WHEN WALT PLUMB first approached United Concerts owner Jim McNeil in February about holding concerts at the venerable Saltair Resort on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, McNeil suppressed a chuckle.
"I was skeptical," McNeil recalls with a grin. "I am a conservative person by nature."Plumb persisted. Instead of telling McNeil what kind of shows the Saltair partners wanted to see, Plumb asked what kinds of concerts McNeil thought would work. McNeil toyed with the idea and more discussions evolved.
"I got thinking, `This can really work!' It's exactly what I need: a multiple-purpose venue with good acoustics and no concrete walls." Not to mention a site with 3,000 to 4,000 seats, giving United Concerts exclusive rights to the only medium-size concert venue in Utah.
McNeil not only said "yes" to concerts at Saltair, he bought into the project. He's now the managing partner of Saltair. "As jaded as I am, this is still exciting," he said.
With partners Wally Wright, Ron Ferrin, Mark Elardo and Plumb, McNeil is now transforming the longtime eyesore into what they believe will once again become Utah's grandest resort. Saltair will reopen Tuesday, June 1 - 100 years to the day from its original opening. Singer-songwriters Shawn Colvin and Darden Smith will perform.
The onion-domed edifice - perhaps Utah's third-most recognizable structure behind the Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle - is expected to host everything from rock concerts to sit-down dinners for 1,200 people at a time.
"It fits a need in this community for different kinds of events from festivals and ballroom dancing to medium-size rock concerts and Latin music and jazz . . . everything," McNeil gushes.
McNeil is anticipating 140 events a year at Saltair, an average of about one every three days. Many of the events will feature local bands and dancing. And there is even talk about holding wedding receptions and convention parties at the facility.
The 42,000-square-foot structure features a portable dance floor, removable tables (depending on the type of concert being held), air conditioning and heating that allow for events year-round, a historic wooden staircase salvaged from the now-demolished Hotel Newhouse and lots of glass with stunning views of the Great Salt Lake.
"Atmosphere," McNeil grins again. "It's got a few warts and a lot of atmosphere."
Saltair joins a list of summer concert venues that already includes ParkWest, Deer Valley, Snowbird, Red Butte Gardens and the Triad Center, not to mention traditional indoor venues like the Delta Center, Huntsman Center and the Salt Palace.
Is there really a market for another concert venue? Will enough Utahns shell out $15 to $30 a ticket to see even more shows?
"I think Salt Lake is growing up," McNeil said. "There are a million and a half people, more or less, living along the Wasatch Front who are looking for good entertainment. Many of them have come from outside the state, and they bring different interests with them.
"There is no reason to think that adding a fun, old venue won't be a huge hit. We're talking about shows that would not have had a home in the sterile atmosphere of a theater or convention hall."
Shows like the 1960s revival featuring the Buckinghams, the Association, Gary Puckett and GaryLewis. And an all-day Cajun music and food festival. And ballroom dancing. And an Oktoberfest.
"And how about a Brine Shrimp Festival?" McNeil says only half-jokingly. "I've got the name, but I haven't figured out what it will be yet."
A key to making it work, McNeil says, is marketing Saltair as an affordable family activity. Most ticket prices for Saltair events will be under $20, and McNeil is hoping to book a variety of activities - not just concerts - geared toward a variety of demographic groups.
"We understand the family commitment in this community," he said, "and we're trying to keep prices affordable." An added family attraction, of course, is the volleyball, para-sailing, bumper cars, camel rides and other concessions that will be available from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Bringing Saltair back to life has been a dream - some would say pipedream - for dozens - perhaps hundreds - of investors over the decades. Most of the dreams have ended in disaster, including the last attempt to rebuild Saltair in the early 1980s. Wally Wright invested heavily in the project only to have the floods of 1983-84 destroy much of what had been built.
It wasn't the first time Saltair had been rebuilt only to be destroyed by the whims of nature. In fact, the entire 100-year history of Saltair is peppered with stories of grand dreams destroyed by fire and floods and winds.
News accounts say 800 workers built the original Saltair resort in three months in early 1893. The cost? $350,000. Saltair was originally completed June 1, 1893.
"It was originally owned by the Mormon Church as an alternative to some of the other resorts on the lake," McNeil says. "And it seems there has always been a debate about liquor there." (For the record, the new Saltair Resort will sell wine with meals and serve its own brand of Utah-brewed beer.)
Almost from the beginning, Saltair has been cursed with bad luck. In 1910, a windstorm scattered 200 "bath houses" along the beach like kindling. Two months later, another stormed washed away the pier, 325 bath houses and 100 yards of railroad track.
Fire struck in 1925, destroying several buildings and the then-famous Ship Cafe. In 1939, two workmen were killed when a windstorm toppled an amusement ride called the Giant Racer.
A second fire destroyed a pier in 1939 and a third fire in 1951 destroyed bath houses and concessions. In 1957, a violent wind storm again destroyed the Giant Racer.
In 1959 owners closed the resort, which had fallen rapidly into disrepair. Newspapers that once referred to Saltair as the "Queen of the Lake" were now dubbing her "a derelict old lady."
In 1967, an arson-caused blaze gutted a 5-acre wooden concourse; three years later, an arsonist torched the main building itself.
The mosque-like structure that now graces the shores of the Great Salt Lake was opened to the public in 1982, and in the spring of 1983 ballroom dancing returned to the resort for the first time in decades. Later that year, record floods destroyed yet another dream.
Since the floods of 1983-84, developers have sought to return the resort to the grandeur that once drew thousands to hear performers like Glenn Miller, Frankie Laine and Nat King Cole. But lack of capital prevented serious reconstruction of the site.
Last year, the Division of State Parks - which owns the the property on which the resort sits - issued an ultimatum: Rebuild it to meet safety and health standards or lose your lease.
New partners were brought on board, and renovation resumed at a feverish pitch. "It will be opened by June 1," McNeil promises. "It has to be . . . we've got a concert scheduled."
But is this latest incarnation of Saltair doomed to fail like all the others? "There are a unique set of circumstances in doing business next to the lake," McNeil admits. "Something could always happen. But I'm an optimist. To be a promoter you have to look at the bright side."
Saltair fits a niche in the concert business for medium-size shows. Not since the old Terrace Ballroom has there been a venue that seats about 3,000.
The non-air-conditioned Kingsbury Hall seats 1,900, the Triad Center Ampitheatre about 2,500, Abravanel Hall about 2,800 and Capitol Theatre about 1,900 people.
"I see Saltair complementing ParkWest and the Delta Center and the other venues," McNeil says enthusiastically. "There will be more shows in Utah than ever before.
With concerts, the Salt Lake area has traditionally been a small market. Many of the biggest tours in years past - Dire Straits, U2, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney - chose to simply bypass Utah in favor of more lucrative dates in Denver and Las Vegas.
However, the addition of the 18,000-seat Delta Center and the willingness of Brigham Young University to host stadium concerts has the ever-optimistic McNeil brimming with even more enthusiasm.
"We're looking at acts as big as any in the industry," he says. "Acts that in the past wouldn't play in Utah. Gigantic shows."
One of those shows McNeil was banking on was a Paul McCartney date at Cougar Stadium. But negotiations came unraveled last week "and it's not going to happen."
Still, McNeil is calling this year's 1993 summer concert series "the best summer we have ever had bar none." But what did you expect to hear from a concert promoter?