Park City and Summit County in recent weeks took initial steps in what is eventually expected to be a rolling communitywide discussion about the efforts to host another Winter Olympics in Utah, with the Games in 2030 seen as a possibility.
Leaders in the city and the county gathered with small groups of citizens in what the organizers are calling a listening project as Salt Lake City and the wider Olympic region continue to debate a Games.
The final event in the series is scheduled on Thursday, and we encourage anyone who did not attend one of the earlier talks and is interested in learning about the Games efforts to attempt to attend the one this week.
We understand the Olympic bid right now lacks the day-to-day urgency of a wobbling economy, the continuing spread of the coronavirus, the entryway traffic and the search for housing during the ski season. However, the listening project needs to begin to form a foundation for the discussions that must continue in the coming months and, likely, years.
It is clear from the earlier gatherings during the listening project that the people of Park City and Summit County are excited about the possibilities of a Games yet also have reservations. That scenario is not surprising since so many longtime Parkites look back at the Games of 2002 with fondness, but also see the Olympics of 20 years ago as having been a factor in the growth and affordability issues that have marked the post-Games decades in the community.
We expect Mayor Nann Worel, the Park City Council and the Summit County Council to distill the input from the events in a timely fashion, regardless of whether it is in support of a Games or in opposition. The leaders at that point will have at least an early round of public input, albeit from a relatively small sampling of people, and can use that to guide the broader talks that will be necessary later.
The International Olympic Committee will almost certainly select a city for the 2030 event in 2023. Nothing can fully prepare a community to be picked as an Olympic host, but the leaders in Park City and Summit County, along with the members of the communities they serve, can be as ready as anyone as a result of the work that has already occurred — and that is ongoing with the listening project.
To register to attend the event, visit: https://bit.ly/3Ee3jyf.