With the Prop 8 Madness still a talking point in the minds of many Americans…I can’t help but feel a need to write about a side issue that is really bothering me on a logical and emotional level

Lately in the news there’s been a lot of talk about members of the film-making community calling for a boycott of the Sundance Film Festivalthis year.  As many readers may already know, the Sundance Festival is named for a town in Utah near Park City.  It was started by Robert Redford as a way for independent film makers to showcase their work and learn from each other.  As the festival grew over the years it’s needs for size and space outgrew the little town of Sundance that Mr. Redford had built.  Soon Park City became “the-place” for movie premieres and events related to the two week festival.

The Sundance Film Festival has become a huge income producer and tourist draw for the town of Park City and it’s residents.  Park City is a resort town which relies on it’s beloved tourists and visitors who come to ski our perfect slopes and party the snowy winter nights away at Harry O’sduring Sundance.  Our little town swells during ski season and most especially during those two weeks of Sundance with tons of visitors who come here and spend the money our local business owners live off of during the slower months of the year.

Park City and Sundance are like peas in a pod…they go very well together.  Many of the reasons the town of Park City and the Sundance Festival go so well together are based on the fact that Park City is the most liberal and diverse town in the state of Utah.  Parkites are generally people who moved here from somewhere else, usually somewhere like California or New York or Chicago or even the Southern States or places as far away as New Zealand or South America.  Park City residents tend to vote for Democrats much more often then other areas of the state.  If you ask residents of Utah’s larger cities such as Salt Lake City, Provo or Orem they will tell you that Park City is a “the Hong Kong of Utah”.  Park City is in a bubble.  We’re a little microcosm unto ourselves where people of many religions, sexual orientations and varied outlooks can live together in the shadow of the mountains we all came to live near.  We are all happy together in our little slice of heaven and the overall feeling you get from Park City locals is much warmer and more welcoming then most ski resort towns like Aspen or Vail.

The Sundance Film Festival-like Park City- is also a place for unique and creative types to gather.  It brings interesting and intellectual individuals to our little hamlet up in the sky.  And even though Sundance can be somewhat of a nuisance for the locals because it temporarily increases our population almost to the point of explosion, we still appreciate and value the experience.  When all is said and done and the festival ends each year, most Park City residents look back at those two weeks of Sundance and smile at the memories of fun times, celebrity encounters, great music, and amazing, artistic movies.  I for one, am grateful to be exposed to such modern and intriguing movies.  Living in Park City I get to see the festival films that most people don’t see until more then a year later when it comes to the multi-plexes and theaters across the country.  Working on Main Street and being around town during the festival, I’ve been lucky enough to score great tickets on a whim and even had the chance to sit and listen to panels of famous and expert film makers while they discuss their motivations and thoughts behind the art they’ve created. 

The Parkites and the Sundance Festival get along pretty well considering the impact that the fesitval participants can have on our peaceful lives…but it’s worth it to us….not only for the income it brings to us all in someway or another, but also for the culture and stimulation.

So - when I hear all this talk of boycotting Sundance as some sort of show of strength against those members of the LDS Church who supported Prop 8 in California…I am baffled

Anyone who boycotts the Sundance Festival because it is located in Park City, Utah…is getting it all wrong!  Park City is one of the only places in Utah that supporters of gay marriage can feel very free to express themselves.  There are more people against Prop 8 in Park City then anywhere else in the entire state of Utah.  By drawing away the income Sundance brings to Park City those boycotting the festival are actually starving their own supporters.

It’s a presumptuous and unintelligent call to action to ask those involved in the film industry to stay away from a great event that supports independent films and independent thinking in a state where independence isn’t the most common agenda.  I can easily understand the negative feelings being harbored towards the LDS Church by some people in the gay community and/or those who are adamantly against the passing of Prop 8.  I can see why the huge donations that the Mormon Church made to get Prop 8 passed would anger those who are seeking equal rights.  But if those gay marriage supporters and seekers of equality for all would stop and think for one second, they would realize that their anger is being directed in the wrong place.  Hurting the residents of Park City won’t punish any supporters of Prop 8…it won’t hurt the LDS Church in any way.  It won’t help to bring equal rights to gay families.  It won’t hurt the greater population of Utah.

Boycotting Park City and the Sundance Film Festival will only weaken the those who support equality and independence for everyone in the State of Utah.   This proposed boycott would hurt the wrong side of the equation.

Park City’s residents have it hard enough when it comes to liberal thought and policy in the state in which they reside…So let’s all take a minutes to stop and think  Two wrongs don’t make a right.  Hate + hate does not = equality.  Sundance is a time and place for creativity and expression.  You can take the Sundance out of Park City but you can’t take the Park City out of Sundance.  The essence of the fesitval is found in the mountain setting and the wild west atmosphere that Mr. Redford culitvated so many years ago.

I’m all for equal rights and the idea that all human beings should be allowed the joys and privelages of marriage.  Let’s find a way to support the causes that are most important to our culture…but in support of such a great cause it would be a shame to harm the innocent and good people of Park City to teach the rest of the state a lesson…