Happy 4th of July from Creede, Colorado

It is so much fun to get to celebrate Independence Day twice this year!  We went to all the activities in South Fork on the 3rd, but the big celebration is held each year in Creede.  We read that 15,000 people come for the parade, and we were a mile from town when traffic was already at a standstill.

We found a parking place on the edge of town, and followed the throngs of people to the parade route down Main Street.  We found a spot on the curb and instantly made friends with a couple that had full-time RVed across the U.S. and Canada for the last 20 years.




People were lined up three deep all along Main Street and it looks like we had a record crowd. 

We heard that Creede loves dogs, and there were lots of four-legged spectators.  Our favorite float also included some four-legged participants.

The floats were not elaborate, but they threw lots of beads and candy.  The children on our side of the street were enjoying both.

Since we had never visited Creede, after the parade we made our way through the crowds to see the row of boutiques, galleries, and cafes that most tourist towns seem to have.  We might have to come back to the olive oil store before we leave this area.  It was packed on this holiday.  There were also lots of venders and kiosks set up in an area behind the stores.  Creede certainly was decked out in flowers for this holiday, and the hanging baskets were beautiful.  

But our main destination was the Colorado State Mining Championships.  Nestled in the shadow of the mountains, it was certainly a beautiful place for a competition of any kind.

We had never heard of this competition before last week, and we had certainly never seen it before today.  It takes common tasks that miners used to perform on a daily basis, and makes a contest out of who can do them the fastest.  The first competition we watched (in the photo above) included using a machine drill to make two different holes in a specific spot on two different rocks. The very heavy drill is hard to manage, and the holes must line up so they don't drill into the previous holes.   This skill would be used for setting dynamite plugs to blow up new sections of rock in the mine.  It's a timed event, and the person that can drill the two holes and set the heavy drill back down over the finish line in the shortest time was the winner. All the competitors were men except this woman, so she got lots of encouragement from the crowd.  

We left to eat a late lunch, and then we watched the duck race.  You could sign up to sponsor a  numbered plastic duck.  All 100 ducks are dumped at the bridge at the top of the flume that runs through town.  The first three ducks that get to the end of the flume win prizes.  Mark was more than a little disappointed that we were going to watch plastic ducks instead of real ducks.

 
We walked to the north end of town, where the valley narrows into a canyon, and you can stand close to the mountain walls.  This is also the point where the river flows into the flume that makes its way through town.








Now it was time to return to the next mining competition--single jack drilling.  That includes drilling a hole using just the force of a hammer on a piece of steel.  After five minutes, the deepest hole into a granite rock will be the winner.  There was a judge, a time keeper, and a guy spraying water to remove the granite chips.  The guy in the blue sleeveless t-shirt is the competitor.

These guys were really striking that steel drill hard each time, and five minutes is a long time to put forth that much effort.  Hammering your finger not only hurts a lot, but will loose the strike to the steel. You could hear the entire audience groan when a competitor struck his thumb. 

The next picture is of Tom Donovan, who has won seven single jack driller world championships and was also the emcee of today's competition.  But he would come in second today, to a young guy that we had been cheering for because he reminded us of a young friend of ours.  Emmit Hoyl would win today's Colorado State championship with a 7.80 inch hole.

The mucking competitions were held the following day, and it would have been fun to see how fast guys could shovel a load of rock.  Maybe next time we'll go back for the mucking!