And then there’s those festivals that are a little quirky
It feels like Denver has a festival for every taste. You like bacon? There’s a festival for that — inside Mile High Stadium, no less. Horse racing? Derby Days is right up your alley. But these festivals don’t really tell you anything about our state (besides the fact we love eating pork and watching horses go fast on television) or the people who make it great. There are other festivals, typically beyond city limits, that go beyond gathering us together to simply party. These five cultural festivals offer food for thought as much as fuel for the belly, celebrating quirky local stories and ancient ones from different countries, to boot. Grab a beer — but maybe not too many — and you just might learn something. MIKE THE HEADLESS CHICKEN FESTIVAL
When: May 31 and June 1 Where: Fruita Civic Center How much: Free More info: miketheheadlesschicken.org
If it feels morbid to hold a festival in observance of decapitated poultry, consider the backstory of Fruita’s most famous festival. The annual celebration is held in honor of its most famous chicken, Mike, who lived 18 months after having his head cut off. So really, this is a festival about perseverance.
According to the event’s website, Mike would have been 74 this year if he hadn’t choked in a motel room while on tour (Mike was basically a rock star) and, you know, lived much, much longer than your average chicken. To celebrate his unlikely existence, Fruita hosts a festival with a slew of Mike-themed fun, including Peep-eating and wing-eating competitions. Admittedly, the optics of eating chicken to celebrate a chicken’s life aren’t great. If you want to embody Mike rather than eat his cousins, try running around like a chicken with its head cut off in the 5K race. Also, they have disc golf, because why not? APOGAEA When: June 6-9
Where: Valdez
How much: $150 (price goes up to $225 on May 23); free for children younger than 12 More info: apogaea.com
You’ve probably heard of Burning Man, the annual festival that turns the desert of Black Rock City, Nev., into a fullfledged, 80,000-person city. Apogaea is Colorado’s version of the event — a regional burn in Burning Man parlance — that espouses the same principles, celebrating life and community.
That’s right: Despite what you may have heard, these events aren’t about drug-fueled partying. At their core, the events are a sacred celebration of humanity and art. (Partying just hap
pens to be a byproduct.) Aside from selfexpression, the big theme at these events is selfreliance. That means festival participants are expected to bring everything they need to survive and thrive through the event. Gifting is encouraged, but traditional commerce is strictly prohibited.
Apogaea is much less casual than the other events listed here, so be sure to read up on the fourday event before you go blindly lugging a cooler into the woods. Oh, and wear a costume. The theme for Apogaea 2019 is “Analog,” celebrating the richness of fullspectrum living in contrast to the more finite possibilities of our binary 1s and 0s digital world, according to Milkman, an Apogaea spokesperson.
WATER LANTERN FESTIVAL
When: July 20
Where: Carpenter Park, Thornton How much: $30-$40 More info: waterlanternfestival.com For John Travolta, summer nights were all about pomade, kissing and driving a car around town. But if you really distill that summer feeling, it’d probably look something like a water lantern festival. Picture it: a warm night, breeze blowing dozens of ricepaper water lanterns serenely down a stream.
Water lantern festivals hail from Japan — called toro nagashi, they’re meant to aid spirits in their journey to the great beyond — but the Denver area isn’t totally in the dark when it comes to these visually arresting gatherings. Paid admission to Thornton’s Water Lantern Festival, which takes place July 20 in Carpenter Park, lands you a floating lantern, a commemorative drawstring bag and a marker for you to write a wish on your lantern. Because what goes upstream must come down, admission also pays for the lantern cleanup. Yes, there are food trucks and live music, too.
BOOM DAYS
When: Aug. 2-4 Where: Leadville How much: Free More info: leadvilleboomdays.org Unlike Cleveland, Denver built this city on just rock, hold the roll. Rock that is full of precious metals, to be exact.
Leadville’s silver rush was instrumental to Denver’s formative years — the millionaires made their cash in the small city before spending some of it in Denver — and quite literally founded the scenic town as we know it. So, each summer, Leadville takes to celebrating its digging roots with a folky festival called Boom Days. The threeday celebration is chockfull of mining events, including muck shoveling — literally shoveling crushed rock into a cart and wheeling it to a finish line — drilling competitions and spikedriving challenges.
The festival’s other events range from vaguely Westernthemed productions (burro races, anyone?) to general smalltown shenanigans (there’s a car show, randomly). But really, who needs an excuse to battle a bunch of strangers in a good oldfashioned sack race?