Keep Boulder Weird

Boulder Bookstore bumper sticker, used with permission

Keep Boulder Weird .org
Your gateway to all things weird in Boulder, CO
"Only in Boulder"

Weird is good.

This site is for Boulderites (to remind them about some of the things that can make Boulder special),
for people who know Boulder (to confirm why they shake their head every time someone mentions Boulder),
and for people who don't know Boulder (to give them a false impression that Boulder is really this weird).

Most of these "Only in Boulder" items are from . Thanks!

GROUP EVENTS
*World Naked Bike Ride* Image: Rob "sponsorgroup" Ride your bike around town, wearing as little as you wish Make a statement about Oil and Cars June 17th 2006, ~4:00 PM (?), Community Gardens. WBRN site WBRN egroup	*Naked Pumpkin Run* Image: Run downtown, wearing just a carved pumpkin on your head Shock the late night Halloween crowd on the DownTown Mall Halloween night, ~10:00 PM (?). Naked Pumpkin Run site	*Thursday Cruzers* Image: Rob "sponsorgroup" Ride your cruiser bike all-over town Cheer the neighbors with a wish for a "Happy Thursday!" Every Thursday evening, ~7:30 PM, Scott Carpenter Park, 30th & Arapahoe. Thursday Cruzer site Another Thursday Cruzer site And yet another Thursday Cruzer site Thursday Cruzer egroup
*Kinetics* Image: KBCO radio Build the most imaginative conveyance Ride it through a course of land, water and mud May, Boulder Reservoir. Dropped by its former sponsor, KBCO Restarted in 2008 by a new group: kineticists.org	*4/20* Image: "bentanderic" Smoke a joint with (near) impunity Make a statement about legalizing pot Every April 20th, 4:20 PM, Farrand Field, CU campus. Campus Press article	*Frozen Dead Guy Days* Image: Nederland Chamber of Commerce Bredo Morstoel's body is kept under ice in a shed in Nederland Join Nederland residents in a day of wackiness to celebrate they most famous "resident" OK, this one is not in Boulder City, but it is in Boulder County 2nd week in March, Nederland CO. Frozen Dead Guy Days' page
*Eat Your Words* Image: Book Arts League It's a book! It's a cake!... It's an edible book! First week in April, location TBA. Eat Your Words's site is not navigable without getting a special plugin, so I won't link to it, sorry :( Eat Your Words's gallery '06 Eat Your Words's gallery '05 Eat Your Words's comic pages '05	*Polar Bear Club* Image: Karen Morgan Jump into a frozen reservoir Celebrate the new year Every Jan 1st, noon, Boulder Reservoir. MondoBoulder.com	*Exotica Erotica Ball* Image: BMoCA Party in a most erotic, artsy environment Support BMOCA, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts Saturday before Halloween, Boulder theater. Exotica Erotica Ball's site
*St. Patrick Parade* Image: Conor O'Neill's Claims to be "The world's shortest St. Patrick Parade". Not true: the shortest one is in Blue Spring, MO. Ref. St. Patrick's day, in front of Conor O'Neill's restaurant From the traditional to the wacky Picture gallery	*Outdoor Cinema* Image: Boulder Outdoor Cinema/ Silly old movies, trivia, shorts, UFO's and a sense of community under the night sky Summer weekend nights, behind the Museum of Contemporary Arts. Outdoor Cinema's site	*Big Wheel Rally* Image: Matt Armbruster Big people on little vehicles with big wheels End of August, at the Walrus, at 11th & Walnut. Big Wheel Rally's site
*The shootout* Image: ? Film-makers have 24 hours to make a movie The entries compete at a film festival at the Boulder Theater The Shootout Boulder	*Banjo Billy's Bus* Image: ? Banjo Billy's Bus Tour gives a 90 minute history tour of Boulder Colorado from an old school bus tricked out to look like a traveling hillbilly shack. Banjo Billy's Bus Tour

PRANKS
*Baby on car* click to enlarge. Image: Sydney Hope For his birthday, Davide drove around with a "baby" in a baby seat, "forgotten" on top pf my car Lots of people, especially parents, thought it wasn't funny, not at all! The cops were notified, and the Daily Camera reported on it. It was picked-up by the wire services, and distributed to other papers.	*Halloween lights* Image: Alek Komarnitsky Alek had a lot of people convinced they were turning the lights on and off on his Halloween display through his website In reality, they were just switching between two images, one with the lights on, one with the lights off The following year, people really could control the lights, but by now they didn't believe him Halloween lights prank site

