President Trump wants more immigrants from Norway and an end to "chain migration," family-based immigration. The story behind the award-winning Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival in Nederland, Colorado is current news!
Frozen Dead Guy Days, held March 9-11, 2018, is a wild and wacky celebration of all things dead and frozen. It features a parade of hearses, coffin races on a snowy obstacle course, costumed polar plunging, frozen T-shirt contests, The Newly-Dead Game®, music, parties, and much more.
Norwegian Bredo Morstoel came to the U.S. in 1989, brought by his grandson Trygve Bauge, a believer in cryonic reanimation. Grandpa died that year and was professionally frozen at Trans Time, a cryonics facility in Oakland, California. In 1993, Trygve moved Grandpa to his home-made facility in Nederland, a tiny town in the mountains west of Boulder, CO.
Trygve first came to the U.S. from Norway in 1985, followed by his mother Aud Morstoel. Trygve was arrested in 1986 for making jokes about hijacking planes at Denver's Stapleton airport. He spent years avoiding the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Both Trygve and Aud were deported in 1994, leaving Grandpa's body surrounded by dry ice in a shed outside Trygve's house. To this day, the family sends money from Norway to regularly replenish the 900-1,200 pounds of dry ice that keeps Grandpa frozen.
The Nederland Chamber of Commerce started Frozen Dead Guy Days in 2002 to generate tourism during a traditionally slow time of year. More than 20,000 people visit Nederland each year during the three-day festival. Learn more at www.FrozenDeadGuyDays.org.
The whole crazy story is told in the 25-minute 1998 documentary, "Grandpa's in the TUFF SHED." Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death® and creator of The Newly-Dead Game®, will host screenings at the 2018 Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival on Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The new location for festival film screenings is at The Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center, 20 Lakeview Drive, Unit 107 (next to Nederland's famous Carousel of Happiness). DVDs of the film will be available for purchase. On Sunday, live vultures will also be on display.
Gail Rubin is a pioneering death educator, author, speaker, and coordinator of the Before I Die ABQ Festival in Albuquerque, NM. She will emcee The Newly-Dead Game®, which is like the old TV show, "The Newlywed Game." The questions focus on how well players know their partner's last wishes. Rubin introduced the game at Frozen Dead Guy Days in 2011. Couples can sign up to play for free at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Prizes will be awarded to all participating couples.
Showings of "Grandpa's in the TUFF SHED" and The Newly-Dead Game® are sponsored by EternityGardens.com, a website for families to find a permanent final resting place for the cremated remains of their loved ones, Everest Funeral Planning and Concierge Service, and A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning For Those Who Don't Plan to Die.
All attendees over age 18 can enter a drawing to win Frozen Dead Guy Days swag, A Good Goodbye books and DVDs, and a beautiful wooden urn from Fathers Building Futures. This Albuquerque-based nonprofit organization provides jobs and skills to previously incarcerated parents, including building affordable wooden caskets and urns for funeral homes and the public. Learn more at www.FathersBuildingFutures.org.
Media interviews about The Newly-Dead Game® and "Grandpa's in the TUFF SHED" can be conducted in advance or on-site during the festival.
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Contact: Gail Rubin, CT | Office PH: 505-265-7215 | Cell PH: 505-363-7514 | Email: Gail@AGoodGoodbye.com
Gail Rubin, CT, is author and host of the award-winning book and television series, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips, and KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die.
Rubin is a Certified Thanatologist (that's a death educator) and a popular speaker who uses humor and films to get the end-of-life and funeral planning conversation started. She "knocked 'em dead" with her TEDx talk, A Good Goodbye. She provides continuing education credit classes for attorneys, doctors, nurses, social workers, hospice workers, financial planners, funeral directors and other professionals. She's a Certified Funeral Celebrant and funeral planning consultant who has been interviewed in national and local print, broadcast and online media.
Known as The Doyenne of Death®, she is the event coordinator of the Before I Die ABQ Festival. She also hosts A Good Goodbye Internet radio show and produces Mortality Minute radio and online video spots. Her YouTube Channel features more than 400 videos!
Rubin is a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, Toastmasters International and the National Speakers Association New Mexico Chapter. Her speaking profile is available at eSpeakers.com.
Gail Rubin has been interviewed about funeral planning issues in national and local broadcast, print and online media. Outlets include The Huffington Post, Money Magazine, Kiplinger, CBS Radio News, WGN-TV, and local affiliates for NPR, PBS, FOX, ABC-TV, CBS-TV and NBC-TV.
Sign up for a free planning form and occasional informative newsletter at her website, AGoodGoodbye.com.