Neil Diamond (Impersonator) in Taylorsville, June 28, 2008

It is, once again, Taylorsville Dayzz! My family looks forward to this great community festival every year.

The Valley Regional Park is filled with food, rides, games and auto shows. The Taylorsville Recreation Center is letting people try out the rock climbing wall, the batting cages and the gym and exercise machines for FREE. The pool is open for swimming and you can take a break and read at the Taylorsville Library.

There is music on a couple of stages throughout the day- BUT, the big show is Saturday night. Live, from Las Vegas, headlining at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, is Jay White. White is the only Neil Diamond impersonator officially endorsed by Neil Diamond (and Neil Diamond's mother). I saw him perform last year, and not only does he look a heck of a lot like Neil Diamond, when he sings, you can barely tell the difference between White and the real thing. Jay White will be backed up by his own band and our very own West Valley Symphony.

Wrapping up his performance, he will sing the National Anthem that leads into the "Fireworks Extravaganza." The fireworks show, which starts around 10:00 p.m., has only gotten better every year. It is accompanied by a great soundtrack each year. This is, in my opinion, the best FREE fireworks show in the Salt Lake Valley, and probably one of the best in the state.

Taylorsville Dayzz even extends into Monday with a performance by the Utah Symphony. Monday evenings performance by the Symphony will be ended with a performance of the 1812 Overture, accompanied by cannons from the Wasatch Cannoneers. This is an incredible way to hear this amazing work (and nearly the way that Tchaikovsky intended for it to be played).

Taylorsville Dayzz is a great community gathering and a whole lot of fun. Now, excuse me while I prepare to sing along to "Sweet Caroline."

Event: Taylorsville Dayzz
Location: Valley Regional Park, 5100 South 2700 West, Taylorsville
Phone: 801.963.5400
Hours: June 28, 2008, 11:00 a.m. to dark; June 30, 2008, 6:30 p.m. to dark
Cost: FREE, food, rides and games have individual costs associated with them.


View Larger Map
Distance from:
Salt Lake City: 11.3 miles
Ogden: 44.8 miles
Provo: 38.2 miles
Logan: 89.5 miles

We're Back and Traveling Once Again

Sorry, folks. It's been a little while since I've been able to post anything. That pesky day job seemed to get in the way all too often over the last little while.

Having gotten the "day job" out of the way, I've spent a few days rambling around the state with the kids looking into some new places and checking up on some old favorites. I've got a lot of new information and some great places for you to visit. So over the next little while, I'll be posting about all of them.

In the last three days, we have been to:

The Hutchings Museum- Lehi
Timpanogos Cave- American Fork
Cabela's- Lehi
Golden Spike National Historic Site- Promontory
ATK Thiokol Rocket Garden- near Promontory
Marble Park- Bothwell
Bear River Wildlife Refuge- near Willard
BYU Earth Sciences Museum- Provo
BYU Museum of People and Cultures- Provo
Springville Art Museum- Springville
Krishna Temple- Spanish Fork
Bean Life Science Museum- Provo

Besides the gas for all this traveling (1 tank for $73.00), the total cost of entrance to all of this locations- $30.00 for myself and two of my children. The only place we visited that would have raised the cost if we'd had all the kids with us was Timpanogos Cave. Everything else was either free or a set entrance fee per car.

The locations above that have links are places that I've reviewed before and the ones without links are places that I will be reviewing shortly. All my travels around the state of Utah just continue to prove one thing- We have a lot of amazing places, within a short drive, that are either free or inexpensive, and are lots of fun for kids and adults alike.