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The Salt Lake City Greek Festival was a lot more exciting than I thought it would be. It was also a LOT bigger than I was expecting it to be. From what I can tell, it is hosted by the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. It features an open house of the cathedral, music, dancing, amazing food, vendors, and a small bar. This year happened to be the 50th anniversary of the festival, so that was kind of fun too!
Quick Details:
Length: Depends on how much you wander. We did about 2 miles with where we parked.
Trail Type: Meander.
Difficulty: Its mostly flat and paved. We took the steps, but I did notice an elevator to get inside the Cathedral, so DR2.
Elevation Gain: 1 story.
Restroom: In the big tent and the other building.
Dogs? No.
Other Info: Temporary event. Fee area. It was $5.00 to get in. Plus parking, food, drinks, and merch.
To Get Here:
Take i15 to the 600 south exit (exit 306) heading east. Turn left on 300 West. It will be on the right about a half mile later. There was a large lot to the west, or find street parking.
279 S 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Fun clouds (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)). We decided to wait until near sunset to hopefully beat the heat. It was supposed to run until 10 so that worked out… mostly.
Above Downtown (PSP).
The cathedral (PSP). We decided to turn onto 3rd south to find parking. We ended up in the lot at about 150 West. It cost $10 bucks for a 2 hour window.
More fun sunset.
“Home of the first Sunday school held in Salt Lake City December 9, 1849.”
More on this on the way back. We passed a couple little historical markers.
“Tour Stop 46
Broadway Hotel
1912, B. O. Mecklenburg
The Broadway Hotel is one of the dozen hotels built in downtown Salt Lake City shortly after the completion of the city's two major rail depots. The building is most notable today for the portico on its southeast corner. This portico marks the entrance of the building and offers shelter to patrons standing on the sidewalk outside. Few such porticos now survive in Salt Lake City.
If you continue west on 300 South, look for the small one-story apartments in Wayne and Delmar Courts tucked behind the LaFrance Apartments on the north side of the street. Built circa 1905, they were among Salt Lake City's first apartments.”
Sadly, it looks like the small one-story apartments were demolished, as well as the LaFrance apartments.
Lets play with google maps!
I think those are the old one-story apartments you can see in the back from 2019.
Now it is a parking lot. :(
The building with the portico.
We saw a lot of these historical markers when we did my random Tallest Buildings in Salt Lake City self tour. I did a little research, and as far as I can tell, the walking tour was abandoned and the city hasn’t bothered to put it back together with another company. Anyway, I plan to reconstruct it some day.
Fun clouds.
The cathedral.
Absolutely gorgeous stained glass windows.
The Adventure:
“Tour Stop 47
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
1924, Pope & Burton and N. A. Dokas
The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is evidence of the size and religious devotion of Salt Lake City's Greek immigrant community. In the early 20th century, Greeks were the largest immigrant group in Utah. Salt Lake City's Greek community was centered in a "Greek Town" with over 60 Greek businesses located on 200 South between 400 and 600 West. Completed in 1924, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is an excellent example of Byzantine Revival style architecture. A large gold dome crowns the building while two domed bell towers with decorative tiles frame the arcaded entryway. The tile roof, patterned brick, and elaborate capitals are also typical of the Byzantine Revival Style.”
Wow! it is 102 years old!
The cathedral with it’s sign.
We were guided in by some officers who directed us to the right to pay the fee and get a stamp.
No judgement, but dude was blown away that I paid with my watch! I thought that tech had been around long enough to be pretty mainstream by now, but, I guess not.
“ National Register
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Utah Historic Site
Constructed in the traditional Byzantine style, Holy Trinity held its first service on August 15, 1924. Located in the center of the Salt Lake City immigrant district, the church served Greek miners, railroad and smelter workers and their families. Architects for the building were the local firm of Pope and Burton working with a Greek architect from Chicago, N.A. Dokas.”
The national register.
“State Register
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Utah Historic Site
Replaced the First Greek Church in Utah, consecrated in 1905. Designed in the Byzantine tradition, its construction began in July 1923 and was completed in August 1924. Surrounding the church were once many immigrant neighborhoods dependent on the railroads and mines. The church remains a symbol of early Greek life in Utah.”
State register.
The front of the building.
So, they were doing an open house today. I am not religious at all, but I do love old architecture, and I am interested in the art and such.
I found someone with a badge and I asked if it was okay to take pictures inside because I didn’t want to be disrespectful. I was informed that the building, stained glass, and art is fine, just not people. I mean, that is what I am interested in, and I generally prefer not to have people in my shots so that works.
I am not sure what these are. There were 2 of them in the smaller room between the doors, and the seating area.
The other one.
Inside. Wow! this is neat.
Columns and stained glass windows. Part of me wishes we had arrived earlier to see the stained glass with some sunlight, but the other part of me was not enjoying how hot is was even after dusk so.. yeah.
The other side.
The dome. I am sure there is a more official name for it, but that is what I have for now.
