Frozen Dead Guy Days 2008

Nederland, Colorado - Grandpa Bredo - On Ice

Nederland is a small, hippie town in the mountains west of Boulder.

The body of Grandpa Bredo has been kept frozen in a Nederland Tuff shed, aided by regular dry ice deliveries. Bredo Morstoel died in 1989, and has been in various conditions of "cryonic suspension" ever since.

Bredo's grandson Trygve put Bredo in the snappy aluminum shed in 1994, and apparently wasn't aware of the American taboo around storing deceased relatives with yard tools. Trygve was deported by the US government for other reasons -- then the town discovered Grandpa and passed a local zoning law against corpsicle storage. Turns out Bredo has been "grandfathered," and allowed to remain until a cure is found for being dead.

Every year, Nederland has a festival celebrating Grandpa, or rather, the idea of renewable life. Festivities include a parade, tuff shed tours and coffin races.

We went to see our favourite local band,
Elephant Revival Concept, perform and liked it so much, I'm sure we'll be going to the festival next year, too.