Song Summit returns with music, food, and free community programming

Photo: Park City Song Summit // Erika Goldring

The Aug. 27-29 event will bring Song Summit Labs, chef-musician dinners, evening shows at The Marquis and a free Song Summit Village to downtown Park City.

PARK CITY, Utah — Song Summit Park City returns downtown Aug. 27-29 with a three-day lineup that deepens the festival’s blend of live music, wellness, food, film, and artist-centered conversation.

The sixth annual event will include daytime Song Summit Labs at the Jim Santy Auditorium, free public programming at Song Summit Village on the Park City Library lawn, intimate Summit Supper Club dinners at Le Depot Brasserie, and evening double-header shows at The Marquis.

For Ben Anderson, the festival’s founder and president, year six marks a deeper move into the connection between music, food, and wellness.

“I’m excited to bring a new facet to Song Summit — leaning heavily into music plus food equals wellness equals life,” Anderson said.

The food programming builds on last year’s collaboration with chef Andrew Zimmern and musician Marcus King, which Anderson said drew a strong response from Park City, Summit County, and Salt Lake audiences. This year, the festival expands the idea into nightly dinners pairing chefs and musicians around collaborative menus.

The culinary lineup includes Zimmern, Stephanie Izard, Damaris Phillips, Gregory Gourdet, Sean Brock, Nikki Dinki, and Patrick Hallahan. Dinners run Thursday through Saturday at Le Depot Brasserie, each beginning with a reception and acoustic set before guests “second line” up Main Street to The Marquis for the evening concerts.

“The care that goes into every bite these chefs cook is, to me, very similar to every note and every word in the songs these musicians create,” Anderson said.

The music lineup features Jim James performing acoustic, Dumpstaphunk, Sierra Hull, Steve Poltz, and “Mountain Jam: A Song Summit Collective,” with Eric Krasno, Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket, Ivan Neville, Tony Hall, Ross James, Nicki Bluhm, Alex Koford, and special guests.

Saturday programming will also feature a screening of “Mountains of the Moon,” a film experience created by artist and skier Chris Benchetler, set to the music of the Grateful Dead. The film explores the intersections of sport, life, music, and the natural world through night cinematography, lasers, animation, and projection mapping.

The festival will also honor the late Bobby Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead. Aiko & Friends will perform “Ace Back to Back: A Tribute to Bobby Weir,” a set built around Weir’s songs. Holly Bowling, Nicki Bluhm, Eric Krasno, and Ross James will join.

The weekend closes with New Orleans-based Dumpstaphunk, whose founding members include Ivan Neville and Tony Hall. The band, formed during Jazz Fest in 2003, carries forward the city’s funk tradition.

One of the bigger changes this year, Anderson said, is the addition of a free, all-ages Song Summit Village – a community space on the library lawn. The village will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and is expected to include food trucks, vendors, a beverage area, celebrity chef activations, a listening tent, and a Song Summit Foundation stage for emerging artists.

“Song Summit Village being free to the community is huge as a giveback,” Anderson said.

The Song Summit Foundation will continue its emerging artist program, Summit Rising, now in its second year. Anderson said participating artists can apply for performance opportunities, workshops with established artists, mentorship, and access to programming focused on mental health, collaboration, and the realities of building a career in music.

Local musician KJ Ward of The Backseat Lovers, a certified breathwork facilitator, will lead Mindful Mornings — yoga, breathwork, and meditation — at the village Friday and Saturday.

Wellness has been part of Song Summit from the start, Anderson said, and remains central to the festival’s purpose. He said the event was created to raise awareness and provide resources for mental health within the live-music touring community — not just for artists, but for the larger ecosystem that supports them.

“I didn’t need to start a music and wellness festival. I wanted to.” Anderson said. “There was a desire to do something different in the festival world that would bring more awareness and resources for the wellness of touring artists.”

This year’s wellness programming also includes a 5K fun run/walk on Saturday, led by Gourdet. The James Beard Award-winning chef and television personality has spoken publicly about recovery and is a member of Ben’s Friends, a national recovery group for the food and beverage industry.

Programming at Song Summit Labs will explore the intersection of music and food. Sessions include Zimmern’s “It’s Easier Than You Think,” “Healthy People, Healthy Planet” with Antonio Nuño and Wes Carter, “Vinyl & Vittles” with Brock and Eugenie Jaffe, “Connecting Sound, Sport, Film & Story” with James, Benchetler, and Ross James, and a live taping of the “That’s Fun” podcast with Phillips and Dinki.

Anderson said the connections between chefs, musicians, filmmakers, and athletes aren’t incidental. Each world depends on long hours, performance, travel, and public expectation.

“At its core, Song Summit is about storytelling and sustainable living,” he said. “Wellness is the undercurrent through everything we do, because it’s the undercurrent of everything going on in our society.”

Tickets are on sale now at songsummit.com. Anderson said first-time attendees can experience much of the event for free by visiting Song Summit Village.

“The least expensive ticket is free — you don’t even need a ticket,” Anderson said. “Just walk into Song Summit Village, get the vibe, and be part of the community.”