No, that's not a string of typos. We truly do have an enormous, quirky festival in honor of a frozen dead guy. It started in 2002 to pay homage to Bredo Morstøl (aka "Grandpa"), who rests on dry ice (between -60 and -100 degrees fahrenheit) in a Tuff Shed here in Nederland.
For more than 25 years, Grandpa has been cryogenically frozen in the hope that one day he will live again. His daughter and her son moved him here intending to create a haven for the low-temperature preservation of humans. Nederland, a small, countercultural mountain town, was a perfect fit for these two dreamers and schemers. Our local frozen dead guy now draws 10,000+ "frostifarians" to this Mountain People's Mardi Gras.
For more than 25 years, Grandpa has been cryogenically frozen in the hope that one day he will live again. His daughter and her son moved him here intending to create a haven for the low-temperature preservation of humans. Nederland, a small, countercultural mountain town, was a perfect fit for these two dreamers and schemers. Our local frozen dead guy now draws 10,000+ "frostifarians" to this Mountain People's Mardi Gras.
Ongoing music interweaves events such as the parade down First Street, which brings ancient hearses and their somber, bearded mountain men drivers back from the dead (or at least out of their mountain hovels), the Polar Plunge, the Icy Turkey Bowling competition, the Frozen Dead Poet's Slam, and, of course, the kick-off—the Blue Ball on Friday night where you can compete in the Ice Queen and Grandpa look-alike contest. All of this makes for a crazy postmodern montage, I mean parteee.
The coffin races are the highlight of the festival. If you haven't seen a circle of muscular men in pink socks carry a homemade coffin, with a (live) team member in it, over snowbanks and across muddy fields … well, you haven't yet truly lived.
This year's upset was pretty significant—the Nerds won the championship over six-time winner the Pink Socks. Hundreds of revelers gathered, with half of them jumping to their feet during the final round of the coffin-to-coffin competition to cheer on the Nerds as they overtook the Pink Socks. If you are feeling sad, burned out, stressed, or angry, the sincere silliness and zaniness of this crazy mountain festival pretty much rips that away, and you get the feeling that yes, we can thrive—life does live on. We are all moving, cheering, laughing, poking fun (at everything), and running crazy races with it.
And perhaps we can come back to life--in spirit, in memory, in a festival of 10,000+ people who want to celebrate life even as they stare down death. May the Frozen Dead Guy Days force be with you. Thanks for taking this hippie 'rickshaw' ride through Nederland with me. Laugh on!
This year's upset was pretty significant—the Nerds won the championship over six-time winner the Pink Socks. Hundreds of revelers gathered, with half of them jumping to their feet during the final round of the coffin-to-coffin competition to cheer on the Nerds as they overtook the Pink Socks. If you are feeling sad, burned out, stressed, or angry, the sincere silliness and zaniness of this crazy mountain festival pretty much rips that away, and you get the feeling that yes, we can thrive—life does live on. We are all moving, cheering, laughing, poking fun (at everything), and running crazy races with it.
And perhaps we can come back to life--in spirit, in memory, in a festival of 10,000+ people who want to celebrate life even as they stare down death. May the Frozen Dead Guy Days force be with you. Thanks for taking this hippie 'rickshaw' ride through Nederland with me. Laugh on!