PARK CITY, Utah — The future of the Park Silly Sunday Market on Park City's Main Street has been up in the air for months and is only a small step closer to being decided.
After hearing from businesses, residents, and the market in Tuesday's city council meeting, the city council did not choose either of the option recommended to them in the staff report — do nothing or release a new RFP for a new market concept. Instead, they've chosen to engage in ongoing discussions about a new contract with the Park Silly Sunday Market.
For the last 17 years, the Park Silly Sunday Market has been a cornerstone of summer on Park City's Main Street, featuring live music, food and more than 200 vendors. But this season, the market had to make some big changes to address business and resident concerns.
"We went down from 14 days to 11. We also discontinued a certain portion of our vendors, which are called importers, which are people who don't necessarily make anything they bring," said Park Silly executive director Kate McChesney. "We brought the market from upper Main Street down to lower, and basically condensed everything to offer more parking to merchants up above."
Still, thousands come to the Park Silly Market on the Sundays they operate, but over the years the market has created concerns for some Main Street businesses. One issue was a lack of parking during market hours, which the businesses say deterred customers.
In a survey done in 2022 by the Historic Park City Alliance, which is made up of businesses in Historic Park City, they found about 63% of respondents did not support a renewal of the Park Silly Market Contract, while a little less than 37% did support a renewal.
"It seems to be just no longer wanting the market. After 17 years, they feel as if Main Street can sustain itself," McChesney said.
Many of those who gave public comment at Tuesday's meeting said they feel the market adds vibrance to Sunday business traffic on Main Street, but one resident was concerned about the traffic and inconvenience residents face.
"The Silly Market brings people, more people, feels like it's always better. Isn't that what we as a tourist town want?" asked one Main Street employee.
The Park Silly Sunday Market would love to continue calling Park City's Main Street home for years to come, but McChesney says the market will go on, even if it's not on Main Street.
"It's about the millions that we brought to Main Street, the businesses we've incubated, and the musicians we've incubated, and the options are endless for us, we hope," McChesney said.
