2009 Frozen Dead Guy Days!

This past weekend was Frozen Dead Guy Days up in good ol' Neder-Nederland. And as usual, it was a picture bonanza! Craig, Bonnie and Dawn came up to meet Jessica and I before heading out to the festivities. Right on cue, just as we were leaving the house, snow pretty much started dumping down. It was almost nice... I don't mind snow so much, when I'm not planning on riding the bike, and plus, this almost seemed like the most snow we had seen all year! And what the heck, of all the celebrations, you might as well have snow for Frozen Dead Guy Days!

Dumping as the crowd rolls in from the low country, and as Craig takes a picture of us at the FDGD display on the circle;

Moments after that, some guy driving through the circle, literally stopped his truck in traffic to inquire as to what was going on. He apparently had never heard of FDGD, and left way more confused than before he asked us anything. The ladies and Grandpa Bredo's incarnation;

There was good snow for the parade;

The Pope even showed up, with his friend The Flying Spaghetti Monster, as a team for the Coffin Races.

This is always one of my favorite hearses in the parade;

And though I didn't see the flame-thrower hearse around this year (we might have just missed it) this was another favorite!

As usual, the beer tent, and corresponding lines were pretty poorly arranged, which means we were stuck in line and/or drinking in the beer tent, and we missed the Polar Plunge. But there was an awesome crowd gathered on the hill for the Coffin Races;

The course looked tough again this year, but not quite as inventive as last year;

But the teams gave it their all, with several coffin crashes and this team whose "tail-gunner" was unfortunate enough to fall about 20 meters from the finish line. Not noticing, his team kept running, and the fallen teamate held on to the coffin and "let" the team drag him across the line so they could finish with a complete team.

And of course... it's FDGD... so there were more than enough entertaining people to get photos of! Like this chick... who came to FDGD in the mountains in March, but apparently didn't want to get her hair wet, while standing in line for beer tickets, and talking on her cell phone. I guess holding a garbage bag over your head, looks less retarded than having wet hair like everyone else?

Speaking of hair, I was really hoping to get a good headshot of this chick. She had full-on prom hair and make-up for the mountain festival. Of course, what do you expect from the giant (yes I am high-maintenance) purse, and nearly, but not quite matching gloves. This clan spent more time texting people than talking to the people they were with;

This guy turned to see if I really was going to take a picture of his lady friends, who were dressed up in great outfits incorporating as many "cool" fashions as possible, into one outfit... whether they should mix all those or not. And the answer to his question was "yes, yes I was taking a picture".

Can't have FDGD, and snow and 28 degree temps without at least one person in shorts. There were the requisite flip flops on someone as well, but I missed that picture;

This outfit was just plain funny, but at least he seemed to be happy with who he was;

I know if I'm going to a mountain festival on a Saturday, to walk around on a snowy hillside, and relax, that I'm going to dig into my closet for my "casual" pair of loafers. The most disturbing thing about guys with loafers on a Saturday, at a festival in a mountain town, is that it invariably means they have DRESS loafers for the rest of the week... most likely with tassels.

I liked this guy... he had loafers too... and his girlfriend's sunglasses, expensive skinny-droopy-jeans (quite possibly also his girlfriends), and the Guitar Hero satchel to really top off the look;

Of course, by far, the best had to be the chick that killed Chewbacca just so she could have a set of "fashionable" boots. Unsurprisingly she was in the beer area sucking down cigs and beers the entire time;

There was this great collection of people that were silly enough to pay for an over-priced photo with this years winner of the Grandpa Bredo look-alike contest as well! But you gotta support that economy!