The third annual "Elevation: Utah" gay ski week got underway in Park City Thursday with an opening reception on Main Street, in the heart of the city's downtown.
Elevation producer Tom Whitman has run the wildly popular Mammoth Gay Ski Week for 11 years. That event, which will be held next month, draws 2500 people. The Elevation Utah Park City ski week is quickly drawing a large following as well.
Whitman told the Examiner.com Thursday that when he began the ski week three years ago, about 250 people attended. He expects 800 this year.
The excitement in Park City is visible and palpable. Just about everywhere you go you go in the city, expect to see plenty of gay folks, couples, groups of friends and singles.
Park City has long been gay-friendly. Whitman notes that when he first approached hosting venues in the city, everyone was very positive.
“When I asked, about half of them said, ‘Yeah, I’m gay.’”Whitman adds that the other half were very welcoming. Most Park City businesses wanted to host events, especially hotels that saw the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an annual event what would likely grow in popularity.
Elevation runs nightly events through Sunday, Feb. 24. Elevation hosts two parties tonight. All of the events will be held in the Park City area except for a party that is being hosted Friday night in Salt Lake City. Elevation will provide shuttle buses to take party goers on the 30-minute drive into the city for that party that will undoubtedly draw a lot of Salt Lake City locals.
You might think that most of the people in attendance are from the west, but Whitman says no. He explains that because Salt Lake City is so easy to get to, he has drawn crowd from all over the country.
For more information or to buy tickets: Utahgayski.com or mammothgayski.com
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