For the first time, Park City closed upper Main Street to vehicle traffic during the opening weekend of the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter designated the road as pedestrian-only as a public safety precaution after consulting with local, state and federal law enforcement.
The move came weeks after a suspected terrorist drove a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year's Day, killing more than a dozen people.
During a discussion about the police budget with the Park City Council Thursday, Carpenter said the department plans to make Main Street pedestrian-only again during next year’s festival.
“Going backwards would be a huge mistake I think, if we had a mishap,” Carpenter said. “We can’t afford failure going into the Olympics, absolutely cannot. And so we have to be fully aware of everything we’re facing, and we’re policing huge numbers. And through our evaluation, it was very detailed with the FBI, [Department of] Homeland Security, and their recommendations were to shut down Main Street.”
A survey of 46 Main Street businesses found the road closure increased revenue for some shops and negatively impacted others, specifically those at the top of the street.
According to the Historic Park City Alliance, No Name Saloon reported a decline in revenue during the first weekend of Sundance for the first time ever, which the bar attributed to the pedestrian-only street.
Several Sundance attendees told KPCW they enjoyed the energy of Main Street without cars.
Officials with the Sundance Film Festival announced last month that the annual event will be moving to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027. The January 2026 festival will be the last in Utah.
