Dust off your black wardrobe, increase your stock in Deer Valley catering services and find your favorite pair of stalking/paparazzi/boogying shoes — or moonboots, if your name is Napoleon Dynamite. It's time to Sundance.
Robert Redford's annual extravaganza — a world-renowned showcase for independent movies, film industry bigwigs, celebrities, wild parties, ritz, glitz, stargazers, locals cashing in and numerous other zany things and people — kicks off tonight in Park City.
Let the gawking begin.
The festival officially throws out its red carpet tonight at 6:30 at the Eccles Theatre for the world premiere of "Happy Endings," a comedy with Lisa Kudrow, Tom Arnold, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jesse Bradford.
Ten days, 202 films, 12,551 minutes of screen time, 40,000 visitors, 200,000-plus tickets sold and who knows how many crazy stories later, the movie madness concludes at the Broadway Centre Cinemas with a showing of a Jenny McCarthy-Carmen Electra flick "Dirty Love" (not "Sad Beginnings" as some might have thought).
So if you were hoping for a nice, quiet ski getaway in these parts, now's probably not the ideal time — especially not this weekend as Park City begins its yearly metamorphosis into "Hillywood."
"It's kind of a zoo, but it's a fun zoo," said Myles Rademan, the city's public affairs director. He added a suggestion for locals who don't like mixing and mingling with the masses: "Stay out of the way. If you don't like crowds, take a vacation."
Park City and Utah will both have fatter wallets after this 10-day festival ends because thousands will do just the opposite — take a vacation so they can join the crowds in Summit County. Last year, Sundance Film Festival generated more than $41 million for the Beehive State, including $18 million on accommodations, $8 million in restaurants, $8 million on transportation and $6 million on discretionary items. Some of that economic windfall benefits other Sundance locations in Salt Lake City, Ogden and at Redford's resort in Provo Canyon.
Park City spends about $150,000 of its annual budget just on Sundance preparation and hosting — about the same amount it gets back from sales tax revenues. But Rademan said you can't estimate the millions of dollars it receives in free advertising from media and moviegoers.
It's no wonder then, as Rademan says, "We're welcoming them with open arms." He adds that it's a year-round organizational effort on all parties' accounts and compares it to the Olympics concerning logistics.
"We work with them all year," he said of Park City's relationship with Sundance. "We're joined at the hip and married spiritually. It's a big event for us."
This year, even more planning was required as Park City offered its racquet club as a new movie venue. With 612 seats in the theater — purchased by Sundance from the Telluride Film Festival — the gym will be the second-biggest venue behind Eccles Theater.
The biggest headaches deal with parking issues — or lack-of-parking issues. Since parking spots are few and far between on Main Street and by film venues, the city offers free shuttle services to festival sites from several Prospector locations and a new one at the LDS church on Monitor Drive (though not on Sunday . . . unless, perhaps, you stop by for a church meeting before a movie). Some free parking is available on Swede Alley, and a $250 parking pass is available to park in Park City High School's parking lot for the Eccles Theatre. But unless you're rich or lucky, the shuttle lots and busing/walking are the best options.
"Please don't drive. Driving's going to be a mess," Rademan pleaded. "If you bring cars, park in the outlying lots. The bus is the easiest way to get there."
Park City is throwing a party for the public, with an outdoor concert on Lower Main Street on Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m.
Though movie tickets can be hard to come by (see www.sundance.org for options), it might even be more difficult to find a place to sleep in Park City this weekend. Hilary Reiter, communications coordinator for the town's Chamber of Commerce, said she's heard of a few available hotel rooms and a six-room condo, but other than that, lodging was locked up weeks ago.
"It's definitely the highest occupancy of the year during the Sundance Film Festival," she said.
It's also the hippest, happeningest and hottest week.
"The town is just completely full of energy. It's really vibrant with big crowds on Main Street," she said. "Locals for the most part embrace it. We're a film-loving community."
But, after all the movie-and-star watching, the playing good hosts, the partying and direction-giving are over, some R&R is definitely in order come Jan. 31.
"It's very draining," she said. "After the 10 days, you need a solid week of sleep."
On the bright side: She gets her parking spot back.
E-mail: jody@desnews.com