Performances
Live performances and special events added spectacle to Saltair’s appeal. Acrobats and a mind reader entertained guests during the opening season, and as the years continued, the Saltair Beach Company added a wide variety of performers to its roster. In 1896 the resort added a “Carnival of Madrid,” described by the Salt Lake Herald-Republican as “the most pretentious attraction ever attempted at the Lake Resort.” Over 2,000 spectators visited an elaborate castle that featured ballet dancers, acrobats, gymnasts, a tight-rope walker, a contortionist, feats of strength and dancers with fiery hoops. A new amphitheater opened in 1903, featuring a large fly tent with a stage that featured plays such as Aladdin, Jr., Crystal Slipper, and 1492.
Saltair’s stages featured popular vaudeville performances, including minstrel acts starring white actors in blackface playing out racist stereotypes for laughs. Saltair ended its opening season with a masquerade ball, offering prizes for costumes that included a $5 prize for the “Best Specimen of the Plantation Negro.” C. G. Watson won this prize, though his wasn’t the only racial costume--others included “Esquimeaux,” Mexican, and Turkish. Saltair guests were not unique in these racial characterizations, but they paid the same finely tuned attention to color lines as other Americans. In fact, an African American man was kicked out of the resort because of his race in 1910.
