There could be several new Sundance Film Festival hotspots in Park City in January.
And no festival tickets will be needed.
City Hall is considering leasing three locations to Sundance where testing for the novel coronavirus will be available to the public during the festival, a measure by the municipal government that will assist the operations of the festival’s protocols designed to guard against the spread of the sickness during the event in January.
Park City outlined the testing locations in a wide-ranging report drafted in anticipation of a Park City Council meeting that is scheduled on Thursday. Mayor Andy Beerman and the City Council at the meeting are slated to approve numerous operational alterations to the festival. There are alterations to the operations each year, but the ones this year are especially notable as Sundance enters the final weeks of preparations for the first in-person festival during the coronavirus era after all live events were canceled in 2021.
The locations — each under the ownership of the municipal government — are:
• the parking lot on the Swede Alley side of the Galleria building, which is located close to Main Street and the Old Town transit center.
• the building just off the Bonanza Drive-Kearns Boulevard intersection that once housed a Maverick gas station and convenience store.
• the main floor of Miners Hospital at City Park.
The locations for coronavirus testing will be in addition to others organized by Sundance itself, including the Sundance Institute offices, the Prospector Theatre and the festival headquarters. Those Sundance-organized locations will be available to festival staffers, volunteers, artists and industry figures.
Sundance has crafted broad coronavirus-fighting measures that rely heavily on testing requirements for many festival-goers. Attendees covered by the Sundance testing requirement include festival employees, festival volunteers, artists, industry figures and the press. Those required to be tested must submit to additional tests depending on how long they stay at the festival and what activities they plan.
The three locations provide options interspersed between Sundance venues and other traditional festival destinations. They are also strategically located along bus and pedestrian routes.
Sundance has said it will provide free tests — PCR and rapid antigen — to people in attendance and people who live in the community. Sundance has outlined that it will also accept testing approved by the Food and Drug Administration that show a date and time. Organizers caution many so-called at-home tests will not qualify since they lack a method to officially show the date and time of the test.
The City Council meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. at the Marsac Building. The meeting will also be available online. More information is available on the City Hall website, www.parkcity.org.