The name East Village to many conjures up the onetime grittiness of the famed New York City neighborhood, now gentrified from the earlier era.
Deer Valley Resort, though, wants the moniker to reflect a place far different in character from the Manhattan neighborhood known for bohemianism and an important role in the rise of punk music.
Deer Valley in January revealed the name for a new base area under development in Wasatch County off U.S. 40, calling it Deer Valley East Village. The area for years had been known as Mayflower, and the Deer Valley East Village name is designed to reflect the direction of the base from other areas of the resort.
But New Yorkers or people who once lived there would likely notice when East Village is attached to any name, as would people from outside of New York who are familiar with the neighborhood. New York City and the wider New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area have long been important markets for the ski industry based on the sheer size of the population.
Deer Valley, though, said the new name has no links to the neighborhood in New York City.
“While we appreciate the flattering comparison to NYC’s East Village, the naming of Deer Valley East Village was not influenced by any connection to that area. The decision to name our expansion Deer Valley East Village is rooted in its geographical location along U.S. Route 40, serving as a key entry point for our guests and anchoring the major terrain expansion within Deer Valley Resort,” Deer Valley said in a statement in response to a Park Record inquiry about the use of the words East Village in the name.
New York City tourism officials describe the East Village as the “birthplace of American punk rock,” still a “neighborhood of lovable misfits” and also say “over the years Beat poets, bohemian artists and avant-garde filmmakers have all made their homes here, celebrating the area in stories, on canvas and on screen.”
Deer Valley owner Alterra Mountain Company and Extell Development Company, the New York City developer of the base that will be at Deer Valley East Village, reached a long-term operations agreement that brought the terrain into Deer Valley. The first lifts and trails at Deer Valley East Village are slated to open as early as the 2025-26 ski season. Deer Valley East Village will be another base area for Deer Valley, and it is seen as one that could reduce some of the pressure on the others, particularly Snow Park, since there will be parking and skier services there.
The development benefited from the involvement of the Military Installation Development Authority, which is a state economic development entity designed to advance projects with a military component. There will be a hotel in Deer Valley East Village for the benefit of military members.
The area had for decades been known as Mayflower, which honored a historic mine in the Park City area. Park City was founded as a mining camp and that industry drove the economy through the middle of the 20th century. The ski industry rose as the mining collapsed.
“Our primary focus has been on enhancing accessibility, guest experience, and seamlessly integrating the new developments with the existing resort. The name Deer Valley East Village reflects its eastern orientation within Deer Valley, and any similarities to other locations are coincidental. Our commitment is to deliver excellence and create a distinctive identity for Deer Valley East Village based on its unique attributes and contributions to the overall resort experience,” the Deer Valley statement said.
The public discourse in Park City often cites other mountain resorts in North America as providing ideas that could be considered locally, but there is only occasional talk of the largest cities in that manner.
In one recent example, though, Ed Parigian, at the time a Park City councilor-elect and now a member of the City Council, in an interview spoke about the future of City Hall land off the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard, where an arts district has been considered. He said in the interview he hopes the land ultimately is somewhere that is a “local-centric, artsy kitschy village” with a mix of housing. He talked about a desire for the land to become, generally, “something like East Village, New York.”