If peculiar, offbeat and irreverent are the qualities you most enjoy in a festival, then Frozen Dead Guy Days, which clutches Estes Park in its icy grip this weekend, is the festival for you.
From its origins in Nederland as an eccentric memorial to the cryogenically-frozen occupant of a local Tuff Shed, to its reincarnation in Estes Park as a celebration of the macabre, Frozen Dead Guy Days has continued to grow in popularity.
“It is based on a wonderfully quirky story; there is nothing else quite like it,” said Sarah Leonard, the CEO of Visit Estes Park. “Colorado culture embraced the event, which brings people together for a shared, lighthearted experience.”
On Saturday, large crowds lined the main arena at the Estes Park Events Complex for the popular Coffin Races and cheered as teams of pallbearers dressed in themed costumes — from brides to leprechauns to casualties from the Titanic — carried an unlucky stiff (team member) through an obstacle course in an elaborately decorated casket.
While most teams said their strategy was simply “not to fall down,” Harald File summed up the Smooth Criminals’ strategy by saying, “if we make it out uninjured, we’ll call it a win at the end of the day.”…