🏆 The Wasatch Front’s Top 10 Upcoming Events
The Week Spooky Season Arrives — and the Week You Have to Decide About Garth
Friday, September 18 is the busiest single day on the Wasatch Front calendar this fall. Garth Brooks tickets go on sale at 10 a.m., three of the valley's biggest Halloween attractions open their gates that night, and high school football is in full region play. Saturday brings an in-state rivalry to Rice-Eccles. Below are the ten things we'd clear the calendar for between now and late October. This is a living list — as one event passes, another takes its place, so check back before you make your weekend plans.
1 GARTH BROOKS: TICKETS FRIDAY, SHOWS IN OCTOBER
On sale Friday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m. MT | Shows Friday, Oct. 9 and Saturday, Oct. 10, 8 p.m. | Delta Center, 301 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City | Tickets: seatgeek.com | Info: garthbrooks.com
The only hard deadline on this list. Garth Brooks announced Sept. 9 that Salt Lake City will be the sixth stop on his "Blame It All On My Roots" Arena Tour, with two nights at the Delta Center in October. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. Mountain time through SeatGeek.
Read the rules before you sit down at the keyboard, because they're not the usual ones. There is no presale — everybody buys at the same moment. There is an eight-ticket limit per customer. And every seat in the building costs exactly the same: $154, which is a $140 ticket plus a $4 facility fee and a $10 service charge, before tax. Brooks has refused dynamic pricing across this entire tour and has been loud about why, arguing that floating prices serve the scalping market rather than the fan.
The last time he played Utah — two nights at Rice-Eccles in June 2022 — the shows sold out in well under an hour. The Delta Center holds a fraction of what Rice-Eccles does.
What you're buying. This is a deliberate throwback. The Indianapolis opener drew entirely from 1997 and earlier: "The Old Stuff" to start, then "Rodeo," "The Beaches of Cheyenne," "The Thunder Rolls," "Unanswered Prayers," "Callin' Baton Rouge," "The Dance," and "Friends in Low Places" — roughly 23 songs over two hours, with room for covers and fan requests. Brooks has revived the Drum Pod from his 1996 World Tour, and the stage sits inside a circular LED rig the crew calls "the halo." He's recording the run for a live album he's calling Killer Live, the successor to 1998's "Double Live."
The tour has eight sold-out shows behind it. Indianapolis went from two nights to four on demand; Denver did the same.
(Editor's Note: Two things to plan around. First, nothing about Friday rewards being casual — have your account set up and be in the queue before 10. Second, check your calendar for October 9 and 10 before you buy, because that weekend is stacked: BYU hosts Iowa State in Provo at 8:15 Friday night, and Utah hosts Kansas at Rice-Eccles on Saturday. If you're taking the family downtown Saturday night, the Utah game and the Delta Center will be sharing TRAX.)
2 RIVALRY WEEK: UTAH–UTAH STATE, AND LONE PEAK IN DRAPER
Lone Peak at Corner Canyon, Friday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m., Draper | Utah State at Utah, Saturday, Sept. 19, 1:30 p.m., Rice-Eccles Stadium, FOX | BYU at Colorado State, Saturday, Sept. 19, 5:30 p.m., Fort Collins | Tickets: utahutes.com · byucougars.com · utahstateaggies.com
Week three is the one where the in-state schedule finally turns on itself.
Salt Lake City, 1:30 p.m. — the Battle of the Brothers. Utah hosts Utah State on FOX, and the two programs arrive from opposite ends of September. The Utes are 2-0 and have not been tested: 66-14 over Idaho, then 43-10 over Arkansas in a national window that made Morgan Scalley's first month look considerably easier than the schedule suggested it would.
Utah State is 0-2 and is the more interesting team to watch. The Aggies opened by losing 29-17 at home to Idaho State — an FCS opponent, in Bronco Mendenhall's first game of year two — and then went to Seattle and lost 16-14 to a ranked Washington team. That is a two-point loss in one of the loudest buildings in the country, one week after the worst home result in a decade. Whichever of those games is the real Utah State shows up at Rice-Eccles on Saturday, and that's the whole reason to watch.
