An election in Wasatch County will have an impact in Park City.

The Park City recorder, Michelle Kellogg, is running unopposed for the Wasatch County clerk-auditor post after securing the Republican Party nomination earlier this year.

The Park City municipal government is preparing for Kellogg to leave the Marsac Building by early January, when she would be sworn into the Wasatch County office, and has started recruiting a successor.

Kellogg will mark 11 years in November as the Park City recorder.

Kellogg on Thursday said she has “mixed emotions” about her impending departure and is excited for the new challenge in Wasatch County. She lives in Heber City and once worked for the municipal government there.

She said she has not set a departure date from the Park City municipal government and anticipates it will be toward the end of the year. Kellogg said she will miss co-workers and friends within the Park City government. The Wasatch County swearing-in ceremony is planned in early January.

The Park City recruitment for the next city recorder is underway. The municipal government recently began advertising the post. The starting pay ranges from $106,000 to $132,497 per year.

Officials want candidates to bring between three and five years of experience as a recorder for a city or county government, or as a deputy recorder. They also want candidates to hold certification in the field and be a member of associations designed for clerks. They prefer candidates to have a master’s degree in public administration or a related field.

The posting provides a rundown of the duties of the city recorder. They include posting notices of public meetings and transcribing minutes of Park City Council meetings. The city recorder also oversees open records requests filed under state law and performs notary acts for official business.

The city recorder also is the municipal government’s election officer. Overseeing elections is often the highest-profile duty of the Park City clerk.

Kellogg had a key role in the tense 2025 municipal campaign, when voters decided the mayor’s office and two seats on the City Council. The election in 2025 was notable for a debate early on about the sort of balloting Park City would employ. Then, at the end, there was a recount in the tight mayoral contest between eventual winner Ryan Dickey and Jack Rubin.

The next municipal election is scheduled in 2027, when three seats on the City Council will be on the ballot.

The posting describes the election-related duties as conducting and supervising “all City elections as provided by law; renders all interpretations and makes initial decisions about controversies and other matters relating to the general provisions of the election code.”

The city recorder position and recruitment are posted on the municipal website, parkcity.org.

The post Park City begins search for recorder as incumbent prepares to become clerk-auditor in Wasatch County appeared first on Park Record.

For years, different groups and individuals have expressed frustration with Vail Resorts. From the Epic Pass to employee treatment, and on-mountain services to the business structures. One consistent critic of Vail Resorts’ strategies is Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, who also owns The Park Record with his wife, Tatiana.

This summer, Vail has faced several lawsuits, restructured its board of directors and announced new company-wide “Epic Experience” branding, as well as changes to the branding of individual resorts.

Most recently, the publicly traded company has been the target of a Wall Street battle with Oasis Management, an investment group with eyes set on changing the business.

Oasis is widely recognized as an “activist investor,” meaning when it invests in companies, it does so with an intent to change how the company operates. Because Vail Resorts is a publicly traded company, Oasis can make these changes if a majority of stockholders agree with the proposals.

Calls for new leadership

When investors propose changes to company leadership, it’s done through what’s known as a “proxy fight.” In this case, Oasis will make its proposals at a stockholders meeting, and stockholders will be given the opportunity to vote by proxy, using a card instead of responding in person. 

Speculation regarding Oasis’ involvement in a potential proxy fight at Vail Resorts was confirmed last week. On Sept. 11, Vail Resorts released a statement that Oasis intended to nominate four new people to its board of directors. Vail Resorts’ board typically has 10 seats. Among the nominees are two Utahns: venture capitalist Bryce Roberts and ski racer Picabo Street. Bob Chapek, former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and Florida-based financial manager M. Ashton Hudson were also listed as nominees.

Proxy fights, as the one Oasis has started, are relatively uncommon.

An anonymous source told Vail Daily that proxy fights are hard to win. The source said this fight would be a challenge for Oasis because it could be assumed that majority shareholders might vote to continue Vail management. 

This week, Oasis made the nominations official with a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In the statement, Oasis and the nominees collectively said they believe Vail’s assets are “irreplaceable,” “scarce, (and) high-quality,” and called for “a more engaged and accountable board.”

Changing the board, the statement says, would bring a “fresh perspective” to help with increasing the company’s value by improving guest experience, pricing and other hospitality assets, all things which have been criticized by the public in the past. 

At Vail’s 2026 annual meeting, stockholders can vote on a new board. 

In addition to the nominees from Oasis, Vail Resorts will likely propose its own nominees, looking to fill the vacancy following Sue Decker’s upcoming departure. Vail Resorts said in a statement earlier this month that Decker will officially step down at the Annual Meeting. She held was director for 11 years.

A date for the meeting has not been set.

The proxy fight

The Board of Directors would primarily be responsible for hiring or firing the CEO. So, if Oasis gets its nominees on the board, they could potentially oust current CEO Rob Katz.

In the statement earlier this week, the nominees and Oasis collectively expressed dissatisfaction with Katz and the current leadership.

“This is my way of bringing back the magic of skiing to even more people and families,” Street said in a statement following her nomination. “It’s time to make these mountains more welcoming, more fun and a better run for everyone.”

