Fourth of July:

The Fourth of July is always a fantastic time in Park City. The day kicks off with a delicious pancake breakfast, moves up to Main Street with a flyover to start the parade, returns back with lots of activities in City Park and winds up with fireworks from the base of our mountain at dusk. Check out the full schedule of events so you don't miss anything. And if you're like me and always wind up getting blurry/streaky photos of the fireworks every year, check out these 5 tips on how to get great fireworks photos.

Grand Prix:

The second big event I noted in the post title isn't occuring until January, but I think it might be just as big as the Fourth of July! We're very excited to announce that the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix will return to Park City Mountain Resort on the weekend of January 22-23, 2010. This will be the final event prior to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and it will be where the U.S. Olympic halfpipe team will be announced. Read the press release for more details and be sure to mark off that weekend to come up and get the Olympic flame burning again!

Yesterday morning, I took a ride on PayDay lift to meet up with our Risk Manager and Vehicle Maintenance Team in order to learn how our fire trailers work. It was a beautiful morning and the recent rains have made everything a wonderful shade of green - which served to remind each and every one of us that the more rain we get, the higher the potential for fire danger later summer. For information on what you can do to help prevent wild fires as well as updates on current fires and more, see www.utahfireinfo.gov
In any case, I learned that chemical fire extinguishers shouldn't be used on grass fires due to the fact that they will spread it quicker than they can put it out. I also took advantage of being up on the mountain to ride our ZipRider back down, just another hard day at the office! Check out some photos I took below:

Here's another summer events update from Meisha:

This Saturday, June 13, Park City’s historic Main Street will host its 125th Birthday Bash, complete with a walking parade, family activities such as face-painting and party-hat making, birthday cake, beer gardens, and a long line-up of live music including bluegrass/newgrass artist Sam Bush.  Parkites, friends, and visitors are invited to enjoy free activities all day during this historic celebration of Park City’s past. Officially incorporated as a mining town in 1884, Park City has long prided itself on its diversified heritage and liberated lifestyle, and to celebrate its roots, Park City is putting a modern spin on its historic past during its 125th Birthday Bash.

To commemorate Park City’s rich history, the town will offer free festivities and music all day long on June 13, 2009. Throughout the day, stop by the Beer Gardens on Main Street to sample some of Utah’s favorite brews, enjoy outdoor dining at Main Street restaurants or find great sidewalk-sale deals at Main Street businesses. Enjoy a mix of Park City’s eclectic regional bands and finish the evening with a performance by bluegrass/newgrass artist Sam Bush.

A full schedule of events is as follows:

9:00  am        Breakfast at Your Favorite Main Street Restaurant

11:30 am        Walking Parade down Historic Main Street. Bikes, dogs, people and banners are welcome. No motorized vehicles, please. Meet at the Wasatch Brew Pub parking lot at 11:15am.

12 pm – 4:30 pm Kids activities at Kimball Art Center Patio, including face painting and Mad Hatter birthday hat-making

12 pm – 5:30 pm Live Music and Beer Garden at Miners Plaza (415 Main Street):
        John Boy’s Mule (12pm – 1:30pm)
        Swagger (2pm – 3:30pm)
        Fat Paw (4pm – 5:30pm)

1pm – 3 pm      Historical storytelling by costumed docents of the Park City Museum

1 pm – 4 pm     Share your personal stories of Park City with KPCW and The Park Record.  Interviews will be conducted at the Kimball Art Center

4:00 pm – 9:30 pm       Beer Garden on Lower Main Street

4:30 pm – 9:30 pm       Live Music on Main Stage on Lower Main Street (900 Main Street):
        Park City High School Jazz Band (4:45pm – 5:30pm)
        Tai Chi demonstration (5:45pm – 6:15pm)
        Irish Dance Troupe (6:15pm – 7pm)
        Presentation of Summit County’s Gift to Park City (7 pm – 7:30 pm)
        Presentation and Serving of Birthday Cake (7pm – 7:30pm)
        Sam Bush (7:30pm – 9:30pm)

This weekend marks the beginning of Regular season for summer activities at Park City Mountain Resort. June 12 through September 7 the PayDay Chairlift will operate as follows:

Monday to Thursday: 11:00am to 8:00pm**
Friday & Saturday: 10:00am to 9:00pm
Sunday: 11:00am to 5:00pm

The Town Lift will begin daily operation June 12 through September 7.  Hours of operation are as follows:
Monday to Thursday: Noon to 7:00pm
Friday & Saturday: 11:00am to 8:00pm
Sunday: Noon to 5:00pm

This weekend is only the beginning of summer fun in Park City.  Check our events calendar for more details.

