Dillon Ice Melt

Colorado is known for over 300 days of sun in the high country. This year is no different and with March Madness comes Spring Break in Summit County. There are plenty of Blue Bird days with no clouds, warm temperatures and fresh powder. This is the best skiing of the year, and everyone should come enjoy it! Spring is also the time that we have one of the most unique contests in the nation.

This year, we will have our 27th annual ICE MELT contest (with great prize money) that allows locals, families, tourists and businesses alike to guess when Lake Dillon will thaw. This favorite event is sponsored by the Summit Rotary Club. The proceeds go towards the Rotary Club and support many Rotary International programs and projects. At an elevation of 9111 feet, our lake can freeze in thickness up to 18 inches by late fall. We won’t see the water again until late April or early May. The ICE MELT Contest (at $5.00 per guess) begins early April and will end on April 29.

The event kicks off earlier with the selection of a local “Ice Melt Princess.” She, and her court, will go out onto the frozen lake with our local Sheriff to place the timing device out on the ice on April 7. Then we all get to wait for Mother Nature to thaw the lake. Historically, the latest date the ice broke was May 23 and the earliest was April 28. So go ahead, make your bet, there is $2000 on the line! To purchase tickets or find out more information please go here. Once the lake is thawed, spring is truly right around the corner!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Breckenridge

St. Patty’s day is just around the corner and Breckenridge is celebrating with lots of food and drink specials, plus live music on seemingly every corner. The following are the happenings around town for the luckiest day of the year!

On Main Street is Burke and Riley’s, which, as your headquarters for St. Patrick’s Day, will be opening their doors at 7:30am. This is the best place to start off your St. Patty’s celebration, but make sure you come back for the bagpipers, drummers and dancers later in the afternoon. There will be a heated tent on the deck, so you can party all night, complete with awesome giveaways and contests. Just around the corner on Park Avenue is Park Avenue Pub. The Pub will be serving some good eatin’ traditional Irish meals starting at 11am, like Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes for just $9.95. Plus, they have Guinness on tap and $3 Jameson shots until 8pm. Looking for some live music? Head north on Main Street to join Stony Live at the Motherloaded Tavern, with you guessed it, more drink specials!

Prefer to be on the mountain all day, but still want to celebrate? No problem. The Coppertop at Beaver Run will be hosting DJ Cyn from 2pm-6pm with Celtic Dancers performing at 4pm. There will be Irish Cinn drink specials, as well as beer and shot specials. Stop by and check out the Nuggets vs. Celtics game as it will be on later in the bar. Also, Sevens Restaurant on Peak 7 will be serving a special Irish menu, complete with Shepherd’s Pie, Corned Beef, Colossal Reuben Sandwiches and Irish Lamb Stew! Further up on the Mountain, T-Bar @Peak 8  will have a DJ spinning tunes outside of the Ski Hill Grill patio, along with drink specials, like $4 Bud and Bud Light Drafts and $5 Melon Margaritas. Don’t forget there is a costume contest too!

With all there is to do on and off the mountain, Breckenridge is the place to be to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with great food, drinks and live music. Just don’t forget to sport something green or you may get pinched!

Breckenridge Mardi Gras

Come celebrate Fat Tuesday in Breckenridge! Every year, Main Street sidewalks become packed with Mardi Gras enthusiasts to watch the annual Mardi Gras parade that begins at the north end of main street and finishes at the southernmost end. The terms “Mardi Gras” or “Carnival season, “in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday.  And here in Breckenridge, it is no different, except we celebrate at 9,600 feet!  Every year people dress in their Mardi Gras best, complete with masks and of course, green, gold and purple clothing and beads to watch the parade, complete with the crowning of Rex and his Queen starting at 4:30pm on Fat Tuesday. Watch for yourself this year as Mardi Gras floats take over the street during the parade and see how many beads you can get! Also, don’t forget to stop by the Blue River Plaza before you hit the parade, there will be food featuring the “Taste of Nawlins,” catered by Harvest Catering. See you there!

