This slice for rent: Pizza place offers space for groups during Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY — You can sell a lot of pizza here during the annual Sundance Film Festival.

If you're the Red Banjo Pizza Parlour, specializing in fantastic 'za with a lemon twist, you also can rent out your digs during Sundance and earn a little — or a lot — of extra green.

The Banjo had a small sign posted in the window earlier this week to advertise its availability to potential renters.

"This is the first year we've actually pursued it," said David Ireland, part of the family-owned Red Banjo near the top of Main Street. Actual banjos adorn the old walls inside.

So far, they've had four bites and have managed to reel in two groups connected with the concurrently running Slamdance Film Festival, whose headquarters is nearby.

Renters of the Banjo during Sundance usually come in after hours and stay until about 2 a.m. They've hosted a few parties during past festivals.

Some Main Street businesses close their doors completely during the festival to become something else.

Just down the street, the Montgomery-Lee Fine Art gallery is transforming into the Sundance Channel's temporary home during the festival. The Kimball Art Center near Main Street and Heber Avenue will be known as the Sundance House for the 10 days of Sundance.

On Wednesday up and down Main Street, businesses were metamorphosing into temporary quarters for the scores of sponsors, affiliates, filmmakers, celebrities and supporters who have a stake in the independent film industry.

David Belz, an architect and developer, and his wife, Sandy Geldhof, executive director of the Park City Historic Main Street Business Alliance, also own The Shop Yoga Studio, which has become the "Tweet House" during Sundance.

"We are grateful for what Sundance has brought to town," Belz said. "We do get something out of that."

He also said the money the studio makes during the festival from renting out its 6,000-square-foot facility helps Shop Yoga remain a place where clients can continue to pay on a donation basis. The Shop Yoga Studio has been around 13 years and at past festivals has turned into digs for Entertainment Weekly and William Morris.

"We just want to give back," Geldhof said. "Sundance has given us so much."

Overall this year, Geldhof said the amount of festival-related groups coming in to rent space in Park City during the festival is down about 20 percent over years past.

"It's the economy," she said. "You're still going to see a ton of activity on Main Street."

Without a doubt that was true on Thursday, the first official day of the 10-day annual festival.

For those who keep their doors open on Main during Sundance, the extra business is like Christmas in January.