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Sundance’s Main Street set includes CNN, Twitter, Intel and HBO

A crew on Monday unloads a truck on Main Street as the workers prepare a temporary setup for the Sundance Film Festival in a rented building. Park City officials previously approved four special event temporary alcoholic beverage licenses at the location.
Tanzi Propst/Park Record |

The official Sundance Film Festival map includes the screening rooms, merchandise shops and venues like the Filmmaker Lodge.

City Hall in recent weeks provided a preview of the unofficial map.

Park City leaders must approve licenses for many of the festival-only setups during Sundance. Some of the temporary locations have official ties to the festival, but many others do not. They want to have a presence in Park City during Sundance to promote themselves with Hollywood’s elite and the world’s entertainment media descending on the community for one of the top film festivals on the global circuit.



The Park City Council has approved dozens of licenses in recent meetings with another set expected to be approved at a meeting scheduled on Tuesday afternoon, just two days before Sundance opens. The licenses, in essence, offer a map showing what corporate interests or other sorts of organizations plan to occupy which addresses.

The corporate interests have long seen Sundance as a place where they are able to garner lots of exposure. They rent locations along Main Street or elsewhere, turn the places into temporary showcases and then dismantle them. Some of the rentals cover just the especially jammed opening weekend while others last through the festival. The same address is listed in some instances since more than one corporate interest may secure space at a location over the course of the festival.



Many of the locations are invitation-only, while others keep public hours at some points and close for private events at other times. They can involve elaborate temporary setups meant to create a setting where a brand can be promoted even as many passers-by do not have an invitation inside. Some, though, invite the everyday Sundance-goer inside for finger food and warming drinks.

Beth Bynan, who is the business license specialist at City Hall, said officials had been anticipating a drop in licenses, but the numbers will instead be similar to those of 2017. The City Council casts votes on applications for approvals known as special event temporary alcoholic beverage licenses and Type 2 convention sales licenses. The votes are not usually controversial and are done in blocs as the applications are filed. A special event temporary alcoholic beverage license is needed to serve alcohol while a Type 2 convention sales license is required to conduct business in Park City during Sundance and involves building inspections and a determination of occupancy limits.

The lists of licenses include well-known corporate interests and companies that are not widely recognized outside the film industry. There are film offices promoting their states or cities, media outlets and technology companies.

Some of the special event temporary alcoholic beverage or Type 2 convention sales licenses approved by the City Council or on the agenda on Tuesday include:

  • CNN 562 Main St., 268 Main St. and 306 Main St.
  • Apple at 657 Park Ave.
  • HBO 804 Main St. and 540 Main St.
  • Twitter 408 Main St.
  • A & E Networks at 540 Main St.
  • Peet’s Operating Company/Peet’s Coffee at 591 Main St.
  • Turner Broadcasting System, 591 Main St.
  • Pizza Hut/RQ Agency, 625 Main St.
  • Netflix, 201 Heber Ave.
  • LaCroix Sparkling Water, 2300 Deer Valley Drive
  • Kia Motors, 890 Main St.
  • Swarovski, 440 Main St.
  • NBCUniversal, 804 Main St.
  • Grey Goose Vodka, 540 Main St.
  • Blue Moon Brewing Company, 890 Main St.
  • Intel, 558 Main St.
  • The Creative Coalition, 890 Main St.

The lists also include a series of state or municipal film offices that attend Sundance as they attempt to attract industry business. Places like Arizona, Montana, Oklahoma, Maine, Texas and Kentucky plan to have locations for film offices.


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