Sundance’s move to a small ski town 40 years ago has left locals with mixed opinions

This post was updated Feb. 4 at 1:41 p.m.

There were only 2,823 people living in Park City, Utah, when the Sundance Film Festival relocated from Salt Lake City to the small ski town in 1981.

Then known as the Utah/US Film Festival, Sundance was moved after a director proposed the idea of hosting a film festival in the slopes during the height of ski season.

Since then, the festival has grown from 15,504 attendees in 1996 to 122,313 in 2019. Park City has grown alongside it, with its population rising to 7,558. But the mountain location is primarily known as a ski town, and businesses on Main Street and Park Avenue – used to catering to tourists – must shift their attention elsewhere as visitors spend more time in theaters than on the slopes. Mary Flinders, an employee at Atticus Coffee & Teahouse, said the rise in visitors tied to the film industry reflects a distinct difference in the demographics usually found in the city.

“Utah kind of gets left in the dust sometimes, so it’s an honor to host a film festival,” Flinders said. “But we have to accommodate a huge amount of people – a swarm – in a week, so it just kind of changes the game.”

Atticus, which first opened 10 years ago, sits where the majority of the festival’s events take place – Main Street. Because the shop is often at capacity throughout the festival, Flinders said the store has to sacrifice quality for quantity by condensing its menu offerings. To add some festivity to the sometimes-stressful volume of customers, Flinders said each year Atticus chooses a theme for employees to dress in. This year’s theme was space, and many employees donned face glitter and shiny outfits as they took orders.

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But not all local employees are as pleased with the Sundance turnout. Roger Jorgensen, who works at the pizza shop Davanza’s, said the local response to the festival is mixed. Unlike Atticus, Davanza’s doesn’t experience a boom in customers during Sundance, he said – the shop is just as busy during the usual tourist season. However, because of the added navigational barriers in Park City throughout the festival, he said he rarely sees people he knows walking around town.

“It’s a real local spot, but at this time there are no locals coming here,” Jorgensen said.

Other local businesses are also heavily impacted, as Jorgensen said some leases require businesses to clear out for the duration of the festival so specialty lodges, such as Chase Sapphire on Main or the Audible Speakeasy, can have a space to promote themselves. The Sundance Institute will also usually repaint the buildings before and after in order to create its own version of Park City, he said.

Additionally, Jorgensen said Sundance tourists tend to tip poorly, as many of them are less affluent than their typical tourist clientele. Visitors overrun local services, with both buses and businesses being busy and cramped.

“I feel like (Sundance has) really outgrown the place,” Jorgensen said. “I’ve been here six years. The first year, I didn’t have to drive, I didn’t have to deal with it. But when it’s crazy like that, nobody actually goes up to Main Street.”

The rise in visitors in the city helps place shops like Atticus on a more nationwide radar, though Flinders said the shop doesn’t rely on Sundance for revenue. But as both the world-renowned slopes and film festival put Park City on the map, she said the area needs to work on expanding resources such as parking to better accommodate the rising number of visitors.

During the 10-day festival, shops catering to Park City’s winter activities are no strangers to Sundance’s impact. Toby Allison, whose father owns Utah Ski & Golf, said business slows down as people spend their time in movie theaters instead of skiing during Sundance. Their Park Avenue store – one of four owned by the family – usually bears the brunt of the downturn, he said. Their location closer to the base of the mountain, which is farther away from the center of Sundance, is busier, but blocked-off roads and crowded sidewalks discourage potential skiers from making their way to the store.

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Allison said their customers who park on the street are also often ticketed because of increased policing during the festival. He said workers have to condense their service time to try to avoid their customers being ticketed, taking 10 minutes to set up the necessary gear instead of the usual 20-30.

To further prepare for the downturn, Allison said they cut down on employees’ hours and prepare for the rise in tourist during spring break. But for the family-owned shop, he said most changes within the city are evidenced by how visitors conduct themselves. Whereas most of the other tourists are there to ski, often staying with family and friends in the city, he said Sundance visitors are a disruption to the stores in the middle of their busiest season.

“We don’t love Sundance all too much,” Alison said. “It’s a cool event. Most (visitors) aren’t crazy nice people. They’re not really here to spend money. They’re here to look pretty and block the roads – that’s how we look at it.”