“You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly, but I bet you ain’t never seen a donkey fly,” says pop culture’s most iconic donkey character in the classic 2001 animated comedy, “Shrek.”
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday in Mancos to celebrate of donkeys, or burros in Spanish, during the sixth annual BurroFest, and though not burros flew, human hearts soared.
Attendees watched as seven colorfully costumed burros competed for first place in an obstacle course in Mancos’ Boyle Park. This year’s BurroFest had an “Alice in Wonderland” theme, giving it the official title, “Burros in Wonderland.”
Those who joined the festivities lined up for food trucks, explored the event’s local artist booths, watched live music and learned about one of the American West’s most beloved equines.
After opening with the singing of the national anthem and a land acknowledgment, emcees Kellie Pettyjohn and Jessica Randell kicked off the day by introducing each of the seven competing burros and their handlers.
All the burros were local to the area, with the exception of one, Jack Speedy Burro and handler William Dee, who came from Idaho Springs, about 30 miles west of Denver. Each burro also had their own artist who’d use the donkey as a subject.
The obstacles varied in their difficulty, the emcees explained to the crowd, with five minutes allotted for each competitor to finish the course. Successful completion of the easiest obstacles generated five points, the medium obstacles offered 10 points and the hardest obstacles created 15 points.
The audience was pushed to the edge of their seats with the “Checkmate Choice” obstacle. If overcome, the bonus obstacle gave the contender 20 points, but if lost, it retracted that same number from the contender’s score.
One by one, the burros made their way through the central obstacle course as the dense crowd of all ages gathered around and judges closely tallied the donkeys’ progress. Handlers guided their burros through obstacle names like “Tweedledee and Tweedledum” and “White Rabbit Pocket Watch,” as each contender’s time ticked away.
Throughout the main spectacle, the audience applauded, laughed and sometimes fell into an observant near-silence. An occasional signature donkey “hee-haw” could be heard from one of the competitors on the sideline.
After an exciting series of obstacle-traversing burros, the winner was Jack Speedy Burro of Idaho Springs, with 145 points. In second place, only 10 points behind was Lucy, guided by handler Danny Dehondt.
Aside from the obstacle course, BurroFest’s champion of the costume contest was Little D, dressed up as the Cheshire Cat. The costume contest was decided by popular vote, with Little D receiving the loudest applause.
“I was very fair when it came to assigning the points, but personally, I think all of them were winners,” said one of the contest’s judges, Patty Harpham. “I’ve had horses. I couldn’t have gotten my horse to do this.”
After their competition, burros wandered around or rested in their corrals while most of the crowd dispersed to enjoy the rest of the festivities. Other attendees went over to greet the burros.
After the competition, attendees explored artisan booths with jewelry and paintings, bought gyros, burgers and lemonade, cooled off in the shade under trees and helped themselves to brews at the beer garden.
Children gathered by the library booth and made their own toy burros from Styrofoam pool noodles while other youths played in Boyle Park’s playground.
“We do wish that they had a kid’s burro race after they made these little burros,” said one attendee, Megan Slater of the toy burros.
Slater, who joined the event with her son, Aedan Pedersen, said that the festival seemed to be better organized and have more attendees present compared with the previous year.
While the BurroFest was an opportunity for local businesses and artists to come together, the burros themselves remained as the star focus.
“Burros really unite humanity,” said Annie Henderson, executive director of the Equitarian Initiative, a global nonprofit with a booth at the festival. Henderson described the organization as a sort of Doctors Without Borders for equines.
Historically, in nearby towns like Silverton, Henderson said, burros were once used to haul ore down from mountains, uplifting the mining-based economies.
“Working animals are the backbone of our progress as a nation,” Henderson said. “This really represents a celebration of those animals.”
