10 free things to do in Park City.

A fire leveled the commercial core in 1898 and the district rebuilt right afterward is what you walk today. Looking at it costs nothing, and the galleries along it are open to wander whether or not you have any intention of buying a painting.

There is a chairlift running out of the middle of the street, which is worth standing and watching for a minute even in summer when it is not moving. Very few American towns put their ski access and their shopping in the same hundred yards.

The whole walk, including what to look at and when to avoid the crowds, is on the Main Street guide.

The white barn on the west side of SR-224 is the most photographed object in Summit County, and the farm property and trailhead around it are free to use. The Farm Trail is a paved, level loop that takes a stroller, a wheelchair or a set of legs still adjusting to the altitude.

It is the walk to do on your first evening, at sunrise, or in late September when the hills behind it turn. All three are genuinely good and none of them cost anything.

It is also a useful reminder of what this valley was before either the mines or the resorts: ranch ground.

The Utah Olympic Park kept working after the 2002 Games instead of becoming a monument, and walking the grounds to watch training costs nothing. Ski jumpers work the hills through the year, including onto water in summer, and sliding athletes use the same track the public can pay to ride.

There are not many places in the world where you can stand this close to elite winter athletes at work without a ticket or a competition. It is the best free hour in the area.

The paid activities and what the day pass covers are on the Olympic Park guide.

A web of interconnected trails on open rolling ground on the east side of town, low enough that it clears of snow weeks before anything up high. You can build a twenty-minute walk or a two-hour one out of the same trailheads, and it is gentle enough that young kids finish it.

This is where the whole town goes in the shoulder seasons, which is exactly why it is worth knowing about. It is also open to bikes, dogs and runners, so it is busy in a friendly way.

Almost no shade and very little water. Go early or go in the evening in midsummer.

The Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail runs 28 miles out of Park City through Wanship and Coalville to Echo Reservoir, on a line the Union Pacific abandoned in 1989 and Utah made a state park in 1992. It was the first non-motorized rail trail in the state.

Because it is a rail bed, it has no real climbs in either direction, dropping steadily from about 6,500 feet in town to around 5,500 at Echo. Walk out as far as you like and walk back. In winter it becomes a Nordic route.

The first miles out of town are paved and then it turns to gravel, moving from alpine terrain through Silver Creek Canyon into open farmland.

On a set number of summer Sundays, lower Main Street closes to cars and fills with roughly 200 vendors of handmade goods, regional art, vintage pieces and food, with live music through it. It has been running since 2008 and it is the most reliably good free afternoon in town.

It does not run every Sunday of the summer. It typically starts in early June and takes a break in the middle of the season, so check the current schedule rather than assuming.

Free to walk into. Not free once you start eating, which is the honest caveat.

The Park City Farmers Market runs on Wednesdays through the warm months at the resort, in the First Time chairlift parking area, from late spring into October. It is smaller and calmer than the Sunday market and much easier to park at.

For residents it is a genuine grocery run rather than an event, which is a different and better thing. For visitors it is a good hour in the middle of a week that is otherwise built around weekends.

Dates and hours shift seasonally, so confirm before you drive over.

The aspens across the Wasatch Back turn in late September into early October, and the drive up over Guardsman Pass is the classic way to see it. The road is seasonal, generally open around May through October, so this is a window rather than a season.

It is a short window. At this elevation the color comes and goes quickly, and the first snows can arrive while the leaves are still on the trees.

You can also just walk Round Valley or the McPolin trail and get most of the effect for none of the driving.

Miners Day closes the summer in early September with a parade and community events that have been running in this town for well over a century, which is longer than either resort has existed. It is the least polished and most local thing on the calendar, and it is free.

Through the summer, live music runs at the markets and around the Main Street events, and the Deer Valley Music Festival covers the ticketed end from June into September.

If you want to see what Park City is like when it is being a town rather than a resort, Miners Day is the day to be here.