Towards the… back... but front facing? I guess lets go with east side.
The Nave.
Stained glass windows.
The other side again.
Under the dome.
Oh! I guess they do just call it a the dome. I was certain there was a fancier name for it haha. Lets see, the “dome” at the Utah State Capitol is called a rotunda.
The east side again.
I think this is the Bishops Throne.
Chant Stand.
The Holy Alter.
We were instructed to not poke our heads, or any other part of our body past the doorway into this room. I did not ask why, but kind of wish I had.
Again, I don’t subscribe to this kind of stuff, but I will try my best to be respectful in their spaces. Even if most of them try to force their will on us outside of their spaces. I don’t know if the Greek Orthodox specifically do it, but most of them (pretty much all Christian based religions) do and it’s not cool.
Art.
The pulpit. Also super ornate.
Vestments.
The pulpit again.
Holy baptism.
Baptismal font.
It's been a long, long time, but it seems to look similar to the LD$ ones.
The dome from the north.
The prayer candles.
The pulpit.
Stained glass.
East side of the dome.
South side.
Again.
Bishops Throne.
Another ornate stand.
Prayer candles on the south side.
The dome again.
Columns and pews.
Balcony above. Landis thinks this might be where the choir would be.
Archways and windows.
Random art.
The small… lobby area? with candles and the elevator. We found a couple informational pamphlets here.
Outside.
Stained glass.
Alright, that was super neat! But now we really wanted to find some food.
Into the big tent, with a sign saying the food line starts here. Alright.
It was a little confusing going through the lines at first, but after 50 years they have figured out how to feed a crowd quickly! We were both leaning towards just getting a gyro and calling it good, but then we noticed they had pasticcio, which is a Greek lasagna, and well, Landis decided he wanted to try it and as a doting husband decided I would love to try a bite of it!
Unfortunately, due to us deciding to do a late start they were out of it. Poop. So we both got a gyro, and Landis decided to add meatballs which were really, really good!
While they excelled at the food lines, they kind of flopped at the bar line. The ID booth was in a weird spot, then they required tickets for all drinks (alcoholic and non) and that was stuffed off to the corner that was not particularly really not intuitive… we wasted time going to the bar only to learn no cash and we needed tickets to wandering around wondering where we needed to get tickets. I had just about given up when Landis finally noticed the ticket booth. It was really hot and I was getting hangry.. so maybe I am being a little bitch, but, I just felt like this part could have been better.
We found a table that had seats open and sat down to eat. There was some traditional dancing on the far end.
More dancing.
Closer.
Again.
The other building again.
The mural behind the stage.
The north side of the cathedral.
Panoramic.
Cute planter.
Historical marker.
“Sixteen Utah Greek workers die at “Lucin Railroad Cutoff” construction project February 19, 1904.”
The front of the cathedral again.
Stained glass window.
The Hellenic Cultural Museum was not open. We might have to come back and check that out sometime.
We thought this was the cornerstone at first, but it is just a list of donors.
The cathedral again.
The glowing red light is just a liiiitle creepy.
More red light.
The south side.
The stained glass windows, working our way west.
Bigger window.
Stained glass. Landis noticed it told a story, in the opposite order that I posted today. I... don't particularly care about that. I like the art, but that is where my interest ends.
The front again.
The corner.
Caught the dome from the outside.
The big stained glass window again.
Downtown buildings, including the Walker Center Tower forecasting clear skies.
Random art.
The Broadway Hotel again.
The other side of the Sunday School monument we saw earlier.
Cycle Track Planters.
More art.
"Tour Stop 45
J.G. McDonald Chocolate Company
1901, John A. Headland
The chocolates once produced in this building won over 40 gold medals for excellence in international competitions. The J. G. McDonald Chocolate Company specialized in boxed chocolates and a chocolate drink intended to replace the "injurious use of tea and coffee." The company constructed this building in 1901 as its headquarters. Originally, the building was three stories tall. A fourth story and a partial fifth story featuring an elaborate roof garden were added in 1914. The fifth story was later removed, but then reconstructed in 1999 when the building was converted to condominiums. Look for the letter "M" in brick relief on the corners of the fourth story."
I have a terrible habit of taking a picture of the sign to read later instead of reading it at the time. So I did not look for the M. But..
Here is what I found on google maps.
Closer.
The building.
Doors.
New sign.
"Tour Stop 44
Squatter's Pub Brewery
Garden Hotel
— 1909, Ware & Treganza —
Squatter’s.
Neat neon sign (PSP).
I swear this used to be the the Young Electric sign… but I can’t find a damn thing to back that up… so maybe I am just misremembering it.
I really enjoyed exploring the neat old building! The festival though was a little meh for me. It was hot, crowded, and loud. The food was amazing though! I’m going to settle on 7 squirrels.
As for difficulty, it is paved, there are stairs up into the church, but I did see an elevator as well, so DR2.
Dogs are not allowed.
