Among the Sundance Festival’s many Park City contributions are the unintended ones, such as Jessica McCleary’s popular Mountain Town Oil. “I moved here for a job with Sundance Catalog in 2008 and never left,” Jessica recalls. “I had no idea I would own a business for 15 years along an ever-changing Main Street.”
Mountain Town Oil’s charm and eclectic ambiance make it a PC “must stop” for aficionados and the curious alike. Things are even getting multigenerational. “I had a young woman recently say she had been coming here since she was a child,” Jessica smiles. “Kids have become customers!”
“My dad is a serial entrepreneur,” she says of the spark that motivates her to be her own boss. “I’m most comfortable working for myself.”
Her laser-like pursuit of quality also sets Jessica apart. “My distributor has been in the olive oil business for 100 years,” she says. “Everything else I source myself,” calling on her long-time retail buying experience. “Finding exciting new products is the fun part!”
A French speaker who has lived in the south of France, Jessica hires PC’s best chefs to teach Mountain Olive Oil cooking classes and loves to stand at the lectern herself. “I have passed Italian Wine Scholar, French Wine Scholar and Spanish Wine Scholar classes, so I teach the wine portion of our demos,” she says proudly.
As she prepares for Mountain Town Oil’s 15th anniversary party on November 22, Jessica plans to run specials all day and an host intimate get-together from 4-6 p.m.“I love that my customers come from all over, and have such diverse stories,” she smiles. The anniversary event is a perfect opportunity to pick up some Thanksgiving tips, she suggests, like “a spiked whipped cream for dessert, especially with the Honey Ginger, Cranberry Pear or Maple Balsamic.”
“What binds everyone together at Mountain Olive Oil,” she concludes, “is a love of quality ingredients and great food.”