
Get ready to look your spud-day best; Carbondale’s 115th annual Potato Day is this weekend.
Hosted on Oct. 3-6, this year’s theme is “Mr. McClure Goes to Hollywood” and is a play on the film classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” as well as an homage to the McClure potato, which was historically grown in the Roaring Fork Valley, according to this year’s informational pamphlet.
The theme aims to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1949 film “Red Stallion In The Rockies.” The movie, which takes place in the Roaring Fork Valley, is a wacky, lighthearted western about a horse named “Ghost Horse,” who escapes his former life as a circus performer and discovers the full freedom of the American countryside. It follows the stallion through various adventures of stealing mares from the local ranches, evading the unhappy ranchers, and outsmarting the two ex-circus performers determined to catch him.
Potato day is Carbondale’s longest running annual event, started in 1909, with the goal to celebrate and commemorate the monumental potato production of The Roaring Fork and Crystal valleys. The event was certainly inspiring; in the following decade it is said that the two valleys produced more potatoes than the entire state of Idaho. Unfortunately the tuber boom in the 1920s was followed by the crash and burn of the entire Colorado-based industry in the 1930s due to labor shortages and low potato prices. This crash and burn, however, could not kill the celebration.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the event can contact Eric Brendlinger at [email protected], Kate Schwerin at [email protected], and Tracy Kallassy at [email protected].
Event Schedule
Friday, Oct. 4
- 5:30 p.m. doors open
- 6-8:15 p.m. contra dance
- Wooden Nickel String Band and Helle Hill Calling
- 9-11 p.m. The Confluents
- Carbondale Recreation and Community Center
- $20/$10 kids 12 and under
- Includes entry / 1 free drink ticket
- Additional fee for food and additional drinks
Saturday, Oct. 5
- Carbondale Rotary Club pancake breakfast
- 8:30-10:30 a.m.
- Chacos Park (Fourth and Main Street)
- Regular Pancakes $10/Potato Pancakes $15
- Ross Montessori “Tater Trot” 1-mile fun run
- 8:30-9 a.m. registration
- 9 a.m. race start
- Chacos Park (Fourth and Main Street)
- Free
- Farmers Market and Cowboy Coffee
- 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Sopris Park
- Free coffee
- Potato Day Parade
- 10:30 a.m.
- Main Street between Second and Weant
- Free
- Spudtacular Spikeball Tournament
- Largest Home-Grown Potato Contest
- 11 a.m.
- Sopris Park (Historical Society Tent)
- Free
- BBQ and Baked Potato Lunch
- 11:15 a.m. to1:30pm (or until food runs out)
- Sopris Park
- $20/$15 kids 12 & under or veggie plates
- The Queen Bees Band
- 11:30 a.m. to1 p.m.
- Sopris Park (gazebo)
- Free
- Parade & Largest Potato Winner Announced
- 1 p.m.
- Sopris Park (gazebo)
- Old-Fashioned Kids Games
- 1:05 p.m.
- Sopris Park (Historical Society tent)
- Free
- Sweet Jessup and The Dirty Buckets Band
- 1:15-3 p.m.
- Sopris Park (gazebo)
- Free
Sunday, Oct. 6
- Youth Gymkhana
- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Gus Darien Rodeo Grounds
- Free
- Party in The Pasture
- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Coffman Ranch
- Pay what you can / free 12 and under
- Reserve Tickets http://www.avlt.org