Finding a parking spot during the Sundance Film Festival sometimes can be even more difficult than finding a ticket to one of the festival screenings.

Public parking spots on or near Main Street are among the most sought-after spaces, and City Hall tightly regulates them during the festival.

Some of the restrictions and pricing for spots where parking is normally free include:

  • Both sides of Main Street, stretching from 9th Street to the top of Main Street, are no-parking zones, one of the most ambitious changes from a typical day. Parking on Main Street is limited to 15 minutes for drivers to drop people off or pick them up. Violations carry a $150 fine and vehicles could be towed.
  • The Brew Pub lot just off the top of Main Street is available for public parking, with the cost being $16 for three hours.
  • Other municipal parking spots in the Main Street core are regulated by permits or are available for a charge. The price is $20, with the cost being cut to $10 on Jan. 25. Drivers who leave and come back must pay again.
  • People may park without charge in two of the parking lots — Lot 5 and Lot 6 — outside Snow Park Lodge in lower Deer Valley after 5 p.m. The vehicles must be out of the lots by 3 a.m., and the final bus each night from the Old Town transit center to the lots leaves at 2:30 a.m.
  • Free parking is available on the weekends at Treasure Mountain International School, with bus service to the lot stopping at approximately 2 a.m.

    People who hold Main Street employee parking passes, which are orange in color, may park for free on the roof level of the original China Bridge garage, the lot on the north side of the Marsac Building and in designated spots inside the Gateway Center garage off Heber Avenue. People who hold those passes and paid an additional $250 have a guaranteed spot in China Bridge.

    Meanwhile, parking on streets in Old Town is regulated through a residential-permit system. People without the proper parking stickers could be ticketed if they are parked on Old Town streets within the permitting zone.

    City Hall suggests people ride the free bus system instead of driving into Old Town and competing for the parking spots. Park City leaders also would like people to carpool to Old Town during the festival and keep a flexible schedule.

    More information is available on City Hall’s website, www.parkcity.org. Once at the front page, select “Sundance Film Festival 2011” and then “For more information.” At that page, select “Sundance Parking Regulation & Hints.”

    Outside of the Main Street core, there is parking available for a fee at The Yard off Kearns Boulevard and in Lot F and Lot G on Prospector Avenue.