One potential outcome of a new CEO could be a move to sell off some of Vail Resorts’ properties. Over the summer, Semafor has reported on Oasis’ strategy to push for the company to sell its resorts in what’s known as an “asset-light” business model. 

Prince, who is an advocate for this strategy and well-known for his campaign to buy Park City Mountain, explained that when interest rates are high, businesses tend to sell off their assets.

He also echoed criticism that Vail Resorts’ current model, including the structure of the Epic Pass, removes the individuality of the resorts. Prince compared a reimagined Epic Pass to the existing Ikon Pass, where resorts like Alta or Snowbird are included without being owned by the same company, saying this structure allows mountains to feel more unique and differentiated.

Selling off individual resorts, following a franchise model, and making the Epic Pass more like the Ikon Pass, in Prince’s view, would solve these problems. 

“It makes sense for Vail, especially when there are buyers that are a little crazy like me, willing to take over an asset, continue to allow your franchise and its customers to use that asset, and would invest in that asset and make it better,” Prince said. “That is just a no-brainer.”

Earlier this month, the company announced new, individual marketing plans for each of its resorts. Park City Mountain’s branding is “Larger than Life,” a nod to it being the largest resort in North America.

What it could mean for Park City

Until its annual meeting, Vail Resorts and Oasis will have to convince stakeholders to vote for their nominees. Depending on the structure of the vote, as well as how many board members are changed out, it could mean anything from business as usual to a new CEO and a new owner of Park City Mountain.

This week’s filing from Oasis is the official notice to stockholders. Proxy vote cards will be sent closer to the date of the Annual Meeting. 

Vail Mayor Barry Davis said in an interview with Vail Daily that the town is preparing for the potential impacts of the proxy fight. Davis said he would be “ferociously protective” of its residents, while recognizing the complex relationship between the resort and the city. 

In Park City, leadership will likely watch closely any impact the proxy fight could ultimately have on the community and the intentions of a new owner or management strategy, if those were to occur. Any changes could impact the resort’s development as well as relationships between resort leadership and government officials in Park City and Summit County.  

Park City Mayor Ryan Dickey did not return a request for comment by publication. 

Oasis Management and Roberts also did not return requests for comment. Vail Resorts declined to comment beyond the Sept. 11 press release.

The post Analysis: Vail Resorts investors prepare for proxy fight, future of Park City in question appeared first on Park Record.

Blind Dog patrons may have noticed the absence of a cheery East Coast accent from the restaurant’s kitchen in recent years.  

It’s not by choice, said chef-owner Penelope “Penny” Kinsey. 

In 2020, 50-year-old Kinsey was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that begins in the plasma cells, a type of white blood cell found in bone marrow. It’s incurable, meaning terminal, she said, but there are treatments available to keep the cancer at bay.

“This is a disease that old men get,” Kinsey said. 

Kinsey received a bone marrow transplant in 2022 at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, but then her family decided to move back east, where she grew up, for her recovery.

“We were worried about me talking to a ton of people because if I’m at the restaurant, I’m going to be talking to a lot of people,” she said. “I love being at the restaurant.”

While the treatments can remove some of the existing cancer cells, they also wipe out Kinsey’s immune system, increasing her risk of catching other diseases. 

At first, Kinsey was traveling back to Utah to see her doctors every month, expecting to return full time. But almost six years later, she decided to make Virginia and Johns Hopkins Hospital her permanent home.    

“Even if you’ve had the chicken pox, you can get the chicken pox again. Even if you’ve had the measles, and I had it all. Like I was that kid,” Kinsey said. “Now I can catch it all over again. And with the measles, the measles are pretty big in Utah, my doctors are like, ‘Guess what? You’re not going to Utah.’” 

Kinsey said she, husband Derrick and their two kids of course miss the mountains — joking that their new activities are swimming, swimming, fishing and swimming — but it’s really the restaurant they miss most.

Blind Dog opened in 1998 after Kinsey, Derrick and her father moved to Park City from their home in Rehoboth, Delaware.

“We were a big skiing family. We had a home in Aspen for years, and then one year, my dad’s like, ‘We’re going to Park City,’” she said. “This was ’84, and then when the Olympics were announced, we were like, ‘Let’s just go open a little restaurant for the Olympics.’” 

So Blind Dog was born, a 55-seat restaurant named after their blind black Labrador, Rigger, with a simple philosophy: bring good seafood to Park City. They started with oysters and blue crab, and lots of Old Bay seasoning, then added sushi three years later in 2001. 

Blind Dog was only supposed to be open for a few years, but the 2002 Winter Olympics came and went, and they just kept going. Now the restaurant, which moved to its current location on Kearns Boulevard in 2010, is nearing 29 years and seats up to 300. 

It’s a family restaurant through and through, Kinsey said. Her daughter, Khaki, and son, Ketch, became involved early in their childhood.

She remembered playing soccer behind the original location on Sidewinder Drive during slow times, and having to clear out the bar for a search whenever Rigger would escape for a late-night, blind walkabout through town. 

