Miners Day champions Colorado history, builds community in Frederick
From gold panning to burro racing, Miners Day is a celebration of Frederick's community and history.
Miners Day is the biggest annual event for Frederick, a town that also holds a hot air balloon festival and chainsaw carving contest every year. A chance to honor the town's mining heritage, Miners Day has become the signature way to bring Frederick residents together.
"They see their neighbors, they see their friends and create memories as families," said Jessica Hill, communications and engagement specialist for Frederick.
On Saturday morning, Miners Day began with a wreath-laying ceremony and downtown parade. Around 30 entries were featured in the parade, including town trustees, dancers and the Frederick High School marching band.
In Centennial Park, kids could get into the spirit of Miners Day by panning for fake gold. Westminster resident Doug Proctor makes the trip to Frederick every year to lead the panning activity, teaching kids about minerals as they search for nuggets.
"The kids, they just like finding stuff," Proctor said. "They learn what the minerals are and what gold looks like and acts like."
Guests could also cheer on runners in the burro race, which ended in Centennial Park. The race has become a staple of Miners Day since it was added to the festival seven years ago.
The roughly 70 race participants were tasked with running a 9K around Frederick while pulling – or being pulled by – a donkey on a lead rope. Pack burro racing is an official summer heritage sport in Colorado, and commemorates the state's 19th-century miners who would take their donkeys on prospecting trips.
"Ours is a very approachable one, with the distance that it is," Hill said of Frederick's race. "It feels a little less daunting than a 30-mile race in the mountains with a burro."
Aidan Malherbe of Berthoud won this year's burro race with his donkey partner, Yukon. Malherbe has also run other burro races around Colorado.
"A lot of it is knowing the donkey and how they run," Malherbe said of his success. "They're really fast and resilient."
Brad Wann, who runs the nonprofit sanctuary ReDonkulous Ranch in Larkspur, rented out several donkeys to runners on Saturday. He kept an eye on his burros during the race, identifying each one by name as they crossed the finish line.
"Solo running is really kind of a selfish sport," Wann said. "All you do is think about yourself, your pains, your aches, your troubles. When you're running with burros, you forget about the world. You're attached to a 500-pound critter and you are absolutely solely thinking about what this animal is doing."
Wann was quick to point out that the race, really, is about the burros. After all, it's the donkey's nose crossing the finish line that stops the clock.
"We're here to give these donkeys a job," Wann said. "It's their race, it's their day."
