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<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s like a weird mix of Halloween and the Winter Olympics,\u201d says organiser Amanda MacDonald. \u201cThere is something very Monty Python about it isn\u2019t there? Just the name \u2013 \u2018The Frozen Dead Guy Days.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly unique. The frozen turkey bowling is a firm favourite.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the funniest things is the frozen T-shirt contest. The competitors get handed something as hard as a brick and they have to smash it up and get it on as quickly as possible. Some of them are bleeding by the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the activities are designed to test essential skills, like tossing frozen salmon, while others are all about showmanship \u2013 the fancy-dress dives into the icy plunge pool are a must-see.<\/p>\n
Another favourite is the Newly Dead Game, a variation on the \u201cMr & Mrs\u201d gameshow where contestants are tested on how much they know about their partners\u2019 wishes once they\u2019ve passed away.<\/p>\n
In the hearse parade, contestants try to create the most imaginative decorations for these macabre vehicles. But the biggest draw is the coffin races, which involve teams carrying a passenger inside, well, a coffin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe teams usually come up with unusual fancy-dress themes,\u201d says Amanda, \u201cdepending on what\u2019s going on at the time. This year we\u2019re expecting to see Trump appear quite a lot, but we hope not. We thought about doing a \u2018Dunk Trump\u2019 dunk tank but that\u2019s not really what the festival’s about.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about our differences, but what we have in common \u2013 and death\u2019s gonna come to all of us, right? Death trumps everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Even the controversial President can\u2019t eclipse the star of this event \u2013 Bredo Morst\u00f8l, who was 89 when he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1989.<\/p>\n His grandson, Trygve Bauge, was travelling in the US when he heard about the death. He\u2019s a hippy and a strong believer in the science of cryogenics.<\/p>\n \u201cThe will to live is the very essence of life. If this is thwarted, we cannot be happy, we cannot be anything,\u201d Trygve said. \u201cThis is the highest goal for any individual.\u201d<\/p>\n So he asked his mother Aud to ship her father across the Atlantic on dry ice, before he was stored, from 1990 to 1993, at a cryogenics centre near San Francisco.<\/p>\n Mother and son then decided to build their own cryogenic chamber in the Colorado town, nestling high in the Rocky Mountains. As a summer destination for many hippies, Trygve, then 31, knew it well and thought it the perfect tranquil resting place.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, shortly after he built the chamber, Trygve was deported because he didn\u2019t have a visa. Then his mother was evicted from her home. They had little choice but to leave Bredo behind.<\/p>\n The shack containing Bredo started to fall apart, but people in the surrounding area came to the rescue. A local Tuff Shed supplier gave him a new protective shell and a local man, ecologist Bo Shaffer kept it topped up with dry ice.<\/p>\n Around this time, the local Chamber of Commerce were trying to organise some kind of winter carnival.<\/p>\n \u201cThen someone on the chamber said, \u2018Well, we\u2019re known as the town with the frozen dead guy, why don\u2019t we just have The Frozen Dead Guy Festival?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The first took place in 2001 and they have gone from strength to strength. It is now a world-class music event in its own right. Last year saw the biggest bash, with 20,000 festival-goers.<\/p>\n Over the last 16 years a myth has grown that Trygve and Aud disapprove of the event, believing it to be in poor taste. But Amanda insists this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2005 the chamber wrote to Aud and she came across and was actually marshall for one of the parades.\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re also in touch with Trygve and he\u2019s said he\u2019d like us to restart the tours of the shed which were stopped for years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not distasteful in any way. We don\u2019t use Mr Morst\u00f8l\u2019s name or his likeness. His story\u2019s just the starting point for the festival.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s about enjoying being alive by celebrating death.<\/p>\n \u201cImportantly it\u2019s also put the town on the map. Initially I think quite a few people were annoyed by being known for such a thing but in time it\u2019s became a great way to keep the town\u2019s businesses going during the winter months.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s still the danger that Trygve, now 59, may still come back to collect his grandfather. So would Amanda, and the town he made famous, try to stop him?<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely not, we\u2019d have to respect his wishes,\u201d she says. \u201cBut whether he\u2019s still in the town or not, it doesn\u2019t really matter too much, the festival\u2019s really its own separate entity now.<\/p>\n \u201cBesides it would just be a reason to have another big party, this time a farewell party. But we\u2019d still being having the Frozen Dead Guy Days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Thousands will visit this weekend’s party for all things deceased, inspired by the bizarre tale of a grandad cryogenically frozen alone in a Colorado shed It may be the dead of winter and there\u2019s more than a good chance of finding a frozen stiff, but that won\u2019t deter thousands of festival-goers from celebrating life this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[1762,1747],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Frozen-Dead-Guy-Days.jpg\")
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