In the mood for a good old fashioned coffin race? Or how about a hearse parade? If you answered yes to either of those questions the Frozen Dead Guys Days festival in Nederland, Colo. is just for you. Beginning Friday, March 2 at 3 p.m. and continuing through March 4, one of the most unique Colorado festivals gets underway.
Frozen Dead Guy Days, entering its 11th year, is a Nederland tradition that honors Bredo Morstoel's frozen corpse that now lies, packed in dry ice, in a shed in the hills of Nederland. When Morstoel died in 1989 of a heart condition, his family decided to freeze their beloved grandpa to preserve his body in hopes that new technology would be developed and one day he could be thawed and brought back to life. Morstoel would be 112 years old this year.
Frozen Dead Guy Days regularly features a parade of hearses, team coffin races, frozen turkey bowling and other frozen dead guy-themed events and has become increasingly popular over the years. The Denver Post reports that the fest attracted nearly 15,000 attendees in 2010.
In 2011, the Nederland Chamber of Commerce put the festival trademark up for sale due to the size and scope the festival had grown to over the more than ten years in operation. "It had grown out of our grasp," Nederland chamber president Blue Hessner told the New York Times in June.
But, in January local Amanda McDonald decided to buy the annual Nederland event to make sure it stayed running, and more importantly, stayed local, according to The Daily Camera.
For more information on this year's festival, schedule of events, and event registration (Coffin Race registration is already closed) visit the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival website or their Facebook page.
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