Last Year's Main Street Parade Turnout!

The 2012 Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships are well under way in Breckenridge, and it’s the 22^ndyear that 15 teams from around the world are competing right in our backyard! For many years, it was a relatively small event, catering locally to Breckenridge and then Colorado as a whole. However, in 1991 we hosted the first worldwide championships and it has become a very popular event. This year, teams are competing from Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States, which is a quite a showing if you think about it. These teams are limited to 5 people each, and they are only allowed to use hand tools — sounds daunting to someone like myself who had never “carved” anything more than a snowball.

Day 2 of the Competition.

The first four days of the championships were designated as “Technical Week” — volunteers and machinery combined to form immense blocks (as I learned at Trivia at Rita’s on Main Street last week, they can be 20+ tons!) of snow and ice that were spread out around the Blue River Plaza and the Riverwalk Center in the heart of Breckenridge. Sculpting Week began on January 24^th with a shotgun start and, after letting the expert sculptors get a good start on their sculptures, I decided to check out the progress on the 26th. Even though the teams are less than 48 hours into their work, I was impressed with what I saw. It ended up being a guessing game for me, but I think saw a beach scene, a partial statue that resembled Buddha, and some sort of Viking head — like I said, a little vague, but they do have two more days of carving ahead of them!

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Come join us for the 49^thannual Ullr Fest, located here in downtown Breckenridge! Every year ski and snowboard fanatics alike come together to pay homage to the Nordic God of Snow, Ullr (pronounced Ooh-ler), who is known for his unmatchable speed on skis and love of snow.

ULLR FEST

This year’s theme, is 49, and feeling fine, since were in our 49^th year! The festivities first started in 1963 and have become a local’s favorite with signature town events like the crowing of the Ullr King and Queen, the International Snow Sculpture Championships, “The Ullympics” and the Ullr Fest Parade. This is a festival that has something for everyone, complete with family events as well as events for those that want to party and truly worship Ullr and his fantastic gift of snow! Come join us at the following events below to show your Ullr spirit, and help us Pray for Snow! Because so far this season, we need the help!

• Sunday, Jan. 8 – Ullr Skating Party: Skate with Ullr himself at the Stephen C. West Ice Arena. This is a family favorite and includes food, fun and the man about town – Ullr.
• Monday, Jan. 9 – Crowning of the Ullr King and Queen: The coronation moves to a new location – Main Street Station.
• Tuesday, Jan. 10 – The Ullympics: Watch as co-ed teams of four compete in wild events such as the frying pan toss and group ski racing. Awards and a party follow.
• Wednesday, Jan. 11 – Ullr Dating Game: Calling all bachelors and bachelorettes! Join local radio station KSMT and all the great singles in town for Breckenridge’s version of the Dating Game. Ullr himself will be on hand looking for love. Great times, great prizes and a great chance to meet your soul mate.
• Thursday, Jan. 12 – Ullr Fest Parade: Join the Breckenridge locals as they show off their fabulous floats in, unofficially, the world’s craziest parade, honoring the Norse god of snow – Ullr. More than 12,000 fill the streets for floats showcasing moving ski jumps, hot tubs and ski waxing stations.
• Friday, Jan. 13 – Ullr Comedy Night: Laugh the night away at the Carriage House. Comedians TBA.
• Saturday, Jan. 14 – Chilly Chili Cook-Off: Warm up after a week of snow worship with the Mountain Rotary Club’s Chilly Chili Cook-Off. Enter your best recipe or sample the wares.

There are so many awesome activities and organizations to be a part of in Summit County that it can sometimes seem overwhelming, especially for a visitor or newbie. Fortunately for me, when I moved here 3 years ago, I randomly got involved with the Friends of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC). I moved to Colorado from Georgia, so I didn’t really have a clue what avalanches really were, the threat they posed to the community, or the importance of the work done by the CAIC. What I did know was that they throw an amazing benefit bash every year, raise tons of money, serve awesome food, have free beer, and give away a lot of really cool stuff. So, naturally it was something I was eager to get involved with!

