Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival has brought millions of dollars and wide attention to our state during the last 30 years.

For nearly that long, Utah Valley has tried to figure out how to play a bigger role in the festival — and attract some of those millions locally.

Though Sundance Resort is only a 20-minute drive from Provo and Utah Valley has many film enthusiasts, the festival is held in Park City — and it’s a good fit there.

The simple fact is that the film festival is a Park City thing, not a Utah Valley thing.

We continue to hear people complain that Redford and other filmmakers are snubbing Utah Valley in favor of the glitz, the glamour and the spotlight of Park City. If this is in fact the case, they have good reason; movie stars play to crowds and Park City’s got them.

Sure, there are opportunities for Utah Valley to play a larger role in the festival, and those opportunities would grow immensely if the festival begins attracting more family-friendly films. Utah Valley is, after all, all about being family friendly.

Unfortunately for Utah Valley, most of the films being screened during the next couple of weeks in Park City are far from family friendly.

Utah Valley, however, does see some residual monetary benefit from the film festival — particularly in the hotel industry.

Longtime Sundance Film Festival attendees have learned that it’s a lot more convenient to get to Park City from Provo/Orem than it is to fight the traffic coming up from Salt Lake City. As a result, we do see some tourism dollars from Park City visitors.

It’s pretty minor, though.

Even without the Festival revenue, residents should be encouraged by the growing music scene in Utah Valley. Several local venues have proven there is a fan base that can support talented musicians here. Previous years’ success of the Rooftop Concert Series was proof of this.

We have a host of other attractions that fit well with our growing community while maintaining the family culture we love: the Peaks Ice Arena, boating on Utah Lake, Seven Peaks Waterpark, high quality golfing and unlimited outdoor recreation, not to mention one of the largest Fourth of July festivals in the nation.

So, while it’s easy to complain that the Sundance Film Festival doesn’t do much for Utah Valley, recognize that we would be better off capitalizing on the venues that are a more natural fit for our community.