Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.

Every year a fresh, recently frozen, or just thawed, activity is added to the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival in Nederland. The second weekend in March, Friday through Sunday, is stacked up with small, exotic events and large, chaotic events, from wrestling with a frozen t-shirt to hoisting a handmade coffin over frozen hills and through slushy mud.

The thousands of people who swarm into Nederland love every one of the events and can’t wait to pay money to have a chance to win, or just to look silly.

It’s a day for city folks to be someone else in the mountains, like a winter Halloween with day long live music and food vendors from myriad cultures.

Most of the features and events people have come to expect, but some of them have changed somewhat.

The popular frozen salmon toss, which was held at the Sundance Lodge and Café, will be held at the Stage Stop Inn beginning at 11 p.m. The Nemo and Iffy event is always a fun, if slimy, contest.

The best time to toss the fish is at the beginning while its head is still attached to its body, offering a good grip through the gills.

The Rocky Mountain Oyster Eating Contest began over a decade ago at the First Street Pub and Grill, which, appropriately enough, is now the Rocky Mountain Oyster Bar and Grill. That begins at 2:30 on Sunday.

New to the festival is the Fix a Frozen Flat event which is held at Salto beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. It a challenging, painful contest in which one is asked to hold their hands in a cooler of ice and then fix a flat tire on a bike. One can also try again at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Wild Bear Nature Center will host the showing of “Grandpa’s in the Tuff Shed” as well as the Newly Dead game at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday. Expect to see a live vulture.

This year’s Blue Ball will take place at 8 p.m. at the ReAnimate Yourself Tent. The Grandpa Bredo and Cold-As-Ice Queen Look-Alike Contest winners will win a $100 prize package.

The Polar Plunge Contest begins after the parade on Saturday, around 12:30. The contest winners will get an Eldora midweek season pass.

The Registration fees benefit TEENS Inc. leadership programs.

All captains of the coffin race teams will be automatically entered to win a midweek season pass at EMR.

After 12 years of absence, the Manitou Springs Coffin Cup returns to Ned for a long-awaited rematch between the Manitou guys and the winner of the 2018 coffin races. Foosball funds will be donated to the Nederland Food Pantry.

There will be 30 teams racing this year: with prizes for the fastest; the runner up; the best theme and spirit; and the most notable racing snafu, which is the most fun part of the coffin races.

Prepare for splashing.

Prepare for thousands of people.

Prepare for noise.

Prepare for the culmination of 17 years of perfecting the event and one year of preparing for a larger party than last year.

Embrace it. It is yours.