Please enjoy this guest post from our Events and Sponsorship Manager, Meisha:

The resort has been closed for a few weeks now, and it is finally beginning to feel like summer is right around the corner.  It could be because I leave Sunday for 4 weeks away from Park City and return right in time for summer’s grand arrival!  This morning I attended an events meeting at our local Chamber/Bureau and was pleasantly reminded that Park City is an amazing place to be even without midday “board meetings” on the slopes.  If hiking, biking and enjoying our alpine adventures aren’t enough to keep you entertained, numerous event organizers in Park City pull out all the stops with world class arts and cultural events, endurance athletic events and more sports tournaments that you can keep up with.  I haven’t even gotten to the plethora of live music in Park City over the summer.

I just posted several of Park City’s events to our events calendar (www.parkcitymountain.com) , but here are a few of my favorites!

Park Silly Sunday Market (parksillysundaymarket.com) -    The Park Silly Sunday Market runs June 14 – September 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Lower Main Street in Park City.  The Market offers locals and visitors alike an unmatched opportunity to purchase one of a kind arts, crafts, gourmet foods and more! 

Park City’s 125th Anniversary Celebration – June 13th. Details for this festive occasion haven’t been released just yet, but I’m expecting some great things.  You only celebrate your 125th anniversary once….well most people can’t even say that!  Keep an eye on www.parkcityinfo.com for details.

Park City’s 4th of July Celebration – The day starts with a pancake breakfast, fun run, parade and more!  The celebration doesn’t stop until the fireworks display at dusk.  www.parkcityinfo.com has all the details. 

For more information on upcoming events in the Park City area, be sure to check out www.parkcityinfo.com.  The 3 events above are just a start to the good times to be had in Park City this summer!

Photo credit: ArtBrom

Here's a great video from our friends at Park City TV about the best (and worst) parts of Spring Skiing:

What's your favorite thing about Spring Skiing?
-I love the corn snow first thing in the morning...

Yep, that's right, we're not closing this Sunday because we've just extended our season through the following Sunday, April 19th! Here's the scoop (check back because some details could still change, I'll add/update as I get more info):

Edit 4/10/09 - During our additional week of winter operations, we are extending a special single day 'locals' lift ticket rate of only $20 to all Deer Valley and The Canyons season passholders and employees (please present your pass or ID at the ticket windows)

What in the world happened to the winter season?? It seems like just yesterday that I was posting about our opening day! In any case, we're winding up the winter season with an awesome set of winter storms that have dumped foot upon foot of great Utah powder on the mountain, well over five feet in the past week. Check our Flickr photostream for photos of the dumpage, but if you can, I'd head up and make some turns in for yourself.
We are closing for the season, in just over a week, on April 12, Easter Sunday. And, as we always do, we are holding our traditional Easter Egg hunts for little (and big) kids:

• 8:45 a.m. Free coffee and hot chocolate for the shell shocked parents’ of the hunters.  Entrance into Kids Signature 3 Corral from walkway near Eating Establishment Express.
• 8:45 – 9:00 Easter Bunny arrives at Kids Corral to greet kids.
• 9:00 a.m. sharp, Little Kid’s Easter Egg Hunt in the Kid’s Corral (Ages 6 and under)
• Lifts open at 9:00 a.m. for the All Mountain/ All Ages hunt - Grand Prizes are two 2009-2010 Park City Mountain Resort Season Passes!

**All prizes are redeemable at the information desk**

Employees are not eligible to redeem prizes, but families of the employees are welcome to participate in all aspects of the Easter Egg hunt.

I was up on the mountain for a few hours yesterday and can personally attest to the fact that spring skiing and riding is now in full effect in the mountains of Park City. Well it will be spring for at least for another day or two, because we have what looks like a return to winter coming on Sunday!
The spring skiing reminded me of a post I wrote a couple of seasons ago on how to best experience our mountain during spring conditions (bear in mind that since that post was written, Ski Team lift options are now served by Crescent Lift, and I also neglected to add the Mid-Mountain Lodge deck as another great option to soak up lunchtime rays).
So, break out the sunblock and sunglasses and enjoy springtime in the mountains - it's one of my favorite parts of the ski season (just after a bottomless Utah powder day). What's your favorite kind of day on the mountain?!