Mid-Year Golf Course Wrap-Up

Unfortunately I have to start this week's blog with some very sad news. A local park city skier, "Speedy" Jaret Peterson tragically took his life on Monday. Speedy grew up in Park City, won a silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics in freestyle and like so many others, lost his battle with alcoholism and depression. Speedy will be missed by all and hopefully there is a lesson to be learned here.

On a much brighter note, the town is absolutely bustling with activity. Walking around Main Street, the shops are full, the restaurants are full and everyone seems to be in a good mood. Could there be a correlation between the oppressive heat wave the rest of the country is seeing and our beautiful mountain weather? IF you're reading this while living anywhere in the Midwest or Eastern US, my full intent is to make you jealous by telling you our daytime temps are in the high 70s to low 80s, with nighttime temps in the 50s and 60s. Visitors might think that we live here for the winters and skiing, but it's really the summers. They are so beautiful!

2011 Mid-Year Real Estate Update

Well, summer is in full swing here in the mountains which means that we get daily thunderstorms. The days start out clear and warm, some time after noon big thunderstorms start to build, and then we get maybe an hour or so of rain late in the afternoon/early evening. Really keeps things fresh, clean and cool.

Last Saturday evening the Utah symphony performed at Deer Valley and featured the music of the Eagles. The symphony brought in a group whose lead singer was formerly with the group Kansas to perform for us with the symphony as backup. It was really a magical night with the sound of steel guitars combined with the symphony, playing all of the classic Eagles songs. And all of this under the stars at Deer Valley.

More summer festivals

Summer is in full swing in Park City, which means that we are awash in various festivals and music events. This past weekend, Park City was host to our annual Food and Wine Festival where vintners from all around the west gather and showcase their wines in a variety of venues. The two most popular events were the Friday afternoon Main Street stroll and Saturday afternoon at the Canyons Resort. For the Main Street Stroll on Friday afternoon, various vintners take over numerous restaurants up and down Main Street. Participants start off on the Plaza at the Town Lift bridge where a variety of food and wine booths start the revelry. Participants then wander up and down Main Street at their leisure, popping in at designated establishments to sample a specific vintner's wares. All of this is done with guidebooks and rating sheets to help everyone remember just which wines it was that they liked, which of course can be a problem after many hours of sampling. This is truly a great time and great people-watching as the streets are packed with festival-goers carrying wine glasses and big smiles. Saturday's event at the Canyons Resort is a little more structured as it all takes place on the Plaza at the base of the Canyons. There the various vintners set up booths around the plaza where participants freely move about the plaza sampling their favorite wines. Again a great event for people-watching and enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the mountains.

July 5th in the Mountains

July 4th has come and gone with all its celebrations, festivals, parades, fireworks, and of course, way too much barbecue. If you haven't experienced the 4th of July in a small town you're really missing out on a slice of Americana. Park City goes all out for the holiday with a de4lightfully funky and quirky parade, followed by music and activities in the City Park, including a Rugby tournament. It really is what America is about.

Being a ski town of course Park City's parade involves the Olympic athletes, luge, the freestyle-team jumping on trampolines and all the kids that make Park City so great. Here are some photos from the parade: