In a change from years past, Park City closed Main Street to vehicle traffic during the first five days of the Sundance Film Festival this year.
Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter made the choice to close the road for public safety reasons after consulting with federal and state law enforcement agencies.
Sundance was held weeks after a vehicle attack killed more than a dozen people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
The Historic Park City Alliance, or HPCA, recently surveyed Main Street businesses to get their feedback on how the street closure impacted sales and foot traffic as compared to other festival years. Forty-nine businesses, mostly restaurants and retail stores, participated in the survey.
Over 60% of respondents said customer traffic didn’t change or decreased amid the street closure.
Roughly half of businesses said they would support closing the street again during Sundance. However, about 30% said they would not be in favor of such a move.
HPCA Executive Director Ginger Wicks said upper Main Street businesses were particularly critical.
“Those businesses always are negatively affected when we close the street,” Wicks said.
HPCA Board President Monty Coates, who owns the retail shop Southwestern Expressions near the top of Main Street, said sales during the entire festival were down considerably.
“But for the first weekend, we actually saw just a small increase in traffic, which I was greatly surprised about,” Coates said.
Several business owners KPCW previously spoke with expressed that the economic impact of Sundance has been limited ever since the COVID-19 pandemic moved the event partially online.
It’s unclear if Park City will close Main Street during next year’s festival, which could be the last Sundance in Utah.
Sundance is considering a move to Boulder, Colorado or Cincinnati, Ohio starting in 2027, due to the high costs of housing and accessibility challenges that come with hosting the festival in pricey Park City.
To ease those concerns, Utah has pitched a new blueprint for the festival that involves moving more screening and events to Salt Lake City.
Sundance Film Festival Director Eugene Hernandez recently told the trade publication Deadline the nonprofit hopes to make a final decision about its relocation plans by late March or early April.
