How To Keep Your Man in Nederland
November 20th, 2008 Categories: Boulder Subdivisions and Neighborhoods, Mountain Living, Relocating
Well, one way to do it is when he dies you keep him frozen on ice. 
That’s how Frozen Dead Guy Days got it’s name. Every year on the first full weekend in March (burrrrrr….) Nederland Colorado celebrates “Grandpa Bredo” who supposedly is still kept on ice in the Tuff Shed. His grandson, a Norwegian immigrant brought his deceased “Grandpa Bredo” to Nederland Colorado in 1989 where his body lies frozen in a shed (at -109F) behind his daughter’s old house. I’ve heard it said that Trygue (the grandson) wasn’t aware of American taboos about storing deceased relatives with yard tools…anyway Trygue was finally deported by the US government (not because of his grandfather..), and the City of Nederland Colorado grandfathered in Grandpa Bredo, against all odds, and Grandpa is allowed to remain interned in the Tuff Shed until they discover a cure for being dead.
Frozen Dead Guy Days has really put Nederland Colorado on the map. 
Along with the coffin races, dead look alike contests, the Grandpa Blue Ball dance, pancake breakfasts and snow sculpture contests, Glacier ice cream, from Boulder, has created a special flavor call “Frozen Dead Guy”, how creative, with fruit flavored blue ice cream with crusted Oreo cookies and sour gummy worms. Now that’s sporty isn’t’ it?
Another fine event held every year in Nederland is the Colorado Music & Arts Festival (the famous NedFest) which happens the last weekend of August with 2 glorious days of bluegrass and jazz music, artists shows, camping and dancing. Don’t want to miss that!
Really folks, Nederland Colorado (I always stumble on that name, I want to say Netherland…) is really a very quaint old mountain town and the best thing about it (or not) is that it’s only 15 miles from Boulder Colorado. 8,236 miles above sea level, Nederland was named by a Dutch mining company from The Netherlands, which means “the lowlands” - a bit of an anomaly. But at the time of the mining days, people would come down the mountain from the former silver mining town of Caribou, which was located 5 miles up the mountain, to the town of Nederland ( hence the name “lowlands”). As you drive up Boulder Canyon out of Boulder Colorado (take Canyon St west) you’ll pass Boulder Falls on the right, through and around the graceful curved 2 lane road with towering rock formations on both sides of the road, you quickly come to a an opening where you see on your left a majestic blue lake with a spectacular mountain backdrop, called Barker Reservoir. Barker Dam, a hydroelectric powerhouse, was completed in 1910 and supplies water to the City of Boulder and is the headwaters for the Boulder Creek.
Here’s an interesting tidbit about Nederland…in 1972 a man named James William Guercio, the producer of the band Chicago, bought a boatload of property in Caribou and converted a barn into Caribou Ranch Recording Studio where many famous musicians recorded their music such as Elton John, Frank Zappa, Super Tramp, Michael Jackson, Dan Fogelberg. Sadly enough the recording studio burned down in 1985. How’s that for bragging rights?
There’s always been a certain give and take between the Hippies of the 60’s, 70;s and 80;s and the locals in Nederland. 
Nonetheless, Nederland has prospered over the years outside of the small town and many small subdivisions of newer homes have developed over the years where you can find more “modern contemporary”
homes with stunning snow capped mountain views ranging from the mid $250,000 into the millions. If you’re in need of a change, ride the local bus service, called the RTD, that runs from Boulder up the mountain to Nederland and over the Eldora Ski Resort.
So if you’re looking for simple mountain living, with the Continental Divide to the west and the culture of Boulder Colorado to the east then you should really check out Nederland Colorado, the kind of town that might just thaw a man’s heart and bring a little life back into his soul!
