Welcome to the 46th Annual Snowdown Durango
Embrace the Quirky Chaos
As the frosty air settles over the stunning mountains of Durango, Colorado, the town buzzes in anticipation for Snowdown Durango 2025.
The annual winter festival transforms this quiet mountain town into a playground of entertainment.
Through a playful blend of creativity, competition, and community fun, this winter festival promises and delivers a lighthearted and wildly spirited escape from the chill and the long nights of winter.
Jump into the heart of winter fun at Snowdown Durango 2025 from January 24 – February 2!
Don’t miss a live broadcast from
KPTE 92.9/107.9 The Point during the annual RedBall Express on January 31 and again on February 1 for the “Point Picks” awards during the Chili Cookoff & Bloody Mary Contest!
- A Taste of What Awaits –– Check out Key 2025 Dates
- Discover What Makes Snowdown Durango Special
- What Is Snowdown Durango?
- This Year’s Theme: "The Board Game Edition: It’s Your Move"
- An Event During the Dark Winter: Something for Everyone
- Snowdown Events: Embrace the Competition
- Snowdown Durango Ticket Information
- Official Beer for 2025 Snowdown Celebration by Ska Brewing
- Snowdown Durango: Enjoy Family Fun at the Light Parade
- Tips for Snowdown Newbies
- Navigating the Snowdown Madness: Transportation
- Themes from Snowdown Durango’s Storied Past and Future
SNOWDOWN TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!
A Taste of What Awaits –– Check out Key 2025 Dates
Wow – take a look at all the events at this year’s Snowdown Durango! Scroll down the event schedule to see all the crazy different games, from tournament styles to teams, partners, and individual event competitions.
Friday, January 24 & Saturday, January 25: Snowdown Follies shows (Two each day)
Friday, January 24 – Sunday, January 26: Gable House presents Clue – A Murder Mystery.
Wednesday, January 29: Pinball Tournament, Fashion Do’s & Don’ts, La Plata County Fairgrounds & Events Center. Enjoy a sit-down luncheon and a show, with music, hilarious models, public costume contests and ribald revelry.
Friday, January 31: RedBall Express, two Snowdown Follies shows, and the Light Parade.
Saturday, February 1: Chili Cookoff & Bloody Mary Contest, two more Snowdown Follies shows, plus Outlaw Josie Pete’s Golf.
View the complete Snowdown Durango 2025 Events Schedule
Discover What Makes Snowdown Durango Special
Snowdown Durango brings together locals and visitors in joyous celebration of winter with heartwarming thrills and laughter. Now is the time to plan your participation in this unforgettable week filled with quirky chaos and festive fun. It’s a time where the streets of Durango come alive, thanks to the many local businesses that host their own events during this prime season.
What Is Snowdown Durango?
Forget long nights by the fire –– this winter celebration is a heartwarming carnival of rejuvenation. Snowdown means bracing for an unforgettable week of unbridled fun, with local businesses hosting celebrations.
They throw open their doors during this event and the streets come alive in downtown Durango. No ordinary winter celebration, this event transforms the quiet mountain town into a whirlwind of costumes, competitions, and camaraderie.
This Year’s Theme: “The Board Game Edition: It’s Your Move”
This year’s theme, “Snowdown 2025: The Board Game Edition: It’s Your Move,” promises a playful twist on classic games and challenges. Imagine a town where everyone’s playing a life-sized board game, complete with outrageous costumes and unexpected twists. The Snowdown festival spreads across the entire town of Durango.
An Event During the Dark Winter: Something for Everyone
Snowdown Durango 2025 presents hundreds of activities, from the risqué Snowdown Follies, infamous for their adult humor, to many family friendly events like the dazzling Light Parade, joke-offs, and outhouse stuffings.
Many Durango businesses get in on the action, each hosting their own event, including beard-growing contests and hot wing eating contests. From a beer pong tournament to a drag race and fashion show, Snowdown offers an exciting lineup of events that will keep you entertained day and night.
Snowdown Events: Embrace the Competition
Snowdown includes everything from build-a-bong contests sponsored by Prohibition Herb to spinning prize wheels, poetry rhyming showdowns, nine-ball billiards, puzzles, and poetry duel tournaments, murder mysteries, and board game crafts for adults at the Durango Public Library. There’s a contest for everyone!
Featured Events
Clue – A Murder Mystery, Hosted by Gable House
Friday, January 24 – Sunday, January 26
Trade your winter boots for detective shoes. Step into a thrilling murder mystery at the historic Gable House during Snowdown Durango! From January 24-26, you can unravel a captivating whodunit inspired by the classic game Clue.
Explore the mansion’s secrets, interrogate suspects, and become a part of the story. Choose your level of involvement, from casual sleuth to VIP investigator, and maybe even spend the night in this landmark B&B.
Read more about Clue – A Murder Mystery by Gable House.
Pinball Tournament
Wednesday, January 29
Show off your pinball skills at this action-packed tournament. Sponsored by the International Pinball Flipper Association and Hutton Broadcasting, this fair-strike knockout competition pits players against each other in groups of three or four. Earn strikes for lower placements; three strikes, you’re out!
With a $5 entry fee, freeplay machines, and prizes for the top three finishers plus Best Costume, it’s the perfect chance to enjoy a competitive evening of classic arcade fun. All ages are welcome, so bring your best game and aim for the top spot!
RedBall Express
Friday, January 31
Catch the RedBall Express with Alpine Bank and KPTE 92.9/107.9 The Point!
Don’t miss the high-flying excitement of the RedBall Express, a wacky event where you can adopt gigantic red balls for $5 and win up to $5,000!
