I’m glad Matt Lindon is my neighbor. He has lived in Park City for decades, and has freely shared his wisdom on ground water issues with me and our neighbors. I read his letters whenever they appear in The Park Record. When Matt brings attention to issues (like traffic), I generally find it easy to agree with him.
That said, I think Matt is “offside” in criticizing the Park City Extreme Cup soccer tournament (“That soccer tournament was a bad idea,” letters, Aug. 4).
Visitors help make Park City what it is, and suggesting we stop welcoming them for things like soccer tournaments doesn’t make sense to me.
Each year, the Extreme Cup brings nearly $3 million in economic impact to Park City in just three days. More importantly, proceeds from the tournament fund fees and expenses for local kids who can otherwise not afford to play club soccer side by side with other local kids lucky enough to be born into families with more resources. When all the kids in our community are able to play together, they build important bridges that carry into our schools and beyond. Here, as elsewhere, soccer brings Park City together.
This year’s tournament (the Park City Soccer Club’s 20th) unfortunately coincided with construction projects on U.S. 40, S.R. 248, the Kearns school campus, and the Kimball Junction overpass. I felt the same traffic pain that Matt did. While we residents are all aware of the baseline traffic issues in the greater Park City area, I’m not sure we can place all of the blame for that weekend’s congestion on the Extreme Cup tournament.
Those of us who are blessed to live in this beautiful place benefit from restaurants, local businesses, amenities, and resources far beyond those that a typical small rural county could otherwise offer. We sometimes share those amenities with visitors, who pay for much of what we are able to enjoy year round. Extreme Cup visitors go beyond that — they support our local kids and local jobs, directly.
To my neighbors like Matt — thank you for your grace and patience in welcoming visitors to the Extreme Cup. It was hectic and sometimes the traffic was a pain. But visitors keep our community vibrant and interesting, and I hope we never get to the point where we feel like we have to stop welcoming them to enjoy Park City.
Paul Reddy
Silver Springs