Park City Vacation

Park City, Utah is one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the state of Utah. Every year, over three million visitors come to Park City, helping fuel the Utah economy, which now draws over one third of its income from tourists.http://www.umich.edu/~econdev/parkcity/

Park City was founded in 1869 as a silver mining town, and the find, or strike there was the second largest in history in regards to silver in the United States.http://www.bwlandmarkinn.com/pc%20photos/fbwwparkcity.htm In the late 1950s, under the leadership of D. James Canon promoting the area as a mountain getaway and touting skiing as a major form of recreation helped spearhead the tourist movement.http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/whq/37.4/rugh.html

In 1963 the ski resort Treasure Mountain was opened, transitioning the town from mining into skiing and paving the way for it to dominate the area and bring in millions of tourism dollars.http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/whq/37.4/rugh.html Now there are three major resorts in the city: Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley Resort, and The Canyons Resort. Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort were both prominent in the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City as they were the feature locations for the skiing and snowboarding events held.

The city also boasts the track used for the Olympic bobsled, luge and skeleton competitions that were held at Utah Olympic Park. In a 1990 poll, Park City was ranked second best in the United States as far as ski resorts.http://historytogo.utah.gov/places/olympic_locations/historyofparkcity.html It still is a feature destination for both skiers and journalists alike.

The city also hosts the Sundance Film Festival every January. This year's event was kicked off by Robert Redford, who was the chairperson of the event back when it started in 1978.http://heraldextra.com/news/local/article_38fab10a-0120-5c9a-bec2-b0c13dc56df8.html The festival was first known as the Utah/US Film Festival and has resided in Park City since 1981.http://www.sundanceguide.net/

Park City also has over sixty Victorian style buildings from its Main Street that have been recognized as historic places as noted by their listing in the National Register of Historic Places.http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreghome.do