Snowdown rang in its fourth day early Saturday morning and kept pace throughout the day and into the night. Balloons sailed in the sky, people crammed into a port-a-potty, and beers slid across tables and down people's gullets. Downtown was abuzz with people in costume, representing their favorite pop-culture characters.
4:35 p.m.
Slide a beer. Catch a beer. Slam a beer. Repeat. Add some spins, behind the back catches, chug a beer out of a boot, and you get quaffing. It's a new sport and a new event for Snowdown in which eight teams compete head to head in beer sliding, catching and drinking beer. Participants slid mugs of beer down tables crafted from bowling lanes to a teammate, who caught the beer with one hand or two for one or two points, respectively. The second round was a style round, and participants spun and caught beers under their legs for three points. Then the freestyle round, in which people used props and did crazy catches for four or five points. “The Dirty Dirty” team won in a chug off.
1:31 p.m.
Dozens of men and women lined up in the parking lot of Gazpacho on Saturday to cram into a port-a-potty for the outhouse stuffing contest. More than 70 onlookers hooted and hollered as 21 people (mostly women) took a minute to squeeze into the “specially-cleaned” portable toilet. Two people actually climbed into the hole. The port-a-potty almost burst as judges held the door closed for 10 seconds. Contestants got Gazpacho gift cards.
12:40 a.m.
Let the debauchery continue. Saturday marked the fourth day of the 41st annual Snowdown and kicked off early with the Snowdown Balloon Rally Mass Ascension in the Animas Valley. Later in the day, contestants young and old tested their creativity with Spam carving.
About 20 balloons ascended into the overcast sky Saturday morning and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train even stopped to give its customers a peek. The balloons were graced with perfect weather and perfect temperature. At the Spam carving contest, contestants had 30 minutes to carve their most creative sculpture. Many described the Spam as being like marble, but a bit more squishy.
At the Snowdown Light Parade last night, Honeyville/Jazzercise was decided by the judges to be the best float in the parade. The Powerhouse had the best use of theme, Durango Divas had the best use of light, Ninjas had the best “WTF” float, the Liberty School had the best kids float and Durango Balloon had the best balloons.
