The St. Regis Big Stars Bright Nights Concert Series had a change in venue last week, now they’re hoping to make the change permanent.
The Grace Potter concert on July 13 was held at City Park after a conflict in schedule meant that Quinn’s Junction was unavailable. Park City Institute Director Teri Orr says they’re now hoping to make City Park the venue for the remaining August and September concerts.
“This really came from an outpouring of the folks who were there at the concert, who said ‘why can’t all the concerts be here?’” Orr explained, “We had thought all the concerts were going to be at Quinn’s originally and there was a conflict in date which is how we ended up with one concert, as a one off, at City Park. It felt so good to be back in City Park and it was so easy for folks. It was nostalgic, and it was very quintessential Park City”
The last concert had somewhere between 1,700-2,000 people in attendance. Orr said there were a few benefits to the different location, including a better flow of traffic.
Orr said, “there were fewer busses needed from our end, we had been supplementing the busses. So, it was just easier all the way around. Besides the fact that it’s a beautiful space.”
One concern that the city has voiced with the changing of the venue is whether neighbors will support having a concert in their neighborhood every night. Orr says their discussions with those affected by the concert went quite well.
“I was at city council last night and they said they have received no negative feedback.” Orr explained, “We walked along the homes (of) the people who face the park and spoke to them, those that were outside, the day of the show and then later in the evening. They were just happy to sit there with their friends and have a BBQ on the back porch and hear Grace Potter.”
Park City plans to continue to seek public input about the venue change, especially from those in proximity to City Park. The Park City council will hold a special meeting to make a decision on the proposal on Friday the 27th.
Orr also noted that they had a few people that enjoyed the concert, even though they technically were not in the park.
“There were some folks who rode their bikes and stopped. There were some folks beyond our fence line. Mostly everybody understood that we’re a non-profit and it matters if you buy a ticket and they were inside the fence.” Orr continued, “It is a park, and it is part of the city’s great amenities and we need as a non-profit to have people buy tickets. At the same time, we don’t want to shame anyone who’s decided it’s a nice night, maybe they couldn’t afford the tickets, and they’re sitting outside the fence line. We hope to reach some kind of equilibrium there.”
The concert series had to change venues on short notice this year after Deer Valley decided not to renew their contract. One reason that Deer Valley cited for terminating the contract, was that they wanted to give their grass a break. Orr said that the City Park fields did not have any issues with overuse.
“They’re used to people being on those fields for all kinds of events. They are ball fields but they’re a multi-use field as well in Park City. We, I hope, were lightly there Friday night.”
Orr also says they’re hoping to be able to start the remaining concerts at a later time of day.
The next show will be at Quinn’s Junction at 6:00 pm on Monday July 23. The concert series will continue with Chris Blue. Blue won the 2017 season of the NBC television series The Voice. Local artist Mary Beth Mazier will open for Blue. To get tickets to the upcoming show go to Parkcityinstitute.org or call the box office at 435-655-3114.