Provo is dark; the Cougars are on the road. BYU is 2-0 after handling Arizona 28-17 in the earliest Big 12 opener in program history, and heads to Fort Collins for its first trip there since 2010. Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. Mountain. The bye follows on Sept. 26, so this is the last BYU football for two weeks.
Friday night is the one in your neighborhood. Corner Canyon hosts Lone Peak at 7 p.m. in Draper — the three-time defending 6A champion against one of the few programs in the state with the roster to take it from them. No ticket price worth mentioning, ten minutes from most driveways in the south valley, and a better football atmosphere than most things you'll pay for this fall.
(Editor's Note: Take TRAX to Stadium Station for the Utah game and skip the parking entirely — a 1:30 kickoff means you'll be back downtown by dinner, which is the rare Saturday where you can do football and something else. And if you only pick one game this week, we'd take Friday night in Draper.)
3 THE HAUNTS OPEN FRIDAY
Nightmare on 13th opens Friday, Sept. 18, 9–11 p.m., 300 W. 1300 South, Salt Lake City | nightmareon13th.com | Fear Factory opens Friday, Sept. 18, 666 W. 800 South, Salt Lake City | WitchFest opens Friday, Sept. 18, Gardner Village, 1100 W. 7800 South, West Jordan | gardnervillage.com
Spooky season starts this Friday, all at once.
Nightmare on 13th opens Friday and Saturday nights through September before expanding into a nearly nightly October schedule, running to Nov. 13. New for 2026 is a third attraction, the 13th Manor — a sit-down live scare show that puts the audience inside the story rather than walking past it, alongside the existing Nightmare Haunted House and Institute of Terror. A lights-on, kid-friendly Day Haunt runs Saturdays beginning Sept. 26.
Fear Factory opens the same weekend and runs through Nov. 1. Six buildings, up to six stories, two underground passages, all on the bones of the old Portland Cement plant — the setting is the attraction, and USA Today and the Travel Channel have both ranked it among the best in the country.
WitchFest at Gardner Village is the other end of the spectrum and opens the same day, running through Oct. 31. Twenty-six years in, it fills the village with larger-than-life witch displays and a calendar of its own: Breakfast with a Witch, the Witchapalooza dinner theater, the Witches of Mystic Manor escape room, Witches Night Out, a scavenger hunt and the Witch Run. Closed Sundays.
(Editor's Note: The two haunts are four blocks apart and both within reach of the 1300 South TRAX area — doing both in one night is a real option, and a long one. For families with kids under ten, skip both and start at Gardner Village; nothing there jumps out at you. Our full Halloween guide, with pumpkin patches, corn mazes and the rest of the haunt calendar, is at mountainandmain-ut.com/utah-halloween-events.)
4 80'S BLOCK PARTY AT TROLLEY SQUARE
Saturday, Sept. 19, 6–9 p.m.; entertainment at 6:30 | Trolley Square West Plaza, 602 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City | Admission: Free, all ages | Info: trolleysquare.com/events
Free, outdoors, and three hours long. Trolley Square turns its West Plaza over to the decade that won't die, and the lineup is a genuine variety show rather than a DJ and a fog machine: aerialists and acrobatics from the SLC Circus Center, live sets from School of Rock bands, and a dance performance from Millennium Dance. When the show wraps, the plaza becomes a public '80s dance party to close out the night.
Food trucks are on site, and the shops are open before the entertainment starts at 6:30. Seating is first-come, which is the one thing worth planning around — come at six, eat, and stake out a spot.
Leg warmers optional but clearly encouraged.
(Editor's Note: This is the best pairing on the whole list. Utah–Utah State kicks off at 1:30 and you'll be out of Rice-Eccles by five; Trolley Square is ten minutes south and the party starts at six. Football, dinner from a truck, and a free show under the lights — one Saturday, one parking spot. TRAX's Trolley station puts you at the door.)
5 UTAH STATE FAIR — FINAL WEEK
Through Sunday, Sept. 20 | Utah State Fairpark, 155 N. 1000 West, Salt Lake City | Tickets: utahstatefair.com
Six days left. Eleven days, sixty-five acres, and a tradition that predates the state itself — the first version was held in 1856 as the Deseret Fair, in a tithing office across the street from where the Salt Lake Temple would eventually rise.
