Brown Bag concerts enliven Salt Lake City lunchtime environment

Looking to add a little flavor to your lunch hour?

Try the Salt Lake City Arts Council's Brown Bag Concert Series, held every day at various locations in Salt Lake City from July 12 to Aug. 27.

Casey Jarman, who began working with the series 27 years ago, said Brown Bag offers free music for those hoping to escape the daily grind momentarily and enjoy something different downtown.

"Over the years I have seen the ups and downs of the local art scene, and I think right now it's very strong," Jarman said. "We're just trying to hang in there, to provide something that's free, that's a good experience for the artists and audience."

The performances begin at 12:15 p.m. and last for 45 minutes, which Jarman said gives people time to walk over and get back to work on time. This year, Jarman said audiences can expect to see an all-local lineup featuring everything from jazz to indie music.

"We did have a lot of out-of-state artists apply, but the local talent just shined through this year," Jarman said. "I don't think we should constrict the concert series to local artists because they want to go other places, too. This year it really just turned out that the panel just selected what they think is best."

Michael Mack, vice president of services at the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, served as one of the panelists involved with choosing artists for this year's Brown Bag Concert Series and said panel members sifted through close to a hundred submissions before choosing the lineup.

"The thing that stood out for me," Mack said, "was there was a lot of Irish-type music and Celtic music that came forward and a wide variety of instruments in every category, so it was fun to see the nontraditional-type music getting performed."

Mack said the series adds flavor to downtown for both tourists passing through and local residents who are looking for something to enrich their lunch hour.

"It's a very small scale thing, but it's meant to be," Mack said. "It has a great downtown following. I think it's really appreciated and contributes to the fabric of what we promote as a vibrant downtown."

The Brown Bag concert series began as a street theater project in 1978, when it became notorious for holding shows in unusual places, such as tennis courts, buses and elevators throughout Salt Lake City.