And the 2026 Myles Rademan Spirit of Hospitality Award goes to … Randy Barton!

Barton, best known as manager of the Egyptian Theatre, was honored with the Park City Chamber/Bureau’s annual award at its meeting last week. In Barton’s words, however, it’s a “recognition,” not an award.

“I don’t accept on behalf of myself, but on behalf of all the folks who love arts and culture,” Barton said.

He added that he appreciated that the award was not competitive in what can be a very competitive town.

Since moving to Park City in 1975, Barton founded the iconic late-night fast food chain Sconecutter, organized a cow ballet, hosted a drive-time radio show, saved the Egyptian Theatre from financial ruin and, most recently, was seen riding a camel through Main Street at the Miners Day parade.

“I was always involved with the Egyptian Theatre from the day that it was renamed the Egyptian in 1981,” Barton said. “I was never in charge but always there.” 

As a member of the Park City Players, Barton was involved at the theater as an actor and worked concessions at the Sundance Film Festival. 

Over the next few decades, Barton’s involvement around town ranged from television to concert promotion to radio. His TV show, “Park City Faces,” spotlighted the people and personality of Park City every weeknight live for nearly a decade. 

“It was really fun to do that show during the Olympics,” Barton said. 

For two weeks, the program filmed from Main Street instead of the usual studio, and Barton interviewed a horse. 

“I just love that we hosted the world,” Barton said, “and speaking of hospitality, we did such a marvelous job of it.”

After a stint on television, Barton moved to radio.

KPCW ran “The Local View” for four hours a day, five days a week for 20 years. During his time on the radio, Barton was known to make what he called “outlandish” statements. Outlandish, maybe. Radiantly positive, definitely. 

Barton said he would advise people to get out and learn to drive in the snow instead of being afraid of storms. During traffic jams, he’d tell listeners to embrace it, relax and enjoy the music. 

Barton was organizing a concert series in Salt Lake City in the ’90s and wanted to bring the same energy to Park City. In 1997, he started Mountain Town Stages. That evolved into Mountain Town Music, which programs, produces and fosters live music performances in the area. 

“Radio, theater, television, all kinds of at the same time as doing music and concerts. That was kind of my deal,” Barton said.

In 2009, Barton added “Saved the Egyptian Theatre” to his resume. 

“Everybody tells me, you know, ‘You saved the theater. Without you, it wouldn’t be there,’” Barton recalled. “I say, ‘Yeah, but I’m one of many, going all the way back to the 1800s, of people that would rise up and save the theater.’”

As Barton tells it, in the spring of 2009, the theater had closed and canceled all productions because it was out of money. The board of directors had in mind a schedule full of community theater programming, but Barton had a different vision. 

“I told them that was a bad decision for the community and (to) give me 90 days to show you what it should be,” he said. 

Barton luckily negotiated a contract at the beginning of the 90 days; the board tried to fire him three times during that period.

By the end of the three months, Barton had built a model of the theatre that still stands today.

“That is, something on stage every week, building a Pharaoh Club for the support of the theater and making the Egyptian the centerpiece of social life in Park City and a real gathering place,” he said. 

As Barton accepted his recognition, he proudly described the theater as “historic, authentic, intimate, genuine, social and, because of me, slightly irreverent.”

There are many opinions about what makes Park City unique. Is it the skiing, the history, the proximity to Main Street or the culture?

“(Arts and culture) has always been a part of Park City from the very beginning, and it is always what makes Park City a real town,” Barton said. “People talk about going to other ski areas, and what they love about Park City is it is real because of the dining, the arts, the culture, the history.”

If it were up to Barton, Park City would market itself as a “stationary cruise ship.”

“We have all the things that you would go on a cruise for: entertainment, shows, great food,” he said. “Base (the city) on that model. If somebody’s here, they’re going to be entertained.”

Barton is quick to share business strategies, and as a father of three, he’s well-versed in giving life advice.

