As Sundance rolls into to Park City crowds of people rush the ski areas and the streets. Keep your eyes out for Jerrys of the day and traffic jams.

Every year celebrities and film junkies from around the world fly into Park City for the infamous Sundance Film Festival. Many people come to see if they can grab a picture with their favorite celebrity, or catch one of the popular films of the year. It is a two-week long celebration in Park City.

PC residents never look forward to the traffic Sundance brings. A quick trip to the grocery store could now take over an hour. The journey from The Canyons to Main Street, usually a 10-minute ride, can take up for 30-minutes. Main Street itself sits at a standstill. Going downtown could take up all of your day and all of your patience.

Sundance official kicks of on Thursday, 24th in Park City. This event brings in approximately 124,000 visitors, which can make getting around town difficult. Terrible backups have long marked the festival. For the ten-day long festival many residents steer away from downtown.

Unfortunately for PCHS students, Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard is one of Park City’s traffic checkpoints during Sundance. The backup is horrible right before school, before the second period, right after school, and when the ski area closes.

Anyone can see evidence of this just by looking at the PCHS parking lot. Many students who couldn’t find a spot turn to the apartment building across the school. Those students who dare to break the rules end up getting towed. The Sophomore lot is entirely off limits, yet some 10th graders park there anyway.

Many students are leaving their homes much earlier to get a good spot and get to school on time. If they are not prepared for the traffic, they will be late to school and find that a Maserati is sitting in their spot.

Throughout Sundance 142 students arrived late to 1st period, 77 students were late to 2nd period, and 2885 students were marked absent. As you can see their education is being put on the back burner as the icy roads are filled with tourist.

To help students get to school on time tourist can use the free transit system in Park City. Tourist can use the bus to get to the ski area as well. Students are also encouraged to use the bus and carpool.

All of this traffic is heading to a Sundance show or the slopes. On the mountain, you can find a confused tourist with their goggles on upside down, and phone’s tapped to their helmet.

These tourists are known as Jerry’s. It doesn’t take a detective badge to find them so keep your eyes out. Not in a mean spirited way, but let’s face it, some of the outfits that show up when it’s in the single digits and snowing are too ridiculous not to laugh at. Most people are hitting the slopes mostly for skiing, but if one happens to go up the lift with a celebrity is anyone going to complain?

Sundance can be a pain for all locals when it comes to traffic on the road and in the mountains. Try to take a breather and enjoy this hectic time.