By Scott Buehler, Moving UtahSpend a morning in Murray Park
296 E Murray Park Avenue Free Year round Directions
Murray Park is the reason this city works as a place to live rather than merely a place to pass through. It runs to 63.4 acres with Little Cottonwood Creek threading the full length of it, which is unusual: most valley parks are flat rectangles of irrigated grass, and this one is organized around moving water coming off the range to the east.
Inside the boundary are an arboretum, five rentable pavilions, playgrounds, soccer and softball fields, a gazebo, an outdoor aquatic center and The Park Center recreation complex with its indoor pools. Some of the ground previously carried the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds, before newer facilities were built in South Jordan. The park page takes all of it, including the summer program and what each building actually offers.
The creek is the thing that makes it different
Little Cottonwood Creek enters the park from the east and leaves it heading west, and it eventually meets the Jordan River at the city's northwest corner. Standing beside it in the middle of a park in the middle of a metropolitan valley is a genuinely odd sensation, and it is the single feature that separates this park from the dozens of competent municipal parks either side of it. Walk the creek line rather than the paths and you get a different park.
Pavilions book out, and they book out early
There are five of them and they are reserved through the City of Murray rather than through the county, which is a distinction worth getting right on the first phone call. Through the summer they go well ahead, and the pressure is highest on the weekends either side of 4 July for obvious reasons. If a reunion or a birthday is the reason for the trip, sort the booking before anything else about the day.
The details
Getting there
East off State Street on Murray Park Avenue or 5300 South. Parking sits in several lots around the perimeter rather than in one place, and the amphitheater at the south end has two of its own, reached from 5300 South and from the parks office.
Before you go
- Pavilion reservations run through the City of Murray on 801-264-2614, not the county.
- The Park Center is a separate facility with its own hours and its own entry.
- The outdoor aquatic center is a summer season pool and closes for the school year.
- Amphitheater shows are ticketed and dated; the season is short and sells.
- Confirm any hours you are travelling for, because a city programs its own venues.
See something at the Murray Theater
4961 S State Street Ticketed Reopened September 2025 Directions
For eight years this building was dark. The Murray Theater, an Art Moderne house that opened on 28 October 1938 and sits on the National Register of Historic Places, reopened on 26 September 2025 with a concert headlined by Loren Allred, a Murray native, and to the general public two days later, after a restoration that ran past 3 million dollars.
The number that tells the story is not the money. It is 17 feet, which is how far crews had to excavate below the stage after finding foundation failure under it, and which is why an opening first slated for early 2024 arrived in the fall of 2025. The 333 seat room now carries laser projection, new production and sound systems, and an orchestra pit on an elevator lift. The city center page sets the restoration in the context of the whole downtown rebuild.
It is a civic room, not a commercial movie house
The city owns this building and programs it, which means the schedule reads like a municipal calendar rather than like a chain listing: films, concerts, local productions and hires, in no fixed weekly pattern. That is a feature rather than a limitation, but it does mean you check what is on before you go rather than assuming something will be. There is no permanent nightly program to turn up for, and tickets run through the city's box office at MurrayTix.com.
Anything written about it before fall 2025 is out of date
A lot of what is online about this building still describes it as closed, mid restoration or opening soon, because it spent the better part of a decade in exactly those states. Treat any listing that does not name a date in late 2025 or later as describing the old situation. The city's own pages are the current source, and they carry the schedule and the ticketing.
The details
Getting there
On the State Street corridor in the historic center of the city, within a short walk of city hall and the park. Street and lot parking sit around the block, and the whole city center is being rebuilt around exactly this kind of walk.
Before you go
- Check the current program first. There is no standing nightly schedule here.
- Ticketing is through the city at MurrayTix.com rather than through a national platform.
- Anything published about this building before fall 2025 describes it closed.
- The 333 seat room is small, so popular dates go rather than linger.
- It sits inside the city center district, so pair it with a walk rather than a parking run.
Walk the grounds at Wheeler Historic Farm
6351 S 900 East Free grounds Year round Directions
Henry J. Wheeler and his wife Sariah established this farmstead in 1886, and the adobe and brick house with its granary, ice house, chicken house and work shed all date from 1898. The site runs to about 75 acres, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976, and it is one of very few complete nineteenth century farmsteads left anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley.
The jurisdictional detail is the one worth knowing before you plan anything: this is a Salt Lake County park with a Murray address, not a city facility, so its calendar, its charges and its events run on the county rather than on anything the city publishes. The outing planning, prices and the way it fits into a valley wide day out are covered on the county page for weekends in the valley.
It survived because the valley grew around it rather than over it
Nearly every other farmstead of this age in the Salt Lake Valley was subdivided out of existence during the postwar expansion. This one was not, which is the entire reason for the National Register listing: it is not simply an old house, it is a complete operating complex of buildings, fences, trees, roads and the stream and ice ponds that went with them. Read it as a working unit rather than as a museum piece and the site makes far more sense.
