Park City ’70s reunion draws hundreds for nostalgic gathering

No Name Saloon hosted hundres for the Park City’s 1970s Reunion. Photo: Negley Stockman

Hundreds meet up to reminisce about Park City life in the seventies

PARK CITY, Utah — Hundreds of people who lived and worked in Park City a half-century ago gathered over the weekend to celebrate the good old days in a sleepy mining town.

Hours before participants showed up for the Shot Ski event on Main Street on Saturday, there was another, perhaps more historic event kicking off at The No Name Saloon.

The queue to get into the No Name was dozens deep well before 11 a.m. for the private celebration known as Park City’s 1970s Reunion. Organizers say hundreds of people RSVP’d, with many coming into town from out of state.

Attendees came through the door and were greeted with hugs, a name tag, and a commemorative button that read “Not Older than Dirt.”

Sandy Kinter is part of the ’70s Park City contingent and was the event’s main organizer.  “I feel honored to have lit the match to get this reunion started,” said Kinter. “It was time for all of us who were still around to celebrate our lives.” She managed to get the word out to hundreds of people, mainly through phone calls, word of mouth, and a private Facebook group. Jesse Shetler, owner of No Name, generously made the iconic bar available for the private party.

“What is more amazing to me is the people that are still alive,” explained Chicken Williams, who first came to Park City in the late ’60s. “Back in the old days, it was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, period. Everybody did a lot of stuff.”

Allen Terry lives in Salmon, Idaho, now, but played rugby in Park City many years back when only 3,000 people were living in town.

“This event means a lot to all of us. Back then it was the miners against the hippies, but then they figured out we were peaceful people and they fell in love with us,” Terry laughed.

Terry’s sister, Lynette, also returned to Park City for the reunion and echoed the sentiment that the ’70s in Park City were some of her best. “It was the best time of our lives; we would ski all day and even at night,” she said.

Throughout the crowd, it was clear how many people from the ’70s have stayed and made Park City home and helped to shape the community. City leaders, real estate agents, business owners, and philanthropists were all part of the crowd.

Summit County Councilor Tonja Hanson said her husband moved to Park City in the ’70s, and she moved here soon after. “Those were the good old days,” she remembered. “You would just go into the post office and you knew everybody, and then go into the laundry mat – and while you were doing your laundry, you had to go hang out at the bar.. right? Everybody did that, and we all knew each other,” she added.

Ask anyone who attended this historic gathering, and they will tell you it was a smashing success. Will there be another one? Kinter says there may be plans in the works for a possible camping reunion in the next few years so this group can be together in the outdoors again.

“This is epic. It really is amazing to see how many people are still around,” said Chicken Williams. “Something like this is really special. You may not have seen someone in over twenty years, but they recognize you and pick up right where you left off.”