The winged porkers made from smooth beach rocks and metal scraps proved pigs can fly — both around a small merry-go-round sculpture and out of an arts and crafts booth at .
“The flying pigs are a classic,” said Tim Cummiskey, 65, owner of Rock Art based in Littleton. He was one of 275 people with booths selling arts and crafts at the Labor Day festival on Monday. He said he ran out of flying pig merry-go-rounds.
Cummiskey’s rock art has appeared year after year at the four-day festival. Conversely, Jared Nelson, owner of Abbey Road Signs, was giving it a try for the first time. He was glad he did, too.
“A lot of people walk by and say Denver is already weird enough,” Nelson said. They were obviously referring to his authentic-looking green street sign that says, “Make Denver Weird.”
He urged passersby to buy one of his reproduction street signs as a house or garage decoration instead of stealing one from the street. “You buy one of my signs and it’s cheaper than probation. That’s my motto.”
Wearing pink pixie wings, 8-year-old Cameron Brown was fluttering in circles instead of standing still in a long line in front of the India’s Restaurant booth with her younger sister, her parents and her grandmother.
“I like how it smells so good and all the rides,” Brown said of the festival. She was the most excited about taking a ride on the carousel.
Jessica Delaney, who later said she was on vacation from North Dakota, stood in front of a giant metal owl sculpture in front of the Denver library and proclaimed to her friend, “I love this owl. That’s why I came over here.”
Delaney and her friend had looked online and found that the Taste of Colorado was number one on the list of things to do Labor Day weekend. “We don’t have anything like this in North Dakota. We do have the world’s largest buffalo,” she said, referring to a 46-foot, 60-ton sculpture in Jamestown, N.D.
Vendors sold bison jerky at the festival, along with a variety of meals for people and pets. One woman passing by Goofy’s Dog Treats, which sold bins of extra-large shanks and knee caps, remarked, “Pigs ears? What are pigs ears?”
There were corn cobs on a stick at several booths, but fried alligator was only available at Bayou Bob’s.
“Once a year I eat one turkey leg, and today was the day,” said Maya Pacheco, 19, a student at Metro State University. “It’s beyond delicious. It’s golden.”
