In-Depth

KubeCon 2024: Visiting Salt Lake City

• By Tom Fenton
• 08/05/2024

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation's (CNCF) annual conference, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, will be held in Salt Lake City Nov. 12-15, with a pre-event the day before.

KubeCon 2024 is a must-attend event for Kubernetes and cloud-native enthusiasts. It offers numerous sessions, keynotes and a vibrant show floor with major vendors and innovative startups. This dynamic gathering is ideal for individuals interested in rapidly evolving technologies. This year, the event will take place in the heart of Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

I have a fondness for Utah, as I did my undergraduate work there at The Weber State University. In this article, I will share some of the fun and exciting things I found to do in this city and state.

Intro to Utah
Like most states, Utah is a unique and interesting place shaped by various forces.

Major geological events that have shaped Utah's unique landscape and made it such a wonderful outdoor playground include, first and foremost, the formation of the Wasatch Fault Line, which has created the Rocky Mountains in Northern Utah, the thrusting of the Unita Basin and the Uinta Basin, and the Lake Bonneville Flood, which made the Great Salt Lake and the enormous salt plains that surround it. This has made Utah a very geographically diverse state, from some of the rockiest and highest mountains in US to some of the flattest lands available (Bonneville salt flats). The west is part of the Great Basin, while the east is lush and green with pine trees, aspens and scrub oak. There is a huge metro area from Provo to Ogden, with small farming communities sprinkled throughout the rest of the state.

The people who inhabited Utah are just as interesting as the geographic forces that created it. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest habitation of humans in Utah was about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, with abundant fish, birds, and small game animals. Later, the Ute, Paiute, and Navajo lived in the land whose deep cultural heritage continues to influence the region.

In the mid-1800s, Mormon pioneers, led by Brigham Young, arrived and established a strong presence that remains a significant part of Utah's identity today. Over the years, Utah has attracted people from various backgrounds due to its thriving tech industry. Novell and WordPerfect both started in Utah. Its beautiful landscapes have made it a go-to destination for outdoor fanatics. Today, the state boasts a mix of urban professionals, artists, outdoor enthusiasts, and a growing immigrant community, all contributing to a vibrant, evolving cultural landscape.

The SLC area is known as the Silicon Slope due to the number of high-tech startups that operate in the region.

Adobe's massive office complex is on the south side of SLC. To the southwest of the city, the National Security Agency (NSA) has a massive Data Center, code-named Bumblehive.

Utah has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and the number of small and large tech companies throughout the state is too numerous to mention.

Geographically, Utah is a vast state, covering 219,887 square kilometers (84,899 square miles) making it larger than Austria, the Czech Republic, and Ireland. It could fit Switzerland and Denmark within in its borders with enough space left for Luxembourg! With that in mind, if you have extra time while attending KubeCon this year, you need to explore it. In this article, I will cover a few of the things I find interesting in SLC, and in another, I will cover the surrounding area.

Salt Lake City
KubeCon will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center at 90 South West Temple, in the heart of downtown SLC. By the way, navigating in SLC and Utah is pretty easy, as the streets are mainly laid out in a grid, with the street numerical numbers increasing as you get further away from downtown.

Downtown Salt Lake City has various experiences for visitors. The most popular attraction is Temple Square, a historic and spiritual landmark with beautiful gardens and the impressive Salt Lake Temple. Just a short walk from the convention center, the City Creek Center has a mix of high-end stores, famous brands, and some dining options. I love a good art museum, and the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art has a pretty good collection, but there are also numerous galleries in the area. The Eccles Theater hosts Broadway shows, concerts, and other performances, and there will be some excellent shows around the time of the conference. I have been trying to see Postmodern Jukebox for quite some time and may get a chance during the convention. I will be sticking around an extra night to see Joe Bonamassa, perhaps the greatest blues guitarist performing today.

The Delta Center is home to the Utah Jazz basketball team but hosts other events. Some NHL teams will be playing, and Alan Jackson will perform around the time of the conference.

Although the nightlife is not as vibrant as some cities, it does have some decent bars, breweries, and smaller live music venues. I suggest looking at the Salt Lake City Weekly, a free alternative weekly tabloid newspaper, to see what is hot and happening in the town.

As a college student in Utah, I can attest that getting a drink in Utah used to be difficult. However, before the 2002 Winter Olympics, Utah implemented significant alcohol reforms, making it much easier to purchase alcohol. Most restaurants and bars in Utah serve alcohol, but if you want to buy a bottle of hard alcohol, you have to visit a state-run liquor store.

As for beer, previously, only 3.2 percent beer was available in grocery stores, but now beer with up to 5 percent alcohol content is sold in grocery and convenience stores, even on Sundays when the liquor stores are closed. As mentioned above, there are numerous breweries in the SLC area.

For the teetotalers, I can highly recommend Apple Beer, a delicious, not too-sweet, non-alcoholic drink from Utah. I remember drinking it as a kid and still enjoy it today. By the way, this is not a Johnny Come Lately's trendy hipster drink, as it was started in the early 1960s, and in the last couple of years, they have expanded into some other interesting flavors. Damn, I hope they serve it at KubeCon!

Due to Utah's large Mormon population, which forbids the consumption of alcohol and coffee, and its very young youth demographic, it has a unique drink concept called Swigs that serves bespoke soft drinks like my favorite, "Naughty & Nice," made with Dr. Pepper, English Toffee syrup and cream. There are dozens of them around SLC.

I knew that I would go on a rant about things to do in Utah during your visit to KubeCon, so in my next post, I will discuss some of the great things you can do outside of Salt Lake City while at the event.

Although KubeCon will be great, if you get a chance you need to get out and enjoy the area while you are there.

I am looking forward to seeing you in Salt Lake in November and you can read more about the conference in my article here.

More Information about the event can be found here.