“You know, I tell my kids and others, be careful with what you decide to do because you just might end up doing that and nothing else for the rest of your life,” Barton said. “I’ve done more than the arts. I’ve done business and I’m a runner. I’m a golfer. I have great joys. Best is being a parent, always.”

He enjoys what he calls “goof-off golfing,” a discipline of the sport where points aren’t counted and improvement isn’t the goal. Unlike his openness toward business matters, his favorite golf course is top secret.

Barton was recognized with a hospitality award, so why all the talk of entertaining? Entertainment and hospitality are one and the same, he said. Barton was born in Hollywood, after all.

“When you say that you’re entertaining tonight, that doesn’t have to mean that you’re dancing or on stage with a mic,” Barton said. “(When) you’re entertaining people, you’re bringing them into your home and showing them a nice time. Hosting is the same thing.”

According to Barton, entertaining and hosting go hand in hand with kindness and openness. 

“The divisiveness of the world is based on a lack of hospitality and ‘I will welcome anybody’ attitude,” he said.

As he accepted the Chamber/Bureau’s recognition, Barton reminisced about the days when he was new in town and faced with the common question: “So, how long have you been here?”

Barton said he feels like he’s on the other side of that question after 50 years in Park City. 

“People want you to talk about what makes you mad or upset, what you hate about the town,” he said. “But I love this town more every year.”

The post Perspectives on hospitality and entertainment from Randy Barton appeared first on Park Record.

In 2022, Park City was amid a debate about a development proposal in the area of Quinn’s Junction known as Studio Crossing.

The project, when it was under review at the Marsac Building and later approved, had a large number of housing units set aside for the workforce. It was a proposal that was seen as advancing Park City leaders’ efforts to create housing options for rank-and-file workers who would otherwise be priced out of the community’s resort-driven real estate and rental markets.

Jennifer Wesselhoff, the president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, was one of the figures who provided input to the Park City Planning Commission during the Studio Crossing discussions. Her written input was broad in nature and not exclusively centered on Studio Crossing, but it was nonetheless an impassioned argument in favor of workforce housing.

“The high price of Park City housing is woven into every aspect of our lives to harmful effect, pricing out service workers and up-and-coming Parkites, and our seniors, whose options have been drastically reduced,” Wesselhoff said in the submittal, written on Chamber/Bureau letterhead.

She added: “Businesses’ ability to hire and retain employees is increasingly negatively impacted by the lack of affordable housing,” and workers in Park City “often have no choice but to commute long distances to find housing.”

Four years later, the Chamber/Bureau recently provided another round of input about a different development proposal, this one involving the Park City municipal government as part of a partnership with a Chicago-area firm.

The project is proposed on municipal acreage stretching inward from the southwest corner of the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard. It is designed with 88 units of income-restricted rentals as well as rentals without income restrictions and other elements. Wesselhoff signed the correspondence endorsing the proposal on behalf of the Chamber/Bureau board of directors amid the ongoing Planning Commission review.

“Without workforce housing, Park City will become less authentic, potentially losing our community character, losing the grit and tenacity that enabled us to evolve from a mining town to the vibrant recreational community we are now,” it said.

The Chamber/Bureau is a highly influential institution in the tourism industry, marketing Park City nationally and internationally as a year-round destination. It works to attract an array of visitors — skiers, conventioneers, arts enthusiasts, athletes and others. The organization, though, has sometimes been seen as narrowly focused on tourism generation at the expense of issues commonplace to the workforce in that sector. Boosting visitation has long been the overarching role of the Chamber/Bureau, but Wesselhoff has in some ways seemed to advocate for the workforce that is critical to the functioning of many aspects of the tourism industry.

“The Chamber exists to advocate for a healthy local economy and a thriving community, and you can’t have either without a workforce that can afford to live here. When we advocate, we’re representing the businesses that are struggling to hire and retain employees — the restaurants, the hotels, the shops, the ski instructors, the healthcare workers. Their voices don’t always make it into the public comment record, because they’re working. So part of our role is to make sure decision-makers hear from the business community,” Wesselhoff said in a prepared response to a Park Record inquiry about the Chamber/Bureau input regarding housing.

