A swarm of giant fiberglass bees is on its way to downtown Salt Lake City, with two sculptures already built and five more under construction for a project that aims to turn Main Street into a walking tour of the capital's neighborhoods. The effort, called Bees Around the Block, calls for seven bee statues in all, one representing each of Salt Lake City's council districts, each one painted with a design meant to capture what residents love about their part of town.
The idea came from Landon Krasik, described as a city artist and community organizer, who pitched the concept to the Downtown Alliance and the Salt Lake City Arts Council, according to KSL News. Krasik has said the city's neighborhoods are unique but can feel hidden or unappreciated, and that the bee designs can show visitors the diversity of Salt Lake City's neighborhood cultures. The project itself, described on The Blocks Arts District's website, says the goal is to place a series of fiberglass bee statues throughout downtown Salt Lake City and create a walkable gallery of the city's neighborhoods in the heart of downtown.
Salt Lake City approved roughly $30,000 for the project, which covered half the cost of the seven sculptures, per the same KSL account. Statues.com and Industrial Concrete offered to cover the other half through in-kind donations. Two bee sculptures have been constructed so far, with one temporarily placed outside the Anderson-Foothill Library before it's relocated, while the remaining five are still under construction and expected to begin appearing on Main Street throughout the winter.
Funding the Paint Job and Gathering Design Ideas
Getting the bees built is only half the job — painting them is its own expense. Project planners have requested funding through Salt Lake City's Arts, Culture, and Entertainment grant program to cover painting costs, which the report notes require an additional $14,000, split evenly between artist fees and supplies.
To figure out what should actually go on each bee, project representatives met with more than a dozen community councils across Salt Lake City, and residents have submitted more than 400 design ideas so far. Krasik has also launched an online survey to keep collecting ideas, which the article states will remain open for a few more weeks. Organizers plan to seek out artists to design each bee using survey results gathered for that specific district, with a preference for pairing each bee with an artist from the district it represents, if possible.
A Painting Weekend Timed to the Temple Open House
Once artists are chosen, the actual painting is expected to happen during a single event planned for early April 2027, lasting about one weekend. That timing may coincide with the start of the Salt Lake Temple open house, whose tours are scheduled daily from April 5 through October 1, 2027, and which is projected to welcome millions of visitors next year.
Lucas Horns, program director of The Blocks Arts District — described as an arts wing of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance — said the open house period is an opportunity to reconnect Utahns with their capital city and downtown. Horns said the broader aim is an active Main Street that guides visitors from Temple Square into the downtown core.
The bees aren't the only beehive-themed push downtown. The local business community has separately led an effort to add beehive-themed lamp posts to Main Street, and The Blocks Arts District is also planning other wayfinding and art installations, along with a busking program meant to direct musicians and other live performers to downtown blocks. The GLOW Garden installation at the Gallivan Center already carries the theme further, featuring an LED sculpture arranged in the shape of a beehive, and a city sidewalk medallion design elsewhere uses a honeycomb and three bees as symbols tied to Utah's state motto of industry, according to Salt Lake City's public art program.
How Long Will the Bees Stick Around?
How Long Will the Bees Stick Around? Once installed, the sculptures are set to remain on Main Street for at least a year, after which they may either be relocated elsewhere around Salt Lake City or become a permanent fixture there. The bees are also meant to symbolize the Beehive State itself and celebrate and promote Salt Lake City's neighborhoods to open-house visitors, not memorialize the Salt Lake Bees minor league baseball team, which left for South Jordan in 2025.
A page from the Fairpark Community group invites residents to weigh in on how their neighborhood's bee should look, inviting them to let organizers know how they think their statue should ‘bee’ painted. Between the community council meetings, the survey, and that kind of neighborhood-level outreach, the project is leaning heavily on resident input before a single brushstroke goes on any of the seven statues.
