Plan 12 Colorado staycations around these quirky events celebrating everything from yetis and mushrooms to cranes and headless chickens

Bigfoot Days in Estes Park

April 24-25
Sasquatch. Bigfoot. Whatever you want to call the hairy and elusive beasts, this festival takes them seriously (but not too seriously). Bigfoot experts and celebrities share stories and films, but there is also live music, outdoor activities, a Bigfoot calling contest and more. Like any good Colorado event, it also includes a half marathon and 5K run (costumes optional).

Mike the Headless Chicken Festival in Fruita

May 29-30
In the 1940s, one of the biggest celebrities from Colorado was Mike, a chicken that apparently ran around with its head cut off for 18 months. Fruita still celebrates Mike with a large statue and a spring festival that includes a 5K run, live music, chicken show, community chicken dance and Peep- and wing-eating contests.

Rocky Mountain Star Stare in Gardner

June 10-14
The dark skies of southern Colorado lend themselves to a different kind of star-studded party. Early each summer, astronomers gather outside Gardner (about an hour south of Pueblo) at Starry Meadows for four nights of stargazing, sky tours, games and expert lectures. Note that a ban on white light (including vehicle headlights) after dark is strictly enforced alongside other event rules.

Burro Days in Fairplay

July 24-26
For more than 75 years, the central Colorado town of Fairplay has celebrated the role of burros in Colorado’s mining heritage. Athletes compete to “Get Yur Ass Up the Pass” in 29-mile World Championship Pack Burro Races. Meanwhile, festivalgoers in town enjoy a parade, outhouse races, art, activities, cowboy church and live music. For more racing action, the Western Pack Burro Association also hosts several other Colorado events.

Telluride Mushroom Festival

August 12-16
Telluride is known for its music festivals, but it becomes the center of the mycology world each August, celebrating everything mushroom. A mushroom costume parade and dance party? Check. Mushroom foraging, identification and dining? Yep. Lectures and discussions about psychedelic and medicinal mushroom research and legislation? For sure. There are even beginner mushroom classes and activities for kids.

La Junta Tarantula Festival

September 25-26
Across the vast Comanche National Grassland, male tarantulas crawl out of their burrows en masse to mate each fall. Pick the right late September weekend to see the phenomenon and enjoy guided bus tours. In the town of La Junta, there also will be a two-day festival with a parade, expert talks, entertainment, art, classic car show, a hairy leg contest and, of course, a screening of “Arachnophobia.”

Emma Crawford Coffin Races in Manitou Springs

October 24
The nation’s original coffin races commemorate Emma Crawford, who wished to be buried atop Red Mountain. Colorado weather had different plans, and a series of freeze-thaw cycles and some heavy spring rains sent her coffin racing down the mountainside in 1929. Nearly a century later, teams gather shortly before Halloween to build a coffin and race it through Manitou Springs.

Turkey Trots (across Colorado)

November 26
New York may have staged the first turkey trot, but Thanksgiving fun runs (with some competitors using a very intense definition of fun) now take place all over Colorado and can draw big crowds. Plenty of athletes like to burn calories before the feasting begins. After all, it’s very on-brand for Coloradans to sweat in the cold until warming up with some homecrafted food and Colorado-crafted libations.

Ullr Festival in Breckenridge

December 17-19
Colorado skiers offer a unique annual toast to Ullr, the Norwegian snow god who taught the world to ski, according to ancient legend. In Breck, more than 1,400 Ullr fans line up every December to take a drink from the world’s largest shotski in his honor and in hopes of a snowy winter. Other highlights of Ullr Fest include a bonfire and the Main Street parade.

Great Fruitcake Toss

Late January
Tons of (thoughtfully?) gifted fruitcakes are tossed in the trash each holiday season, so some folks in Manitou Springs decided to turn the tossing into a sport. Each January, when many of the dense desserts have become sufficiently stale, they are thrown and launched in competitions of distance and accuracy. Also look for a fruitcake-balancing race and a fruitcake bakeoff.

High Plains Snow Goose Festival in Lamar

Early February
White snow geese flock to southeastern Colorado in February on their northern migration. Lamar welcomes them with a festival that includes tours around dawn and dusk to see the geese, as well as raptors and other birds. The event also includes other field trips and seminars about local wildlife and history.

Monte Vista Crane Festival

Early March
Every spring, Sandhill Cranes migrate north from their winter homes in New Mexico, stopping in southern Colorado on the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge to roost, feed and impress their partners with an elaborate courtship dance. The spectacle peaks in early March, when Monte Vista hosts a craft and nature fair, as well as education talks, tours and workshops.