The day dawned bright with a beautiful blue Colorado sky. We got an early start at 8 am to drive into Cañon City to meet our friends, Tim and Marilyn, at the Fremont Campus of Pueblo Community College. We left our car there and traveled with T&M to Guffey CO for the 25^th Annual Chicken Fly. There were yard sales and craft vendors in abundance and we spent much of our cash at various locations, picking up treasures. Some were free, some were incredibly cheap and some were just so unique. Jay found a coal heated iron (for clothing) and a sheep herders stove, (the size of a hard cover book) with mica windows to see that the fuel was lit. We intend to do some research on those items. We figured out how the chicken fly works and Jay and Tim paid $5 each to fly a chicken in the contest. There were 10 chicken flyers in each heat. They had just finished heat 2 when we signed up, Jay was #10 in heat 5 and Tim was #1 in heat 6 and we were told it would be about 1 pm when their turn would come. So while the band played music from the bandstand, we wandered to more yard sales, the library book sale, the classic car show, the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Foundation booth (rescued wolves), and chicken bowling. Chicken bowling was a short homemade bowling lane (10 ft?) with 3 pins at the end, the wood was warped and rough, and there was a manual ball return. The goal was to knock down all three pins with one ball to win a prize, but you got three chances for a buck. We saw a young man make it on his third try, which was a challenge, because it is very hard to tell how the ball will roll. The prize was a painted bowling pin with Guffey Chicken Fly painted on it.

We were watching the chickens fly when we heard from across the field, “last call for Jay, heat #5.” This was about an hour earlier than we had expected. But no fear, they let Jay start the next heat, he was #-1, heat 6. We still had about 30 minutes before heat 6 took flight, so Tim and Jay picked out their chickens. Tim picked a reddish rooster, Jay picked a greenish hen. Tim kept giving the rooster exercises to prepare him for the contest, Jay’s little hen was feisty at first, but settled down quickly. He gave the hen a pep talk. We were joined by a young lady, about 14, who was on her second flight in heat #9. She actually lived on a poultry farm and regaled us with stories about chickens, how to hold them, and about their habits. It made the time go quickly while we waited. Ok, this is the process, at the top of the turkey launcher, was a mailbox with a door on both ends attached to a rail. Bill Soux, the founder and driving force of the Chicken Fly, announced the contestant and his/her chicken’s name, opened the back door and helped the chicken in, followed by a toilet plunger. Bill opened the front door, and the contestant plunged the chicken out, and the distance the chicken flew was measured with a very long measuring tape in feet and inches. Some chickens flew a decent distance, one flew to the roof of a nearby building, some just settled gently to the ground at the base of the tower. On the ground were several helpers with what looked like fishing nets on long poles to capture the released chickens. Jay went first as contestant -1 and his chicken was named, SPLAT. Splat flew 41 feet and 1 inch to great applause. Tim as the second contestant, #1, was next. His rooster was named FOGHORN LEGHORN. It was surprising (or not) how many adults and none of the children could relate to Foghorn Leghorn. Can you? Poor Foghorn only flew 27 feet 8 inches, but looked magnificent as he did. At the end of the heat, Jay was still the leader with 41′1” and got a first place prize from Bill Soux himself in the City Hall Saloon Museum. The interim event between chicken fly heats was a hula hoop contest, which we decided to miss in favor of lunch, by this time it was after 1 pm. The local restaurants were overcrowded and slow, so we decided to head to Cripple Creek, CO for our next stop, first place prize heat #6, and treasures in tow. It was a great day in Guffey CO for the possibly last Chicken Fly. We hope not, it was great fun.

It was about a half hour drive through gently rolling hills, rocky outcrops, and curvy roads to Cripple Creek, and about 1400 feet rise in elevation. We thought it was quite humorous that the elevation of Cripple Creek was 9,494 feet, the same number as the last four digits in the telephone number for the pawn shop. As we were walking we discovered a big sand sculpture for Cripple Creek Donkey Derby Days, which was last weekend. Cripple Creek also had a band in the park, with a barbecue vendor, and homemade ice cream. They were really making the ice cream right there in these neat ice cream makers. We ended up eating a buffet lunch in the Double Eagle Casino, which was what you would expect from a casino buffet, filling but nothing to write home about. We decided to take the scenic route back to Cañon City, via Phantom Canyon Road. Our goal was the third stop of the day, the community college, where Marilyn is the Academic Advisor and Jay will be a teacher again this fall.

The Fremont Campus PCC hosts the community on their north lawn each Fourth of July for the past several years to enjoy entertainment and watch the Cañon City fireworks display from Skyline Road.  In the third picture, look for the antennae on the top of bluff, that’s where the fireworks will be shot from. The school offers popcorn and free watermelon donated by City Market (Krogers), water play for the kids, a bounce house, a live band, Applewood, and a grassy area to sit and play. The local 4H club had a food cart serving hot dogs, brats, and other festival type foods. Families brought full picnics, fast food dinners, quilts, camp chairs, etc to enjoy the evening. At 7 pm as I write this, sitting in the shade with a light wind blowing, it feels like the mid 70s, just wonderful. The band played 50s and 60s music which was great for us and the children dancing before the stage could care less, they were having a great time. The college had 3D glasses for sale for $1 each to watch the fireworks. I bought everyone a pair and we wondered what would happen when it got dark, with daylight the view was just slightly fuzzy with hints of color. Well, I am not sure I would want to watch fireworks without the 3D glasses again. The lenses fractured the view into 9 squares (I kept thinking about a nine patch quilt block), the center square was mostly clear and reflected the color of the firework, the other 8 surrounding squares were a reflective image of the firework in colors of red, blue and/or green. It was amazing and so much fun. We had perfect seats and the fireworks were plentiful. There was martial fireworks type of music playing from the bandstand, reminiscent of the Boston Pops Fourth of July programs we have seen on PBS stations over the years.

After helping Marilyn tote in tables and chairs, we rested inside the school for a little bit waiting for the crowd to leave. In addition to the people on the grass on the north lawn, there were hundreds of cars in the parking lot with families just sitting there to watch the fireworks. It was almost 11 pm by the time we got home, a long, yet wonderfully refreshing Fourth of July, a winner all way round. Hope your day was wonderful too.