Grid Zine Fest Salt Lake City

Grid Zine Fest Salt Lake City

Grid Zine Fest Salt Lake City was such a rad event! Advertised as "the coolest queerest zine fest in Salt Lake City", I couldn't agree more! It was such a beautiful event to be a part of. The venue, Church & State, is a mixed use space of independent businesses and a stunning event venue. Church & State is a welcoming space to all individuals -- whether you have the privilege of visiting the venue as an wedding guest, coffee shop patron, or tattoo client, this beautiful Downtown Salt Lake City gem has tons to offer! The 130+ year old church housed the absolutely packed Grid Zine Fest, under its stunning stained glass windows, on March 29th, 2025.

This was my first year attending Grid Zine Fest, and only my second zine event. I had seen zine's before at other markets, but I didn't quite understand them. It felt like I was missing some important memo about zines, that only the cool kids knew about. A great majority of the zines were very reasonably priced, which made it feel far more accessible to buy a couple based off of the cover and reveal their secrets later!

My only other exposure to zines was through the SLC Photo Community's debut of "Salt Lake City Unveiled - A SLC Photo Community Zine". I had heard about the SLC Photo Community through fellow photographers who had participated in their photo walks. I attended my first SLC Photo Community photo walk in May of 2024. After talking with a few of the organizers, I decided to "shoot my shot", and submit to their zine. I wasn't the type of person who submitted my work, to anything really. It intimidated the hell out of me, but everyone was so nice, and I was inspired by the photographers who were so confident in sharing their photos. I figured I needed to start somewhere, and to my delight my photo was accepted!

The Salt Lake City Unveiled, First Edition, launch party was hosted at Acme Camera Co, in Salt Lake City, in 2024. I had the opportunity to meet some of the other zine participants and connect with more folks from the SLC Photo Community. I was SO nervous to attend the event. I had only met people there a few times prior, but it was so rad to have the shared commonalities of photography, appreciation for Salt Lake City, and a desire to show off its hidden gems.

After looking back on both of my zine event experiences, it's clear that the thing I've come to appreciate and love about these events has been the community. People coming together from all walks of life, sharing their stories, their photos, their talents. I met people like Billy McCall and Ed Kemp, friends who met through zines. They traded zines for a year or two before meeting in real life.

McCall said, "Once we met in real life, we just clicked. Got along right away. Started hanging out. Started meeting up. I lived in Baltimore for a time, so it was easier to meet when we both lived on the East Coast. But when I moved back to New Mexico, he was like "Yo, we need to meet up and hang out at least once a year." If we're gonna meet up once a year, it might as well be at a zinefest! The first year we went to Phoenix Zinefest, last year it was Cincinnati, and this year it was Grid Fest in SLC."

This beautiful art form feels so passionate, free, and punk rock as fuck! The sky is the limit to what you can create in a zine, what the zine can be about, and your preferred medium. It was SO inspiring to see what people put together. Some zines had information about protecting the Great Salt Lake. Some zines had tips for riding public transportation. Some zines were hand-drawn and some were collaged.

I kept thinking about how affordable and accessible they were. These masterpieces that took people obvious time and care to curate could be purchased anywhere from $1-$25+. The passion that went into creating these zines clearly extended beyond financial gain and seemed much more focused on spreading information and connecting with others. Each person that I met was so kind and friendly. They graciously talked with me about their zines and their process creating them.

Photographing this event made my heart absolutely sing. I'm so grateful to have connected with Ricky Vigil (a Grid Zine organizer) at a StickerCon event, hosted by Copperhive Vintage. (Who's hosting their second StickerCon on July 6th, 2025, another equally incredible event that you don't want to miss!)

Salt Lake City is full of incredibly talented humans who make this city what it is. Thank you to the Grid Zine Team for having me! Hope to see you all next year!

XO

Brie