Sometimes you have more party planned than your house can hold. Ideally, you’d host a special party at your own home—you want it to feel personal, hospitable, reflective of you. But many of us simply can’t accommodate all our friends in our own houses. What are the options? Lose some friends? Some rental spaces are too big—the Natural History Museum of Utah, Rice-Eccles and the Hogle Zoo, for example—but a restaurant dining room is too small. Worry not: You have options that are, as Goldilocks said, just right—and here are some you may not know about.
P.S. Don’t forget to put us on the guest list.
The Urban Studio Story
Home for a night.
“This building was originally a grocery store, then everything from a bar and brothel to a storage and shipping space,” says owner Jo Packham, creator of The Urban Studio in Ogden and the globe-trotting creator/editor-in-chief of Where Women Cook, a quarterly magazine celebrating female foodies worldwide. Packham exposed original brick walls from beneath plaster and opened and reinforced the beamed ceiling to create a rustic urban backdrop for her spirited design. Industrial lighting, copper railings and a swoon-worthy open kitchen now teem with dazzling floor-to-ceiling glass shelves displayed with ready-to-use stemware, tableware, linens and decor items Packham’s collected over many years and now constantly curates. All yours for the using when you hold an event there.
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Accommodates
30 sitting down or 49 standing
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Amenities
Cool and cozy urban space with all the accessories you need.
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Perfect for
A casual and creative dinner party that feels like it could be in your own home, if you were as creative as Jo Packham. Just pretend she’s you.
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Urban Studio, 2485 Grant Ave, #106, Ogden, 801-394-3040
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The Rabbit Hole at Lake Effect
The magic happens downstairs.
The semi-secret underground room below the main bar at Lake Effect has a completely different vibe than the bar-restaurant upstairs. The space is lit with gas lamps, which shed a light much gentler and flattering than electric cans and give the whole room an old-fashioned aura that makes everyone feel beautiful. There is a full bar, big cozy booths and sofas as well as tables, room for a band and an atmosphere of mystery and romance.
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Accommodates
Up to 150 people for a cocktail party
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Amenities
Order food from the catering menu; the establishment can also provide bar and staffing.
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Perfect for
A secret society initiation party. With masks.
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The Rabbit Hole at Lake Effect, 155 W. 200 South, SLC, 801-532-20688
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Kilby Court
The quirky performance venue
in an old garage doubles as a quirky event venue.
Kilby Court is actually a performance venue—Salt Lake City’s longest-running all-ages venue, known for hosting edgy and as-yet unknown performers like Jonathan Richman, Future Islands, Cloud Nothings, Twin Sister and Schoolboy Q. Since 1999, owner Will Sartain and partner Lance Saunders have booked 5,000 shows into the rustic DIY space (formerly a garage) at the end of a quiet downtown street. But they also book weddings and birthday parties for those who want a different and unexpected vibe. There is a base cost of $500 with extra charges if you want chairs or need extra staff. Sartain and Saunders also own Rye, so you can order catering from Rye. Or bring in your own.
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Accommodates
Up to 200
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Amenities
A performance area inside that flows into the courtyard outside; liquor allowed if it is private event.
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Perfect for
A millennial celebration. Bring on the pink hair, kombucha and cocktails.
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Kilby Court, 748 S. Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, 800-513-7540
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The Copper Nickel
This beautiful venue has bullet holes
and underground tunnels.
“The building was originally built by the Browning brothers, who owned Browning Arms. The kitchen was the original gun range where they would test their prototypes, and the Bride’s Room is where the research and development took place for Browning rifles,” says Kassandre Alvey, scheduler for The Copper Nickel in Ogden. Owned by Sheri and Jim Alvey, The Copper Nickel has a history that perfectly aligns with Ogden’s rough and tumble reputation. Pointing at the holes around the kitchen doors’ metal casement, Alvey says, “These are bullet holes from where they tested Browning guns.
The basement also has a remnant of underground tunnels from Prohibition.” Though the building has seen some wild times, it now has a beautiful combination of industrial and rustic touches to add the perfect amount of character to your event. Almost everything is original: the bricks, wall paintings, floors, windows and garage door all date back to the early 1900s. The large wood beams traversing the ceiling and the industrial-chic chandeliers (complete with Edison bulbs) really set the stage for an Instagram-worthy wedding or memorable 50th birthday bash.
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Accommodates
Seats up to 350 people comfortably, can hold 600 people if you have both sitting and standing guests
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Amenities
You can rent tables, chairs and linens from the venue for an additional fee. There is also a litany of other rentable items from mason jars and votives to hot chocolate machines and a dance floor.
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Perfect for
The bride on a budget who also majored in history, or an aspiring 20th-century arms developer.
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The Copper Nickel, 2450 Grant Ave., Ogden, 801-822-7468
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Park City Culinary Institute in SLC
Party in the kitchen.
Anyone who’s ever hosted a party knows that the most fun is in the kitchen. You may have your great room and dining room all prepared, but your guests will inevitably congregate in the kitchen. So why not skip the circling around and frankly host your event in the kitchen? Park City Culinary Institute has a Salt Lake campus that can double as a perfect party space—natural light and red brick, with commercial appliances provide a more warm and welcoming atmosphere than a run-of-the-mill room. For business–oriented gatherings, you can use cooking as a tool to build teamwork and rapport, foster better communication, practice problem solving, spur creativity, build trust, encourage leadership and relieve stress. Plus, cooking is fun.
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Accommodates
Up to 100
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Amenities
All tables, chairs, linens and staffing can be provided, or you can bring in your own.
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Perfect for
A party for people who don’t know each other—nothing breaks the ice and changes strangers into friends like cooking together.
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The Park City Culinary Institute in SLC, 1484 S. State St., SLC, 801-413-2800
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Talia Event Center
Party with the new girl in town.
Talia is the newest space on our list, so don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it. The company took over a space in Clearfield and transformed it into whatever you want it to be—big rooms facility with expansive ceilings, a sun-kissed solarium, outdoor gardens, a full bar and dance floor, conference areas with state-of-the-art AV equipment and everything you need to make your event specialized to you.
The choice of large and intimate areas means you can design your party to fit the space—19,000 square feet gives you ample space for a mega-bash or there are smaller areas for family affairs.
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Accommodates
All the friends you have, plus their cousins, twice removed
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Amenities
All tables, chairs, linens and staffing can be provided, or you can bring in your own personal touches.
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Perfect for
The biggest birthday bash for a special (or not) year.
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Talia Event Center, 22 E. 200 South, Clearfield, 801-510-6509
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“My number one criterion is the broth,” he says. “It has to be deep, with a resonance in the mouth that only comes from long cooking. I think oxtail adds a lot to the body of a broth.” 
Utah is celebrating that event all year long with events in every county and in most towns. For this issue of Salt Lake magazine, I read all about the Golden Spike and 19th-century railroads, interviewed historians, locomotive mechanics and event planners—the resulting story surprised me. Yes, railroads built this country, but history has gilded the story. The truth is something more interesting and heart-wrenching. 
Don’t Miss
Thus, Bar George/George is another of the hybrids that we’ve seen seen open in Salt Lake City over the past year: Post Office Place, White Horse, London Belle, Lake Effect and Caffé Molise/BTG all have chef-driven menus that have made them food destinations as well as bars. Basically bars are becoming good restaurants and deftly side stepping the silly signage rule.