Wesselhoff said the Chamber/Bureau sometimes acts on topics aligning with the organization’s legislative policy agenda.

“In other cases, we take specific issues to the Board and get their direct feedback, and (ultimately) they can decide to take a position. For Bonanza Park, the item was discussed at a board meeting and it was voted to take a position,” Wesselhoff said. “The Board looked at the location — near transit, schools, grocery stores, a central intersection. They considered the open space commitment, which is nearly 70% of the site and considered the history of this parcel specifically: it was purchased with transient room tax dollars, with a commitment to create something that benefits both visitors and the community. So, our statement reflects all of that.”

Wesselhoff, meanwhile, addressed what she sees as the success of the Chamber/Bureau efforts in support of housing.

“I think we’ve been effective at making the case clearly, and I’m proud of that. What’s harder — and this is true for everyone in this conversation, not just the Chamber — is shifting the broader community dynamic around housing,” she said. “Park City has seen project after project face intense neighborhood opposition. I think there’s genuine community support for affordable housing in the abstract. The challenge is translating that support into specific projects at specific locations. That’s a longer conversation, and we’re committed to being part of it.”

The post Park City Chamber/Bureau, typically a tourism advocate, delves into workforce housing issues appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City Chamber/Bureau leadership has endorsed the disputed plans for development in Bonanza Park that involve the Park City municipal government, drafting a two-page correspondence that attempts to balance the desire for housing against the wishes for open space.

The Aug. 5 correspondence is addressed to the Park City Planning Commission, which is reviewing the application. Jennifer Wesselhoff, the chamber’s president and CEO, signed the correspondence on behalf of the board of directors.

It is a strong statement articulating what the Chamber/Bureau sees as the benefits of the 88 units of workforce or otherwise income-restricted housing included in the plans. Wesselhoff mentions the small percentage of the Park City workforce living inside the city.

Some of the points, as drafted:

• “Businesses will suffer from a lack of workforce leading to fewer local businesses, increased costs for locals and potentially reduced hours, operations and services, ultimately impacting our overall quality of life.”
• “Without workforce housing, Park City will become less authentic, potentially losing our community character, losing the grit and tenacity that enabled us to evolve from a mining town to the vibrant recreational community we are now.”
• “Traffic and congestion will only get worse when workers don’t live close to where they work and play and are forced to drive into the area from surrounding areas.”

The municipal government and partner Brinshore Development LLC, based in the Chicago area, are pursuing a project on approximately 5 acres stretching inward from the southwest corner of the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive. The land is under municipal ownership. The proposal includes:

• 88 units of income-restricted rentals.
• 18 rentals without income restrictions.
• More than 30,000 square feet for a variety of tenants, such as retailers, restaurants, cafes and art spaces for not-for-profit organizations.
• A childcare location.
• 2 acres of open space.

There is organized opposition, with many of the critics of the proposal wanting leaders to instead create park space on the land. The opposition cites concerns about increased traffic at a location where there are already regular backups, the height of the proposal and what they consider a small amount of land that would be left undeveloped.

Meanwhile, backers of the Bonanza Park proposal counter with arguments supporting an increase in the community’s income-restricted housing stock.

The Chamber/Bureau leadership in the correspondence mentions the conflicting arguments regarding the proposal. It also acknowledges that the leadership “shares concerns about traffic and neighborhood character and the desire to preserve what makes Park City special.”

“The board believes that this is an approach worth advocating for. In some cases, open space is clearly the right call. In others, housing should take priority. The answer doesn’t have to be the same every time, and it probably shouldn’t be. But a reflexive ‘no’ at every site, for every proposal, isn’t a community strategy, it’s just avoidance,” the correspondence said.

It continued: “Park City can be a place with trails and neighbors. With protected ridgelines and restaurant workers that live here. With open meadows and a teacher who can afford to stay. We don’t have to choose between them. The 5-acre proposal is a test of whether we can say yes to both. It keeps the promise made to the businesses who funded this parcel. It puts housing where housing makes sense: on transit, near schools, walkable to everything.”