CHARACTERS
*The bottle collector* Image: Real name: ???. Walks around town, finding bottles, breaking them "to free their spirit" bags them and leaves them on the side of the road.	*ZIP-code man* Image: Andrew Sigal Real name: David Rosdeitcher. Has memorized most US zipcodes and many international ones. Does a show on the Mall during which he tells people where they're from. ZIP-Code Man's site	*Dog poop mapper* Image: ? Real name: Patrick Murphy, plant ecologist. Has prepared dog poop maps to show how it contaminates waterways Has videotaped dog owners who don't clean-up after their pets, and was arrested Boulder Weekly article Patrick Murphy's site on dog poop
*The Embattled Professor™* Image: ? Real name: Ward Churchill. The man Real Americans™ love to hate Tenured CU professor in the Ethnic Studies department Wrote an essay after 9/11 that was long on insights and short on tact Brought once more the National spotlight onto Boulder Wikipedia article Ward Churchill's site at CU	*JonBenet* Image: ? Enough said... Wikipedia article	*Stan Brakhage* Image: ? Experimental filmmaker of mostly inaccessible work Loved by people who thrive in loving what no one else can possibly "get" Ironically, was nearly blind at the height of his work (just as Beethoven was nearly deaf) Last years of his life devoted to scratching 35 mm film stock or painting directly on it Wikipedia article
*Joel Haertling* Image: ? Always uniquely dressed, with a wide cloak, thick black frame glasses, and a 50's suit that doesn't fit him Experimental filmmaker (worked with Stan Brakhage) and musician ("Architect's Office") Uses multiple super-8 projectors to show loops of vintage film on unusual surfaces Bio	*Jann Scott* Image: Jann Scott Radio talk show host in the '80s, video host in the '90s ("a weekly assault on everything sacred") For better or worse, a central figure in the Boulder Public Access TV channel, channel 54. credited with indirectly causing its demise. Jann Scott's site, "Jann Scott Live" web TV, his rather offensive blog

ORGANIZATIONS
*KBFR* 'Shop: Monk? Pirate Radio station Broadcasts from a van, constantly a step ahead of the FCC 95.3 FM wikipedia article	*Boulder Atheists* Image: In a town in which all sorts of spiritual practices are the norm, the atheists are the weird ones Boulder Atheists site	*MondoBoulder.com* Image: MondoBoulder.com An irreverent, Boulder-centric site and blog There's stuff on Pat Murphy, traffic circles, a Boulderian dictionary and more MondoBoulder.com

SYMBOLS
*Prairie Dogs* Image: KGNU Boulder In other towns they're shot as "varmint" In boulder they're venerated KGNU Community radio built 100 Prairie Dog Statues and had artists decorate them KGNU's Prairie Dog Project City of Boulder Prairie Dogs ... Protection Ordinance Boulder Weekly Best of Boulder '04 featured a prairie dog

Thanks to the Boulder Bookstore for the name "Keep Boulder Weird".
Thanks to the City of Austin, TX for the original concept of "Keep Austin Weird".
Thanks to Reuters for sending me visitors.
Contact: about more people, events and things that Keep Boulder Weird.

Dedicated to the Aurora,CO girl who in 1976 told me "You're weird!".
I was new to English, so I asked her to explain the meaning of "weird".
Then I thanked her for what I understood to be a compliment.

Coming-up (by reader suggestion):
Fruitcake toss, Ukelele Loki, Pasha Cowan (the "Rocky Mountain Madam"), Lynn Segal, Pesticide Mary, Dark Cloud, Jan Scott, Ibashi, George Peters, Evan Ravitz, Stacey Malcom.

Crocs, AstroTurf car, Volvo full of toys, Buddism, hermaphroditic fish, Banjo Billy's Bus

Keep Boulder Wierd is wrong! The spelling is "wEIrd", not "wIErd".
This site is not associated with any of the items it describes, nor does it endorse the engagement in illegal behavior.
© 2007 Davide Andrea. Handcrafted by Davide. Last update: 4/21/2008