The new year is shaping up to be a good year for Ogden. The Winter Dew Tour at Snowbasin ski resort scored well for the community, as well as the entire state. The totals: as much as $5 million in direct economic benefits and $6 million in national and international media exposure.
For Ogden, it makes Junction City a great tourism draw for the estimated 30,000 fans who attended the Dew Tour events at Snowbasin. We can't express enough appreciation to the GOAL Foundation, for all its work to make the event a success. Mayor Matthew Godfrey, the city council, and many others also deserve credit for working hard the past decade to make Ogden a place that is on the winter sports and outdoor recreation map.
There's even more good news. The Alliance of Action Sports, which sponsors the Dew Tour, has made a verbal agreement to bring the event back to Snowbasin in 2011 and 2012, acording to Snowbasin spokeswoman Jodi Holmgren. These kind of commitments are important because they keep Ogden, Snowbasin, and other Top of Utah areas, as featured, internationally known locales of winter sports.
For those who haven't had the opportunity to enjoy some of the intense winter sports that were on display at Snowbasin's Dew Tour events, go to StandardNET and watch the competition that was filmed by our journalists. We wager that you may become fans.
Also, the annual Sundance Film Festival is back in northern Utah. The festival headquarters is in Park City; however Ogden enjoys a significant role in the festival. Many films will be playing at Junction City's Peery's Egyptian Theater.
The independent films, all vying to get backing for theatrical release, have casts that include Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts, Jimmy Smits, Anna Paquin, and many others.
An example of the diverse film offerings is "Get Low," that plays Jan. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Peery's Egyptian. With Bill Murray, Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek, it involves a "miserable old hermit" (Duvall), who has lived in an isolated cabin for almost decades and decides to have a "funeral party" for himself.
Ogden and the Top of Utah's participation in the Winter Dew Tour and Sundance Film Festival are accomplishments of which to be proud. We hope they stay around for a long time.
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