The Sundance Film Festival cast includes many law enforcement officers from the Park City Police Department and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, as well as reinforcements from elsewhere.
The festival involves a spectrum of cases for law enforcement, with the opening days usually the busiest. There are traffic issues, parking problems, noise complaints, crowding on Main Street and parties across the community. There are also people marketing films in unique ways and demonstrators pressing a variety of issues.
The Park City police blotter has, over the decades, provided a minute-by-minute log of the cases reported to the agency. The blotter during Sundance is normally the most unusual, perhaps even bizarre, of the year.
The parking issues are expected. But a camel on Main Street? Noise complaints seem unavoidable. The disappearance of swag bags, though? And the Police Department was likely among the first to realize Banksy, the famed graffiti artist, may have arrived in Park City for Sundance.
Some reports to the Police Department during Sundance over the years include:
• The disappearance of $3,000 worth of unspecified property from a VIP suite on Main Street in 2017.
• The mistaken distribution of 63 pairs of shoes to hotel workers instead of the celebrities they were meant for in 2014. The shoes were part of a gifting suite at the hotel.
• The problem caused by a person described as a jilted autograph seeker on Main Street in 2013. Someone wanted an autograph from an unidentified person but did not receive one, prompting them to draw on two coats at a nightclub.
• The arrival of a man riding a camel on Park Avenue and Main Street in 2013. The person was distributing fliers promoting a film that, according to the police, had not been accepted into Sundance. The Police Department at the time indicated it issued a ticket for obstructing traffic. Officers escorted the man and the camel to a livestock trailer.
• The suspected lewdness of dancers on Main Street in 2013. The police found club dancers who could be seen from Main Street. The police said the dancing was stopped and officers told management not to allow the dancing in public view.
• The arrival of what was described as an “electronic saucer” on Main Street in 2012. The police indicated the contraption may have been a disc jockey booth and there was concern someone might start “jamming.”
• The refusal to let people in a public restroom on Main Street in 2012 by a person who appeared to be a bodyguard.
• The disappearance of swag bags from a hotel ballroom in 2011. The Police Department said 10 bags containing goods valued at approximately $1,400 were taken. Some of the items inside the swag bags included sunglasses, moisturizer and skin treatments.
• The dispute between a taxi driver and passengers, prompted by a message for the driver to pick up an unidentified celebrity, in 2010. The authorities were told the driver ordered people out of the vehicle on Main Street. The taxi company disputed the claim.
The arrival of Banksy, meanwhile, during the festival in 2010, caused a stir as he created a series of works to mark the screening of a Sundance documentary in which he was featured. The police received at least three reports of the artist’s work just before the festival opened.
“At this point we don’t know who is responsible. We will not attribute it to Banksy unless we have evidence specific to him being the one responsible,” Rick Ryan, then a Police Department captain, said at the time.
The pieces were later confirmed to be Banksy works. Some remain on display.