Salt Lake City Sports and Concert Events

Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City is the state capital of and largest city in Utah, a state of the United States of America. It sits in the Salt Lake Valley in north-central Utah along the Wasatch Front at an elevation of 4,330 ft (1,320 m). The valley is mostly surrounded by mountains that rise up to 6,000 ft (1,850 m) above the valley floor. Salt Lake City is also located near the Great Salt Lake, but is separated from it by marshes and mudflats. Salt Lake City is known for the mountain resorts in the nearby Wasatch Mountains. Salt Lake City was host to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The current mayor of the city is Ross C. ("Rocky") Anderson. On July 24, 1847 143 men, three women and two children, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded Salt Lake City on the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. They were led by Brigham Young, who led the Saints after the death of the religion's founder Joseph Smith, Jr.. Upon arrival to the Salt Lake valley. The city was originally named "Great Salt Lake City", but changed to "Salt Lake City" upon displacing Fillmore, Utah as Utah territorial capital in 1856. The city became Utah's capital on January 4, 1896 when statehood was finally granted. Salt Lake City's downtown core houses an impressive collection of old and new structures with several twenty-plus story steel and glass towers adjacent to late nineteeth century brick and mortar. The tallest building in the city is the Wells Fargo Center, at 24 stories and 422 ft. Other important buildings are the Delta Center, One Utah Center, the historic Tabernacle on Temple Square, the LDS Salt Lake Temple (which is Utah's number one tourist attraction), and the newer LDS Conference Center which seats about 20,000. Another popular attraction is the architecturally unique Salt Lake City Public Library, which is Utah's second most popular tourist attraction. The LDS Genealogical Library, located just west of Temple Square, ranks among Utah's most popular tourist destinations (with Temple Square and Zion National Park). Salt Lake City is home to the Utah Jazz, a NBA team, as well as the Salt Lake Stingers minor league baseball team. The Stingers are the Anaheim Angels Triple A affiliate. The city also hosts a hockey team, the Utah Grizzlies and a minor league mens' soccer team, the Utah Blitzz. Major League Soccer announced that Salt Lake City will receive its latest expansion team in 2005, which will be known as Real Salt Lake. Salt Lake City will also receive an expansion team from the revived American Basketball Association, known as theUtah Snowbears in 2005, and an Arena Football League team in 2006. Post-secondary educational options in Salt Lake City include the University of Utah, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Community College, the BYU Salt Lake Center, and the LDS Business College. There are also many trade and technical schools such as the Utah College of Massage Therapy.