Get RedBall Express event details.
Chili Cook-Off & Bloody Mary Contest
Saturday, February 1
Get ready for Snowdown Durango’s spiciest events — the Snowdown Chili Cook-Off and Bloody Mary Contest, sponsored by Hutton Broadcasting!
Enjoy a live broadcast and the spectacular “Point Picks” awards from KPTE 107.9/92.9 The Point. Sample mouthwatering chilis and creative Bloody Mary concoctions while supporting local organizations.
Learn more about the Chili Cook-Off & Bloody Mary Contest!
Snowdown Durango Ticket Information
!! Snowdown Follies tickets are coveted –– plan ahead !!
The Snowdown Follies is a legendary musical satire, performed at the Durango Arts Center. It is a must-see for those who appreciate a good laugh. If you missed getting tickets in time to attend in-person, you can also catch the live videocast of the Snowdown Follies at the Animas City Theatre on February 1, 2025.
Tickets will be available for purchase ONLINE ONLY beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, January, 1, 2025, for all showings. Limit four tickets per person.
Mail-in ticket drawing was held on December 7, 2024. Check about two months in advance for next year’s Snowdown Durango 2026 to enter that drawing. Because this festival is so popular and often quickly sold-out, there are waiting lists even years in advance.
Snowdown aims to make ticket purchases as fair as possible and does not charge high rates, ensuring that anyone can have a chance to get tickets if they act quickly. Random winners are drawn from the mail-ins.
Snowdown Follies “Secret Box Office” locations and fashion show tickets opened January 11 at 6 a.m. for local radio listeners to hear clues to the secret box office locations and to try to be one of the first in line. If they were, they received Follies tickets!
However, this box office opportunity has closed now for 2025 Snowdown. Plan ahead next year for this opportunity, knowing that the secret box office clues will be released about two weeks in advance of the opening of Snowdown Durango events, which always take place at the end of January.
Market Place Tickets: Lots of four tickets are sold to the highest bidder each day, starting the week before Snowdown begins, at Bank of the San Juans, on East 8th Street in Durango. There is still time to get your tickets, from January 14 through January 18.
Beware of Ticket Scams
Remember, genuine Snowdown tickets aren’t sold digitally. Avoid scammers selling sold-out tickets online. Be sure you know the seller.
Get Creative – Unique Ticket Options: If you can’t find a ticket, do you have a friend or family member who will be performing in Snowdown Durango? Ask them for an invitation to that performance!
Official Beer for 2025 Snowdown Celebration by Ska Brewing
Did we say? Ska Brewing is the Official Beer of Snowdown Celebration 2025 with their new limited release Chutes & Lager! If you missed their 2025 Beer Release Party in December, get on down there and get a taste before the celebration starts! Ska Brewing’s World Headquarters is located at 225 Girard Street in Bodo Park in Durango.
Snowdown Durango: Enjoy Family Fun at the Light Parade
Starting at dusk, 6 p.m. on Friday, January 31, 2025, the popular Light Parade sparkles downtown Durango with illuminated floats, costumed characters, and marching bands, creating a dazzling delight in Durango’s most entertaining procession along Main Avenue. Floats compete for bragging rights in several categories. There will be fun for all!
Tips for Snowdown Newbies
Pace Yourself: This winter carnival is an endurance test of fun! Don’t try to cram everything in — choose your must-do events and allow time for spontaneous fun. Plan to rest a day or two or go easy with healthy things to do in Durango.
Embrace the Spirit: Go all out with your costumes! Visitors take costumes seriously. Many festival goers bring multiple costumes for different days. Don’t be shy –– let loose and let your creativity shine!
Book Accommodations in Advance: Hotels, cabins, and vacation rentals fill up quickly, and many of the local campgrounds and RV spaces are closed during winter months. Book your lodging early.
Events: Check out the complete Snowdown Durango 2025 Events Schedule.
Navigating the Snowdown Madness: Transportation
With events happening all week, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Remember, Snowdown revelry involves alcohol during many of its celebrations. Plan accordingly to ensure safety by using designated drivers or local ride responsible transportation.
All City of Durango public transport, including bus routes and the Main Avenue Trolley, will be free to ride all day Wednesday, January 29, through Saturday, February 1, with late night ride options as well. See more details on Snowdown transportation options. Most importantly, embrace the unexpected, but also plan ahead and be safe!
Themes from Snowdown Durango’s Storied Past and Future
Since 1979, Snowdown has been a beacon of light in the dark winter, a chance for Durango to shake off the winter blues and embrace absurdity with unique themes. Themes over the years have included “An Old West Snowdown,” “Romancing the Snow,” “There’s Snow Place Like Home,” “Snowdown the Final Funtier,” and “A Black Tie Affair.”
Themes are chosen two years in advance. The winner of the 2026 Snowdown theme will be announced during this year’s Purgatory opening ceremony. Submit your idea for the 2027 Snowdown at Magpie’s Newsstand & Cafe on 707 Main –– keep your theme suggestion inclusive and family friendly and your submission could be the winner! Plus, the winner receives a Purgatory Ski and Dine package.
The Heart of Snowdown Durango
Snowdown is organized by a nonprofit committee and nine directors who work tirelessly to bring this unique event to life. It’s a celebration of creativity, community spirit, and the joy of winter, as exemplified by the wild and outlandish favorite, Snowdown Follies.
Life’s a Game, It’s Your Move, Durango! Grab your game pieces, roll the dice, and prepare for an unforgettable adventure at Snowdown Durango 2025!