The main goal of the Friends of the CAIC is to support the CAIC, while also contributing to avalanche awareness and education throughout Colorado. As more and more people venture into Colorado’s backcountry, it is imperative to continue supporting avalanche forecasting, education and awareness. The Friends of the CAIC does this by obtaining donations and grants, as well as hosting fundraising events.

CAIC Benefit Bash

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Ski season is officially underway! Arapahoe Basin opened to the public on Thursday, October 13, which is the earliest opening that I have seen in my three years in Summit County. Despite being opening day, it wasn’t all blue skies and fresh corduroy turns. Three of my closest friends and I all left Breckenridge around 5 a.m. to hold our spot in line for “first chair of the season.”

When we arrived we were greeted by “Nate Doggg,” who kindly asked if “we would be joining him for his first chair of the season.” He had spoken with the COO of Arapahoe Basin the night before and claimed “dibs” on first chair. As far as I know, first chair isn’t given out. It is earned by sitting in the cold, huddling for warmth and warding off any latecomers — not by sleeping in a warm limo with the heat cranked, cooking bacon and eggs on a propane stove, then casually strolling up to the already full lift line at 8:45 to catch the 9 o’clock chair.

After the dust settled and I realized that I was getting snaked out of first chair; I spoke with the COO and politely informed him that I disagreed with his first chair policies. He seemed to really appreciate my enthusiasm, encouraged me to come back next year, and finally assured me that the chair would be “first come, first served.”  He then guaranteed me “second chair” behind “Nate Doggg,” which was little consolation, because as we all know, “if you ain’t first, you’re last.” Better luck next year, I guess!

The lines for the lift on opening day at A-Basin!

All Dressed up for the Fun!

If you ask a local what their favorite weekend of the year in Breckenridge is, you are most likely going to get the same answer every time. OKTOBERFEST! Beyond any holiday or winter weekend, Oktoberfest takes the cake!

Breckenridge Oktoberfest is a 3-day event that takes place every September. (I know, counterintuitive, but it’s cold in October!) On Friday night, Salt Creek Steakhouse holds a brew master’s dinner, serving several delicious courses paired with many tasty German beers. From there, you can make your way upstairs to Napper Tandy’s for live music. This year, the infamous 6 Million Dollar Band played. They are a ridiculous 1980’s cover band, whose music turns into an all night dance party with costumes and everything. If you’re not into that kind of scene, you can try any of Breckenridge’s 50-plus bars. But don’t stay up too late, because Saturday is a marathon.

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Just Piggin Around!

The Frisco BBQ

If you’re looking for a summer event to spend time with family and friends in Summit County, the annual Colorado BBQ Challenge is it! When Main Street Frisco turns into a sea of BBQ smokers, grills and country music, I turn into a BBQ lover. I’m usually not a fan of the whole “walking while eating” thing, but this event is an exception. I find myself gnawing on ribs and searching for the next best thing to put in my mouth, which always includes several Golden Toad “shrimp bombs.” The grill masters at Golden Toad rowdy up the crowd with music and dance, as the assembly line grills up a storm. For the best pulled pork and juicy chicken, my vote goes to the Wildman BBQ team, who always stay at the Hotel Frisco. For dessert? What else – a deep fried funnel cake topped with powdered sugar.

Racing Piggies!

Finally, Swifty Swine’s Racing Pigs are great entertainment, racing around the track for Oreo cookies. With names like Jennifer Lopigs and Sarah Jessica Porker, how could you not love them? The three-day event in downtown Frisco is tons of fun, super delicious, and perfect for the whole family. Check it out next time you’re looking to kick off your summer in Summit County!