This year marks the 50th Anniversary of  Ullr Fest in Breckenridge, CO, an annual celebration created to honor Ullr, the Norse god of snow, and convince him to grace Breckenridge with even more snow.

The week long event is comprised of a wide variety of events including Ullympics, crowning the Ullr King and Queen and a bonfire, but the main event is always the parade down Main Street on Thursday afternoon. It’s a wild mash-up of proper floats, trucks carrying girls in fur bikinis and keg rides.

Yesterday, immediately preceding the parade, Breckenridge broke the world record for the longest shot ski, with more than 300ft of Breckenridge Distillery filled shots. If you’re not familiar with a shot ski, here’s a photo and a link to make your own:

A shot ski: directions to make can be found here.

Public drinking laws are pretty much suspended and friends are made by passing a bottle of Ullr schnapps. It’s a crazy time, but it’s the one of the events that really makes Breckenridge  one of my favorite towns. It was my first UllrFest after moving from Breck in 2010 and it was great to be back.

I think the best part, though, was introducing Ullr antics to my friends who were Ullr virgins. I might have created  monsters.

At the parade. Viking horns are required.

Just one of the “floats” at the 2013 UllrFest Parade.

Even though it wasn’t fully dark, crowds were able to witness a full moon.

“Any town with a couple of symphony orchestras should have a couple of good public drinking days every year.”