The formula hasn't needed updating: a midway, livestock barns full of 4-H and FFA kids who've been working toward this week all year, competitive canning and quilting and pie, grandstand concerts, rodeo, and fair food engineered to be eaten standing up.
(Editor's Note: Weeknights beat the final weekend by a wide margin — same fair, a fraction of the parking headache. If you're bringing kids, the livestock barns in the late afternoon are the sleeper attraction; that's when the exhibitors are around and happy to talk about their animals.)
6 RED BUTTE GARDEN — THE LAST TWO NIGHTS
Sept. 20 and Sept. 22 | Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre, University of Utah, Salt Lake City | Tickets: redbuttegarden.org
The 39th season of one of the longest-running outdoor series in the state ends this week. Two shows left: The Record Company with Cracker on September 20, and The Revivalists closing the season on September 22.
If you've never done Red Butte, this is the last chance until next summer — a botanical-garden amphitheater with skyline views, genuinely good sound, and a picnic-on-the-lawn ease no arena can match.
(Editor's Note: Buy in person at the Garden Visitor Center to skip the online fees, and don't wait — closing nights routinely sell out. Gates open 90 minutes before showtime.)
7 FANX SALT LAKE COMIC CONVENTION
September 24–26 | Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City | Tickets: fanxsaltlake.com
Three days, roughly a hundred thousand people, and the last time it will ever look like this.
The Salt Palace has anchored downtown for more than five decades, and beginning in 2027 it closes for a three-year renovation. FanX, which has filled the building every year since 2013, splits into two smaller events after this one. Organizers have said plainly that they're maxing out the final full-building show — the most vendors the floor will hold and more celebrity guests than the convention has ever booked. They also expect it to sell out for exactly that reason.
Celebrity panels and autograph signings, photo ops, Artist Alley, Literary Lane, gaming, the official Cosplay Contest, KidCon, and a film festival. Whether or not any of that is your thing, the cosplay on West Temple that weekend is free to look at and worth the walk.
(Editor's Note: Pre-register your wristbands on Wednesday, September 23 at the Salt Palace, any time between noon and 8 p.m., and skip the Thursday morning line entirely. The venue sits in the downtown Free Fare Zone — Temple Square and Arena TRAX stops are both a short walk, and parking that weekend is a lost cause.)
8 FESTIVAL TRANSYLVANIA AT MILLCREEK GARDENS
October 8–30 | Monday–Saturday, 6:30–8 p.m.; closed Sundays | Millcreek Gardens, 3500 S. 900 East, Salt Lake City | Tickets: $11 weekdays, $13 weekends; children 2 and under free | millcreekgardens.ticketspice.com
Our Family Pick. The gentlest Halloween event on this list, and the one to know about if you have kids who want to participate in spooky season without being chased through a cornfield.
Millcreek Gardens — a Salt Lake garden center since 1955 — turns part of its grounds into an outdoor story-walk each October, and Festival Transylvania has quietly become one of the valley's better family traditions. Attendance doubled last year to about 4,000. The premise is a walk-through narrative rather than a scare gauntlet: a spooky forest leading to the gates of Transylvania, a fortune-teller, a botched laboratory experiment, the headless horseman, a 1950s hearse on loan from a local mortuary. No gore, no blood, no chainsaws, and nobody jumping out at you. This year's story has Dracula and Frankenstein running against each other for mayor of Transylvania, with the audience voting.
The walk takes 40 to 60 minutes and ends at the Spooky Hollow Munchery, where most treats run a dollar. Timed-entry tickets, online or at the door. Costumes encouraged; pets stay home.
A dollar off, for our readers. Millcreek Gardens set up a code for Mountain & Main readers: enter MOUNTAINFRIEND at checkout for $1 off every ticket in your order. A family of five saves five dollars.
(Editor's Note: Go on a weekday if you can — two dollars cheaper per ticket, shorter line, same event. It's entirely outdoors at 6:30 in late October, so dress everyone one layer warmer than you think. And the plant-pun signage along the route is genuinely funny if you're the adult trailing the group.)
