DEER VALLEY RESORT, PARK CITY, UTAH (October 2014) – Deer Valley Resort will kick off its winter season with the excitement of the 23rd annual Deer Valley® Celebrity Skifest on December 6 and 7, 2014. The invitational ski event pairs former Olympic ski legends with television and film celebrities for an exciting weekend of skiing, live music and fundraising for Waterkeeper Alliance, the fastest-growing grassroots environmental movement in the world. There are presently over 225 Waterkeeper Organizations around the world defending their communities against anyone who threatens their right to clean water—from law-breaking polluters to unresponsive government agencies.
"Kicking off Deer Valley’s ski season with the Celebrity Skifest event is a great way to welcome our guests back each year,” said Bob Wheaton, resort president and general manager. “This event has become a tradition for our opening weekend and allows us to help support Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit organization we feel strongly about."
The Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest is a three day event that includes giant slalom races on both Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 on Deer Valley’s Birdseye ski run. Races are free to the public and can be viewed from the Silver Lake area at mid-mountain. The Skifest’s host property, Montage Deer Valley, will be the location of additional evening events throughout the weekend with all proceeds to benefit Waterkeeper Alliance. The event has raised over $5 million since the partnership began in 2006.
Festivities throughout the weekend are featured in the number-one rated winter sports television special on CBS, broadcast to more than one million viewers. The 2014 Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest is scheduled to air on CBS Sunday, December 14, 2014, at 5 p.m. EST (after the NFL).
Some of the best-known legends of U.S. skiing are scheduled to compete in this year’s event, including Steve Mahre, Phil Mahre, Tommy Moe and Deer Valley’s own Ambassador of Skiing, Heidi Voelker. Previous guests have included Academy Award-winning actors Glenn Close and Marcia Gay Harden; Emmy Award-winning actors Larry David and Neil Patrick Harris; Paul Mitchell Systems President John Paul DeJoria; Grammy Award-winning artists Miranda Lambert, Mary J. Blige, Train, Melissa Etheridge and musical talents Natasha Bedingfield, Gavin DeGraw, Gavin Rossdale and James Blunt. This year's Skifest is sure to bring another amazing group of supporters including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cheryl Hines, Giancarlo Esposito, Rachael Harris and a special performance by Grammy Award-winning country group Lady Antebellum.
The Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest is presented by JUMA Entertainment. For more information on the event, please call Deer Valley Resort Communications Manager Emily Summers at 800-424-DEER (3337) or 435-645-6522; or view the resort’s website at deervalley.com. To follow the event on social media, search #dvskifest.
Photos of the 2013 Celebrity Skifest can be found at dropbox.com.
Deer Valley Resort revolutionized the ski industry by providing the first-class service one would receive at a five-star hotel. The resort offers 21 chairlifts, 101 ski runs, six bowls, 12 restaurants, 300 annual inches of powder, three elegant day lodges, 2,026 acres of alpine skiing, hundreds of luxury accommodations and a renowned Ski School and Children’s Center.
About WATERKEEPER® Alliance Founded in 1999 by environmental attorney and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and several veteran Waterkeeper Organizations, Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect more than 2 million square miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.
