Things to Do in Bountiful

More than two decades ago, Angy Ford, the owner of Bravo Arts Academy, taught her first piano lesson. In the years that followed, Angy’s student base steadily grew, taking over her home-studio space and filling it with noise like a college roommate with no conception of personal space. Angy was heartened by this positive response and overwhelmed by the number of students knocking at her door, so she moved her operation to its current Ogden studio space, which, like the home studio that came before, has continued to expand. Here, Angy couples her bread-and-butter music classes with a host of other engaging pursuits—from art classes to dance lessons—that help kids develop confidence, coordination, and artistic skills. The academy’s facilities invite tots to tumble over thick foam, ballerinas to pirouette over a floating marley floor, and pianists to tickle the ivories in a group setting.

Broken down by age group, the academy’s offerings include preschool, where classes are kept small and incorporate sign language into the curriculum, and extends all the way to private music lessons for adults. Angy models her daycare after the best practices she observed while visiting more than 50 childcare centers, encouraging creativity and learning rather than running infants through daily gauntlets of strength.

Visitors to the Utah Arts Festival stride across concrete promenades and grassy lawns sprawled out between fountains and modern buildings, which have glass walls that reflect the fest’s vibrant paintings and eclectic sculptures. Since its inception more than 35 years ago, the four-day festival has taken over a multiblock radius to accommodate hundreds of visual artists, musicians, performers, and culinary artists, each celebrating modern art and the local community. Throughout indoor and outdoor exhibitions, visitors explore varied works of visual art represented through special exhibitions and hands-on workshops with featured artists. A marketplace also gives artists a place to sell their paintings, wearable art, and sculptures to help disseminate their crafts and raise enough money for van Gogh’s ghost to move out of their basements.

Musicians score the festival throughout its days with worldwide genres on several outdoor stages, and storytellers and other literary artists tickle ears with eclectic tales and recitations of the UN staff directory. Across the grounds, festival staffers recycle the fete’s discarded plastic, aluminum, and cardboard as well as food scraps and vegetable oil, and promote eco-friendly practices with a protected bicycle lot and bike valet.

Every year, the Utah Film Center lights up screens with a full schedule of more than 170 free programs. Independent, classic, and documentary films flicker to life at locations across Salt Lake City, each handpicked for cinematic excellence, social importance, and high frequency of dance battles. Screenings often end with illuminating discussions with filmmakers or other visiting artists.

Members can deepen their cinematic immersion with tickets to advance studio screenings, access to the lending library, and invitations to pre-showing receptions. The celluloid aficionados also host a number of festivals throughout the year, concentrating on children’s films and LGBT issues.

On a sunny afternoon, kids climb to the top of a giant inflatable slide, kick their feet out, and ride the yellow decline into a ball pit. The merrymakers behind Sumo Party Planners enliven children's parties in just this fashion by renting out inflatable play structures such as bounce houses, obstacle courses, and life-size replicas of The Pentagon. Further amusements range from popcorn machines to face-painting stations. Sumo Party Planners can also combine rentals and services into party packages, with special pricing for schools, churches, charities, and the military.