In conjunction with the return of seasonal service between Toronto and Salt Lake City, the Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) raised the curtain at a series movie-themed “Matinee & Mingle” events for the trade in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto last week celebrating “100 years of film” in the state – including famous flicks like “Footloose” and “Thelma & Louise.”
Based on the popular travel trend dubbed “set jetting,” where travellers visit destinations featured in movies and TV shows, the events featured Virginia Pearce, Executive Director of the Utah Film Commission, who shared the history of the state dubbed “America’s Film Set” – not least for a prodigious list of “westerns” – and the film tourism experiences available to visitors.
Robert Redford may be widely known for developing Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort and Sundance Film Festival, held annually in January in Park City, but it was Utah’s Parry Brothers who shot the first film in Cedar City in 1924, “The Covered Wagon.”
Utah is marking the anniversary with a year-long exhibition at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City, monthly special events ranging from the annual “Thelma & Louise” marathon in Moab, to Kevin Bacon returning to Payson, for the 40th anniversary of Footloose, and the introduction of a Utah Film Trail with inaugural historical markers placed across the state for visitors to follow coming Summer 2024.
The UOT was also joined by representatives from Visit Salt Lake, The Heber Valley, Visit Cedar City and Rocky Mountaineer, whose Rockies to the Red Rocks rail journey travels between Moab and Denver, Colorado.
Air Canada
In Toronto, Air Canada was in attendance to announce the restart of non-stop seasonal service to Salt Lake City from YYZ on the weekend, running through Oct. 25. Flights operate four times weekly departing from YYZ at 6:20 p.m. arriving at SLC at 8:50 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday by Airbus 223. The return flight departs SLC at 9:25 a.m. and arrives YYZ at 3:10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Meanwhile, SLC International Airport is undergoing a US$5.1 billion redevelopment program that will be completed later this year.