“The longevity of Blind Dog is insane to me,” Kinsey said.

But if there’s one thing she can’t do, it’s remain idle. 

In Virginia, they bought an oyster farm called Salt Grove with the long-term goal of serving their oysters at Blind Dog. Turns out, shipping is a huge challenge.  

While out there, Kinsey decided she wanted to open another restaurant, a “Blind Dog junior.” That, too, was going to take some time. So the family first opened a breakfast and lunch cafe called Buttercups in 2024 near their new house, serving biscuits and bagels.

Now, Buttercups — which is Khaki’s nickname — is booming, Kinsey said. The bagels are shipped in from Brooklyn, the coffee is locally sourced and now they’re seeing more shops pop up around the little town.

Six weeks ago, the Blind Dog junior finally opened. It’s called Local Ketch, named for her son, located inside a bank-turned-hotel with 50 seats. It serves Blind Dog’s “greatest hits” like oysters, of course, sushi — many of the same rolls with new names — and some of the same cocktails. 

“I’m struggling because I would deliver to people like, ‘Yep, there’s the Jolly Rancher (roll),’ and they’re like, ‘I didn’t order Jolly Rancher.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, Jolly Roger. Sorry about that,’” Kinsey said. “There are glimmers of Blind Dog all over the place.”

With Local Ketch’s proximity to the water, Kinsey said she’s able to create more daily specials using what fishermen catch each morning.

It’s not just the Kinseys who are establishing a Park City-Virginia connection, she said. 

They’re constantly meeting people who have ties to the Wasatch Back or who are sporting Stein Eriksen Lodge merch. 

“Do you know how many people have come in and said, ‘I’ve eaten at Blind Dog’? It’s once a week at least. And here we are on the eastern shore of Virginia. One guy, the first week we opened, he goes, ‘Penny, I just ate at Blind Dog last week!’” Kinsey said.

The similarities have helped make Virginia feel like home, Kinsey said. She also just adopted her first black Lab puppy since Rigger, who she said is Blind Dog’s namesake “reincarnated.”

“We laugh all the time, the irony of how much Utah shows up in our life,” Kinsey said. “My doctor from Huntsman went to school with my doctor here. There’s even a connection that way.” 

After her next treatment at Johns Hopkins in October, Kinsey’s goal is to visit Park City by January. 

Her doctors are a bit skeptical, she admitted. But Kinsey said, “I’m also the person (where) they’re like, ‘Penny, you’re going to be in the hospital for a month.’ I’m like, ‘I’ll give you two weeks.’”

The next treatment, a CAR T-cell therapy that will re-engineer her white blood cells to hunt and destroy cancer cells, is expected to last five years. But once she can handle the necessary vaccinations, she’ll be back on a plane to visit Utah.

“I have the mindset that if I keep on working, I’m just going to keep on going. You know what I mean? I can’t quit,” Kinsey said.

If anything, her bar tab is a lot cheaper now that she doesn’t drink, she joked. Plus, her time in Virginia has given her plenty of new ideas for Blind Dog, which she assured isn’t going anywhere.

Soon, the Kinseys’ oysters will be on the Blind Dog menu, plus Cherrystone clams, which are harvested literally down the street from their new home. One of Kinsey’s goals is to serve blue catfish, an invasive species in the Chesapeake Bay that restaurants and other groups are helping to mitigate. It’s a “pristine” white fish, she said, fantastic for fish and chips. She said she also dreams of opening a Buttercups in Park City.

“It’s amazing what happens when you get a diagnosis, and you’ve got to change your life. And mine was making sure that my kids and my husband, everybody’s taken care of and doing what they love,” Kinsey said. “I think with the diagnosis, we’ve done more than we planned, but Blind Dog is their legacy.”

The post Cancer diagnosis only inspires Blind Dog’s chef-owner appeared first on Park Record.

The wait for Junction Commons’ much-anticipated ramen shop is almost over, with Tosh’s Ramen scheduled to open sometime before the end of the month.

There are still some final inspections, so they don’t have a day yet, said husband-and-wife owners Maxwell and Annie Peck. But aside from a couple of pictures left to hang, the space is finally ready.

Tosh’s Ramen will bring its signature tonkotsu-style ramen to the Wasatch Back, along with a few other Japanese specialties, but it won’t be the first time some of these recipes are served to Park City-area patrons, said Maxwell.

He and Annie purchased Tosh’s Ramen from its namesake, Toshio Sekikawa, who had worked as a sushi chef in Park City and helped open Hapa Grill decades ago. During that time, he began making ramen to serve as a special, which became known as “Tosh’s Ramen.” With enough demand for the flavorful Japanese dish, he left and opened his own restaurant in Salt Lake City, off State Street.

Tosh’s Ramen opened in 2014 as one of the state’s first ramen shops, and a second location later opened in Holladay.

Annie began working at the Holladay location as Sekikawa was deciding to sell the restaurant, having already sold the State Street spot to his No. 2. When Annie and Maxwell showed interest in buying the last location, Sekikawa took them on as apprentices and taught them everything he knew.  