The creek here is the same water that runs through Murray Park
Little Cottonwood Creek comes off the range to the east, crosses this side of the city and runs through the park a couple of miles northwest of the farm before heading for the Jordan River. The Wheelers built here for the same reason the city later put its park where it did, which is that this is where the water was. That single line of water explains most of the historic geography of the east side of this city.
The details
Getting there
The farm fronts 900 East at about 6300 South with parking on site. It is a straightforward run east from State Street on 6100 or 6200 South and then south, and the county posts its event calendar at the entrance.
Before you go
- This is a county park. City phone numbers and city calendars will not help you.
- The grounds are free; individual activities and seasonal events carry charges.
- The buildings date from 1898 and the site is on the National Register from 1976.
- Mornings are quieter and the animals are more active than in the afternoon.
- The county page for valley outings covers the planning side better than a list entry can.
Ride or walk Murray's five miles of the Jordan River
Five trailheads, 4800 S to 6400 S Free Year round Directions
What separates this reach from the rest of a very long regional trail is that Murray measures it. Markers appear every tenth of a mile along the entire municipal section, five trailhead parking lots are spread down it, and the surface is flat, paved and usable in every month of the year.
It runs the full western edge of the city, from 4800 South at the top end down to Winchester Street at 6400 South, entered through Germania, Willow Pond, Arrowhead, Walden or Winchester parks. Five entrances across five miles means an out and back can be any length you choose with no shuttle, no lift and no plan. The river page takes the whole reach park by park.
The markers change who uses it and how
Most urban trails give you a sign at the trailhead and then nothing until the next road crossing. Measured tenths turn this into a course rather than a walk, which is why the people on it at seven in the morning include runners doing intervals and people counting their way back from an injury. If you are training to a number rather than to a feeling, that single detail is worth more here than any amount of scenery.
Horses use this corridor, so announce yourself
There is a working equestrian trail alongside the paved one and riders genuinely use it. Where the two surfaces meet, the thing that matters is being heard: a bicycle arriving silently behind a horse is the outcome every person involved wants to avoid. Slow to walking pace, say something out loud so the animal registers a human voice, and give it as much room as the corridor allows.
The details
Getting there
Start from any of the five access parks. Germania at 5234 South Murray Parkway Avenue is the most complete, Arrowhead at 593 West 4800 South is the north end, and Winchester Street at 6400 South is the south end of the city's own reach.
Before you go
- Five trailhead parking lots mean you never need to plan a shuttle for an out and back.
- The mile markers run every tenth of a mile, so distances are exact rather than estimated.
- The equestrian trail crosses the paved one. Expect horses and pass them wide and slowly.
- Canoe launches exist here, but the river's diversion structures are a county wide subject.
- The trail continues into other cities at both ends, and the region page covers the full line.
Book a night at the Murray Park Amphitheater
495 E 5300 South Ticketed June to September Directions
The thing worth noticing about this venue is not the program but the fact that a city of this size fields both a symphony orchestra and a concert band and puts each of them on its own stage for a night. Around those two evenings the season carries a pair of full musicals, six performances each, and closes in September with tribute acts. That is a level of municipal cultural provision that has quietly vanished from most American suburbs.
The pricing follows from the same logic. The 2026 season put an adult seat at a musical at 20 dollars and at a city ensemble concert at 10, with concessions below both, which is not what an evening downtown costs. Confirm the current figures with the parks office before relying on them, because the city rewrites this season every spring. The park page lists the season date by date.
Two parking lots, joined to the venue by footpath
One sits southeast of the amphitheater off 5300 South and the other northwest in front of the Murray Parks and Recreation office, and both connect to the venue on foot rather than by road. That is worth knowing at eight o'clock on a summer evening when the nearer one is full, because the walk between them is short and the drive between them is not. Arrive with the second option already in mind.
An outdoor summer evening in this valley cools off fast
Musicals start at eight in June and the tribute concerts at seven in September, and by the time the intermission arrives the temperature has usually dropped a long way from the afternoon figure. The valley floor loses heat quickly once the sun goes behind the Oquirrhs. Take a layer for a performance that ends after dark, which by August means most of them.
The details
Getting there
Two parking lots serve the venue, one southeast off 5300 South and one northwest by the parks office, both joined to the amphitheater by footpath. Call the parks office on 801-264-2614 for the current season.
Before you go
- The season is short and dated. There is nothing to turn up for outside those nights.
- Prices and dates are published annually, so confirm the current year before booking.
- Both parking lots connect on foot; plan for the second one being the one you use.
- Evenings cool off sharply once the sun leaves the valley floor. Take a layer.
- The two city ensembles are the cheapest way into this venue by a wide margin.
Take the fourth of July at Murray Fun Days
Murray Park and State Street Free Every 4 July Directions
Fun Days has run since 1958, under Mayor Ray P. Greenwood, which makes it older than most of the institutions in this valley that describe themselves as traditions. It occupies the whole of 4 July, from a sunrise service and a community breakfast at 6:30 in the morning through to fireworks at ten at night, and it is free.
