Savor the Summit – the annual summer solstice dinner party that stretches down Park City’s Main St. is taking a break next year as organizers work to reimagine the event’s future.
For the last 13 years, the Park City Area Restaurant Association has hosted Utah’s largest outdoor dinner party.
The restaurant association announced Thursday that they’re taking a break for next year and plan to reveal a new event for 2021. Association Director Ginger Wicks says they’re taking a break for a few reasons.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen slight declines in attendance, Wicks said. “We have some restaurants not participating anymore. And so really just want to make sure that it’s still meeting the goals of the restaurants and it’s still providing a great, vibrant experience for people that are coming out and enjoying it and we just feel like it’s time to do a deep dive into and revamp it and come back strong in 2021.”
By taking a year off, she says they’ll have the time to really examine the future of Savor the Summit.
She says they’ve received feedback from diners that the vent is too is expensive. She says they’d like to have an event that everyone can afford and enjoy. They’ve also heard from restaurants that that the evening is so labor intensive – that some of them not even making any money. And she says they’d like to have an event so that more restaurants - even those off of Main Street can get involved.
“That’s why we’re taking a year off is to really do a deep dive,” said Wicks. “And it’s hard to do a deep dive into an event like that because we just ended - the restaurants have been so busy, and most restaurants will start taking reservations January 1 for Savor the Summit. So, we need to take a full year to really look into it and make good decisions for everybody.”
Wicks says the association’s members have been talking about how to change up Savor the Summit for more than a year.
“When you have numbers declining and restaurants pulling out, I think it’s our responsibility to look at the overall event and say OK, wait a minute. Why is that happening? Why aren’t restaurants wanting to be involved anymore? Why are some restaurants not selling out anymore? Because if you recall, for a while there, you couldn’t get a seat at Savor the Summit and we want to make sure, again, that we’re being responsible event producers and putting forth the best version we can.”
She says they’re excited to take the time to bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to future Savor the Summit events and you can plan to see those when the next one returns tentatively June 26th, 2021.
