The owner of Flanagan’s on Main, John Kenworthy, was initially worried about a steep economic drop as the novel coronavirus spread. The Park City economy, though, mounted a comeback over the last 12 months. Flanagan’s on Main, like other Park City-area businesses, made adjustments to operations that were influenced by the sickness.
Tanzi Propst/Park Record
By the end of July of 2020, the spread of the novel coronavirus had already forced an early end to the 2019-2020 ski season in Park City, sent local unemployment soaring and left many in the community deeply concerned about the resort-driven economy.
John Kenworthy, a Main Street businessman, at the time provided an especially dire assessment. The Flanagan’s on Main owner that month declared “the black swan has landed,” using an economic term that describes an unexpected, havoc-causing event like the coronavirus. He had just left office after a term as the president of the board of directors of the Historic Park City A
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.
The Main Street pedestrian days debuted in 2020 in an effort to boost business and create space for social distancing amid the spread of the novel coronavirus. A survey is underway designed to learn the level of support on Main Street for a second year of the weekly pedestrian days.
Park Record file photo
The organization that represents businesses in the Main Street core is conducting a survey designed to learn the level of support for a second year of the weekly pedestrian days along the shopping, dining and entertainment strip, an early step as various parties begin to prepare for another summer that is expected to be influenced by the spread of the novel coronavirus.