Rain doesn’t dampen success at Territory Days
This year’s cool, wet spring in the Pikes Peak region apparently is paying big dividends for an annual Memorial Day weekend festival in west Colorado Springs.
Organizers of the 41st Territory Days in Old Colorado City said the threat of rain during the event hasn’t discouraged people from coming.
“All the bad weather the last few weeks, really gives everybody cabin fever,” said Jim Wear, the festival’s chief organizer. “We knew if we had good weather this weekend, we’d have some record crowds — and we were right.”
Wear said several vendors told him Saturday was their best day ever at the event, and a brief rain shower did little to reduce Sunday’s crowd.
That bodes well for Memorial Day on Monday, which often draws the biggest crowd of the three-day event.
“The only time it’s disappointing is when it’s raining nonstop and lightning,” said Sandra Baker, a barbecue vendor in her 15th year at the festival. “Otherwise, everybody always still comes out. This year, people are really coming out because the weather’s so good. Last year, we had a lot of rain.”
While some merchants in Old Colorado City complain that the festival hurts business, the owner of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory disagrees.
“The festival is like a Valentine’s Day for us, in terms of sales,” said owner Mazie Baalman. “The little rain showers do great for the shops up and down the avenue because it kind of drives the people in. They need to get dried out, but then the rain lets up, and so they’re ready to hit the street again.”
The McCarty family of Thornton is making its first visit to the festival.
“We’ve heard a lot about it and wanted to see it for ourselves,” said Travis McCarty while panning for gold with two of his three children. “It’s awesome. It’s huge. It’s a really neat thing to see here.”
Previously, festival organizers struggled with issues such as parking, noise, talk of moving the event to downtown Colorado Springs and neighbors who complained about blocked driveways and litter.
Wear said the festival has become so successful that this year’s attendance could near or exceed the event record of 150,000.
“We’re at the limit of how big we can get,” he said. “But we don’t want to get any bigger. We like the size we’re at now. We have free admission and we’re at capacity for all three days of our event. That’s something not many events can match.”
The festival isn’t all fun and games, however. On Monday afternoon, organizers will hold special ceremonies to honor military personnel who died serving the nation.
Territory Days celebrates Old Colorado City being the capital of the original Colorado Territory before statehood in 1876.
