The Park City Kimball Arts Festival has been drawing in artists and visitors from around the country since 1976. And during that time, it has traditionally been held the first weekend of August.

This year, however, the 47th annual event will open a weekend later — Aug. 12- Aug. 14 — to make way for the final stage of the Tour of Utah, a UCI-sanctioned, multi-staged North American bike race, according to Robin Marrouche, Kimball Art Center executive director.

"This shift was specifically done because of the Tour of Utah," Marrouche explained. "There was a conflicting date this year and Park City Municipal wanted to accommodate both events, because both are great for the community to host.

"The Kimball Art Center brought in $28 million to the economy last summer and I know the Tour of Utah brings a great deal of national exposure to Park City," she said.

This is only a one-time shift, and from 2017, the festival schedule will return on the first weekend in August, according to Marrouche.

"We want to be consistent with the timing of the Arts Festival, and we want our artists and guests to know that this is a one-time situation that needed to happen to accommodate all that is happening in Park City," she said.

The outcome didn’t affect the festival’s programming that usually includes partnerships with other organizations such as the Park City Institute, the Sundance Institute, the Utah Symphony’s Deer Valley Music Festival nonprofits and the for-profit The State Room Presents.

"We did early outreach with the groups to let them know about the change and they let us know about their own programming, so we could continue to work together," Marrouche said. "The thing about summer is that there is something happening every weekend."

The full schedule will be announced soon.

Moving the festival a weekend later, gives organizers an extra seven days to tie up loose ends and one of those strands is recruiting volunteers.

"We have 700 shifts to fill," she said. "Companies can volunteer, as can friends, families and neighbors."

Although the festival has been delayed, its annual opening gala will still be held on the first Thursday of August, which falls on the Fourth this year.

Highlights of the gala will be Sibylle Szaggars Redford’s "The Way of the Rain," a multi-disciplinary exhibit that features visual art, music and spoken word. Szaggars Redford and her husband, Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford, will do the spoken-word portions live that night, Marrouche explained.

"They weren’t able to change their date because they had a conflict," she said. "Since we were so excited to open the exhibit, we decided we needed to keep the gala on that date."

Marrouche said she is happy things are working out.

"We are pleased that we were able to make the shift this year, because it does benefit the community to have both the economic impact from the Tour of Utah and the Park City Kimball Arts Festival," she said. "We’re looking forward to a an incredibly enjoyable and successful summer with these two events."

For more information about the Park City Kimball Arts Festival and volunteer opportunities, visit http://www.kimballartcenter.org.