoor turf field, an indoor walking track, group fitness space, cardio equipment, free weights and weight machines, a community room, outdoor patio areas, and the seasonal outdoor pool. The discount applies only to annual memberships, with the code SRC20 at checkout. Activities and programs are not included.
In her November newsletter, the mayor described the center as "a new place to gather, exercise, play, and connect" for "families, athletes, seniors, and residents of all ages." Its indoor walking track and turf field give it winter uses that the old sports center's outdoor pool never could.
The deadline comes before the doors open
The 20% discount ends Nov. 30. That is the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend: after Crazy Daisy, the Human Race and Hale's opening weekend, and before Light Up the Cairns, the Winter Market and the rec center's first day. You'll have to decide on an annual membership before you can walk through the building, and during the busiest weekend of the season.
So check the city's Sandy Recreation Center page for membership details in the quiet days before Crazy Daisy, not on Thanksgiving weekend. A household that buys an annual membership by Nov. 30 can treat the Dec. 14 opening as the last date of the season. Everyone else can plan their year around it after that.
When the season's events bring out-of-town family to Sandy, a quiet talk about what the next few years could look like sometimes follows. Whenever that comes up for you, Sue Ann Wilkinson is glad to meet over cocoa after the lights go on at the Cairns. Request a Complimentary Market Consultation and pick an evening that works around your holiday calendar.