“He’s a total father figure for both of us,” said Maxwell. “Tosh is like 80 years old at this point, and he just wanted to retire and hand it off to the next person.”

After the transfer in 2022, Annie and Maxwell agreed to keep both the name and the recipes, honoring Sekikawa’s success and legacy. But they expanded hours, opening for lunch and on Sundays, which helped the business grow even more, said Maxwell.

The goal was always to expand, and the couple had been eyeing Park City essentially since taking over. Annie had worked at now-closed Thai So Good — where she wore all the hats: manager, cook, food runner, server and dishwasher — and fell in love with the town.

The two also saw plenty of Tosh’s Ramen customers who made the drive from Park City to Holladay return, she said. That, plus the regular phone calls asking for a Park City spot, showed the couple the demand.

Maxwell said that, since then, he’s had real estate alerts for any possible location, but each time an option came up, it wasn’t the right fit.  

“Finally, seeing this Junction Commons area open up and seeing that they’re allowing food to go into the lower outlets, as we used to call it, I think it’s the most amazing place to go,” said Maxwell.

Bringing on Tosh’s Ramen was part of the efforts to make Junction Commons a more well-rounded shopping space, said Alix Suter, the mall’s marketing manager. Singerman Real Estate, which purchased the former Outlets Park City in 2018, wanted to add food options as part of that change, she said.

“We want to bring in more local brands,” Suter said. “So the array of options that we have at Junction Commons, it’s not just national brands.”

Tosh’s Ramen will add an Asian food option to the still-growing slate of restaurants at Junction Commons, which include Shake Shack, Chipotle and Jersey Mike’s, plus shaved ice and acai bowl food trucks in the summertime and The Border Foodtruck for Mexican year-round.

The goal is to bring in more people and become a place “where locals want to spend time,” she said.

The outlet mall was recently approved for redevelopment by the Summit County Council, with plans to turn the area into a mixed-use neighborhood with commercial, residential and recreational areas.

Maxwell said when he heard about the plans for 370 residential units, 220 of which are earmarked as affordable housing, he was “ecstatic.”

“That’s literally like having your customers next door,” he said.

Especially because he wants to be in Park City for the next 20 years. “Forever,” Annie added.

It’s why they were willing to make the sometimes painful investments in the restaurant, which required a complete overhaul of the former J. Crew store into a functioning ramen kitchen and dining room. More than just a fryer and a stove, they had to install two noodle cookers, which recirculate constantly boiling water, plus a cast-iron gyoza grill imported from Japan.

Unlike opening in Salt Lake City — which they experienced with the opening of their second location inside Woodbine Food Hall — Park City has been very strict, Maxwell said. That’s part of the reason for the delayed opening.

“We had to pay (for) a water impact study just going into the space, which was $60,000, just for them to say, ‘OK, this is how much water you’re going to use? OK, thanks,’” Maxwell said. 

His landlord helped pay some of that cost, but “that was a hard pill to swallow.”

It’s especially hard because the two 33 years old are building the business on their own.

“We got into restaurants when we were 26, 27 years old, and we didn’t have any help. It’s literally just us. Annie was a server at a restaurant. I was just getting out of the military,” said Maxwell. “So it’s been a hard journey of saving up our money and working hard and getting to where we are.”

So support from customers goes a long way, said Annie, who often befriends regulars and loves chatting from the kitchen.

“When customers keep coming back, it makes me feel like they truly see and appreciate the care we put into what we do,” she said. “Some people start out simply as customers, but after seeing them again and again, we begin to remember their names, their favorite dishes, and we get to know each other more.”

When it comes to delegating roles, the kitchen is Annie’s space. While neither is Japanese — Maxwell was born and raised in Utah, and Annie is originally from Thailand — the two learned everything from Sekikawa. Maxwell did spend a month trying ramen all across Japan and even staged at the Tokyo restaurant Ramen Feel, but they didn’t want to mess with Tosh’s Ramen’s existing formula.

The tonkotsu ramen, known for its cloudy, pork-based broth, is the obvious favorite and what most people try first, Maxwell said. But Annie said she’s especially proud of the curry ramen and karai ramen, which is a spicier variety. 

Being from Thailand, Annie said she’s introduced a tiny bit of fusion to the menu, as a special ramen served only in June, July and August that incorporates Thai spice and flavors.

Annie said high-quality ingredients, especially meats, are what make Tosh’s Ramen so good, and 90% of what they use is sourced directly from Japan. 

“I care a lot about the details, from the ingredients and the flavor to the moment the food reaches the customer,” Annie said. “I believe every dish we serve should be something we’re proud to put on the table.”

Bento boxes as a lunch special are planned for the Park City location, said Annie, but otherwise the menu will be the same as its Holladay location. Tosh’s Ramen will be open late by Kimball Junction standards: open from 10 or 10:30 a.m. until 10 p.m., as long as there’s demand. 

Trust, reliability, quality: That’s what the couple plans to bring to town, and said they hope to create long-lasting relationships.

“Every time I see a customer return with their family or friends, or when someone tells me how much they love our restaurant, it reminds me that all the hard work and everything we’ve put into this has truly meant something,” Annie said.

