The Big Stars Bright Night concert series is the biggest moneymaker of the year for the Park City Institute. And though the Park City Council voted unanimously to approve the venue change for the 15th season of the summer concert series, the Institute wasn’t granted all of its requests.
Executive Director Teri Orr was originally told City Park was not available as a venue but because of one concert date conflicting with a sporting event at the Quinn’s Junction Sports Complex, the city had them move the Grace Potter concert to City Park for one night only.
It was then that both Orr and the city staff realized City Park was a better fit.
“When we had the Grace Potter concert at City Park, something kind of magical happened," Orr said. "And it was easy for folks to get there, the weather was perfect which never hurts. It reminded folks of the concerts that were there 16 years ago and there was some cost savings to us, both in terms of the buses and of the police needs.”
The only caveat – the concerts had to run 6 to 9 p.m. which is one hour sooner than in past years.
Orr said the time change is hurting their ticket sales.
“We also petitioned to have the times changed from 6 to 9, to 7 to 10 which is what they’ve traditionally been," Orr said. "The earlier start time is hurting us in terms of ticket sales. If you’re in some place other than Park City, its pretty hard to get here by 6 o’clock when the show starts, and it really is starting on time because it has to end early."
"So, we have, our ticket sales have not been been what they should be," Orr said. "The bus costs are very expensive, so we’ll be half or less in terms of hiring Le Bus. We’ll still need to have buses coming from Eccles over to City Park. The police costs will be about half I’m told, in terms of not having to be out at Quinns and the extra traffic and mitigations because City Part exists pretty well on its own.”
Orr said council and the staff have been great to work with.
“This city council has been so extraordinarily flexible in this issue and has spent an extraordinary amount of time that was never in any of their plans to spend," Orr said. "So, the fact that they had a special session last Friday when there was no, they had kind of a week off for summer, and they made that happen – we’re really grateful.”
The concert at City Park had a lot of people listening from their backyards and in the outskirts. Orr said she understands.
“We hope that folks appreciate what we bring to Park City year-round and the summer concerts help us be able to do that," Orr said. "Student outreach is a big part of who we are and these concerts, traditionally, help to support the outreach program. We also understand not everyone can afford a concert ticket. And it’s a warm summer night and City Park belongs to everyone. So, if people want to make a lesser contribution because they came to the concert, we hope they will feel so inclined.”
The next concert is on Sunday. For more information regarding the concert series visit, parkcityinstitute.org.
I’m Melissa Allison, KPCW News.