Salt Lake County mayor says Sundance "used politics" as an excuse

• She added that organizers "opted for a clean break — and used politics as the convenient excuse."
• Wilson said she proposed a summit between festival heads, local leaders and community partners to discuss the event's future, but the invite was not accepted. Though she didn't say when she made the invite.
• A spokesperson for the Sundance Institute did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Between the lines: Festival goers have long expressed that Sundance had outgrown Park City, with complaints ranging from expensive lodging to the event becoming overly corporatized.

The big picture: Before officials announced the move in March, Deadline reported that Utah's pride flag ban could threaten the festival's decision to stay.

Catch up quick: Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board of Trustees chair, told the Salt Lake Tribune last month that politics did not drive away the festival, saying "it was not a major part of how we addressed this process."

Yes, but: Other local leaders, including Park City Mayor Nann Worel, aren't sold on that idea.

• "I don't know that we'll ever know what the impact was, but words matter, and the rhetoric that was going around wasn't helpful," Worel told the Tribune.

The bottom line: Wilson called the festival a loss for Utah and a loss for Sundance, too.

• "Sundance forgot its roots, the community that built it and the essence of what made it great in the first place," she said. "Independent voices aren't just needed in comfortable places — they're needed in the places where they can actually make a difference."