Maxwell said naturally they’ll welcome the tourist crowds, but it’s the locals who they’re really here for.

“I really want to make food that the locals of Park City will enjoy because return … customers is what keeps restaurants alive,” he said.

For more information and the full menu, visit toshsramen.com. The best way to hear the confirmed opening day is to follow the restaurant on Instagram @toshsramen.holladay and @toshsramen.pc.

The post Tosh’s Ramen Kimball Junction location is a dream come true for husband-and-wife owners appeared first on Park Record.

Sculptor Michael Hall knows everything there is to know about the third president of the United States. Thomas Jefferson was a historic hero to Hall, who shared information that Jefferson helped popularize ice cream from his trips to Europe. 

But it wasn’t until Hall sat down to carve Jefferson’s figure out of bronze that the sculptor really began to understand the former president. Hall opted to sculpt Jefferson barefoot holding a book. More tomes are scattered around the sculpture’s base and up the chair Jefferson sits on. 

It’s all the better to capture the founding father’s love of knowledge, he said. 

“The idea was that he became who he was for many different reasons, but one was because of his love of learning,” Hall said. 

The 1,400-pound finished sculpture took hundreds of hours to complete and plenty of research on Hall’s part. He learned about Jefferson’s faults and triumphs, creating a larger picture of someone he considered an idol as a child. 

“These were just ordinary people that were doing extraordinary things,” Hall said. “People realized this is not a perfect person, but this is somebody who tried to use his talents and those things as resources to make a country and the world a better place.”

Now, that finished sculpture has found a new site at the Utah State Capitol. For the next year and a half, the installation at the building’s east entrance will sit beside a sculpture of George Washington by artist Dr. Steven Neal. 

The project to relocate the sculptures from Heber City to Salt Lake City started with Neal and his organization, Monument of the Americas. Neal said it was a joint effort between Monument of the Americas, the Utah State Capitol Preservation Board and Utah Sen. Kirk Cullimore. 

Cullimore said it’s inspiring to have “uniquely American art” at the state Capitol, especially in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. One curator from the Capitol Preservation Board, Sephanie Angelides, said the two sculptures are the only works of national art. Most others are related to the state of Utah, specifically. 

While Hall’s Jefferson depicts a founding father lost in thought, Neal’s 900-pound bronze sculpture of George Washington shows the former president deep in prayer. 

Neal chose to show the first president of the United States praying at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. 

“It was the low point of the war. People were dying, and they were walking away, escaping deaths, but he stayed right with his men at Valley Forge,” Neal said. 

Neal took care to preserve the slightest details. He found buttons from the 1700s and copied the intricate design onto the bronze Washington’s sleeve cuffs. A former plastic surgeon, Neal is used to being precise with his work. 

In total, Neal spent around 300 hours crafting the sculpture. 

As founder of the Monument of the Americas sculpture park in Heber City, Neal said he hopes visitors will appreciate the historic people and moments depicted by the sculptures. Of the statues at the Heber City sculpture park, there are works depicting Harriet Tubman, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Abigail and John Adams, for a start. 

But not all of the Monument of the Americas sculptures reside in the sculpture park. Up until their move on Wednesday, both bronze Founding Fathers now in Salt Lake City sat idle on a Heber City farm owned by Robert Hicken. 

“Up until now, they’ve just been seen by a bunch of cows and livestock,” Hicken joked. 

Having been in the masonry business for years, Hicken said he has become accustomed to helping Neal with his work at Monument of the Americas. 

Wednesday, Hicken helped unload the heavy works of art from a truck and installed them along the state capitol’s main east walkway. Hall said it’s because of Hicken that they were able to complete the move at all. 

“If it was up to us, we could never get the pieces where they needed to go,” Hall said. 

Though the sculptures, valued at $170,000 in total, are works of art, Hall and Neal said they hope passers-by will engage with the pieces. Hall said it’s the perfect piece of art to touch and learn more. He said he hopes kids will climb on, experience and enjoy his work. 

Neal said he is proud to have his and Hall’s work on display outside of Wasatch County. But after their loan to the state capitol is up, the sculptor said he will welcome them back home.

The post Heber City artists create Founding Fathers sculptures on display at the State Capitol appeared first on Park Record.

Erik Smith, who grew up in Oakley and spent his time snowboarding at Park City’s resorts, was in a University of Utah chemistry class when he learned the role of petroleum in the medical field. Different byproducts of the nonrenewable carbon source make up many important medications. Another form of petroleum, paraffin wax, is the primary ingredient in ski waxes.

As he was in class, worlds collided between his studies and his passion for snowboarding. Smith realized something needed to change in the ski and snowboard industry.

“If petroleum is nonrenewable (and we) use it for medications and the pharmaceuticals we rely on, but why are we putting it in ski wax? That’s crazy,” Smith said.

Ski waxes are historically made from paraffin wax, a petroleum byproduct, and a type of fluorocarbons, or fluoros, called PFAS. The wax serves as a base, and the fluoros, which are typically water-resistant, help with speed.

