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Sundance 2019: Park City drafts cheat sheet outlining the rules

Park City’s rules of the road during the Sundance Film Festival are not limited to stop signs and turn signals.

City Hall has published an annual pre-Sundance guide outlining many municipal regulations and processes. Called the “Rules of the Road,” the guide is meant for people who are preparing to conduct business inside Park City during the festival. It is not designed for the typical Sundance-goer, but the Rules of the Road offers an intriguing look at City Hall’s role during the festival nonetheless.

The municipal government has long been seen as having heavy regulations regarding activities that happen alongside Sundance but are not officially tied to the festival. The information outlined in the Rules of the Road is critical to event planners, promoters and corporate interests that temporarily operate in Park City. The festival runs Jan. 24 until Feb. 3.



Hannah Tyler, a planner at City Hall who also coordinates the activities without official ties to Sundance, said she anticipates the hubbub will resemble previous years. Tyler is City Hall’s first point of contact for the activities.

“I think we’re probably on track,” Tyler said, adding, “Probably very similar to last year.”



The corporate interests without official ties to Sundance arrive in Park City for the publicity generated by the festival. Many of them rent temporary space along Main Street, giving them a presence during the celebrity-heavy event. Some of the corporate setups are elaborate, requiring an extensive temporary remodel inside and a redone exterior for the festival. The work is sometimes significant enough that it appears from the outside to be a genuine construction site rather than one building a temporary setup.

The Rules of the Road outlines some of the procedures important to those planning to conduct business in Park City. The document provides a step-by-step review of processing a convention sales license, which is the license needed for many of the activities without official ties to Sundance. It also provides a guide to liquor permits that regulate a single event. Other permitting outlined in the document include those for filming, hanging signs and loading or unloading a building.

Another section of the Rules of the Road — a calendar — would likely be of interest to rank-and-file Parkites as well. The calendar highlights important dates in the processing, the setup of the temporary locations and their teardown.

The setup and teardown information is critical since Main Street during those times is especially busy with trucks delivering the materials or carrying them away afterward. According to the calendar, loading the materials for the setup is prohibited from Jan. 19 until Jan. 21. Load-in hours are from 4 a.m. until 10 a.m. on Jan. 22-Jan. 25. The load-out work is prohibited Jan. 26-Jan. 28 followed by load-out hours of 4 a.m. until 10 a.m. from Jan. 29 until Feb. 3.

The load-out day restrictions are designed to guard against corporate interests dismantling the setups after just a day or two, essentially leaving a darkened space until the year-round tenant reopens.

The Rules of the Road is available on the City Hall website: https://www.parkcity.org/home/showdocument?id=57181.


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