Way hey and away we go donkey riding donkey riding,
Way hey and away we go riding on a donkey.
Great Big Sea
Today. Was. Burrofest!!! Who knew that watching burros try to make their way around an obstacle course would become one of the highlights of my summer? When my coteacher and his family were here a couple weeks ago I was talking with one of them about our shared love of small town entertainment (he grew up in middle-of-nowhere-central-Florida). I talked about how much I had enjoyed watching demolition derbies as a kid. There’s just something so satisfying about watching cars ram into until there’s only one left standing. He longed for the days of watching tractor pulls (an event in which tractors pull heavier and heavier loads until they can’t move). It made me not only a little nostalgic, but also a bit of a failure for not exposing my kids to the kind of entertainment that communities find for themselves. Then today, it dawned on my that some day my kids will be telling about the summers they watched burros doing their thing.
The Mancos Burrofest has evolved over the past four years from a little start-up of an idea to a full blown event. Each year the obstacles have grown a little more professional looking, the number of participants has expanded, the art has become more varied, and the crowd larger. This year I think my favorite addition was the Columbine’s special menu of “Burros” created for the day (you know, “mules”, but in the spirit of the event). Molly and I both enjoyed the “Mancos Mule”, lime juice, bourbon, hatch chile vodka, and ginger beer.
The main event was excellent. Some burros cruised through the course, although no one was perfect. Some burros did their best to avoid every single obstacle. They were all entertaining from the start, though. In fact, the very first contestant decided to jump out of the overgrown trail midway through to the delight of the spectators. There was an official winner, but I didn’t stick around to find out who it was. In my mind we were all winners for having been there.
After each of the burros had their turn on the course we all headed over to town where each burro was paired with an artist who created work inspired by their burro. My favorite was an artist who had created mugs and plates with an adorable burro stamped into them. Molly found a burro print that she had to have.
One other highlight of the day that I have to mention is that before we even left the house this morning I completed one of the crochet projects I’ve been working on. I’m pretty proud of how these cute little baskets turned out!
