There is a little bit of everything for everyone in Park City, that is during the Sundance Film Festival.  Where It is common for companies to take over various places on Main Street just for the festival. Main Street is a charming and unique street that although has some length to it is worth walking. During NON-festival hours the street is home to many a lovely restaurants, clothing shops, and various art galleries, etc. But when the big ol’ festival comes to town many of these little art galleries get turned into well, something a bit… louder.  Some one has to talk about and critique the nightlife! so I will take on that responsibility and let everyone know that the nightlife in my personal opinion is worth commenting on.

As I was saying, many of these little place get taken over by these companies such as absolut, ray ban, etc. and are transformed into places like The Queer Lounge, which was my personal favorite venue because of the alluring and eclectic music, cool set up as well as the laid back, friendly and upbeat crowd that literally filled the rooms to capacity late at night. Launched in 2004 during the Sundance Film Festival, and presented by Absolut Vodka the “Queer Lounge is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) films toward the goal of broad crossover appeal. By hosting a venue the “Queer Lounge”—at major, mainstream film festivals where LGBT filmmakers and artists connect with each other and a wide-range of industry leaders and audiences and press, Queer Lounge is a “powerful force in shaping the next generation of LGBT film and filmmakers and their ability to change perceptions of LGBT people.” (http://www.queerlounge.org/about.php)

The Lounge is open from 11 am to 7 pm daily for “festival goers” and has many parties at night. The place has great ambiance and I know that my fellow festival goers would definitely agree on this one. This lounge plans to expand to other national and international film festivals around the world. Talking about gay, lesbian and bisexuality, I want to bring to light some of the films I saw at the festival that shed some light on these issues those films included but are not limited to, Humpday starring Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard. This film delves into the idea of two straight men making a porn together and therefore confronts these kind of issues in both a comedic as well as serious tone. Also these issues and were illuminated in both shorts program one and shorts program four, which was pretty cool. It is also just refreshing that there is more LGBT people being represented in films, like those in Sundance. 

Aside from the Queer Lounge, other favorite spots for night owl’s include, the Music Cafe and the Artist Lounge. If you have a major interest in music, or any interest in music at all for that matter you should definitely check out the music cafe, located at lower main street. The ASCAP music cafe is a sundance only event, it is a showcase for live performances by both emerging as well as already well known artists. There is both solo acts as well as bands that come to perform. This venue is presented by ray ban is open from 1:30 pm to 6:30 pm every day and the line up of artists is pretty rad!! I happened to catch that dude from the goo goo dolls perform, as well as Rachel Yamagata! Not to mention, there is a fully stocked open bar nestled perfectly in the corner of the venue to fill all of your alcohol needs.

The Artists Lounge another favorite of mine which I think everyone should check out is another fun and spacious venue that is located just a little bit above the street from the Music Cafe. This club / bar has a more loud and “party” type atmosphere. Although there is a bit of a cover charge at the door, the drinks flow free all night and the music ranges from house to hip hop and rap. There is a myriad of talented and pretty faces that dance away on the dance floor throughout all hours of the night. Which brings me to another point, this place actually stays open past 2 AM! which is great for those festival goers who like to keep the good times rolling way past their bed times. There is also usually a showcase of artists that perform, like three six mafia and the like. Hey, If you are lucky you get to chill in the VIP sections, but if you are with the likes of Ben Hamburger, then of course that goes without saying…

Tags: eliza sheehan, night life, park city, sundance film festival, utah

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 11:50 am and is filed under Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.