Historic Main Street will feature a feast for the eyes and ears when the 54th Park City Kimball Arts Festival returns Friday through Sunday, Aug. 4 to 6.
The street is scheduled to close at 3 a.m. Friday morning to allow artists to load in, said Festival Director Hillary Gilson.
“Artists will start setting up their kiosks at 4 a.m., and they’ll have until 4:59 p.m., because the festival opens at 5 p.m.,” she said.
This open-air celebration of art will feature close to 200 artists that specialize in mediums including painting, photography, sculpture, textiles and printing, to name a few, according to Gilson.
“The numbers fluctuate, because we do have cancellations all the way until the week before,” she said. “But we’ll host artists from around the world.”
The festival features artists from Canada, Israel and all over the United States, Gilson said..
“We also have at least 10 local participating artists, and we have a handful of emerging local artists,” she said.
A local artist is defined as anyone whose primary residence is in Summit or Wasatch counties, Gilson said.
“It’s essentially the Wasatch Back,” she said. “We do recognize things have changed over the past few years, and some people, for various reasons, aren’t able to have their primary residences in Summit County. But they still work here and play here. So we adjusted the definition of local to accommodate them.”
Gilson looks forward to seeing the local artists who are new to the festival.
“It’s awesome and incredible to see Park City’s artists community thrive and put out incredible work,” she said. “And, to help highlight these artists, we’re presenting three new Best in Show awards.”
Those awards, which will go to artists in each medium, are:
- Overall Artist
- Local Artist
- Emerging Artist
“We also know how much Best in Show awards increase sales for the winners, so we will award them on Saturday night, instead of Sunday morning, which we’ve done throughout the past,” Gilson said. “That way the artists can receive the glory and attention they deserve for a longer amount of time. We want to do as much as we can to honor them.”
The Best of Show awards are voted on by an anonymous jury.
“They go through the festival Friday and Saturday morning to take notes,” Gilson said. “We ask them to walk up and down the street, and then go through it again, slowly. We want them to really experience the festival and take it all in.”
All Best in Show winners have automatic acceptance into next year’s show and their application fees are waived, which gives them a leg up over the competition.
“We have a festival where we get about 1,200 applications each year, and we can only host between 180 to 200,” she said.
Gilson credits the local community, full-time and part-time residents, and those who schedule vacations around the event, for making the Park City Kimball Arts Festival one of the best festivals in the Intermountain West.
“They show up ready to look at art, talk about art and purchase art,” she said. “Some are looking to add to their collections, and others are looking to start their collections. We’re grateful we have a community that the artists really want to show to in Park City, because they recognize that there is a fantastic audience here.”
In addition to the artists, the festival will feature food trucks at the top of Main Street in the Wasatch Brew Pub parking lot and at Heber Avenue, Gilson said.
“We’ll also set up our main stage at the Spirit Garden on Heber Avenue,” she said. “We’ll set up our smaller Wasatch Stage at the Brew Pub lot.”
The Main Stage artists will feature one of Park City’s favorite local bands, Fat Paw, helmed by Tim Wray, Gilson said.
“Fat Paw is coming back to perform on Friday night, which is Locals Night,” she said. “So it’s great to have a great local band playing that night.”
Locals Night, which is Friday, is a long-standing and beloved tradition where all Summit County residents, full time and part time, get free admission to the festival, Gilson said.
Registration is required, and you can find the link on the Park City Kimball Art Festival website, kimballartsfestival.org.
“This year we are expanding Locals Night to all Main Street employees, regardless of residency,” she said. “They are part of our community, and we appreciate them during Arts Fest. And we wanted to offer that to them.”
Locals Night is Gilson’s favorite night of the festival.
“The energy on the street is electric,” she said. “You can feel it in the air, and the artists love it. The comments we hear about it being the best opening night of any festival is above and beyond.”
Pixie and the Partygrass Boys will perform Saturday night and other artists will play throughout the festival on both stages, Gilson said.
Other festival offerings will include interactive art at the Creation Station and Studio on Main, she said.
“We have something new this year,” Gilson said. “Motherlode will do live screen printing of festival merchandise. They will be there during select hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but all printed festival merchandise will be available throughout the whole weekend.”
The merchandise will feature prints designed by local artists, Libby Peterkort and Sadie AbuHaidar, Gilson said.
“We hosted a design contest, and many local Utah artists submitted some cool designs,” she said. “There were so many cool entrants, that we decided to award two winners.”
First place went to Libby Peterkort, and AbuHaidar, who is one of the Kimball Art Center’s Young Artist Academy graduates, took second place, Gilson said.
“What better way to peek into the process of the awesome art form of screen printing during the festival than to watch printers from Motherlode work with these designs,” she said.
Since the mid-1970s, the Park City Kimball Arts Festival has connected artists and collectors, through its mission of inspiring and educating the public through art, Gilson said.
Proceeds from the Arts Festival allow the Kimball Art Center to provide year-round exhibitions, education programs and creative events.
Historically, the Arts Festival brings more than $14 million in economic impact to the state of Utah each year, Gilson said.
“We attracted 29,000 people last year, which was a 10% increase from 2021,” she said. “So we’re anticipating around 30,000.”
Because that many people converge on Main Street, parking is limited in town, so Gilson encourages attendees to arrive and leave the event via Park City’s free public transportation.
“We have satellite off-site parking at Park City High School, Park City Mountain and Richardson Flat, and bus stops are available at both places,” she said. “We also have a dedicated shuttle that runs every 10 minutes from Park City High School directly to the transit center on Swede Alley.”
For those who want to arrive in a more healthy way, the arts festival also offers a complementary bike valet at 7th Street, Gilson said.
“The valet will be run by Park City High School’s mountain bike team,” she said. “So if anyone is inclined to leave a tip, the money will go towards supporting the team.”
With the festival being a little less than a week out, Gilson is also looking for volunteers.
“There are many shifts available, and we’re looking for people to help us with Saturday night and Sunday,” she said.
The best way to sign up is through the website: kimballartsfestival.org, where there is a volunteer link under the support tab.
“You never know who you’re going to meet or the connections you will make as a volunteer,” Gilson said.
All volunteers will receive swag bags that include an array of goodies, including an Arts Festival volunteer T-shirt, she said.
“We’re also working with Treasure Mountain Inn to host our volunteer lounge where volunteers can go chill during breaks,” she said.
Next to artists, volunteers are the backbone of the Park City Kimball Arts Festival, Gilson said.
“Because we are a small staff, there wouldn’t be a festival without them,” she said.
Ticket and Pass Details
- 2023 Festival tickets are now available at kimballartsfestival.org. Daily access tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for kids ages 6-17 when purchased online. Children 5 and under are free.
- A Weekender Pass, offering unlimited access to the festival plus access to the festival’s VIP Lounge with limited benefits, is available for $99. VIP Passes offer unlimited access to the festival and a full suite of VIP benefits, including complementary craft cocktails, select meals and culinary samplings, one-of-a-kind Kimball Art Center swag, plus a Red Level Kimball Art Center membership, with additional programming from Park City area partners to be announced. VIP Passes are available for $299. Daily ticket prices increase at festival gates.
- Park City and Summit County residents, second homeowners and Main Street employees receive free admission to the Kimball Arts Festival on Locals Night, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. Residents must register before arriving at the festival gates.