When skiers and snowboarders use petroleum and fluoro waxes, the chemicals enter the snow and they remain in the local ecosystem forever because they don’t biodegrade.

Years later, as a side project to keep his mind off dental school applications, Smith was working on making a petroleum-free ski wax. The side project eventually developed into Board Budder, an eco-friendly ski and snowboard wax company. 

In 2022, the same winter Smith was working on an eco-friendly wax, Park City released its study on fluorocarbons in drinking water. Park City’s fluoro ban came after an evaluation of the water supply which traced contamination to ski wax. 

“That was when I really started to focus on every ingredient being readily biodegradable, clean, sustainable, and without realizing it then … Board Budder was born,” Smith said. 

Smith said that Board Budder wouldn’t be what it is without Park City, the mental clarity he had while snowboarding at the resorts and the city’s environmental regulations.

“We’ve worked with Park City Angels and have had great investors who are passionate about what we’re doing and passionate about solving the problem in Park City,” Smith said. “They’ve really helped us have the means to accomplish everything we’ve done so far.” 

Smith added that the Board Budder mission statement is to “accelerate the adoption of sustainable products in the outdoor industry.”

Smith also explained what he calls “The Paper Straw Metaphor” to guide product development.

“It’s the idea of making a product eco-friendly, but it performs half as well. If it doesn’t perform as well as a plastic straw, then people will use it once and then not use it again,” Smith said. “The paper straw is the example we use to talk about the gap between performance and eco-friendly.”

When Smith began working on his product, there weren’t many eco-friendly waxes on the market. Those that were available didn’t match the quality of the traditional petroleum-based waxes. His goal was to make a wax that was all natural, biodegradable, nontoxic, and still high-performance.

“Mass adoption of eco-friendly products isn’t going to happen if the product costs twice as much and performs half as well. So what we’re trying to do is accelerate that adoption by bridging that gap,” Smith said.

The crew at Board Budder knows ski wax won’t solve all of the world’s climate problems, or even those within the outdoor recreation industry, but Board Budder hopes its model of high-performance, eco-friendly products can be applied to other areas of the industry.

Josie Tanasse, director of marketing, emphasized the diverse education and work backgrounds of their team. Having staff with expertise in material engineering and chemistry brings a unique perspective to developing new products, especially when considering the need to find new, sustainable materials. 

“There hasn’t been research done on this whole line of natural, biodegradable waxes and oils and carbon sources. It’s massive, but it hasn’t been looked into, because there hasn’t been a need to do that yet,” Smith said. “This could definitely be applied to other areas of the outdoor industry.”

Smith said that when he first learned about the realities of petroleum use, he had anxiety over his own environmental impacts. That kind of anxiety is a common experience, Smith said, and it can be very overwhelming when trying to switch to eco-friendly products.

At Board Budder, they want to make sustainability exciting and keep people stoked about skiing and snowboarding, without making people feel depressed and anxious about the environment. 

Tanasse said the Board Budder team thinks about the difference between offsetting environmental impact versus reducing impact. 

A company offsetting its carbon footprint isn’t a bad thing, Smith said, but that means the impact is still the same. At Board Budder, Smith and Tanasse said they’re aiming to reduce their initial impact with long-term sustainability in mind, for the environment and practices as their business expands.  

Easton Lewis, director of manufacturing and operations, said that especially with the Winter Olympics returning to Utah, he hopes that the community can be a model for sustainable products. 

“The spotlight is right here,” Lewis said.

The post Summit County native creates sustainable ski wax sparked by Park City goals appeared first on Park Record.

Many pedestrians and bicyclists on the pathway that connects Prospector, the City Park area and Old Town likely have not noticed a touch of blue coloring visible through the vegetation.

Nor is the blue seen by motorists on nearby Bonanza Drive and Deer Valley Drive, though the noise of traffic on the busy roads is heard from the location.

It is a tarp covering what seems to be some sort of mattress where a person may have slept. The tarp, as of the middle of the week, had been there for at least 10 days. It is steps from Poison Creek and the most visible feature of what appears to be an abandoned encampment. There were various items on the ground near the tarp, including plastic crates and plastic hangers.

No one was seen at the location on four occasions during a 10-day period through the middle of the week, and the scene did not appear to have been changed significantly during that time.

Homelessness is not widespread in Park City, but the Police Department occasionally receives reports of sightings of people described as homeless or homeless encampments. The reports over the years have been logged in various locations, including along Poison Creek, on hillsides and on the edge of neighborhoods. There are limited resources for the homeless in Park City, and there is no local shelter.

The police logged at least one report that appeared to have involved the location. The agency at 10:19 a.m. on Sept. 4 received a report about what was described to the police as a “large homeless camp,” with the location identified as Deer Valley Drive and nearby Prospector. The police classified the case as suspected vagrancy, a category of complaint that is often attached to reports of homelessness.

The day before, at 9:39 a.m., a report to the police was logged on Bonanza Drive that may have involved the same location. In that case, municipal parks workers reported “abandoned property on city land,” according to the Police Department report. The police and municipal parks and trails workers “marked the property that it would be removed” at 1 p.m. on Sept. 5. The report also indicated the municipal government intended to “post signs stating that there is no camping or abandoning property in the area.” A notice of criminal trespass was attached to the blue tarp by the afternoon of Sept. 6.

