It’s just not often the phrase “a dream come true” is actually… well… “true.”

But now that the curtain has fallen on a third successful summer season of “Starry Nights @ the Plaza,” there seems to be universal agreement among Taylorsville City officials, their $3 million investment to create Centennial Plaza is paying off perhaps more than even the biggest optimists
had expected.

“Centennial Plaza has absolutely been a hit – beyond what I imagined,” City Administrator John “JT” Taylor said. “There are very few places in the valley you can visit to enjoy the kind of peaceful ambiance we have here. It’s incredible. I just don’t know of a more beautiful public place in
the valley.”

Mayor Kristie Overson agrees.

“Starry Nights @ the Plaza continues to grow and has been such a hit,” she said. “But the other thing I love just as much about Centennial Plaza is glancing out my office window in the middle of a weekday, and seeing people walk through. A mom pushing a stroller… a couple holding hands… maybe a jogger. We had the vision of what we wanted this to be for a long time. Now, to watch it become that, is very exciting.”

All this talk may sound a bit like hyperbole – unless you happened to visit Taylorsville City Hall one single time in the nearly 20 years it was in place before Centennial Plaza was born. Most would have likely described it as a barren, weed-covered, grasshopper-infested, tumbleweed-catching eyesore. Over the years, many city officials have told stories about how developers offered to purchase parts or all of the
vacant acreage.

But except for the small corner of land at the 5400 S. 2700 West intersection – now home to the St. Mark’s Taylorsville (health) Clinic – city council members held firm to their acreage.

That ‘don’t sell determination’ eventually allowed the city to convince Salt Lake County to make use of a large portion of the land to construct its $45 million Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center. If you were following the news at the time, you know that was the first domino to fall in what led to Centennial Plaza becoming what it is today.

Three years ago, in October 2021, city officials cut the ribbon on the brand-new Centennial Plaza. During her remarks that night, Overson also introduced something new in conjunction with it: the Plaza +ART program. That night, six pieces of art were unveiled. Since then, the number of art pieces in Centennial Plaza has grown to 19. 

The following summer, “Starry Nights @ the Plaza” was introduced. The weekly event includes live music, outdoor movies, food trucks and various single night activities like “Night Out Against Crime” and the “Children’s Entrepreneurial Market.” Like the number of art pieces on display, “Starry Nights” has grown.

“This year we had a record 20 Starry Nights @ the Plaza evenings, from early May through the end of September,” Overson said. “The number of people coming has grown each year. But it’s still not overcrowded. The food truck vendors seem happy. We’ve had no trouble getting them to return each year. It’s become a great gathering event.”

With the 2024 Starry Night season now over, the next big event coming to Centennial Plaza will be the Christmas tree lighting on Dec. 2. The Taylorsville High School madrigals are scheduled to perform, with free hot chocolate and cookies
also available.

Perhaps the most startling thing about the successful growth of activities at Centennial Plaza is just how inexpensive it is.

“Our entire budget for all of the activities we host on the plaza – all the live music performances… all the outdoor movies… even the cookies and drinks provided once in a while – is about $25 to $30,000,” Taylor said. “Plus, we have been able to secure a lot of (Salt Lake County) grant funding to help cover much of that cost.”

A fourth season of Starry Nights will return on Friday evenings next May. However, Overson reports, it’s still not clear whether a second weekly activity, unveiled for the first time this summer, will also
be back.

“Our Tuesday night farmers’ market attendance was a bit up and down this year,” she said. “We’ve not yet been able to talk with the market sponsors to determine whether they will return next season. I hope they will. I think they will. It takes a little time to introduce something new and have it catch on. Let’s just say, we definitely want them back next year. So now it’s up to them.”

A couple of other new things on Centennial Plaza this season have had nothing to do with entertainment – and everything to do with maintenance. The nearly two acres of open lawn has been serviced by a pair of autonomous lawn mowers.

“The best way to think of the mowers is, they are like Roomba vacuum cleaners, but for cutting grass,” Taylor said. “A Taylorsville resident who sells them convinced us to try them out. We have two here at city hall and another at the Taylorsville Cemetery. The city council has not yet officially decided whether they like them – or whether more will be purchased. But, so far, the mowers seem to be getting the job done.”

Lifelong city resident – and 1994 Taylorsville High School graduate – Eric Behunin is the businessman who convinced the city to give the autonomous mowers a try this year. He is the founder and owner of a couple of businesses related to landscape design and maintenance.

“Autonomous mowers are definitely the future,” he said. “Five years from now, you won’t see very much manual mowing. Europe is a few years ahead of us on this – and last year, 80% of the mowers sold over there were autonomous.”

Behunin says the nearly silent electric mowers go back and forth to their recharging stations as needed, and cost only about $5 per month to charge. Their tiny cutting blades automatically turn off if the mower is tipped by a child or pet. If someone tries to steal one, a built-in GPS tracking system makes them easy to locate.

“The autonomous mower being used at the cemetery ended up in the canal,” Behunin said. “We aren’t sure whether it went in on its own or someone threw it in. But it floated for several hours; we found it, recharged it, and it ran fine. Even the manufacturers didn’t realize they float. So, that turned out to be a nice discovery.” 

Behunin hopes to eventually sell more autonomous mowers to the city to maintain Taylorsville parks. But, like the future of Centennial Plaza Tuesday farmers’ markets, that decision has not yet been made.

For now, it’s on to a much quieter season on the grass and sidewalks outside city hall. But, now three years in, Taylorsville officials remain firmly convinced, the nearly 20 years it took to do something with their open acreage has led to its best possible use. λ