The Chamber/Bureau endorsement is another piece of input in a growing record of split opinions delivered to the Planning Commission in hearings and written comments. The input has come from long-established figures such as a former mayor and Parkites not widely known to have been involved in the public discourse about growth before the talks about the municipal acreage.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to revisit discussions at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday during a meeting at the Marsac Building. A public hearing is not scheduled on Wednesday. More information about the meeting is available on the municipal website, parkcity.gov. The direct link is: parkcity.gov/?event=102.

The post Park City Chamber/Bureau endorses disputed Bonanza Park development plans appeared first on Park Record.

There’s a new superhero in town and his name is HospitaBill Malone.

Park City Economic Development Director Chris Eggleton said being hospitable, at its core, is a verb. It’s embodied in a person’s actions — like a superhero — how a person might do more than just open the door, but make sure someone feels like they belong once they’re inside.

That spirit of hospitality, Eggleton said, is exactly what defines Bill Malone.

Malone personified generosity and cordiality long before he helped create the Myles Rademan Spirit of Hospitality Award in 2003 as the then-president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau. But it all came full circle when the organization he once led for 21 years bestowed the honor upon him during its annual meeting on Thursday at Pendry Park City.

The award is given to residents who epitomize the vision of Park City and aspire to make the community a better, more inclusive place. It’s named after Rademan, who served as a city planning director in the late ’80s and founded the Leadership Park City program. Recent recipients include Sally Elliott, Tina Lewis and Teri Whitney.

Rademan reflected on the challenges the county and state are facing, and emphasized the need for Park City to embrace acceptance, serenity and courage in the “hectic and disorienting years ahead” with civility and kindness as the 2034 Winter Games loom ahead.

“We simply cannot allow anger and frustration to be our new muses. Fretting and complaining about what we’re losing, rather than concentrating on what we might gain, is not either a strategy for success or a recipe for personal happiness,” Rademan said.

The sentiment is also enshrined in the Chamber/Bureau’s new tagline: Mountainkind. It’s something close to Malone’s heart.

“It’s nice to be important, and it’s more important to be nice,” he said.

Malone grew up in Delaware and earned an undergraduate degree in political science at a small college in Maryland. He then attended graduate school at Pace University in New York, obtaining a degree in public administration.

At the time, Malone recalled that he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do. His first job out of college was as a staffer at the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce, which had a strong emphasis on political science because Malone worked on the legislative affairs side. 

Malone, known for his robust mustache at the time, eventually moved up the East Coast with his wife, Linda. He became the executive director of the chamber of commerce in Peekskill, New York, one of the youngest in the state. A New York Times reporter briefly interviewed Malone at the chamber in 1979 for an article about the forgotten history of President-elect Abraham Lincoln’s visit to town to give a brief address.

Malone eventually accepted a position leading the Ocean County Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s. He and Linda moved their family to Toms River, New Jersey, to raise two children, Megan and Kevin.

The job was Malone’s first taste of seasonal hospitality with the community located on the Jersey Shore. It showed him how business trends can change and exposed Malone to the measurability of economics. He said it was easy to see what worked and what didn’t.

But while Malone was indoctrinated in the summer business, his family often traveled out west for winter vacations. They always talked about moving away from the East Coast, but it wasn’t until an opportunity arose for Malone to run the chamber resort association in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 1989 that they jumped at the chance and never looked back.

In Steamboat Springs, Malone was to build a summer economy in a place known for its skiing, and he created a series of rodeos, marathons and balloon festival events that drew crowds from Denver’s Front Range. 

Malone was also involved in major event planning and bidding, such as competing to host the National Brotherhood of Skiers convention in the mid-1990s. The experience exposed him to managing large-scale seasonal events and helped him understand the dynamics of resort communities, which was a pivotal step in his hospitality career. It was also there that Malone met Joan Calder, who later became his predecessor in Park City.

