Factoid
Willing to risk your life for cheese? The folks in Gloucester, England, are. Despite the broken bones and head trauma common to this festival, thousands of people gather annually to compete in the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling Contest, careening down a near-vertical hill to catch an eight-pound chunk of cheese. Yum? or Dumb?

Buzzword: Adhesive Burlesque
(ad-HEE-siv ber-LESK) 1 (n): the practice among young women of using promotional radio station stickers or other adhesives as de facto pasties on an otherwise bare upper half, esp. at outdoor concerts and festivals. 2 (adj): as a descriptor for 1: that’s so adhesive burlesque.

Timeline:
Offbeat Colorado Festivals


1945
Mike The Headless Chicken Day
Fruita farmer Lloyd Olsen chops off his head, but Mike the tenacious chicken fails to die. Rather than becoming a pot pie, Mike lives on for 18 months, inspiring a festival and a lot of messy beheading experiments.

1976
Colorado Renaissance Festival
Lords and ladies first gather together in ancient Denver for jousting, archaic language, and giant turkey legs. Complaints include lack of unrealistic body odor and absence of Black Death.

1981
Great American Beer Festival
Booze-lovers first gather in Denver from throughout the world to drink, drink, be merry, and drink some more. Samples of nearly 2,000 beers are available for tasting and getting toasted. Drink up, you raging lush.

1989
Frozen Dead Guy Days
“Grandpa Bredo” Morstoel drops dead of a heart attack. Grandson Trygve packs the old man on ice in a Nederland shed in hopes of cryogenic revival. Some 13 years later, Frozen Dead Guy Days begins in March to celebrate Morstoel’s glacial coffin.

1999
Aerial Dance Festival
Trapeze artists and aerial wannabes gather in Boulder for a series of classes, lectures, and performances that showcase a working-without-a-net mentality. Put on by dance company Frequent Flyers, this August festival is sure to spew talent and chunks alike.

2006
Denver Zine Fest
The Denver Zine Library pioneers the first Colorado D.I.Y. magazine festival, showcasing handmade offerings from local and traveling zinesters. This May festival is key for genuine independent press, and really cheap reading material.

2008
Monolith Festival
This gargantuan September indie rock fest, featuring over 50 bands, hits Red Rocks for the first time. While $10 burritos may be traumatizing, Monolith attracts national headliners DeVotchKa and Vampire Weekend for another go in 2008.

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