A sign prohibiting camping without the permission of the municipal government, which is the landowner, is posted nearby. The sign also prohibits open burning. There has long been concern that someone living in an encampment could ignite a wildfire if they use a campfire for cooking or warmth.

Some of the recent cases that involved camping, suspected homelessness or similar sorts of reports include:

• On Sept. 10 at 12:06 a.m., a delivery driver on Main Street informed the police that it appeared that “there is a homeless person camping at the top of the stairs” at a restaurant. The person looked “ragged,” the police were told.
• On Sept. 6 at 6:44 p.m., someone in the area of Meadows Drive and S.R. 224 told the Police Department of a “transient camp” visible from the person’s residence. The police were told the location was “up a trail” off the intersection of the two streets.
• On Sept. 5 at 7:35 a.m., a “red shed” was reported in the area of Homestake Road. The police were told a person was living there.

Police officers, meanwhile, occasionally check places where the homeless or transients are sometimes seen. An officer, for example, at 12:09 a.m. on Sept. 12, stopped at the Old Town transit center on a foot patrol. The building was clear, the police said.

The post Park City encampment illustrates the living situation of someone without housing appeared first on Park Record.

A Park City Council member walked out of a meeting on Thursday evening, indicating he was dismayed about the discussion about an aspect of the municipal recreation facility under construction at City Park.

First-term City Councilor Ed Parigian exited the council chambers in the Marsac Building at the end of discussion of an agenda item about a project branded The Mine.

A majority of the City Council supported keeping a wall in place until after the project is complete so it can be evaluated. The wall runs on an east-west axis and is meant to separate the basketball courts from the playground.

Parigian sees the wall as blocking what he calls the last remaining view of the City Park ballfields toward the north.

Parigian, in an interview afterward, reiterated his concern about the lost views and said the City Council majority’s support for keeping the wall, despite concerns, instead of removing it, prompted his decision to leave toward the end of the meeting.

Right before Parigian exited, Mayor Ryan Dickey turned to him, saying, “You’re not leaving, are you? … Are you that upset?”

Parigian responded by asking if he could leave, inquiring, “Can I do that, I mean, officially?” Dickey told him: “You can leave, yeah.” Parigian then gathered his belongings and walked off the dais.

It is extraordinarily rare for an elected official in Park City to take such a dramatic action.

Parigian said he preferred the alternative solution, which would have removed 5 feet from the wall’s height and then installed a fence atop the wall to enable someone to see through to the fields.

Parigian is a former member of the Park City Recreation Advisory Board, a municipal panel involved with a wide range of issues related to the topic.

“The vote made me nauseous,” Parigian said, adding, “I didn’t want to be there. I felt sick to my stomach.”

Dickey afterward said he considers Parigian a friend and said the city councilor “cared passionately about the issue of this wall.” He said Parigian had attempted to build consensus on the City Council to remove the wall but was unable to secure the support needed.

“As the mayor, I would hope all our City Council members stick in the meeting through the tough votes,” Dickey said.

The tension that unfolded Thursday evening came toward the end of an agenda that did not seem like it would cause the drama it did. A discussion about the municipal housing efforts was expected to have been the most difficult of the evening.

The Mine is expected to debut late in the year and will replace a community center that dates to the 1980s. The construction has been highly visible from various vantage points for months, but the building’s magnitude becomes discernible closer to the property.

The new building and grounds are designed to house a variety of programs. They include community event space, expanded day-camp access, a new playground that will be fenced and have shaded seats and improved restrooms. The volleyball and basketball courts will be replaced and relocated.

The post Park City councilor, dismayed with recreation facility discussion, walks out of meeting appeared first on Park Record.

Deer Valley Resort announced Wednesday morning that it plans to open on Dec. 5 for 2026-27 winter operations, conditions permitting.

After a busy summer of on-mountain improvements and construction at East Village, the resort’s crew is excited to show off their hard work.

“I’m just hopeful and excited that we’ll get all of the terrain open this year in the expansion and continue to showcase to our guests what we’ve been doing these past couple years,” said Riley Elliot, the resort’s communications manager.

Due to a lack of snow last year, part of the new terrain near the Pioche and Neptune lifts couldn’t be opened, so Elliot is eager for these areas to be skiable for the first time.

The announcement follows the installation of the Hail Peak lift last week, one of the final steps in the on-mountain Expanded Excellence initiative.

“We are proud to maintain the momentum from last season’s historic expansion with increased access and new terrain, and we are eager for guests to experience it firsthand this 26/27 ski season,” Deer Valley Resort President and Chief Operating Officer Todd Bennett said in a press release.

In January 2027, the freestyle skiing World Cup will again return to Deer Valley.

“During that weekend, everyone is having such a great time,” Elliot said. “Everyone’s up at the resort at night, enjoying these competitions (and) the community is getting together; it’s a great time.”

