Pioneer Park

The company group and I were walking home from dinner and looking for a place to perhaps walk a track, we saw the park but quickly made way to a different direction as we noticed the many groups of congregating folks. We weren’t sure if it was homeless, drugs or just hipsters down to hang out, but in any case, we weren’t looking for trouble and didn’t want to be seen as easy marks so we continued on our way.
What we did see were manicured lawns, a nice playground and a vast area to relax in.

Best public campground /​open-​air drug market in SLC, hands down.
It’s wonderful having a free public campground right in the heart of the city. It’s easily accessible, and the nearest Smith’s is a straight shot up 400S so there’s always a supply of carts to haul your equipment. Plenty of trees provide excellent ass-​wiping, and the entire park doubles as a landfill so discarding trash couldn’t be simpler.
They have a playground, which is an awesome place to meet your favorite drug-​dealer or make exciting new connections. Cigarette smoking is not allowed in SLC parks, but thankfully exceptions are made for crack and meth. The only thing better than riding a swing on crack is riding a swing on crack being pushed by someone who is also on crack. Higher daddy! Higher! The slide makes a great place to lie down and just nod off for awhile.
The only bad thing about the park (and the reason for the low rating), is that they push everybody out in the summertime for the stupid farmer’s market. Seriously, the jack-​booted thugs of the SLCPD come in and just sweep everybody aside each weekend morning! How rude! All so a bunch of smug yuppies can purchase over-​priced lemonade with their so-​called «earnings.»
Still, a great park much of the year. Campers are basically left alone to enjoy nature /​hard drugs in an environment largely untouched by the cold hand of civilization.

Pioneer Park is close to the main attractions in downtown Salt Lake and it could be a really really nice park. Beautifully maintained and it is supposed to be great for jogging and walking a dog… Unfortunately there are so many homeless people hanging around and sleeping so I felt uncomfortable jogging by myself in an early morning.

This review is on the Twilight Concert Series.
I guess this park is considered «ghetto-​ish.» But despite its reputation, when we attended the Twilight Concert Series featuring PRHYME, I felt really safe. The event was really well organized and the young people were having a lot of fun without being violent. But I did run into one kid puking on the grass (I laughed and thought «good times, good times»). The event is well organized and the green team keeps the grounds clean (awesomeeeeee). It’d be great if they had a full bar available… the beer thing makes me too full. Looking forward to trying some of the food truck stuff!

Small, clean, and with plenty of trees for shade. We decided to take a road trip nap break here. There were some families… But there were also some vagrants huddled together. Someone walked past asking for change and the nearest shelter, while another passerby look like a hipster. So yay for diversity.

Pioneer Park is a great park to visit… during the summer on Saturdays when the Farmers Market is taking place.
If you attempt to stop by another time, from my personal experience, I would caution you to watch the ground for sharp objects and keep your child from playing with used condoms. Besides that, it’s mostly a beautiful park.

STAY AWAY. This place is horrifying. I drove by and saw what looked like a beautiful, active park with a nice playground, so parked a block away and walked to the park with my 3 year old daughter. We walked into the park past a couple homeless people sleeping and headed toward the playground. I quickly realized that all the people who I had thought were out and about enjoying the park were homeless, drunk, selling drugs or generally up to no good — EVERYONE in the park, about 30 or so people! I picked up my daughter and hurriedly rushed away before shouting started and two police cars drove directly into the park. It was an awful, unexpected experience after the pleasant people and clean city that we had experienced all weekend. I would never have Unilocaled a park before, but I sure will in the future, especially before going with my daughter.

Not sure quite what to do with this park, other than avoid it. Parking is always a pain and I’m not in need of being a participant in any shady drug deals nor am I in need of being shaken down for whatever loose money I may have on my person (I can go to pretty much any freeway off-​ramp in the city if I’m ever in need there). The grounds here have really amazing potential and I like how hard the people are trying to bring some positivity to it, but frankly, it seems so much like they’re standing there poking fingers into the holes in the dike, while behind someone keeps shooting at it with a Vulcan cannon. As long as this place and the attendant places around it that trigger much of the bad parts of this park continue to occupy the same space, this problem will persist, but in my view, it has gotten and continues to get steadily worse.

