Park City Prepares Main Street for 2034 Winter Olympics

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As Park City, Utah, enters the early stages of planning for the 2034 Winter Olympics, there are lessons from the recently wrapped Sundance Film Festival about the potential role Main Street could play when the state hosts the Games for a second time. The Main Street plans devised for Sundance, in certain ways, closely resembled those crafted for the Winter Olympics in 2002, with a pedestrian celebration zone drawing large crowds of winter-sports fans.

Why it matters

Main Street was a central hub during the 2002 Winter Olympics, but the city has struggled to replicate that level of activity and excitement in the intervening years. The Sundance Film Festival's recent success in transforming Main Street into a vibrant pedestrian zone provides a blueprint for how the city can recapture that Olympic spirit when it hosts the Games again in 2034.

The details

For the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Park City officials and the festival organizers had months to plan a pedestrianized Main Street, resulting in a scene designed to bring crowds of film lovers to the street, offer various off-screen activities, highlight Sundance sponsors, and provide space to celebrate. This closely resembled the plans crafted for the 2002 Winter Olympics, when Main Street was transformed with installations by official Olympic sponsors, entertainment, and other activities, drawing over 500,000 people during the Games.

• The 2034 Winter Olympics in Utah will begin on February 10, 2034.
• The Sundance Film Festival will have just ended its eighth annual 11-day run in Colorado prior to the 2034 Olympics.

What’s next

Park City officials and the 2034 Winter Olympics organizing committee will need to work together to determine the specific plans for transforming Main Street during the Games, drawing on lessons learned from the recent Sundance Film Festival.