As of about noon Saturday, just the second day of Durango’s annual Snowdown celebration, festive merchandise at Magpies Newsstand & Cafe, the primary distributor of all things Snowdown, was already in short supply.
Keenan Kelly, store clerk, said people have visited the small shop in droves over the last week to get their hands on Snowdown-themed shirts, hats, buttons and programs. Three hundred forty-eight items were sold in the last week, including 83 men’s T-shirts, 73 women’s T-shirts and 31 hats.
XX-Large men’s T-shirts were completely sold out by noon Saturday and the rest of the shirts are likely to sell out this weekend or early next week, he said.
Visitors to the cafe have been hyped for Snowdown, Kelly said, but he noticed that Durango’s youths are not among the excited crowds. Most people gearing up for the various events, which have taken on a Shakespearean motif in line with this year’s Snowdown theme, are middle-aged or older.
“It seems like the young people are not that interested in Snowdown just because they’re either working during Snowdown and they’re just going to be extra busy, or they’re not 21 so they’re not really going to get to participate in any of the activities or events,” he said.
When Shakespeare wrote, “Youth is full of pleasure, age is full of care” and “Youth is wild, age is tame,” he must not have had Snowdown 2023 in mind.
Many of Snowdown’s events are only open to the 21-plus aged crowd, but some goings-on were designed with the kiddos in mind.
On Saturday, the “Flying Paper (Airplanes)” Snowdown event was hosted at Office Depot on South Camino del Rio. The event welcomed elementary, middle and high school-aged kids to participate in a contest to design, decorate and fly paper airplanes with the goal of soaring them as far as possible. Office Depot provided the supplies and contestants made their planes on site.
Earlier on Saturday, a Shakespearean escape room was hosted at Durango Public Library. And several dinners at Carver Brewing Co., along with the continuation of the always anticipated Snowdown Follies at Durango Arts Center Theatre and a late night dance party at the Starlight Lounge rounded out the day.
A full schedule of Snowdown events is available at snowdown.org.
Kelly said he learned on Saturday that the long-celebrated satirical publication, “Sneer,” won’t be published this year. He said many people have stopped by to ask about the publication and were disappointed to learn it won’t make an appearance in 2023.
cburney@durangoherald.com
