The 103rd Eagle Flight Days celebrates ‘Good Vibrations’ this weekend
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive
Every year on the weekend before the Fourth of July, Eagle hosts the long-running celebration of Flight Days, one of the Western Slope’s premier small-town celebrations.
“Good Vibrations” is the theme for this year’s celebration, and no, you probably don’t need to sing like the Beach Boys to take part — although it would be impressive if you could.
Flight Days celebrates the Eagle County seat moving from Red Cliff to Eagle. That took some doing, no little controversy, and a couple of hotly contested elections.
Events have come and gone over the years. The poop tug of war, with teams trying to pull each other into a large tarp covered with horse manure is long gone, and there may have been a cow patty bingo event, too. But there’s still plenty of less-smelly fun.
As in the past couple of years, kids’ events are free. That includes a mobile ninja obstacle course, face painting and an instrument petting zoo courtesy of the Bravo! Vail Music Festival. You’ll still have to pay for food and trinkets from the event’s numerous vendors, of course.
Support Local Journalism
“People are surprised that (kids’ events) are all free,” said Molly Furtado, who’s riding herd on many Flight Days events.
This is Furtado’s third year helping organize Flight Days. But this year is her first being the lead person for the annual parade, set, as always, for 10 a.m. Saturday.
Characters in the parade
Entries closed late last week, but Furtado expects a few last-minute entries. She said she’s excited for the entries from Howard Head Sports Medicine. “They have a bunch of characters over there,” she said.
The folks at Mountain Recreation generally have an entertaining entry, and the Porchlight Players will probably have something fun, although this summer’s kids’ performance of “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” probably will have a hard time fitting in with the “Good Vibrations” theme.
Putting on a big festival in a small town always brings surprises.
“Every year you learn something new,” Furtado said, noting that there have been unexpected bursts of sprinklers that haven’t been turned off.
The good news is that small-town crowds generally are willing to laugh off a little water or other small mistakes.
Small-town crowds are also usually happy to welcome local entertainment.
Furtado and Jamie Wilson, the town’s town communications and marketing specialist, are both excited about the headliners for a performance by local group the Runaway Grooms, the headliners of Saturday’s music in town park. Preceding the Grooms is another local band, Eagle-based Danger Mountain, a five-piece string band.
Wilson said she expects people packing the park to enjoy Saturday afternoon’s Indigenous Wisdom Gatherings. Those gatherings, held every 30 minutes, will be held in a tipi and will focus on topics including the power of the circle, the sacredness of the horse and the importance of water.
Celebrating Indigenous culture
The Native American celebrations begin at 5 p.m. Friday, when Indigenous drummers welcome horse riders from the 4 Directions.
Much of Friday is dedicated to Indigenous culture. Songwriter Leon Joseph Littlebird will perform from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday, bringing musical tales of Colorado and the West to the stage.
While music dominates the stage at Town Park, Wilson said Friday’s headline act features something a little different — a comedy performance.
“We’re probably more nervous about that,” Wilson said.
But trying something different is part of keeping a familiar celebration fresh.
