Sundance file from 2020
Canada Goose is expected in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival.
And so are Chase Sapphire, Acura and Apple TV.
As Park City prepares to stage the first in-person festival in three years, the map of temporary corporate setups is beginning to crystalize.
The Park City Council recently approved two sets of licenses that are needed for the temporary setups, depending on the type of activities that are planned. It is an indication at least some of the corporate interests will return to Park City for Sundance even amid the economic uncertainty and the continuing spread of the coronavirus.
The elected officials approved what are known as special event temporary alcoholic beverage licenses for a list of locations primarily in the Main Street core. A bloc of the licenses covers locations for Sundance itself or official festival sponsors. Two of the licenses covered Slamdance, which is also returning to Park City in 2023.
Some of the locations include:
• Canon Creative/Copa Bar Services, 528 Main St.
• Canada Goose Lounge, 558 Main St.
• Chase Sapphire, 573 Main St.
• Chase and LA Times Media, 580 Main St.
• Vulture and Vox, 591 Main St.
• White Claw Shore Club, 608 Main St.
• IndieWire Sundance Studio, 625 Main St.
• Acura, 475 Swede Alley
• Apple TV, 657 Park Ave.
• The Hollywood Reporter, 201 Heber Ave.
• Tao, 4001 Kearns Blvd.
A location for The Hollywood Reporter also received a Type 2 convention sales license – another license classification that covers some of the activities during the film festival — for the Heber Avenue address.
Several more steps are needed before the issuance of the licenses.
At the same time in 2021, in anticipation of the 2022 edition of Sundance, the municipal government had received 26 applications for the special event temporary alcoholic beverage licenses and 10 applications for Type 2 convention sales licenses. Sundance ultimately canceled the in-person elements of the festival in 2022 out of concern for the pandemic.
City Hall said it expects additional applications in early January, which would be put to the City Council prior to the opening of Sundance.
The corporate interests want a Park City presence during Sundance, the top marketplace of independent films in the U.S., for marketing purposes as celebrities, entertainment industry executives and the media converge in the community. The corporate interests are usually most visible during the celebrity-heavy opening days of the festival. Some of the setups are dismantled after the first weekend.
The corporate interests temporarily transform the Main Street streetscape as they create their setups and install exterior signs. Moving trucks arrive on Main Street as year-round businesses leave a space and then a temporary setup is created. The process is reversed later as the temporary setups are removed and the year-round businesses return to their spaces.
Some of the setups can be elaborate as the corporations remodel the insides of the rented spaces into product showcases, gifting suites and entertainment rooms. The setups are usually private, public or offer a combination of invitation-only events and times that are open to the public.
The return of the temporary locations is almost certainly welcomed by the businesses or building owners that enter into the leases. The deals are private, but some of were believed to have reached into the six figures in the pre-pandemic era. The building owners or tenants see a temporary lease during Sundance as a better option than remaining open with a year-round business.
