John Saltas

Long before there was a Greek Festival on the grounds of Salt Lake City’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral, there were once businesses that operated in what is now the cathedral’s parking lot. These days, the parking lot is mostly vacant, except on nights when there is a game or concert at the nearby Delta Center. I’ve seen more cars in that lot for a funeral or wedding than for a regular Sunday church service, barring the two days when many Greeks reluctantly go to church—Christmas and Easter.

Last week, I spoke at the annual convention for the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). City Weekly became a member of that organization in 1989, when we were considered to be the “ugliest paper I have ever seen” by at least one person adjudging our membership worthiness. True, dat. We were indeed ugly. But we balanced it with enough spit and vinegar that, 37 years on, I was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the organization, hence the speaking.

I’ve lived through many Fourth of July celebrations—enough that if I keep going, I’ll one day hit the “four score and seven years” marker with which Abraham Lincoln opened his Gettysburg Address. Some years are memorable, some are not. Some I can reference as if the celebration were yesterday. Some, like that of just two years ago, I struggle to recall. Some I want to forget. My first Fourth memory is of the fireworks display in the lower Bingham Canyon section of Frogtown.