Malone spent seven years in Colorado before he became the executive director of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. There, he was also tasked with helping the community build a 12-month economy.

Malone held the position for three years until Calder announced she was stepping down, and Malone once again jumped. He took over the Park City Chamber/Bureau in July 1999. 

“Park City was a dream job,” Malone said. “We always knew that this was a great town and a great place to be.”

The 2002 Winter Olympics had already been announced, and while there was plenty of work done, there was still plenty to do. Malone found ways to leave his own fingerprint on the event, such as helping businesses prepare for the Games by educating them on everything from pin trading to planning the logistics of flower deliveries on Valentine’s Day.

“I had been involved with Ski World Cups in other areas, so I had some knowledge and familiarity with what was going to happen inside the fence, but the key ingredient for us is what happens outside the fence as a community,” Malone said.

That included finishing up the details on the Olympic Welcome Plaza on the corner of Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue, organizing celebratory media relations for the Games and more. The Chamber/Bureau was also thinking about how to use the Winter Olympics as a catalyst to springboard new types of business and using the Games as a device to court other events.

Malone remembered there was a little bit of shock from an economic standpoint after the Games. He remembered driving home with his wife after the closing ceremonies after having driven by the stadium at the bottom of the ski jumps — lit up and decorated with banners — for two weeks earlier. Then the power was off, and the Games were over.

But Park City had been thrust into the international spotlight and gained credibility with a well-run Olympics.

Malone said after a few days of thought gathering, there was a strong sense of confidence. That poured over to other established events like World Cups and the Sundance Film Festival, while also opening the door for new business opportunities in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, as well as the international market in Brazil, Great Britain and Australia.

“If you can do the Olympics in your town, you can do almost anything,” Malone said. “You went into the conversations in a much more enviable position.”

The 2002 Games helped build a sense of familiarity with the Park City area that started to move the needle forward in other areas, Malone said. He was recognized as helping to set the standard of excellence and played a key role in promoting the arts and cultural business of the community. 

For example, the opening of the Montage Deer Valley, the St. Regis Deer Valley and the Waldorf Astoria also brought an entirely new customer base to the Park City area. Park City didn’t have much of a connection to the luxury lifestyle before, but now it’s synonymous with the community’s brand. 

Eggleton and others who acknowledged Malone’s spirit of hospitality said he helped ensure the world felt welcomed in Park City. Malone also turned “momentum,” the theme of the event, into a community ethos. 

Beyond the 2002 Winter Games, the Chamber/Bureau credited Malone with the following initiatives: securing a Recreation, Arts and Parks tax to fund cultural programs, supporting a 2016 transit tax for better mobility, launching the International Ski Pass and creating the Quick Start program where a boarding pass could become a same-day lift ticket — giving away over 24,000 tickets at its peak. 

Malone said having longevity and strong professional and personal relationships also influenced his success at the Chamber/Bureau. He decided to retire after two decades in January 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed his plans for a few months. Malone recalled that the Chamber/Bureau was in a state of paralysis during the first half of the year, but officials could “see the light” by the end of summer, and business bounced back.

The Chamber/Bureau ultimately hired Jennifer Wesselhoff as Malone’s successor, and she started in October of that year. Wesselhoff said Park City has “been forever enriched by Bill’s dedication and leadership,” noting he’s helped better numerous organizations with a steady hand and a clear vision.

Over the years, Malone said the definition of hospitality, and the industry overall, has broadened. Back then, it was a transactional kind of business heavily reliant on tax revenues. But now it’s evolved beyond hotels and restaurants. 

“There’s more to this than just how many butts in beds you can get,” Malone said. “It’s a community, and we have a mindset here that we want to make sure that we don’t do things that would harm the integrity of the brand over time.”

For Malone, that means balancing hospitality and tourism with local residents’ needs. It’s important to consider what success means, who benefits from that success, and how that success will move the community.