9 THE GREAT SALT LAKE BIRD MIGRATION
An eared grebe in full breeding plumage — those golden ear tufts are what give the bird its name. Most of the grebes on the lake right now are molting this out; by late October they'll be plainer gray and white, and flightless while the new feathers come in. Adobe Stock.
Now through late October | Peak now through mid-October | Antelope Island Causeway, Farmington Bay, Bear River | Info: fws.gov/refuge/bear-river-migratory-bird
The biggest event on this list doesn't sell tickets, and it's peaking right now. Every fall the lake forty minutes from downtown fills with more birds than any stadium on this page will hold all season. Millions stop here on migration, with hundreds of thousands present on a given day.
The eared grebes are the reason to go in the next four weeks. As much as 80 percent of North America's entire population lands on this lake to eat brine shrimp and molt out of their summer plumage. Through October they can't fly at all while the new feathers come in — they float, and feed, and fatten up for the trip south. Rafts of them stretch to the horizon.
Where to go. The Antelope Island causeway is the easy one and the best one: seven miles of open water pulling in American avocets, western sandpipers, red-necked phalaropes and Bonaparte's gulls. About half a mile short of the island, the road crosses a bridge over the channel draining Farmington Bay — that's the spot. You do not need binoculars to understand what you're looking at. Farmington Bay's Eccles Wildlife Education Center has a 1.2-mile trail plus indoor viewing, which is the pick with small kids. Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge near Brigham City runs a 12-mile auto tour through habitat used by more than 250 species, with 30,000-plus tundra swans arriving from mid-October.
Know before you go: All three are free; Antelope Island charges a state park entrance fee. Dawn and the last two hours of light are worth the alarm clock. Bear River's regular auto tour route was closed since spring for maintenance and was slated to reopen in mid-September — call ahead before you drive up. Bring more layers than the forecast suggests. There is no shade out there.
(Editor's Note: One for the drive — those gulls working the shallows are California gulls, the Utah state bird, honored downtown with a monument on Temple Square for the 1848 cricket episode. A bird named for another state, on a monument in this one.)
10 A LITTLE COTTONWOOD SATURDAY: OKTOBERFEST AND THE COLOR
Oktoberfest Saturdays & Sundays through Oct. 11, noon–6 p.m. | Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, Little Cottonwood Canyon | Admission: Free (parking fee) | Info: snowbird.com | Fall color peaks mid-September through early October | Conditions: visitutah.com
Four weekends left, no cover charge, and the two best reasons to drive up the canyon are happening in the same place at the same time.
Oktoberfest draws more than 60,000 people a season to the base of Little Cottonwood, and it's less a beer festival than a standing invitation to spend a fall Saturday in the mountains. The biergarten pours more than fifty varieties, German-style and Utah-brewed, with a wine garden alongside and non-alcoholic options for anyone driving. The food is the real argument: bratwurst and weisswurst, sauerkraut and spaetzle, beef rouladen, warm pretzels, Bavarian roasted almonds, and apple strudel worth the drive on its own.
The color is doing its thing directly overhead. Snowbird's Aerial Tram to Hidden Peak gets you the whole view without a switchback. If you'd rather drive it, Guardsman Pass climbs to about 9,700 feet and drops over into Park City, and the Alpine Loop runs roughly twenty miles between American Fork and Provo canyons. The Cecret Lake trail above Alta — famous for July wildflowers — trades lupine for gold on the same 1.7-mile walk in late September. The spelling isn't our typo; it's a leftover from Little Cottonwood's mining days, and the U.S. Geological Survey still prints it that way.
Know before you go: Admission is free; parking is not. No dogs — Little Cottonwood is protected watershed. Oktoberfest runs rain, snow or shine, and mountain weather at that elevation does what it wants. Guardsman Pass is seasonal and closes with the first serious snow, which can arrive in early October. Buy a one-liter stein once and reuse it all season for a discount on refills.
(Editor's Note: Don't drink and drive, and don't fight the canyon. Snowbird runs a free shuttle to and from the park-and-ride at 9400 South Highland Drive. And the single best hour of the fall is Guardsman Pass about ninety minutes before sunset — bring a thermos, and watch for moose and elk on the Deer Valley side. They do not yield.)
RETURN to THE MAIN EVENT Home Page and select another category to find other fun adventures for adults and families!