Boy, did I ever pick a strange day to go to Pioneer Park to walk my dog for the first time. To tell you the truth, I had schooled myself quite a bit on SLC before I moved here from India three-​weeks ago. I had heard about the drugs, I had heard about the «homeless problem» — I’m no stranger to seeing poverty (India, South Central Los Angeles) — but I did not expect to see ONE THOUSAND of them.
Yes, I said 1,000! Evidently today was the day (I do NOT know how often this is done) that the local Rescue Mission was out in force to give away free cell-​phones, free clothing (piled-​up in a giant mosh-​pit of human and cotton chaos!) and free Subway sandwiches!
I saw that there was fencing surrounding what looks like circus big-​top area with trapeze swings and towers and wires. Obviously someone is setting up equipment for a circus of some sort. But the real circus was in the south-​west corner of the park!
The Mission had seen to it that there were lots of chairs and tables set up, but many people seemed to just take their sandwich and sit on the grass. The park actually looks nice, grass, paths and playground equipment for the kids… but unless you and your kids are members of the «great unwashed» community also… I wouldn’t bring kids to Pioneer Park.
I probably would have given it a third star, because it really COULD be a nice park!
But just before I left… I saw a homeless guy. Taking a leak. Nothing shocking about that.
But he was peeing ON the outside wall of a plastic portable outhouse! Dude! I didn’t know what to say so I just walked on by!

I suppose that anyone who would look up Unilocal reviews for a public park in Salt Lake City would be tourists. So to them I say: Stay away from Pioneer Park unless you are going there for a specific event such as the Farmers Market or a concert. Or if you are looking to score some drugs it is probably a good place to do that too.
Currently this park is a daytime camp for vagrants. It is a blight on the city. If you happen to find yourself in the area I don’t necessarily think you need to worry about your safety. Just be prepared to see trash, dead grass and unsavory people who will ask you for money to buy booze.

Interesting idea but not a very nice area. There are lots of places that need parks and the area could use one but it being where it is and where other places are makes this place a common sore spot.

There’s no other place in the area, and maybe in the country, that undergoes such drastic and swift transformations in social class as Pioneer Park. Most of the time, it’s a mild-​mannered square block of little more than homeless, homeless, and more homeless sitting, lounging, and sleeping in it. And it isn’t used for much more than this. It’s completely flat, and as for its amenities, I’ve only seen dogs in the sad little dog park once, and I didn’t even remember that they have playground and basketball and volleyball courts until I looked it up. These might as well be large modern art installations for how much people use them.
Then, during summer Farmer’s Market and on concert days, the park fills with the very people who avoid it like the plague the rest of the year. Yuppies barter for arugala and organic scented candles, and twenty and thirty something professionals complain about how people don’t go to concerts there «properly.» And the homeless are suddenly no where to be seen. Then, in a number of hours, it’s almost magically back to its old self in a snap. It’s a transformation so complete that it’s hard to square the image of the park at these times with its alter-​ego, and vice versa.

Attended one Twilight Concert Series gig here (Explosions In The Sky/​No Age in 2011) and found the volunteers to be very pleasant, the mayor to be extremely douchy, and the concert-​goers to be really obnoxious, perhaps the latter because it is free and A LOT of people go with no intentions of listening to the artists or possessing a single iota of concert etiquette. Free water from coolers is a superb idea, and the lax entrance (I expected a search) was really nice as well. Overall it is a great idea, but honestly, it could be improved if they charged a nominal fee for entrance to keep out the more moronic randies from ruining every show.
I would go again if it was worth the drive up, but I will stay very close to the barrier so that I do not have to deal with the people, which is really sad considering that many shows actually contain fellow concert-​goers that enhance the experience instead of diminishing it greatly. You’ve been warned. — E

I love it for events like the farmer’s market, the twilight concert series, and other things that go on.
It scares the crap out of me any other time, with all the sketchy peeps chillin’ there.
but it’s a nice park.
pretty big too.

Basic park. Cool to go for Saturday farmers market and Music in the Park. Near homeless shelter so large transient population very noticeable.

