Last spring, facing the prospect of a summer tourism season hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and the cancellations of events that typically mark the warm months in Park City, officials implemented car-free Sundays on Main Street.
The aim was to provide space for merchants to set up shop outside and to make it easier for patrons to socially distance. As the summer unfolded, the pedestrian-only days were a hit. Parkites and visitors wandered the street, stopping to shop or to grab a meal at an outdoor dining deck. Musicians played live music. While the face masks and distancing made it impossible to forget we were in the middle of a pandemic, the atmosphere was vibrant.
Tanzi Propst/Park Record
The leadership of the Historic Park City Alliance, a group that represents businesses in the Main Street core, on Tuesday voted in favor of holding pedestrian days on the shopping, dining and entertainment strip in 2021, a decision that was needed before the organization engages City Hall in more detailed talks.
The organization’s board of directors cast a 14-0 vote in support with one member absent. The unanimous vote shows a wide range of business sectors on Main Street supports the pedestrian days.
The Historic Park City Alliance vote was an endorsement of pedestrian days on Sundays starting on June 6. They would be designed to run alongside the Park Silly Sunday Market, which is held on lower Main Street and certain locations on the upper section of the street. The board of directors recommended hours from 7:30 a.m. until 10 p.m., the same as the hours of the pedestrian days in 2020.
Park Record file photo
People on Main Street during the pedestrian days last summer and fall apparently spent money wandering into shops and when they sat down at restaurants, cafes and bars.
But they might not have taken home a piece of art.
As an important round of discussions about the operations of Main Street this summer and fall approaches, the group that represents businesses in the Old Town core has compiled the results of a survey showing whether various business segments support a second year of the pedestrian days. The days this year would be held alongside the Park Silly Sunday Market, which plans to return to Main Street in 2021 after a one-year hiatus in 2020 amid the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Silly Market for years has split Main Street businesses between those that have received a boost from the Silly Market crowds and those that have not.
Park City at the start of 2020 seemed poised to make progress on longstanding issues like the economy and traffic, continuing the years of work of City Hall and the wider community.
It was clear by the middle of March, though, the agenda for 2020 would change radically. The spread of the novel coronavirus made the year unlike any other in Park City’s history. But even with the sickness impacting all aspects of life, other items rose to prominence. Park City joined the nation in calling for social justice and steps were taken toward hosting another Winter Olympics someday.
The Top 5 news stories in Park City in 2020 follow:
Park Record file photo
City Hall collected nearly $1 million in sales taxes in September, a dazzling figure that beat estimates by a wide margin and topped the number from the same month last year, providing a data point that illustrates just how busy Park City was in the early fall.
The municipal government released the figure in the days before a Park City Council meeting that was held on Thursday and included a detailed look at City Hall’s finances nine months after the spread of the novel coronavirus forced an early end to the 2019-2020 ski season and upended the national economy.