Saturday, May 11, 2019. One day. One block. One headliner who had played his first show inside the venue eighteen years earlier. That was the entire shape of what would become Salt Lake City's largest indie music event.
Will Sartain and Lance Saunders didn't set out to build a destination festival. They were running S&S Presents. They had owned Kilby Court for eleven years. The venue was turning twenty. So they shut down 700 South, the unassuming industrial street that Kilby sits off of, and threw a block party.
The Idea Was Smaller Than the Result
The first Kilby Block Party was conceived as a single-day, single-block celebration of Kilby Court's 20th anniversary. Kilby is Salt Lake City's longest-running independent, all-ages venue. Founded in 1999 by Phil Sherburne, sold to Sartain and Saunders on New Year's Day 2008. By 2019 it had hosted thousands of shows and sent dozens of bands out into the world.
S&S wanted to throw it a birthday. The plan was modest. Close one block of 700 South. Build a stage. Book bands the venue had launched. Invite the people who cared.
"We had so much fun putting it together and received such a great response from the community that we decided it should be an annual celebration of the venue's legacy," S&S Presents said afterward. The annual part was a decision made after the fact.
The Lineup Was a Love Letter
The bill was built almost entirely from Kilby Court alumni. Bands that had played the room. Bands that owed something to it.
Death Cab for Cutie headlined. They had famously played their first-ever show inside the tiny garage venue in 2001. Putting them at the top of the 20-year party was the clearest possible signal of what the festival was about: a homecoming.
The rest of the bill: Ritt Momney. The National Parks. Joshua James. Drew Danbury. Local artists, every one of them, with deep histories at the venue.
Drew Danbury had played Kilby twenty to thirty times across his career. He had performed at the venue's 10-year anniversary. He had to beg management to put him on the 20-year lineup. He got it. Afterward he said: "I had no idea it was gonna be such a big event and it took a few days for the shock to wear off. Kilby meant, and means, the world to me."
The unstated thesis
Every band on the inaugural Kilby Block Party had played inside Kilby Court. The festival wasn't about discovery. It was about return.
Will Sartain Said It Out Loud
Sartain didn't treat the milestone block party as a business move. In a reflection captured at the time, he said:
"I am so happy we made it this far, and having the party pushes me to go on. We are really thankful that Phil Sherburne started doing shows at Kilby. It meant so much to me growing up, and I want to pass that on to the next generation."
Sartain first walked into Kilby Court at sixteen, in 2001. The same year Death Cab played their first show there. He volunteered. He booked shows. He bought the venue from Sherburne at twenty-three. Eleven years later, he was throwing the 20-year block party. The line from first walk-in to festival founder runs straight.
How Fast It Grew
S&S didn't plan a festival. They threw a party. Then everybody showed up.
Year two, 2020, was the COVID pause. No festival. By 2022, the second actual edition, the party had outgrown 700 South. It moved to Library Square in downtown Salt Lake and expanded to two days. Thirty-six artists across four stages, including Mac DeMarco and Phoebe Bridgers. It sold out in six days.
By 2023, it had outgrown Library Square. The festival moved to the Utah State Fairpark, expanded to three days, May 12 through 14, and booked The Strokes and the Pixies. Over 20,000 attendees per day. The little Kilby celebration was now a regional event.
2024 and 2025 stayed at the Fairpark. 2025 expanded to four days, drawing an average of 25,000 music lovers per day, with venue capacity allowing up to 40,000. Kilby Block Party 2026, returning to a three-day format this May, expands its footprint again to include the Days of '47 Arena to reduce audio bleed across stages.
What It Still Is
Despite the scale, S&S has been consistent about why the festival exists.
"The Kilby Block Party is a way of celebrating the vibrancy of our community and the love we share for our beautiful city. KBP is about celebrating everything that Kilby Court represents and Kilby Court would not be the same without our incredible local music scene."
Every lineup since 2019 has paired massive international acts with Utah bands. The Strokes shared a poster with local openers. Vampire Weekend played the same weekend as bands from 200-cap rooms. That structure traces straight back to the first one, where Death Cab returned to celebrate the venue that gave them their first stage and local Utah artists played alongside them.
That's the festival. A garage venue's birthday party that nobody planned to repeat, scaled to a state fairground, with the original premise intact.
Kilby Block Party 2026 opens this Friday at the Utah State Fairpark.
More from The Salt Vault →The Salt Vault · History · Kilby Court at 20