It always seems Main Street and the mountain resorts get all the attention when talking of places to shop or dine. They are undoubtedly what visitors see as Park City, and there are plenty of Parkites who frequent them on any given day.
People who live in the Park City area also are aware of another place where someone can go shopping or have a meal. In Prospector, a district offering a range of shops, services and restaurants far enough away from Main Street and the resorts, a seat can be found even during the busiest stretches of the calendar.
The term Prospector can be used broadly in Park City and can mean the neighborhood stretching between S.R. 248 and the Rail Trail as well as the businesses that generally move inward from Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard.
When improvements are made to Main Street, there tends to be plenty of publicity, particularly when City Hall is involved. Upgrades at the mountain resorts are also usually trumpeted across the community, and even through the industry.
But as Prospector attempts to increase its stature as a business district, there has been only limited recognition. Much of the work has been privately funded and, thus far, has included some of the more tedious tasks like working on parking lots, sidewalks and lights.
Although mundane, the investment made in the Prospector business district, we expect, will ultimately benefit the wider community. Even with the improvements, commercial leases in Prospector will not command the same dollar figures as those on Main Street.
The district, then, will be improved, yet it will likely remain somewhere that is more affordable to locally owned businesses that would struggle with Main Street-level lease rates. And by doing so, it will stay a place that will draw Parkites into the shops, restaurants and service-oriented businesses.
Prospector Square on Saturday evening will host what is known as the Berrett Lane Block Party, an event that the organizers hope will become an annual gathering. The block party is an opportunity for Parkites to acquaint themselves with a commercial district that they may otherwise overlook on their way to Main Street or the mountain resorts.