Holladay Village's Art Scene Has Always Worked a Second Shift

Upstairs at Steinway Piano Gallery on Holladay Boulevard there's a concert hall with 40 seats. When the main floor is set up for a recital, it holds up to 75 people. During business hours the building is a piano store. After hours, on recital nights, local music teachers can book it for their students.

Holladay's art scene has mostly worked like that. A store counter turns into a gallery for an evening. A frame shop becomes a reception room. A utility box at a skatepark becomes a canvas. Last month the city's zoning code caught up with this habit, and the Village now formally allows something its shopkeepers had been trying to do for years.

What the council changed in October

The Holladay City Council voted unanimously to add "Arts and Culture" as a permitted use in the Holladay Village zone, according to the Holladay Journal's report on the new ordinance. The application came from the owners of Steinway Piano Gallery at 4644 S. Holladay Blvd., who wanted to be able to host music recitals.

Until now, ground-floor tenants in the Village were limited to retail. The rules didn't account for reception spaces or arts venues, so a shop couldn't legally hold an arts event. Holladay Economic Director Jon Teerlink described the problem to the Holladay Journal:

"This type of use was something that business owners in the Village have been trying to accommodate and work with, but have always been running up against Holladay Village land use requirements, specifically for spaces on the ground level."

The new rule treats art as a shop's second job. Any Village business can now host small recitals, art shows or performances, indoors or outdoors, as long as it keeps its retail use. The arts programs run in the off hours, which keeps parking open for shoppers during the day. The code also lets vacant storefronts display art, in the Village and in certain other commercial areas around Holladay.

The planning commission also drafted a second, high-intensity category for large music venues and event centers. It wasn't recommended for adoption this time, and the city plans to decide later where that kind of use might fit elsewhere in Holladay. So the Village keeps the small scale it already had. The change followed the Holladay General Plan update, which found residents wanted more local arts and culture activity in the city. The full zone description is in Chapter 13.71 of the Holladay City Code, available at holladayut.gov.

The shops that were already doing it

The ordinance makes more sense once you look at what Holladay businesses had already been doing in their own spaces.

Steinway Piano Gallery advertises its recital space to local music teachers for the fall 2026 season, with the 40-seat hall upstairs and room for up to 75 on the main floor. Pianist MinJung Baek scheduled a recital there for the evening of October 27, 7:30 to 9 p.m. That's the after-hours, registration-based kind of event the new code is written for.

Relics Framemakers & Gallery hosted the artist reception for Plein Air Holladay, as the Holladay Journal reported in October. Owner Ben Morrison opened the shop for the evening, and cellist Aisha Zuiter played. The exhibition ran through Oct. 19. A frame shop with a gallery, live cello, and paintings from a local plein air event all in one room fits the new rule closely.

Four Lemons, at 4850 S. Highland Drive, sells local art and handmade goods. When the Holladay Journal profiled founder Nanette Amis in 2025, the shop carried work by more than 130 local and international artists. Holladay Arts now holds its Artist of the Month pop-ups there. This month's was a free evening gallery event on Nov. 6, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

None of the three is a dedicated arts venue. Each one is a business with a storefront, regular hours, and a willingness to stay open late for art.

The art that doesn't keep hours at all

Holladay's other big canvas is street infrastructure. The Holladay Arts Council sponsored four newly wrapped utility boxes this fall, bringing the citywide total to 12, according to the Holladay Journal's report on the project.

Grace Davis's box shares Laney Avenue with the Village's best-known public artwork. "Gathering," by Seattle artist Susan Zoccola, depicts aspen trees and leaves. The Holladay Journal placed it at 2300 East and Laney Avenue when the sculpture was dedicated in 2023. A walk down Laney now passes a commissioned sculpture and a newly painted utility box, two very different budgets for public art on the same street.

These pieces show the other half of the pattern. When Holladay doesn't put art inside a shop, it puts it on something the city already owns.

How big the "small-scale" side has gotten

Holladay Arts reports more than 26,000 attendees at its events in 2025 and more than 1,000 artists served. That's a large audience for a city whose main indoor recital room, at least on the commercial side, seats 40.

Even the speaker series meets in borrowed space. Dr. Martha Bradley Evans, a professor in the University of Utah's School of Architecture, gave this season's talk, "The Architecture of Polygamy," on Nov. 11 at the Holladay Kiln Auditorium, 1895 E. Rodeo Walk Drive. Attendees entered through the east doors and went up to the second level. The talk was free for ages 14 and up. Holladay Arts says its 2027 speaker lineup will be announced later.

The October ordinance opens more of the Village's existing square footage to that kind of programming after dark.

Nov. 30 on the Plaza

The year's largest Village arts event happens outdoors on the Plaza. Holladay's Tree Lighting Ceremony is Monday, Nov. 30, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at Holladay Village, 4700 S. Murray Holladay Blvd. Holladay Arts says the evening draws about 450 people. Some calendar listings show a 5 p.m. start, so check the Holladay Arts event page before you head out.

Here's what the evening includes:

• Holiday music from the Rise Up Children's Choir
• Santa, arriving by firetruck
• Free cookies and hot cocoa while supplies last
• The Merry Holladay Market, a 90-minute pop-up of handmade ornaments and holiday cards by local artists

The market follows the same small-scale model. Each artist can bring up to 20 handmade ornaments and any number of cards featuring original artwork. Holladay Arts runs all sales and takes no commission, so 100% of each purchase goes to the artist. Artist applications closed Nov. 9, and accepted artists hear back Nov. 16. Artists drop off their work at 4:30 p.m. on event day and must collect anything unsold by 7:30 p.m. If you're picking up gifts, bring a way to pay and arrive early. The selection is small, and the market lasts only an hour and a half.

If you see a Village storefront lit up after closing this winter with folding chairs inside, the October rule is likely why. If you'd like to know which Holladay shops are using their after-hours space, or how the Village is changing block by block, Adam Frenza is glad to talk it through. Let's connect.