I remember when I was a kid, Pioneer Park had the reputation as the scary park. As in, «We’ll go to a park kids, but not THAT park.» Yeah, it’s a totally different park these days. Now I associate Pioneer Park with cool events because I only seem to come here when something rad is going on. I’m a big fan of the Twilight Concert Series in particular. And the Farmers Market can be fun. All in all, it’s a great sized park located near some pretty cool places downtown.

At first glance, it’s a very lush, well taken care of park, with lots of folks sun bathing. Closer look shows that the folks sun bathing, are actually homeless people. I’m guessing this is THE spot for the homeless, probably because it is a nice park. I don’t have a problem with the people, in fact they haven’t «bothered» me once for money, they just go about their business and do their thing. I never felt «threatened» by them, even walked my little girl around in the stroller, so I guess that speaks volumes on them. Not saying I would jaunt around this place in the dead of night, but during the day, it’s not too bad.

In terms of the park itself, it’s more of a 2 – 3 stars, but because of all of the events that go on here, and how much the reputation of the park has turned around, I can’t help but bump up the rating a bit. Between the Downtown Farmers Market, the Pioneer Park Picture Shows, the Twilight Concert Series, and so many other events that go on throughout here during the year, this really is the place to be.
Salt Lake has done a great job with turning this park into a weekend destination spot. It’s a wonderful place to take a date, friends, and food enthusiasts during the summertime. During other times of the year, all of the events kind of die down, mainly because it’s a flat park and there isn’t anything that distinguishes it too much from other parks (i.e., there aren’t any ponds, fountains, hills, creeks, ducks, running trails, etc). But definitely if you’re in the area during the summer, this place is not to be missed.

This is a great «neighbor hood park near the convention center. I was here for a brief walk during a convention. It is a pretty basic park although it was fairly clean with a nice fenced area for walking dogs. They also had a nice portable stage setup for concerts I would imagine.
A nice change of place kinda place… Hey I rhymed!

I use to hear stories about this park and not good ones either.
However, I am becoming more fond of this park because so many events take place here. From the Farmers’ Market to the Twilight Concert Series, this place is in a convenient location and is a good place to hold these events. So, the sketchy stories I have heard seems to be a thing of the past. It’s becoming more lively and I don’t have reservations about spending time here.
Anyways, there are a lot of trees and plenty of empty, flat space. Although I find it a pretty plain park, it’s nice to have amongst the skyscrapers.
Recommendation (s): I usually come down here from The Gateway after grabbing a little snack from Ekamai or Bruges to the north of the park.

Parks, much like people, can’t be accurately judged by their reputations. Fortunately for lovers of Downtown SLC, Pioneer Park, despite reputation, has proven to be a generally safe and happening park, brimming with events and activities.
Some of my favorite memories are rooted in Pioneer Park. I love spending summer nights here watching movies under the stars with all sorts of people, everyone from hipsters to senior citizens to college kids looking for free entertainment. The Farmers Market is also not to be missed, nor the Twilight Concert Series.

There was a time when Pioneer Park may not have deserved high praise. A time when it would have been considered one of the shadiest spots downtown, even in the middle of the day — and I’m not talking about the shade from the tall trees the line the park. Yes, there was a time when Pioneer Park was that last place you’d want to be downtown. That time is over.
After a million dollar facelift, the park is bright and shiny (quite literally, after much-​needed lighting was installed) and almost like new again. Not that new is good. It’s the old trees that surround the place that give it some charm. But the new walkways, and all the activity are what have revitalized the green patch in the center of the city.
Want proof this is a happening place to be? Check out the Famers Market on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings during the summer. What about the Twilight Concert series on Thursdays throughout the warm months.
I’m not naïve enough to think all the problems in the park have gone away. It’s not somewhere I’d send my sister after dark, but kudos to the city for spending the time and money on cleaning up this patch of green in the heart of SLC.

Historic Pioneer Park is a nice enough park located in downtown Salt Lake City. With trees, grass, a small dog park, and restrooms the park offers a green and open space for locals to enjoy. During the late summer and fall months it is home to the Downtown Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. The market is great with lots of local produce, flowers, breads, arts and crafts, and much more. Unfortunately Pioneer Park doesn’t have much for the kids since it is lacking a playground, there is a also not a lake, so no fishes or ducks. But regardless of its shortcomings Pioneer Park is nice and has a lot to offer.