Fans of golden-era rock ‘n’ roll should have an advantage winning any Snowdown trivia contests in 2020.
“A Rock Around Snowdown” was chosen as next year’s theme.
Peg Ochsenreiter, Snowdown board member and official Snowdown “hysterian,” said every year Snowdown gets hundreds of entries for the winter carnival’s next theme.
“A Rock Around Snowdown” was submitted by Lynn Schneider of Durango, and Ochsenreiter said as of Sunday afternoon, Snowdown board members were still trying to track her down to let her know she came up with the winner.
“We put them all into categories that have similar themes and then we eliminate ones we can’t use, they’re copyrighted or something, and then we pick the best three from each category and go around and around to decide the best one,” she said.
The board is always looking for a theme that will have good theme contests and spur lots of costume ideas, Ochsenreiter said.
After a Snowdown night of rocking around the clock next year, you could do worse than inviting Angela Selph of Pagosa Springs to your recovery breakfast the next morning.
Selph, who said she comes to Snowdown every year, topped a dozen competitors in the Snowdown Pancake Stacking Contest Sunday morning at the DoubleTree Hotel. Placing 11 hotcakes on her plate.
“I just went as fast as I could,” she said, explaining her strategy.
Selph added that her favorite Snowdown event was “breakfast this morning because it meant we made it through the night.”
Cliff Swinney of Tucson, Arizona, one of the competitors Selph bested, said he stumbled across Durango during a drive to Denver on a business trip.
“It’s a great town,” he said. I accidentally discovered it, and now we visit several times a year. We come for skiing and in the summer. Eventually, somebody told me about this great local event, Snowdown, that we should check out. I wish I would have bought property about 10 years ago.”
“We haven’t missed a Snowdown for about 15 years,” he said.
Swinney said he came with a group of about 15 family members, friends and adult children from Tuscon, Salt Lake City and Denver.
Linda Johnson, Swinney’s wife, said “We love the parade and seeing everyone in costume. It’s someplace you can go and everyone is happy.”
At the Snowdown Light Parade on Friday night, Honeyville/Jazzercise took home best float. 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. Durango Balloon had the best balloons.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
