Cars lined the streets of Mancos Saturday morning, leaving stragglers hunting between alleyways and along dirt roads for a spot to park. The annual Mancos Burrofest drew a crowd of around 2,500, estimated event manager Leah Darr, which represents its largest ever.
It wasn’t only the crowd size that expanded in the festival’s seventh year. Twenty donkeys roamed among the kids, dogs and adults eager to photograph and pet them. The crew of hard working burros in extravagant costumes was four times that of last year, according to Darr.
“Some of the most consistent feedback was that people wanted to see more burros,” Darr said. “There’s just more donkeys and more burros than you could ever dream for.”
Darr and her team from the Mancos Creative District, which collected donations from the free event to support creative endeavors in the valley, also featured 12 artists this year. The artists worked for months prior, partnered with one of the event’s stars of the show, a donkey, to create pieces celebrating them, displayed in booths during the festival.
Southwest Colorado artist Miki Harder has participated in the festival every year since its inception, having loved the unique nature of the creatures since her youth.
“They’re so stoic and smart and I feel like if the burro likes you, you know you’re all right,” Harder said. “They’re just amazing sentient beings.”
This year she worked with Hope of the San Juan Beverage Burros to capture her youthful essence, selling prints of Hope’s portraits to excited festival goers.
“It’s the best day of the year,” Harder said. “Five exclamation points.”
The playful energy of the event was on full display as the crowd gathered around an obstacle course to watch donkeys compete for the title of “First Ass,” “Best Costume” and, tragically, “Last Ass.” Burros dragged rafts, collected fake gold from makeshift mines and crossed a “river” spray painted into the ground. The theme of the course celebrated Colorado’s history with the coming of the state’s 150th anniversary.
Alice, a seven year old burro who’s competed at Burrofest since she was one year old, donned a party hat and a cardboard cake topped with the number 150, earning her “Best Costume.”
“It’s her favorite day of the summer,” Alice’s owner Gretchen Seashore Botha said.
“It’s actually her festival,” she joked, adding, “I seriously think she thinks this day is for her. The fans come out, the paparazzi is here. You know, they probably all think that.”
Alice, who garnered much attention, photos and pets from attendees, certainly basked in it.
Sparkle Nellie, a 13-year-old donkey dazzling in tulle, won “Last Ass” for her tepid participation in the obstacle course but Jack Speedy Burro, sporting a heavy fringe, took home the gold as “First Ass” for his second year in a row.
Many donkey owners said they’d learned a lot from their partners in crime, whose reputations as stubborn and rude were dispelled by their lovable personalities, which require a lot of patience.
“You cannot make them do anything. You have to wait,” Jerome Hesse, owner of SnoopDonk, said. He owns four donkeys.
“Every donkey is unique, but they’re all pretty inquisitive, cautious and very loving,” Hesse said.
Clint Reid, a Southwest Colorado-based educator and screen printer, partnered with SnoopDonk, debuting eccentric images harking to Andy Warhol portraits of the burro’s face superimposed on cans of soup.
“We just wanted to mix it up,” Reid said.
His time with the Donk, he added, was a unique and surprising experience.
“They are very calming creatures and I love hanging out with them more than I thought that I would,” Reid said.
Joy emanated from patrons, donkeys and artists alike, the basis of why people return year after year, according to Darr.
“Turn around and there’s a donkey wearing a cake behind you. How do you not laugh and feel happy about that?” she said.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
