Main Street becomes an open-air gallery for 57th Kimball Arts Festival

Kimball Arts Festival 2026 Photo: TownLift//Randi Sidman-Moore

PARK CITY, Utah — The annual Kimball Arts Festival brought artists and art appreciators from across the nation to Park City’s Main Street for a weekend celebrating creativity, community and the arts. Now in its 57th year, the open-air festival has become one of Park City’s signature events.

Nearly 200 artists participated, with 16 receiving Best in Show awards, earning them automatic acceptance into next year’s festival and a waived application fee. Awardees also get banners to place in their booth for the weekend and to display at future festivals.

Organizers announced the winners in the Local Artist, Emerging Artist, and Overall categories Saturday evening.

Johnny Adolfson, a Heber-based photographer, was awarded the Local Artist honor. “I create art to help people bring Utah’s amazing landscapes into their homes,” Johnny notes on his website. “Photography is the medium I choose to share my experience and the beauty of the world how I see it.”

The Emerging Artist award went to Paxton Juhlin, who grew up in Park City and attended Montana State University, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in metalsmithing. “Their approach to jewelry is not only about something worn, but also about how an object can exist independently, carrying its own presence and narrative,” reads Juhlin’s artist website. “Landscapes, lived experiences, and emotional residue act as generative forces in Paxton’s practice, shaping form, surface, and material choice.”

The Overall award went to R. Michael Wommack, a pastel artist from Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He first showed his work in the Kimball Arts Festival in 2016 and came back this year to take home the top prize. His pastel series are based on his personal experience growing up in Levittown in the 60’s, according to Wommack’s artist website. “Initially triggered by a dream of swimming in pools at night, these pastels have become an interpretation of how we live in the suburbs, and an attempt to find beauty in what we consider ugly,” he writes.

The weekend included live music, workshops, and opportunities to talk with artists.

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