Copper Days ready to shine

The Copper Days Festival is getting ready to celebrate 23 years of giving families the opportunity to have fun watching vintage tractors vie for the title of strongest tractor.

The event kicks off with a tractor parade at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Platte Valley Arts Council is sponsoring a kids workshop Saturday between noon and 2 p.m. Children will have a chance to paint wooden tractors.

Stacy Crimmins, director of Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the workshop starts at noon because the tractor pulls start at 11 a.m. at the Lions Club Arena. After an hour the kids might be looking at other activities, she said.

“They are really cute and they will be something the kids will cherish,” Crimmins said of the toy wooden tractors.

Crimmins said there is a new event for Copper Days that will be a lot of fun for participants.

“What it entails is that youth and adults can bring their toy tractor collection and they can enter in more than one category based on the scale of the tractor,” Crimmins said. “So there is the collection where they are lined up and judged individually, then there is the display collection.”

Crimmins said the displays will be a farm or a ranch setting with toy tractors on it.

“It is very similar to what train people having doing for many years,” Crimmins said. She said enthusiasts of the tractor diorama are often in their 40s and older because of the detail and patience needed to create these landscapes.

“I think this a fun addition to Copper Days and hopefully we will even get people interested in doing it as a hobby which will mean more collectors participating next year,” Crimmons said.

The competition will be held at 2-5 p.m. Saturday at the Grand Encampment Musuem livery stable. The event is free to competitors and observers.

Copper Days is also known for its family dances. This year, it will not be a polka band playing, but the high-energy country band The Tailgate Rockstar Bandof Fort Collins. The dance will be held at the Grand Encampment Hall and the cost is $10 per person and children under 12 are free. Snacks and refreshments are included in the ticket price and there is a cash bar.

Crimmins said Encampment resident Brett Miller will be giving free swing dance lessons at the Encampment Opera House from 7-9 p.m. Friday, so there is no excuse for dancing shoes not to be broken out the next evening.

Event sponsors include Power Company of Wyoming, Wind River Hotel and Casino, Carbon County Visitors Council, Wyoming Arts Council, Platte Valley Arts Council and Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“The events are free except for the dance so it is really it is a great chance for a family to get out together and take in a whole weekend with each other,” Crimmins explained on why Copper Days continues to be popular with residents and visitors of Carbon County.