That is altogether appropriate. But naysayers have a point when they argue that the Salt Palace brand name is synonymous with Utah and shouldn't be cast aside.
So how about this? Keep Salt Palace as the name of Salt Lake County's major convention center, but add the name of Calvin L. Rampton to the building itself in commemoration of the late governor, who died this week at 93.
After all, in his three terms, from 1965 to 1977, he earned it.
Rampton didn't originate the idea for a major convention center in Salt Lake City. That came out of a 1961 study called "The Missing Link" that argued for a convention facility to anchor the tourist and hotel industry downtown.
From that seed, the Salt Palace grew. It opened in 1969, was expanded several times, and finally was razed to make way for the current building, which opened in 1996 and has since been expanded.
But it was Rampton who saw the wisdom in promoting Utah as a four-season travel destination and put the muscle of state government behind that wheel. The Salt Palace was key to that.
He also gave his blessing to Salt Lake City's first bid for the Winter Olympics in the 1960s. Though he made the bidders promise that they would not actually bring home the gold - at the time, he wanted only the publicity for Utah - that fledgling enterprise inspired later ones. The rest, as they say, is history, and the Salt Palace served as the media center for the 2002 Winter Games.
Gov. Rampton also was a prime mover in the effort to build a civic auditorium downtown as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976. In the doing, that project became three buildings: Symphony Hall (now Maurice Abravanel Hall), the Salt Lake Art Center and the restored Capitol Theatre. An auditorium had been envisioned as an integral part of the Salt Palace complex from the beginning. With Rampton's help, that came to fruition when Symphony Hall opened in 1979.
It is eminently appropriate, then, that the name of Calvin L. Rampton grace the Salt Palace. It is the right place and now is the right time.