He said the staff of the Chamber/Bureau is invested in Park City, and wants to do what’s best for it. Malone acknowledged the importance of building relationships throughout the community and making sure everyone is on the same page. 

After all, for Malone, it’s always been more than work.

“For decades, Bill and hospitality have been inseparable, not just as the chamber and tourism CEO, but as a host, a neighbor and a friend and a leader,” Eggleton said while introducing his longtime mentor for the award presentation.

The post Former Park City Chamber/Bureau CEO Bill Malone receives Spirit of Hospitality Award appeared first on Park Record.

Summit County’s tourism economy experienced another snowstorm of success this year, with the region rolling in as the state’s second-largest economic driver behind Salt Lake County.

Tourism in Utah generated an estimated $12.71 billion in direct visitor spending during the fiscal year, supporting almost 160,000 jobs statewide and creating $2.35 billion in state and local tax revenue, according to the Utah Office of Tourism Managing Director Natalie Randall. 

Almost $1.65 billion, or 13%, of that came from visitor spending in Summit County. Salt Lake dominates the list of counties with an annual visitor economy of $4 billion, or 40% of Utah’s total. Still, more than $18 million collected intransient room taxes last year in the greater Park City area made up 17% of the total statewide revenue. 

The figures are still preliminary, but if confirmed, they would make for another record-breaking year for Utah’s economy.

“We’re the only state agency that’s wholly dedicated to marketing the state, but it is important as we take into account the balance and as we see the growth, especially in communities like Park City and a mature visitor economy, the development pieces and the stewardship pieces as well. Economic impact in our state is significant. Tourism provides a significant piece to that,” Randall said. 

Another historic winter in the Park City area, combined with strong retail and lodging numbers as well as the Park City Chamber/Bureau’s rebranding effort, allowed the area to emerge as a significant contributor to the state.

Around 15% of total spending in Summit County comes from visitors, leading to a tax revenue of $291.5 million for the county and support for 15,000 local jobs. 

The metrics were lauded as the Chamber/Bureau’s latest achievements during its annual meeting on Wednesday at Pendry Park City. 

Over the last six months, lodging numbers have started to level out. Occupancy rates are up 3% and rates are up 1%. President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said Summit County is exactly on pace for this time last year.

“Where the rubber really hits the road though is in our tax collection, and where visitor spending continues to drive and increase in all of the tourism-related categories for Summit County tax collections from January through August, those categories are up … between 3-5%,” Wesselhoff said. “We have a lot of success to build upon in the upcoming year, and we have such an incredibly strong foundation.”

Almost 90% of funding for the Chamber/Bureau came from the transient room tax, which is paid by visitors for short-term lodging in Summit County. Wesselhoff estimated international travelers account for 12% of overnight visitation, a demographic that’s been returning to the community in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 8,500 people visited the Visitor Center help desk in 2023.

Wesselhoff also highlighted how the new tourism brand, legislative efforts focused on housing, transportation, diversity and sustainability as well as the return of the Winter Games in 2034 could impact future visitation.

The Mountainkind ethos was unveiled as a way to present Park City as an “unparalleled mountain community where respect for each other and our natural world defines us.” The Chamber/Bureau hopes the message inspires tourists to support small businesses and take care of the environment while officials plan for the next 10 years. 

Local tourism officials plan to focus on attracting quality visitors to the Park City area while they plan for future developments associated with the future Olympics and prepare to take on the international spotlight. 

“Economic impact numbers are a priority, but we prioritize at the top of our mission, elevating life in Utah and considering quality of life is a key piece to that balance,” Randall said.

About 78% of Utahns say tourism has a positive effect on the state’s reputation, according to a resident sentiment survey. 

That number is higher among Park City residents, 91% of whom said tourism is important to the local economy. However, Randall acknowledged there was still work to be done with only 40% of Parkites saying the positive effects outweigh the negative. 

A large majority of Chamber/Bureau members have said maintaining community character and a sense of place is important to them.

The post Summit County ranks second in the state for visitor spending appeared first on Park Record.