The 17th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons

With 500+ local vintage vendors, food trucks, youth entrepreneurs, STEM exhibitors, performers and artisans, the 2025 DIY Festival was the perfect way to close out the summer. Photo: Ashley Christenson

Image: Ashley Christenson, Cherri Cheetah, Derek Brad, Dominic Jordon, John Barkiple

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DIY Festival has once again come and gone, but the memories of this crafty event live on. Craft Lake City’s 17th Annual DIY Fest Presented By Harmons was the premier place to experience all the talent Utah has to offer. From the 500+ local vintage vendors, food trucks and craft foodies, young up-and-coming entrepreneurs, STEM exhibitors and the artistic prowess of artisanal crafters, to the amazing performances and exciting interactive activities, this DIY Fest proved to be the perfect way to close out the summer.

DIY Fest would not have been a success without the generous support of sponsors who see the value in highlighting local artists. The GFiber STEM Building hosted a myriad of local innovators and gave them the chance to show off their one-of-a-kind projects. The Salt Lake City Stars got kids excited about their local sports teams at the SLC Stars Kids’ Area and the Utah Shirt Company and Central Milling provided screen printing demos on tote bags featuring different exhibitors’ art each day. DIY Fest’s entertainment also got an upgrade with the addition of the SLC Synth Alliance Stage showcasing local synth artists. Of course the KRCL 90.9 FM stage and the Gallery Of Fine Hyper-Art (GOFHA) Stage Presented By KUAA 99.9 FM returned to give rustic country artists, hardcore rock bands and cultural performers space to perform. Cyrusher was also a huge help with sponsoring the bike valet — which would not have run as smoothly without the help of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. PupTub Club even provided a relaxing rest area for all the furry festival goers. Behind the scenes supporters also include the Utah STEM Action Center, PBS Utah, Water and Wellness, the Willard L. Eccles Foundation, KUER 90.1 FM, Hypha Productions and Creative West.

The festivities started with a bang! Every day at the gate, attendees were greeted by the musical stylings of Crista Shoemake and her electric violin. Friday brought many musical acts to the stages like LA band Begging Dog and local artists like Jill Whit and Freak Buck. The highlight was seeing the Cultural Fire Events’ showcase of traditional indigenous dancing, complete with full indigenous regalia. The diverse performances didn’t end there, though, as Saturday was jam-packed with multicultural performances — from the folklorico dancing of Danza y Color, the footwork of the Utah Irish Dance Company and the impressive moves of the Allegiant Dance Crew to the expressive punking of the SLC PUNKS, there was no denying that the audience was hypnotized. Sunday closed the festival out with beloved local bands like Stage Fright, Miss Margaret and Banshee Twin.

The vendor lineup was also incredible and varied. Featuring vintage clothes sellers like ThriftJam, original designers like W.B. Thamm and Unhinged, artists like Rochelle Jahdi and Artifish, ceramicists like 1527 Ceramics and craft foodies like The Salted Roots and Misc. Kitchen, there was no escaping the temptation to buy, buy, buy. Attendees could easily find the perfect piece of home decor, personalized gift, delicious dessert or craft from an artist that filled their niche. Saturday brought in even more vendors with the Kid Row pop-up exhibiting the arts and crafts of aspiring small business owners. Youth exhibitors like Moldy Apples and Kid News got the chance to learn all about the entrepreneurship and sell their creative projects. It also wouldn’t be DIY Fest without some do-it-yourself activities. Workshop SLC brought a fun and easy stamp-making project for all attendees to enjoy, Craft Lake City had an interactive mural for each day of the festival and tens of artisans hosted demonstrations of their craft.

STEM enthusiasts also got a chance to shine at DIY Fest. Local robotics teams engaged with the community and presented their engineering feats at the Heritage Building for a Robot Invasion. For tattoo lovers, Dark Arts Tattoo talked all about the science of tattoos and even tattooed attendees with STEM-inspired tattoo designs. Attendees also got the chance to experiment themselves by making bottle rockets that were then launched all weekend long. Sunday brought in local game studios for Indie Game Day, where game lovers and newbies alike got the chance to test out new indie game projects and even give feedback to designers.

Finally, no festival is complete without mouthwatering food and delectable desserts. DIY Fest hosted a number of unique and local food vendors: creamy and savory Venezuelan arepas from Delicius, fluffy and sweet beignets from Mama Africa, filling burgers with unique sauce from Girls Who Smash and straight-from-the fire-truck pizza with Dang Brother Pizza. Desserts are always necessary after such satisfying meals, so it is a good thing that vendors like Chunky Cookies, Hidden Oak Gourmet Creamery and For the Sweet were all in attendance. Refreshments provided by Caffe Ibis Coffee Roasters and Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee Truck provided the best pick-me ups so festival shoppers could continue their shopping spree! DIY Fest was where global met local.

We can’t wait for the 2026 DIY Festival! Who knows which new and returning artists Craft Lake City has in store for us next year. Relive the DIY Fest fun by checking out the photo gallery below from SLUG contributing photographers.