Things to do / Travel Guide
Whoever thought that both Shakespeare and cowboys couldn't find a home in one region best think again. The thriving arts and theater scene in the southern Utah region produces some of the nation's most celebrated theater, music, and arts festivals. Then there are evening river trips, sound and light shows, and Old West-style, finger-licking and foot-tapping fun at saloon-style bars, restaurants, and clubs.
Performing Arts Venues and Festivals in Southern Utah
The region's premier entertainment event takes place every year in Cedar City. The Utah Shakespearean Festival brings thousands of people to town each summer for Shakespearean productions that rotate nightly. Every night, free street shows, vendors, musicians, and dancers perform before the evening's play performances. With a fall season recently added, the festival's excellent entertainment opportunities last for quite a while. Moreover, the Neil Simon Festival features professional theater performances devoted to the playwright, housed in the Heritage Center Theatre in downtown Cedar City.
Other entertainment options in the Moab area combine the arts with the natural landscape. For instance, each year, musicians and music lovers travel from around the world to the Moab Music Festival, set among the masterpiece of the red rock canyonlands surrounding Moab. The Canyonlands Arts and Performance Festival also provides regional entertainment in the fall.
In the St. George area, nature and the arts meet directly at the Tuacahn Amphitheater and Center for the Arts. Ten miles north of St. George, the outdoor amphitheater hosts theatrical and musical performances throughout the year, staged against the 1,500-foot-high spectacular red rock cliffs and setting sun. St. George Musical Theater presents family-oriented and affordable entertainment in their 265-seat round theater in town, and the Southwest Symphony performs its season of concerts from October-May. In the same season, the Celebrity Concert Series at Dixie College features excellent dance and music productions.
Springdale is not only the gateway city to Zion National Park, but an arts hub as well. The O.C. Tanner Amphitheater outside the park has a summer concert series that features everything from symphonies to ethnic dancing. A media presentation highlighting the history and beauty of several area National Parks is also shown nightly in the summer. Near the mouth of Zion Canyon, a dramatic large screen IMAX film is shown daily at the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theater. The screen is six stories high and 80 feet wide, and films focus on the area. Bumbleberry Inn Playhouse is one mile from the park, showcasing musical productions and plays throughout the year.
Nightlife in Southern Utah
Live country rock and country western bands often perform at restaurants and steakhouses throughout the region, spicing up the night with the sounds of southern Utah. Such restaurants also often offer beer and wine depending on your location, a great option for some late-night unwinding after a day out in the outdoors.
Due to the dominant Mormon influence in the region and complex liquor laws, visitors may not notice a plethora of bars or pubs throughout the region. That's what makes the potentially wild nights of Moab all the more pleasantly surprising. After a long day of park-hopping or on a boat or jeep ride, travelers can let loose in bars, restaurants, and Western-style clubs. Eddie McStiff's is part busy tavern and part family restaurant, with a game room, several TVs, and a microbewery on the premises. Beer on tap is available at other bars and pubs in the area, like the Moab Brewery or Poplar Place Restaurant and Pub. Western-style music, shows and even gunfights are on the evening's entertainment itinerary at the Bar-M Chuckwagon Live Western Show and Cowboy Supper, with a hearty meal of BBQ classics and beer and wine coolers available.
Canyonlands by Night and Day offers several different excursions in the Moab area, bound to give you a new perspective on red rock country. Evening river trips in the summer months combine sunset boat rides with stories of outlaws and a sound-and-light show against the backdrop of the canyon walls. Live western entertainment and home-cooked dinners precede the trip.
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