Park City has detailed plans to remove vehicles from Main Street during part of the Sundance Film Festival in January, a sequel to what many saw as the success of a pedestrian zone that premiered during this year’s event.
The information about the pedestrian zone is one of the highlights of an operational plan that Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council are scheduled to consider during a meeting on Thursday. Officials earlier this year quickly devised a pedestrian zone during Sundance after a mass killing by a truck driver in New Orleans. It was a significant security measure crafted shortly before the festival opened.
It had been expected that a pedestrian zone would be created on Main Street. Sundance in July indicated it wanted City Hall to close Main Street to traffic. Little information was provided at the time in a broader release from Sundance that covered the festival’s logistical plans, which will be the last staged in Park City before a move to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027.
Sundance officials and Park City leaders are slated to discuss the operational plan on Thursday, something that typically occurs toward the end of each year. There is usually a package of operational changes that requires City Council approval. A hearing and a vote are scheduled at the meeting.
A City Hall report drafted in anticipation of the meeting indicates the pedestrian zone will be in place from Jan. 22 until Jan. 26, covering the opening days of the festival. The first weekend of Sundance is usually the busiest stretch of the event.
The pedestrian zone will run from 11 a.m. until 3 a.m. each day. It will be open for certain traffic, including trash pickup, recycling pickup, deliveries and snowplowing, from 3 a.m. until 11 a.m. each day. The pedestrian zone will run between the intersections with Swede Alley and 7th Street.
The pedestrian zone during this year’s festival was organized so quickly that there was little opportunity to devise programming for the Main Street blacktop. There were times when the street was crowded with festival-goers, but the numbers thinned at other points. There was a heavy police presence, including the Summit County Sheriff’s Office’s Mounted Patrol. Road entries to the closed section of Main Street were fortified. Concrete barriers were used in some places to stop traffic from accessing Main Street. Demonstrators in support of Palestinian causes gathered in the pedestrian zone on the opening Saturday of the festival.
The lack of programming on the pedestrianized Main Street was noticeable. The City Hall report indicates officials are talking to the Historic Park City Alliance, which represents the interests of businesses in the Main Street core, the Park City Chamber/Bureau and Sundance “to add programming to the Main Street area during the first five days.”
The report says Sundance sponsors, Main Street businesses and others have been approached about unspecified activations for the pedestrian zone. None had been organized by the time the report was drafted.
Main Street is one of the festival hotspots, particularly during the opening days. Large crowds of film lovers, celebrity gawkers and revelers gather through the late-night hours on Main Street. Temporary corporate setups usually arrive on Main Street in leased storefront space as well, particularly during the opening weekend.
The City Council meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Marsac Building and will be broadcast on the municipal website, parkcity.org.