One year of After Hours Open Mic
Grounds for Coffee, the coffee shop on 27 N. Main St., celebrated its one-year anniversary of “After Hours Open Mic Sundays” on Sept. 1, marking one year of striving for its mission of creating a safe space for artistic expression for the community.
Atlas Higgins jumpstarted the weekly event, bringing the open mic idea to Grounds and hosting it each Sunday.
“It’s just a weekly, free space for people to say whatever’s on their mind, sing their hearts out, do a little comedy or something,” Higgins said. “It’s just another space for people to just be creative and be social and hang out.”
Higgins gained inspiration from an open mic in Salt Lake City and wanted to host one locally after the event became uncomfortable to attend.
“I just wanted a weekly, free place for people that they could just come and share whatever they wanted,” Higgins said. “That was a year ago, and Grounds for Coffee was the only one that was interested.”
After speaking with Sadie Smith, the owner of the Logan location, it was decided the coffee shop would be used as the space to host the open mic.
Hannah Potter, a barista at Grounds, was working when Higgins came in to pitch the idea to the owner. Potter and Higgins collaborated to put together the open mic. Potter’s musical capabilities and access to a keyboard, along with her connections in the local musician community, played a big role in the creation of the event, according to Higgins.
“It has been such a fun thing to have at the coffee shop,” Potter said. “I have always been super into community and especially anything to do with music, and I’ve wanted to do something with it.”
People have played the guitar and keyboard, sang, recited poetry and practiced stand-up comedy, according to Higgins.
“Every single week, I always get so blown away by people’s talent,” Higgins said.
According to both Higgins and Potter, after controversy affected the musical space at WhySound, the open mic at Grounds was able to create another expressive, safe space for the community.
“People appreciated it a lot, and people felt safe to keep coming,” Higgins said. “It just makes me feel very, very good that the community has a space to communicate their wants and needs a little bit. It’s still just a creative space, but it’s a bit deeper than that.”
The passing of one year signifies and celebrates the efforts to make the open mic the gathering place for musicians and community members.
“I think that open mic, especially in the recent months, has gotten way more important because now there’s not a place for people to share their art, and there’s not a place for people to gather weekly or bi-weekly or whatever and hear live music,” Potter said.
Higgins encourages people to attend the open mic and experience the fun and confidence boost the event provides.
“Anyone who has art to share should know,” Potter said. “If you have art, if you have music, if you have poetry, jokes, stories, anything and you want to share, you should know about our open mic.”
People are free and welcome to perform whatever they’d like, as long as they are respectful and thoughtful of others.
“It’s getting people out of their comfort zones and helping people grow,” Potter said.
The open mic is from 6–8 p.m. every Sunday. More information can be found on the shop’s Instagram at @groundsforcoffeelogan.
“If you’re bored on a Sunday night, it’s something to do if you just want to watch,” Higgins said. “It’s good music, it’s good poetry, and if you just want to hear something in the background, you can just sit in the back and work on your homework. It’s just something nice to listen to. There’s zero pressure ever to perform or anything.”