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Snowdown has certainly had its legendary moments over the years, and ‘88 was no exception when organizers decided, hey, let’s set a Guinness World Record. This story published a few days later in The Durango Herald.
Making Groucho history 1988 Snowdown attempted Guinness Book world record, in complete Durango fashion by Jonathan Romeo
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he year was 1988 – floppy disks were still a thing, Rick Astley had just released “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Lunchables redefined what is “food” and “Die Hard” premiered and kicked off the never-ending “Is this a Christmas movie” debate. And denim. God, so much denim. But did you also know 1988 was the year the fine organizers of Snowdown in Durango attempted to make history in the Guinness World Book of Records for the most people gathered wearing Groucho Marx glasses, noses and bushy mustaches? Yes, it happened. “Oh god, the things we did,” Geoff Wolf, a longtime Durango resident who was there that fateful day, said. “I remember the chaos of just trying to take the picture. Plus, half of the people there were inebriated. Well, maybe in those days, all of them.” Oh Snowdown, Durango’s beloved and debaucherous winter festival that features whacky contests and events, bizarre themes (Yabba Dabba Do? Roman Around?) and a
Snowdown OG Geoff Wolf at a baby laughing contest in 1988 in The Durango Herald. Herculean effort from most attendees to balance partying with work and sanity. The first Snowdown, as lore goes, happened in 1979
Celebrate Snowdown with a Mystical Mocha! 1099 Main Ave., under the big clock Mon.- Thurs., 7:30am-3pm and Fri., 7:30am-1pm
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after a few locals started scheming ways to break up the tedium of the long, cold winter while at the same time livening up the town’s winter economy. And obviously, the idea stuck, with the winter celebration now bringing visitors from all over to our smallish mountain town. How Durango attempted to set the world record for people wearing Groucho masks in one place at the same time, however, is a story all its own. Albeit parts are lost in time and memory and umm… insobriety. “Where did the idea come from?” Peg Ochsenreiter, a longtime Snowdown devotee who serves on the Board of Directors, said. “Oh, who knows?” After looking through some old Snowdown archives, as well as randomly calling people who now live as far away as the Midwest about an event that happened 33 years ago, the story does somewhat start to piece together, though. For the three Snowdown Follies prior to ’88, one of the MCs dressed up as Groucho Marx. That man was Rick Armstrong, who now lives in Missouri. “In thinking of inspiration for the Follies, we were looking at different characters, and it just fell together,” Armstrong said. “It was just a lot of fun.”
