Linda Steele | [email protected]

The Salt Lake County Library’s Viridian Event Center is a vivacious space for the community to have activities and events. It was designed for the use of public events hosted by the library, private events and conferences for groups to rent the space.

The Library Viridian Event Center hosts more than 300 events; 60% are library events, and 40% are hosted by Salt Lake County, the city of West Jordan or the general-public renting space. Viridian rents out to wedding, fundraising galas, school dances, festivals, business conferences or whatever clients have in mind.   

There are many fun events for the whole family at the Viridian Event Center. 

The center has its own events including, Halloween and Christmas movie series, education classes, concerts, teen anime convention, trivia nights, wizarding summer camp, adult galas such as the Mardi Gras Festival and the Pumpkinpalootza, and much more.                  

Recently Viridian has begun offering monthly classes around rockhounding. There is a class for everyone, and a class just for children. Viridian is partnered with R.O.C.K. and soon will be offering monthly spinning and weaving classes with the Wasatch Woolpack. The monthly trivia night is currently held online; it will soon transition into an in-person or online event.  

This fall, Viridian plans on a return of programming with the annual chalk art competition, Chalk the Walk. This event is held on Labor Day weekend, Saturday, Sept. 5. The artists compete for prizes, and the public is invited to come and admire the talent of the artists and vote for their favorite piece of art. 

Starting on the return of the Halloween Movie Series will begin Mondays in October. Every Monday at 7 p.m. will be a different family-friendly Halloween movie. On Saturday, Oct. 30, will be the Pumpkinpalootza. There will be pumpkin decorating and costume contests. The children will have some trick-or-treat options, and then there will be some pumpkin smashing and a big pumpkin drop.

“Obviously, the pandemic impacted our normal schedule, but it didn’t slow down our staff,” said Tyler Curtis, Viridian Event Center manager. “A number of event staffers have recently been managing the County’s vaccine clinic efforts both at the Mountain America Expo Center and more recently the outreach clinics. While they were doing the important stuff, the rest of the event staff was slowly and safely ramping up public rentals and preparing for a return to in-person events both large and small.”                               

The Library’s Viridian Event Center will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary next summer. Viridian staff is excited to be able to bring a diverse range of quality programs to a wide audience. Salt Lake County Library System and West Jordan City officials had the vision of a great space for community gatherings. Libraries have expanded and offer experiences that enrich the community with live music, movie theater experiences, educational opportunities, festivals and “Star Wars”- or “Harry Potter”-themed events. Library Viridian Event Center staff is happy to be part of enriching the community and hosting the events.   

The lobby has a pre-event space and a large multipurpose room and can be divided into three sections, creating small spaces, or it can be left open for larger functions. Tours are available to check out the space by appointment. The maximum capacity of the space depends on the nature of the event and the setup. There is a minimum requirement of four hours for any event, to include setup and cleanup. 

The Viridian Event Center address is 8030 South 1825 West in West Jordan. The website is  http://thecountylibrary.org/viridian