On the Park City Trail... Sundance 2010 and more: Jan. 20

For the next couple of weeks, I will be running around Park City, Utah, attending screenings and events having to do with the Sundance, Slamdance and other film festivals, which traditionally take place there at this time of year.

Notice I didn’t say “here.” The reason is that I’m not in Park City yet, I’m in the Denver International Airport, where I’m sitting on the floor and being ticked off at Frontier Airlines, who, in order to serve their customers better and show their appreciation of them, have started charging $100 to people who would, on every other airline, have gotten on free as standby passengers on an earlier flight, if available.

So, here I sit for four hours. Fortunately, they have free Wi-Fi here in the airport. Unfortunately, there aren’t any place to plug in in any of the restaurants, and so I have to sit on the hard ground and dream of food while my computer recharges.

I shouldn’t have any problem with my credentials this year (I once had in a previous year--but that was with another outlet, enough said), but I’m not all that optimistic I can breeze in and get the with ease. I won’t get to my hotel until after the office closes which means that I won’t be able to pick it up until the morning when everybody and his sister is going to be there.

So I guess I’ll go to Main Street and have a drink. There’s been a revolution: They’ve legalized bars in Utah!

Back in the day -- about a year ago -- the only way you could get a drink by the glass was to join a private club, getting a card and everything. Apparently they checked.

But no more, the bars have been liberated and soon the thousands of people who descend on Park City are going to use them. I haven’t checked yet, but from what I’ve heard, every restaurant on Main St. has at least applied for a liquor license.

That’s going to change the nature of the festival a bit, it’s going to get rowdier, and that’s a good thing. Good for the partygoers, and good for Park City. They get a good chunk of their annual income from the ‘dances, and the more income the better.

I’m going to start actually seeing movies tomorrow, and then the fun really begins…