This week the Grace Potter Big Stars Bright Nights concert is scheduled to be held in City Park. It’s another pop up event which means the venue is installed and taken down within about a 12 hour time frame. The Park City Institute is working hard to put on the St. Regis concerts this summer after losing access to the Deer Valley arena earlier this year. Carolyn Murray has this:
The Park City Institute’s Executive Director Terri Orr is pleased with last week’s pop up concert held at Quinn’s Junction. They were not able to schedule the Grace Potter concert on the 13th due to a conflict with the Girls Fast Pitch Softball League having already reserved the fields. The stage will be on the north end of the City Park facing Poisen Creek.
“It’s going to be the fields behind 7-11..that’s the easiest way to explain it…those ball fields there. It will be the same kind of pop up stage. There will still be our seating and people can bring their own chairs as well. Blankets will be on the other side. Same drill.”
Parking is available at the Eccles Center on Kearns Boulevard where they’ll have shuttles running to City Park. Park City Mountain will allow parking in their lots as well. City buses are available from there. Only ADA accessible parking is available at City Park.
Park City Special Events Manager, Jenny Diersen says with Triple Crown Softball in town, a Deer Valley Concert and the Grace Potter show at City Park, it’s going to be a busy evening. Bikes, public transit and carpools are strongly encouraged. The north end of City Park will be closed to parking at 6 am on Friday.
“We’re not going to close access to the Park or those facilities specifically but as far as people wanting to play basketball, whatever…there is parking in the south end in the morning. Then in the evening the south end will also close to parking starting around three in the afternoon. If you want to go to the Park to use the grass or use the public facilities, we encourage you to park at some of those alternative destinations just like the event goers.”
The Box Office at the Eccles Center will be open until 3:30 on Friday and then they’ll move to a Coke trailer in City Park near the venue. It’s public space but Orr hopes people show their appreciation for the efforts to bring the big names to Park City.
“It’s a public park. That’s for sure. We do have the venue area that will be fenced in. We do know that some folks will want to get on their bike and stay on the bike path and watch the concert from there. WE hope those folks who stay for the concert will want to contribute to us bringing the concert in. So, making some kind of contribution as if it was a ticket….”
Tickets start at $49.00 for lawn admission and reserved seats cost $89.00. They have a 2500 person limit for each of the summer concerts. Orr says attendance at the Quinn’s concert last week was about 1500 people. She says getting people in and out was easy.
“I think the first concert had a bit of a wait and see attitude. And then afterwards, I think word of mouth was great. I think the same thing is happening with Grace a little bit. People saying, gosh, I wonder how that is going to be. Like most of our shows, tickets tend to pick up about 24 hours before an event.”
Food trucks will be parked nearby with a variety of offerings from local businesses.
The VMS message boards will be all over town and will provide parking information. The concert at City Park will impact nearby residential areas. Diersen asks the community to be considerate and avoid using neighborhood streets.
The Gates open at 4:30, concert starts at 6 with a surprise warm up act. Grace Potter starts at about 6:45. For information go to Ecclescenter.org or call 435-655-3114.