This weekend marks the end of Deer Valley’s summer-fall season. After the lifts close to mountain bikers and hikers, the mountain operations team will start preparing for winter. 

“It’s always great when we get to the milestone of announcing when we’re going to open, and then it’s a matter of getting open,” Elliot said. 

While the resort seems quieter without guests, Elliot said there’s excitement as winter nears and as seasonal staff returns to the mountain. 

The first step is to clean up the mountain from summer events and to clear debris from ski areas. After that, senior snowmaking manager Brett Hawksford will wait for the perfect conditions and begin making snow for the early season base. 

Usually, the window opens up at the end of October. Hawksford describes the combination of temperature and humidity required for snowmaking as a “wet-bulb.”

“The perfect October … would be consistently cold and dry,” Hawksford said. “Mid to low teens are best for us.”

Hawksford said a dry October is ideal because if there’s too much natural snow, crews have to go out for snow removal around the resort, and it can take time away from snowmaking.  

“Less moisture in the air allows us to make more snow quicker and allows us to make snow in above freezing temperatures,” Hawksford said. 

If the air is too humid, the water will stick to the snow guns and take longer to freeze into snow that will land on the ground. Hawksford is hoping for no wind, too, since it can change where snow lands.

As natural snow starts falling and snowmaking continues, the mountain operations team monitors conditions around the mountain until the resort is ready to open.

The announced December opening date is dependent on conditions, meaning they could open earlier or later than targeted. If the mountain is ready before Dec. 5, Elliot said the resort team would aim to get the word out at least a week in advance.

The team is planning to host a season passholder appreciation day before the resort officially opens. 

Construction will continue through the winter on the Park Peak and East Village lodges, each set to open for the 2027-28 season.

Deer Valley is the fourth resort of Utah’s 15 to set a winter season opening date. Last month, Park City Mountain said it plans to open for the season on Nov. 20.

The post Deer Valley Resort plans to open in less than 80 days appeared first on Park Record.

Wasatch County is reviewing a projected $124.3 million base budget for 2027, a $7 million decrease from what was approved this year. 

Assistant County Manager Heber Lefgren said that, with adjustments, the 2026 budget stood at about $131.8 million. The difference for next year includes a $1.85 million increase in the general fund and decreases across three categories. 

The county doesn’t anticipate increasing property taxes. 

“We have decided early on that that is not an option, so we exclude that from the process,” Lefgren said. 

The general fund serves as the chief operating fund and accounts for the majority of services provided to Wasatch County residents. The remaining 24 funds in the budget were created to allow easy accounting of revenue. 

The 2027 budget analyzes what would be needed to maintain the same service levels upheld in 2026. It also adjusts for inflation and includes removing one-time costs. 

While the 2026 budget included a $52.4 million general fund, the 2027 budget includes a $54.26 million general fund. Personnel costs include a 2.5% increase.

No increase is included related to the operation of the new 63,000-square-foot county administration building, which saw a $45 million bond this year. 

Along with reviewing the 2027 base budget, Wasatch County will routinely consider departmental requests. That includes a “wish list” of items from departments such as the library and, notably, the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office. 

The Sheriff’s Office has requested more than $740,000, not counting the request for a new school resource officer. That number includes the purchase of a $486,000 armored public safety vehicle. In comparison, the Wasatch County public works department requested about $372,000, mostly in facility and maintenance costs. 

The Wasatch County Library requested $192,000. That’s for a needs assessment study of the library building and the installation of additional safety cameras. 

Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau said the armored public safety vehicle would be to address critically dangerous situations, such as active shooters. But County Council members like Spencer Park want Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby to make his case for the requested item.

“It’s just a really hard sell to me. I don’t want our law enforcement to become another branch of the military,” Park said. 

While the County Council considers the 2027 budget, councilors such as Erik Rowland are thinking ahead on budget priorities. As it stands, the county has five main budget priorities.

“We wanted to remain sound and prepared financially, be a high-performing county, prepare for the future growth, provide balanced service levels that improve quality of life and maintain the rural character and preserve open space,” Lefgren said. 

But Rowland asked the County Council to consider how it might reduce the tax load on residents in coming years. 

“Because as we look up (at) the Deer Valley project, it’s had a substantial effect on every resident in the county to some degree, and one of those being a heavier burden on property taxes, obviously increased traffic,” Rowland said. “If there’s revenue coming in from that source, to me it just seems to make the most sense to give that back to the public as a top priority.” 

Lefgren anticipates that general fund revenue will top out at $60.8 million in 2031 while expenditures would reach $61.8 million. In 2022, general fund revenue reached $34.8 million, and expenditures reached $35.4 million.

Property tax revenue is expected to increase by about 7% every year, consistent with increases in previous years. Lefgren also anticipated that building permits will increase again in 2027. 

The next major project, renovating or expanding the Wasatch County Library and Senior Center, could be underway in 2030. It’s expected to cost about $20 million through a bond with an annual $1.5 million payment. 

Wednesday marked the first review of the 2027 base budget. There will be a presentation of the tentative budget on Nov. 4, and a public hearing on Dec. 2 with the opportunity to adopt.

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