Emma Crawford Coffin Races in Manitou Springs cancelled again due to COVID-19

MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- It'll be another year without the iconic race of homemade coffin karts down Manitou Ave. -- the Emma Crawford Coffin Races have been cancelled for 2021.

The Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce and City of Manitou Springs made the announcement Friday, saying it was a difficult decision to postpone the return until 2022. The race was also postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns.

If you're not familiar with the coffin races, it's exactly like it sounds: people race down the street in coffins on wheels. The race has its origins in an old tale involving Emma Crawford, a young woman who relocated to Manitou Springs for tuberculosis treatment and died in the late 19th century. Crawford's coffin was buried on Red Mountain, and it's said that during a heavy rainstorm one day 40 years later, her coffin was unearthed and then shot down the hillside. Add a little bit of Manitou Springs weirdness, and the coffin races were born in 1995.

The city cites the "increasing impact of the Delta variant of COVID-19" for cancelling this year's race, but it did announce that next year's race will return on Oct. 29, 2022. Registration for the 2022 race is already open at this link.

Instead of the race this year, the city says there will be festivities "honoring the tradition" of the race that will take place on Oct. 30.