BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder is months away from welcoming Sundance Film Festival to its new home in Colorado. On Thursday, Boulder City Council unanimously approved two new ordinances to help with festival preparations.
▶️ WATCH: Denver7's Maggy Wolanske breaks down the ordinances and talks with business owners about how they're preparing
Karl Guiler with planning and development services addressed city council explaining why these new ordinances are needed.
"We haven't had an event of this scale before, so we've had to look through the code to see what kind of updates we would need to make," he said.
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Ordinance 8751 will create a new permitting process for special events, including a new sign code, and make updates on mobile food vehicle operations.
"There's a permitting process for special events and in looking at something like the Sundance Film Festival, at its scale, it does not meet the current definition of a special event," Guiler said. "It's significantly larger in terms of the attendance. We're expecting it would be for a longer duration."
Regulatory licensing manager, Alisa Darrow, presented Ordinance 8752 which proposed a $150 fee for liquor licenses "to help support oversight and recover administrative review."
For Boulder business owners, the countdown is in full force as this festival will bring 10 days of film lovers and sales. Owner of Lushy Slushy, Katelynn Hudson, is planning to stock up on inventory and even hire a few employees as she runs the slushy stand solo on the Pearl Street Mall.
"My permanent spot is on 14th and Pearl, and I think this is a great block on Pearl Street Mall. What I love about it is that the Boulder Theater is right behind us," Hudson said.
She anticipates a boost of revenue from the fest and is even exploring the possibility of other beverage options to have for sale in her cart.
"I think it's wonderful. I think that they are doing what is necessary to prep Boulder for what is about to happen, and I'm really excited for the liquor license portion, and I think that I'm going to try to apply," Hudson said.
Danna Fleishman, the owner of Fleishman's Bagels and Delicatessen, has a history with Sundance and knows firsthand how big of a deal this festival will be for Boulder.
"I love Sundance, I actually have a little experience with Sundance. I used to be the director of customer service for Whole Foods Market, and we used to work at the store [in Park City, Utah] during that time, so we encountered the festival," said Fleishman. "We encountered a lot of the people that were setting it up, folks that were attending."
The bagel business is coming up on four years of being a "deli on the go," specializing in corned beef, pastrami and meats from New York. Fleishman said she will not be bringing the yellow food truck down to Pearl Street during the festival, and instead plans to work with local spots to bring bagels to the Boulder visitors.
"Most importantly, we're talking to all the hotels, all the Airbnbs, all the local restaurants," Fleishman said. We want to make sure that we can get all of our catering venues in there, and then we want to do baskets for people in hotels, so if you guys need food or you need a little something for your trip away, please come to Fleishman’s."
Sundance is scheduled from Jan. 21-31, 2027 with screenings across the city with submissions closing in July.
