OCR Text |
Show Tally shows 40,000 visitors pounded Main St. pavement Art Fest weekend by CHRISTOPHER SMART Record staff writer Success. That's the term Kimball Art Center Diane Balaban used to 1 describe last weekend's 16th Annual Park City Art Festival. And judging from those who sold, bought, played, strolled, browsed, slurped and otherwise took in the phenomenon, she's right. Mary Runge and the staff and Kimball Art Center made the organization of the festival look easy this time around, as though eight months of hard work wasn't at the foundation of the event. J- Many festival-goers interviewed at random said this year's edition of the Park City gathering was as good or i better than others in terms of art and crafts displayed. And organizationally, it was clear that traffic and crowd flows were as smooth as 40,000 people and their autos can be in a small town. As for the entertainment it sang for itself. According to an unofficial tally of gate receipts, 34,000 patrons paid to come to the Art Festival. Balaban estimates that between artists, support personnel and others who did not, for one reason or another, purchase an entrance ticket, about 40,000 attended the two-day event. The tally indicates that 15,000 paid to come to the Main Street fest on Saturday. That number rose to 19,000 on Sunday. Balaban believes that in terms of raw numbers, that approximates the crowd of past Art Festivals although some estimates of previous years " were set as high as 100,000 per day. The art center director contended those numbers were in error. For the Kimball Art Center, this year's festival could be the most successful on a purely fiscal basis. Balaban said last year the Art Festival almost broke even not including the year-around effort by the staff to organize the event. This year, Balaban hopes the fest will run into the black including those expenditures. Receipts include $34,000 in gate receipts and about $3,000 from booth fees from artists. Expenditures include security; printing of signs brochures, posters and applications; technical crews; sound equipment; entertainers and salaries. Balaban said that many artists almost sold out, which she said makes everyone happy. "As long as we can keep the artists happy, we'll be able to attract the best ones." f Something that couldn't be planned for the weather cooperated cooper-ated perfectly. Balaban said sunny skies and relatively cool temperatures tempera-tures added to the success of the annual event. Following final tabulation of receipts and expenditures, the staff of the Kimball Art Center will begin working on next year's Art Festival. ' While Park City's annual festival always keeps the local police department hopping, Lt. Lloyd Evans said this year's crowd was well-behaved if a little boisterous Saturday night. , , Evans said that traffic flow was as smooth as could be expected. Deer Valley Road was the difference in alleviating traffic snarls experienced in past years, he said. I |