Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Mike - The Headless Chicken



The three most beautiful states?
Your State, my State,
and Colorado...
Ever been to Fruita, Colorado? Put it on your bucket list! (Rocky Mountain High).  Just one more reason that it is past time to make a pilgrimage to The Rocky Mountain State….

Why Fruita?  Well, mainly for the looks that your friends and co-workers will give you when you tell them: "I'm heading out to Fruita, Colorado for a little "R&R"!  Their imaginations  will just run wild!  And, if you then let slip you're "heading" for the Mike The Headless Chicken Festival, it will be full "game-on" with the office tongue-waggers…  


"I don't remember
what happened."
Fruita is the former home of Mike the Headless Chicken's creator, local farmer Lloyd Olsen.  Seems that Lloyd went out one afternoon in 1945, to his chicken yard with an axe, to get the main course for his dinner, and instead created a sensation.  Lloyd's axe-aim on that day was imprecise; and although Mike the Chicken lost his head, there was enough brain stem and blood flow left to assure his survival!  Mike lived for 18 months, making Mr. Olsen a good bit of money, being featured in LIFE Magazine, and earning a memorial sculpture in greater downtown Fruita!


This year the Mike The Headless Chicken Festival (Check out the Festival !!) will be held on May 16-17, 2014. The Festival will include many events like disc golf, bike poker run, and of course a 5-K run.  Kinda like the idea of a 5-K where…
5-K: "On your marks…"

... you get to "run around like a chicken with your head…", well you know.

You'll be pleased to know that the Credit Union of Colorado is the "title sponsor" of the event. (Hello, National Ad Campaign!!!). And that, Chick-fil-A is the "supply sponsor" (Really!... you can't make this stuff up!), which also gives out "Good Egg" awards at the event.

There are, of course, all kinds of branded products for sale as part of the event.  When I asked one of the sponsors, if the T-shirt omitted a hole for your head to go through; she just gave me a sort of strange, very distantblank stare….

But here's the favored Festival quote:  


"It is a great comfort to know you can live a normal life even after you have lost your mind."


Fruita? Estes Park?
Colorado


WONDER IF THAT APPLIES TO CREDIT UNIONS, TOO?  


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a huge fan of Colorado as well. Lots of good memories of my travels there over the years. None involving chickens, but there was this one bluebird...

44Rp said...

So... How did this thing eat for all those months? Can a chicken survive without food? I know we're supposed to be conditioned to the illogical, based on all these years dealing with our regulator, however; this is beyond that. Should this be an April 1 Festival?

Jim Blaine said...

For the whole story click on the "Check Out The Festival" link….used an eye dropper… 'course I'm not quite sure how someone decides to nurse a headless chicken back to health, are you?

And what did he end up having for dinner anyway?

And this was all before "legalization"….!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but the legalization came way after the utilization....just saying.
Birddog