Ullr Fest...

So, I had to pass along this article that I read in yesterday's Denver Post on Ullr Fest. In case you don't know, Ullr is the Norse god of snow (duh!). In the 60's, the town of Breckenridge decided it would be a good idea to get wasted on an annual basis and they needed a good reason; hence a fake festival. And while, I appreciate the uniqueness of this particular celebration, I was even more entertained by two of the best stories about people drunk off their ass that I've heard in years (Note: as I've gotten older and married, I don't hear these types of stories with as much regularity). Here's a gist of the two stories from the Denver Post article a few days ago on Ullr fest - with a few comments from yours truly.

#1) In 1985, a guy [you just don't hear too many great druken female stories] caught his trousers on fire and then dove into the nearby Blue River to extinguish the flames. Which would have been a great idea in June... but it was January, the Blue River was frozen solid and the man ended up with still smoldering pants and a big lump on his head from hitting the ice [only when you're drunk can you almost get the right idea, but miss that one minor detail]. Friends rolled him in snow to put out the trouser fire, and the party went on [who lets a simple trouser fire stop a decades old celebration to drinking?]

#2) A year earlier, another guy with a head full of beer passed out in the parking lot near the bonfire. When his brain's neurons began firing again after midnight, the temperature had plunged to 15 degrees below zero, and he realized his face was frozen to the parking lot [Note: Always go for the bathroom floor when passing out]. After being alerted to the screams, the Fire Department arrived and freed the man's head with a combination of warm water and a chisel [is this something covered in the standard training for Breckenridge's fire department? I'd like to think so, because that would be cool.]

Sarah and I might make it up for some of the festivies this weekend (unfortunately, the bon fire is during the week), and of course I'll keep my eye out for anybody frozen to inanimate objects.