ESTES PARK, Colo. — Frozen Dead Guy Days, the beloved festival where lively crowds celebrate (you guessed it) a frozen dead guy, will return to Estes Park in March 2024.
The festival's origin story goes something like this: "Grandpa" Bredo Morstoel was a minor public official in Norway. When he died in 1989, his grandson, Trygve Bauge, had him cryogenically preserved in the hopes he could one day be re-animated.
The body was eventually moved to Nederland, where Bauge had plans to build his own cryonics lab unit he was deported. Each year, Bauge paid $9,000 to have 900 to 1,200 pounds of dry ice placed on his grandfather's frozen sarcophagus every two weeks.
Frozen Dead Guy Days aims to honor Grandpa and this unique story.
The 2023 festival was initially canceled "due to numerous factors including our own operational hurdles returning after a two-year COVID hiatus, a lack of partnership with the Town of Nederland, and the challenges of large event production on the safety and security fronts," festival co-owner Sarah Mosely Martin said last year. Roughly a month later, the Visit Estes Park Board approved a plan to bring the festival back to life in Estes Park.
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Frozen Dead Guy Days kicks off in Estes Park after decades in Nederland
The 2024 festival will again be held in Estes Park.
“Our community came together in a big way to make the first Frozen Dead Guy Days held in Estes Park last year a great success,” said Kara Franker, CEO of Visit Estes Park. “In 2024, the event is shaping up to be bigger and better with even more events and experiences in the works.”
The three-day festival kicks off with the Blue Ball at the historic Stanley Hotel. Then it's a weekend filled with coffin races, polar plunges and a "deadman fashion show." Attendees will also be able to visit Grandpa Bredo at the new International Cryonics Museum, located in the Stanley Hotel's Ice House.
The 2024 Frozen Dead Guy Days festival is scheduled for March 15-17. Tickets go on sale Friday, Dec. 8. Tickets for the Blue Ball can be purchased through the Stanley Hotel.
