Inaugural Nederdays festival finds fun in staying local

Frozen Dead Guy Days might have left Nederland, but the town is keeping the spirit of community and celebration alive with a new event, Nederdays.

This weekend marked the inaugural Nederdays, a free, all-ages spring festival filled with games, competitions and entertainment. With townwide activities starting Friday and continuing into Saturday night, Nederdays is a response to the absence of the traditional Frozen Dead Guy Days festival this year, after the event moved to Estes Park — but it’s also an opportunity to try something different.

“It’s a new beginning for both us and Frozen Dead Guy Days,” said Peter Cacek, one of the event’s founders. “We get to explore who we are now.”

Cacek, who works for the town, said supporting local businesses is a big focus of the event, especially since March is one of the slower months for Nederland. Cacek came up with some of the weekend’s activities by looking at the town’s past; Friday night’s barn dance, for example, was inspired by barn dances that used to take place at the Nederland Mining Museum.

“I was like, ‘Why don’t we take some of those ideas and redo them and really focus on making this an event for the locals?’” he said. “I wanted to make something where people aren’t afraid to leave their houses because there’s 10 times the amount of people in town over the weekend.”

Cacek said around 200 people came to the barn dance to mingle and have fun with their neighbors, which was exactly what he was hoping for. With Saturday also bringing hundreds of locals out for the festivities, Cacek said the event coordinators are already thinking of ways to do Nederdays more than once a year.

Town administrator Miranda Fisher helped manage the Visitors Center, where guests could buy Nederdays memorabilia bearing the slogan, “Every day is a better day in Ned.” Proceeds from merch sales go to the Nederland Area Youth Activities Scholarship Fund, which helps local kids afford outdoor programs.

“This is a bigger collaboration with the businesses, the residents and the town staff to see what could be built,” said Stephanie Andelman, one of the event coordinators. “It’s given the town the experience of seeing an event from the inside-out, instead of the outside-in.”

Saturday’s competitions included ice-sculpting and wood-splitting contests, along with the Snow-K run, a 5K race through town.

“This is my first group 5K,” said Nat Kerman, a Boulder resident who joined the race alongside roughly 20 other runners. “I come up to Ned often, so I’m just happy to be out in the mountains.”

Family-friendly activities were also abundant over the weekend, with a sledding course down East First Street, scavenger hunts and face painting. One popular event was the hot cocoa trail, which featured five local stops, like Salto Coffee and The Train Cars Coffee and Kava, for participants to visit and enjoy some hot chocolate.

Jesse Fox, owner of The Train Cars Coffee and Kava, said the Nederdays crowd doesn’t compare to the sheer volume of people who would flock to the town for Frozen Dead Guy Days, but believes it can build up into “something really cool.”

“I would say this festival has promise,” he said. “So far, it’s been a little smaller and more local, which is kind of good. We kind of like that vibe a little more.”