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Frozen Dead Guy Days sign in circle

Yep, it’s that time of year again.  The time of year when the tiny town of Nederland reaches its apex of fame and notoriety by holding one of the weirdest and wackiest festivals anywhere.  The first clue to the nuttiness soon to descend on our mountain town was the telltale FDGD in the middle of the rotary in town.  This afternoon, signs started popping up, “Beer, this way!” with a large arrow.  There are also posted A-frame signs all along Highway 119 from Boulder.  It’s the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days!

Back in 2002 when March used to be one of the colder and snowier months of winter, it probably seemed like a great idea to host the festival as a farewell to winter.  But the last few years, March has seemed more like June with temperatures reaching near 60, and it appears this year will be no different.  Unfortunately, the signature events that make FDGD truly hilarious are not near as much fun played on the barren dirt and dry streets of Nederland.  I’m talking about events such as Frozen Turkey bowling, where players hurl a frozen turkey down an icy street towards bowling pins.  Last year, the bird simply stopped short on the dry and dusty street, so participants had to resort to hurling it overhand at the pins.

And my favorite, the Coffin Races, lose a lot of their hilarity when racing around on the dry ground.  Fortunately for me, the very first year we attended them, a huge snowstorm dropped over a foot of snow on Nederland.  In fact, there was so much snow on Saturday when they usually stage the race, they postponed them to Sunday, so more people would be able to attend.  I still remember standing on the hillside watching people dressed in muppet costumes carting a small woman in a coffin through the snowy obstacle course, only to be greeted by a hail of snowballs at the finish.  This is the stuff that Frozen Dead Guy Days is all about!

But as I’ve so quickly found out living here in Colorado, you definitely can’t change the weather.  So I have learned to embrace the ups and downs, the summer-like temperature during what should be winter, and the winter-like snowstorms well into May.  Good thing that old Grandpa Bredo has a special caretaker to pack him in dry ice, because otherwise, that body would be thawing quickly for this weekend’s festival.

Still, even with the balmy temperatures, it’s a great time for our town.  It brings publicity, if only due to its unique theme, as well as over 20,000 people spending copious amounts of money on beer, food and other items.  After six years of living in Nederland, whenever I meet someone from out of town and tell them I live in Nederland, I’m usually greeted perkily with, “Oh, that’s where the frozen dead guy is!”

 

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