2017 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL SHOWCASED PARK CITY'S BEST & BRIGHTEST
Dear Friends,
With Sundance 2017 now in the books, thank you to everyone for helping to produce another successful festival. As we do every year, we gained some much-needed inspiration and encouragement, and learned some important lessons about ourselves along the way.
Thank you to the hundreds of Park City staff, local businesses and volunteers. Thank you to the Sundance Institute for entrusting Park City to host the best independent film festival in the world. We are honored to be your partner. And thank you to our local residents and visitors: your enthusiasm and patience throughout the festival is what makes this community so special.
As most of you know by now, this year’s festival included some extra heavy curveballs—days of successive snowfalls and some of the best skiing in memory, complemented by the peaceful yet heavily attended Women’s March on Main Street.
So by now, we think we know what worked—like the successful carpool and transit park-and-ride lot at Richardson Flat, our round-the-clock snow removal efforts, and the stellar work of public safety officials and other volunteers who kept the late night shenanigans from boiling over. And we also think we know what could be improved: traffic and parking congestion in the mornings and afternoons and more attention and commitment to the activation of Lower Main Street.
Those are just some of my thoughts, and I’m committed to coming back next year better than ever. But what did you like, and what can we work on? Please share your ideas with City Council at Coffee with Council on February 28, or just catch us on the street.
As for the films themselves, I felt they were as impactful as ever. They took us out of our comfort zones and made us see things from new perspectives. And the New Climate series—dedicated to environmental stories—aligned perfectly with Park City’s values. We were honored to highlight our sustainability goals through the panel discussion, Park City: a Community Committed to Action, as well as preview our first electric bus!
Compassion and empathy have both been in short supply of late, but the 2017 Sundance Film Festival reassured me of our collective humanity. The stories were wonderful, but the people who helped bring them to light were the real stars of the show.
Cheers to next year!
— Jack Thomas, Mayor