Valley Fair Mall to potentially hold more outdoor events
Feb 24, 2021 02:24PM ● By Travis Barton
Valley Fair Mall could see more outdoor events near its splash pad in the town center after an amendment to city code. (File photo courtesy Vestar/Valley Fair Mall)
By Travis Barton | [email protected]
As part of Valley Fair Mall’s plans to remodel the outdoor plaza west of the main mall building, it hoped to facilitate small, outdoor events.
After a unanimous decision from the West Valley City Council, the Valley Fair Mall property can now apply for permits to hold outdoor sponsored events such as concerts, car shows, outdoor movie nights or festivals.
“The emphasis on what we are attempting to do is really community-based family events,” said Casey Bulkley, general manager of the Valley Fair Mall property.
The potential events are aimed to draw more people to the mall, creating more retail traffic.
Applications for outdoor events would come under conditional use permits, meaning the planning commission would address more specific regulations at the time of the application.
Councilmembers had concerns about it potentially being too open ended with no limitations as well as the size of these events.
Bulkley assured during the Feb. 9 council meeting that any concerts will be more background music or jazz style of entertainment.
“We’re not about to try and turn Valley Fair into a concert center, it is counterproductive to what we’re trying to do over there,” he said.
He also said they won’t charge for these events because they “don’t want an enormous expense” where they would need to pay for additional restrooms and parking.
No concerts are currently scheduled, Bulkley told the council, and noted the events like Easter egg hunts or small events like giving away backpacks or free eye exams to kids before school are “the things we want.”
Since the goal is to bring in more retail business, most events would be held during store hours rather than later at night.
Resident Jim Vesock commented he was in favor as long as the mall isn’t given “free rein to do whatever they want” and start to negatively affect the nearby neighborhood to the south.
“Having more events, drawing more people down to Valley Fair I think is a great thing,” he said during the meeting.
