Looking forward to more than 100 outdoor summer concerts, Mountain Town Stages is kicking its season with the annual spring Music Makers event at The Yard this Saturday.

Previously the site of Anderson Lumber Yard, this year during the Sundance Film Festival, the 100,000 square-foot area became a “Winter Wonderland” featuring specialized boutiques, diner, a welcome lounge, and gaming room and a haven for celebrities during the wee hours. At the festival the area was re-dubbed “The Village at The Yard” and featured temporary hotspots sponsored by companies including Hyde Lounge, the exclusive Los Angeles club, T-Mobile Diner, and a Jose Cuervo Platino Blue Room. Anderson Lumber officially left the location last summer, with plans to reopen along the road to Kamas and the Jordanelle Reservoir.

This weekend, for its second event, The Yard will go local, donating its buildings for the Mountain Town Stages in hopes of getting the community acquainted with its space. Saturday, the Yard will be serenaded by music by mellow cover-band, the Park City duo Joy and Eric and will feature tables replete with silent auction items of unique personal services. Available for the bidding will be a custom Mohawk, life-coaching session, music lessons, child care, handyman services, massages, Harley Davidson rides, a hookah party and other off-the-beaten-path treats. Guests will pay $5 to enter, each ticket worth one beverage at the bar.

“The Yard just has this cool, industrial feel,” says Brian Richards, executive director of Mountain Town Stages. “There are so many random rooms and buildings, lots of parking — I can see the space really lending itself to events in the future, even a street festival.”

During the winter months, from the end of summer to December, Richards says that Anderson Lumber Yard served, in part, as a hibernation space for Mountain Town Stages’ technical equipment. Mark Fischer, an investor in the new identity of the former lumber yard and founder of The Fischer Foundation, has long been a supporter of Mountain Town Stages, according to Richards.

Second to the Cow Ballet, Music Makers, is the nonprofit’s second big benefit each year necessary, Richard says, for supporting the soundtrack to a Park City summer that has come to be expected since the turn of the 21st century. “It’s very important for the community to have free live music and that the opportunity exists here in such a beautiful setting,” he says. “It makes (Park City) such a vibrant, festive place.”

Among the live performances Mountain Town Stages is preparing to support 30 shows at the Kimball Arts Festival this August, 44 artists at the Miners Park stage, nine at Deer Valley Resort, nine at The Canyons resort and nine at Peoa’s stage. With the stage beside La Casita restaurant serving as yet another venue, beginning June 21 at Miners Park and continuing through August, Mountain Town Stages will put on concerts on nearly every day of the week. And it’s no small task, according to Richards: each venue requires an act, a sound engineer and an announcer.

Jack Walzer, a guitar player, and his wife, Karri, a fiddler, are beneficiaries of Mountain Town Stages’ ample opportunities for local bands. They play in the folk rock and blues band, John Boy’s Mule. They now also serve on the organization’s board of trustees. Jack was appointed president less than two months ago.

Mountain Town Stages venues provide “an awesome opportunity for local bands,” Jack explains. “As a musician, generally you’re (relegated) to playing in bars and maybe applying to play at festivals. Outdoor concerts give (artists) a chance to expose their music to new audiences who may not go to bars and whose nights may not begin at 10 p.m.”

Jennifer Chesney, also new to the board of trustees, and chief coordinator for Music Makers notes that the concerts serve as more than just live entertainment, they are also places to meet the community. “When I first moved here, it was a super easy place to gather socially,” she says.

Chesney adds that the idea behind Music Makers is also two-fold.

“It’s about taking a night off to raise a glass with your neighbor and raise money for local music,” she says.