The parade is the fixed point. It steps off at 8:30 from Fashion Place at the south end of the city and finishes in Murray Park, which means it runs the length of the State Street spine and takes the city's main road out of commission for the morning. In 2026 the day carried a 5K and a children's race, a chalk art competition, plein air painting, lawn games, food trucks, daytime entertainment at the white gazebo from eleven to two, and an evening concert on the softball field.
The parade route is the reason to arrive early or not at all
A parade that runs up State Street from the mall to the park passes a large share of the city's residential streets, and the households along it treat curbside positions as inherited property. Turning up at 8:15 to find a space is not a plan. Either be there properly early with chairs, or watch from further along the route where the crowd thins, or accept that the morning is a write off for driving anywhere in this city.
It is one of the few genuinely free full days in the valley
Sixteen hours of programming, a parade, entertainment, a concert and a firework display, at no admission, is not a common offer anywhere in this county. Food and stalls charge, and that is the whole of the cost unless you want it to be. For anybody weighing this city, the day is also the single best chance to see what its residents actually do together, which is a different question from what a brochure says.
The details
Getting there
Park once and walk. The parade closes the State Street spine through the morning, so anything that involves driving across the city between about eight and eleven needs a different plan or a different day.
Before you go
- The parade steps off at 8:30 from Fashion Place and ends in the park.
- Fireworks are at ten at night, which is a long day if you started at the sunrise service.
- Residential streets on the route fill from very early. Arrive properly early or go long.
- Take the current program from the city rather than from a listing site.
- It is free, but bring cash and a card because the stalls vary in what they take.
Visit the Murray Museum in the Cahoon Mansion
4872 S Poplar Street Free Reopened May 2025 Directions
The city bought the John P. Cahoon Mansion in 2017 with the intention of turning it into a proper home for a collection that had outgrown its previous space, and on 2 May 2025 the Murray Museum reopened inside it. The house was built in 1899, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, and the purchase and restoration together ran somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million dollars, including significant state grants.
Preservation Utah gave the project a Rehabilitation and Restoration Award in April 2025, which is the kind of recognition that tells you the work was done to a standard rather than merely done. The building is the exhibit as much as the collection is, and it sits a short walk from the theater and the civic core, which is exactly the walk the city center rebuild is designed around.
A mansion is an odd building to put a museum in, and that is the point
Most municipal museums in this valley occupy a room in a civic building or a converted storefront. Putting one inside an 1899 house on the National Register means the visitor experience is architectural before it is curatorial: you are reading rooms, proportions and detailing at the same time as you are reading the display. It also means the building's own restoration story is part of what is on show.
Check the opening hours, because a small civic museum is not a daily venue
This is a city run museum in a restored house rather than a full time institution with a large staff, and its opening pattern reflects that. Take the current hours from the city's own pages before travelling for it, and if a specific exhibit is the reason for the trip, call first. That is not a criticism of the place; it is how every museum of this size in this county operates.
The details
Getting there
Poplar Street sits in the older residential grid just off the State Street corridor in the city center, close enough to the theater and the park that all three make one walk rather than three drives.
Before you go
- Reopened 2 May 2025. Anything describing it as closed predates that.
- Take current opening hours from the city, because a small museum is not open daily.
- The house itself is on the National Register from 1983 and is half the visit.
- It pairs naturally with the theater and the park on foot rather than by car.
- Parking is residential street parking, so park considerately and walk the last block.
Book a table at Desert Star Playhouse
4861 S State Street Ticketed Year round Directions
Desert Star has been staging original melodramas and musical parodies on State Street since 1989, which makes it one of the longest continuously running theater operations in the valley and comfortably the most durable thing on this list that is not owned by the city. The house style is fixed and unembarrassed: send up a blockbuster, a television series or something about Utah itself, invite the room to boo the villain, and follow the play with a variety set called the Olio.
The seating is cabaret style at tables with service, so a show here is an evening with food attached rather than a play with an intermission. It has run long enough to be a genuine local institution, which is a different proposition from the restored civic theater a few blocks north; between them, the State Street corridor now carries two completely different kinds of night out within a short walk of each other.
Book the show and the table at the same time
Because service happens at the table during the performance, seating and ordering are part of one transaction rather than two, and popular runs go well ahead. Turning up hoping for a table on a Friday is the single most reliable way to be disappointed here. The productions run for weeks rather than nights, so there is usually a date available; it just is not the date you thought of first.
The parodies assume you know the source, and often that you know Utah
A good share of the material is built on Utah references, and a visitor who has been in the state a week will miss a proportion of the jokes the room is laughing at. That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason to treat it as a good way to work out what the valley finds funny about itself, which is more informative about a place than most guided tours manage.
The details
Getting there
On State Street a short distance from the civic core, with parking on site and around the block. It is close enough to the Murray Theater that choosing between them is a genuine decision rather than a geographical one.
Before you go
- Reserve. Table service means seating and booking are one transaction, and it fills.
- Productions run in blocks of weeks, so a sold Friday usually has a free Tuesday.
- The Olio variety set after the play is part of the evening, not an optional extra.
- A share of the humor is Utah specific, which is half the interest for a newcomer.
- It has been running since 1989, so treat the house style as deliberate rather than dated.